Happy New Year

Greetings and hope for a brighter new year.

Anti-Israel demonstrations in Wichita

An estimated 100 people demonstrated against Israel’s actions in the Gaza, in Wichita, today. Several Palestinians came with their neckerchiefs and Palestinian flags. Most of the demonstraters held signs with such slogans as “stop bombing Gaza” and “end Israeli air strikes.”

Some signs pointed out that US tax dollars support Israeli military operations.

It’s past time to Criticise Israel

For most of its history Israel has been a spoiled child of the US. Like a 5-year-old brat in a candy store screaming for what it wants, the US has never said “no.” The Israeli lobby has made sure that Israel gets what it wants. Few politicians are willing to argue with the Israeli lobby. Few politicians are willing to take the heat for scolding the spoiled brat Israel, but as with a real child, there has to be a line set of what is acceptable and what is not.

The Israelis get more military aid than any other country except Colombia. The Israelis use tactics that no other civilized society would accept, except possibly the US (since it went into Iraq as part of the phoney “war on terrorism”).

The Israelis have robbed schools and conducted mass punishments that go after the innocent Palestinians as well as the guilty. They have kidnapped, assassinated and tortured and imprisoned people without due process and the leaders in the US have never said “don’t do that.” So far our new President Elect, Brarack Obama, has backed Israel, as all the presidents before him. Nothing will change with him taking office. We expect the failed-lame-duck President George Bush to do nothing constructive about the new out break of violence.

The real irony is that these harsh tactics don’t really work. Israel is still one of the most dangerous places to live in the world. Two Israelis have died in rocket attacks and now doubt as the fighting intensifies, more will die. In the end the only thing Israel can hope to accomplish is to anilelate the entire Palestinian population the way Hitler tried to get rid of the Jews.

The US is like a parent who refused to even criticise their bratty child. By always giving into Israel and backing them 100 percent, they have prevented past and present escalations in both terrorist attacks and military strikes from their Palestinian foes.

With the recent declaration of war by Israel against Hammas, we are guaranteed a viscous and bloody beginning to our new year – 2009.

Our local Peace Center is planning a demonstration:

Also, from:

Party of the Committees to Support Resistance - for Communism (CARC) - Italy

28/12/08

olidarity to Palestinian people!

The Zionist State of Israel, vanguard of imperialism in the Middle East,
killed more than 200 people at Gaza. Israeli reprisals against Palestinian
people secure for this State a place in history as heir of Nazi Germany.
They remember to Italian people's masses the Nazi slaughters in the occupied
country during the Second World War, the slaughters at Marzabotto, at
Sant'Anna di Stazzema, at the Ardeatine Graves in Rome, and in hundreds of
other places.

Condoleeza Rice blames Hamas for Zionists' slaughter. So, in Italy, the
reactionaries of all kinds have dared to blame Partisans' Resistance for
Nazi slaughters of civilians. If there were not Resistance we should not
answer with violence, these worms say.

Leftist intellectuals, as the film maker Spike Lee, tell the same words. He
came in Italy for making a film on the slaughter of Sant'Anna di Stazzema,
where the Nazis killed 560 men, women and children. He came here to tell
that "Partisans were taking refuge in the mountains, and left the population
at the mercy of German reprisals".

Palestinian people's Resistance is the same Resistance of Italian people
against Nazism and Fascism. Both the Resistances are among the most glorious
facts in the history of the last century. They express our peoples'
greatness, and show that, against imperialists, Zionists, Nazis, Fascists,
war is the necessary answer. Therefore we honour Palestinian fighters, and
the people who supports them.

Who carries out politics of extermination against Palestinian people belongs
to imperialist bourgeoisie, the class that all over the world carries out
this politics of extermination against people's masses, imposing starvation,
misery and war. The ongoing economical crisis undermines imperialist
bourgeoisie's power system everywhere in the world, and this class can only
answer increasing and extending such politics of extermination. That is why
today at Gaza they do a slaughter as the did not do for fifty years.

We learn from Palestinian people's Resistance, from their heroism and
determination. The imperialist bourgeoisie ruling our countries will not
hesitate to use the means that Zionists are using when it will not have any
other means for ruling the situation, when it will be no more able to secure
the material needs, the rights and the future of the people's masses. The
people masses will rebel, as they do today in Greece, and the bourgeoisie of
our country will answer with the repression and the army, as they already
did against the people's masses struggling for defending their health and
environment in Naples. In view of it, Palestinian people's Resistance, that
has been able to face Zionists for decades without surrendering, will be a
precious example for us.

Palestinian people's Resistance will win. All over the world, in oppressed
and in imperialist countries, the resistance of people's masses develops and
will inflict lethal blows to imperialism and its economical and political
system, that is doomed to disappear.

The CARC Party wishes Palestinian people and the peoples of the entire world
a new year of victories, a revolutionary year.

CARC Party - International Relations Department

Via Tanaro, 7 - 20128 Milano - Tel/Fax 02.26306454

e-mail: resistenza@carc.it - website: <http://www.carc.it/> www.carc.it

National Direction - International Relations Department

Tel. +39 0226306454 - e-mail: carc.ri@libero.it

re-released my book

The Pol Pot Journals have been replaced with I Am Pol Pot by Steve Otto, the ghost writer. It’s on Lulu but it is supposed to be available on the usual book outlets, such as Amazon and Barns & Noble soon. So it should be available through your local Borders as well as through Barns and Noble.

It is still available at Lulu, http://www.lulu.com/content/5492340.

The year end news round up review

By 史蒂夫・奥托

The good bad and ugly highlights of the year 2008:

The Good:

A new president:

We have a new president, Barack Obama. No matter what he does, how bad can he be compared to President George Bush?

Victory in Nepal; Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist):

A bright spot this year was the military victory of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and their creation of a multi-party republic. They won a majority in the new parliament they created.

This year saw a surge in activity in India:

The rebels now control about one eighth of the country. There is a coalition of rebels and they seem to be doing something right as they continue to make gains against the stale and failed bourgeois democracy of India.

Peru’s insurgency resumes:

New leaders and new tactics have inspired a new wave of activity from the Communist Party of Peru (Sendero Luminoso). But they have turned on the US Revolutionary Communist Party. Will that matter? They remain a part of the Revolutionary International Movement. What will this mean? We can only wait and see.

Paris trashed McCain:

Finally Paris Hilton did something positive we can all be proud of. She has fought back at John McCain, with ads of here own, debunking McCain’s trashing of Barak Obama as a “Celebrity, such as Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.”

Senator Ted Stevens exposed:

Ted Stevens, the nation's longest-serving Republican senator was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from a powerful oil contractor that lobbied him for government aid.
That was one more senator exposed for the slime ball he was. Now if we can flush more of these scum bags out, we might have a respectable government again.

Good Riddance Jesse Helms:

One of the last and worst of the Dixie Senators from the last century has finally done us a favour by dying off. We couldn’t seem to vote the scum bag bigot out of office, so death was our only hope.

Maoist begin a people’s war in Bhutan:

Apparently the push by Indian Maoist groups and the recent success of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has inspired the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist Leninist - Maoist) to make a push for people’s war in Bhutan. Of the three countries, Bhutan is the smallest, about half the size of Nepal.

The history of American Counter Culture:

Many people read Can You Pass The Acid Test? As a part of their summer reading. This book is still a good read and it gives a lot of information on the history of the counter-culture history of the US.

The Bad:

Congress bailouts

The banks and car companies got bailed out for billions of dollars. The bad side is that these captains of industry are so complacent and stupid, they didn’t think anyone from congress would actually check to see how the money was and will be spent. They all got caught with mud on their pig noses.

A failed presidency:

We had one more year of President George W. Bush. He may go down in history as one of the worst presidents in US history. He is presently a lame duck. We are thankful that he hasn’t tried to increase the damage he has done to this country in the last two months of his term.

We have a new president:

Barack Obama may be better than bush, but how much better? He already plans to keep our imperialist presents in Afghanistan, so our peace movement has no time to slump of or rest. We have to stop the war in Afghanistan and that will pit us against the new president.

Californian’s Proposition 8:

Californians have dealt gays a stinging blow by voting in Proposition 8. This is clear proof that bigotry is alive and well in these United States. Also, religion is still one of the best tools for such bigotry.

Sarah Palin was chosen to run as a vice President for the Republicans:

Sarah Palin just plain sucked. She was especially hated by Polar Bears and those who want to save them from extinction.

Those wacky Kansans and their pollution:

Members of the Kansas Legislature tried to over ride Governor Kathleen Sebelius's veto of SB 327 and SB 148. The bill was an attempt to open a coal burning plant in Kansas.

George Habash of the PFLP died:

The founder of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), George Habash, has died.

The Ugly:

(Potential changes ahead)

The Economy slumped to a new low:

Times are getting tough as a recession sets in. However, watching rich people squirm is a pleasant experience. The Chickens have come home to roost. This was one reason the intelligent voters rejected the Republicans who ran our economy into the ground. Will the complacent finally rebel?

Greek riots:

The Greek riots have rocked Europe out of political complicity. When I was in Germany a few years ago, they all told me that the electoral system was a waist of time. No political party could deliver any real change. But the unrest, which has lasted a month, in Greece, is threatening to change that. Will it lead to any lasting change? It’s too early to tell. The French uprising of 1968 seemed promising, but other than remove Charles de Gaulle. Will this go further? Next year will tell us.

Kansas loses Senator Sam Brownback:

Kansas Republican Sam Brownback is bowing out of the Senate. He was a terrible senator, but who will win his seat? At best a Democrat will replace the diehard religious right zealot. At worst, corrupted Representative Todd Tiahrt will win his seat and that will be like giving a candy store over to a five-year-old to watch. Tiahrt is a part of the idiot right, people who only know how to use their office to make money—a lot like Governor Rod Blagojevich, of Illinois, who actually got caught.

Republican Caucus:

In February, Kansas had an actual presidential caucus. Kansas hasn’t had any voter participation in presidential primaries in many years. The Republican Caucus was a bad joke, as such scum bags as Todd Tiahrt were asked to speak.

Another article on the Greek riots

The turmoil in Greece is starting to get notice from other News periodicals. This latest article is from the News organization headed by Z Magazine.

From Z Communications Update
December 12, 2008:

“Greek Teenagers
By Nikos Raptis

As always, to understand what is going on today (Dec.11, '08) in Greece (or any place) one has to go back in time a few decades. Let us make the effort.

A few weeks after the "departure", in 1974, of the US-supported dictatorship in Greece, I was in the luxurious ground floor of the Bank of Greece where I was filling some forms to secure the necessary exchange for the purchase of a book from a US publisher. I was sitting at a long heavy table. It was early in the day, there were not many people in the huge ground floor and the two security policemen there came and sat at the other end of the table and started chatting. I was wearing a US-made sport jacket. They took me for a foreigner and started talking freely. The older (fat) one says: "So, Karamanlis came from Paris [after the dictatorship] and instead of giving us money, the asshole bought helmets and riot gear for us". That, Karamanlis, was the uncle of the (rather rotund) present Karamanlis, the Prime Minister of Greece. Karamanlis, the uncle, is referred to as the "Ethnarch" [the "father" of the nation]. Actually, he was a US-chosen rightist proxy to administer Greece on behalf of the US in the early 1950s. He died a few years ago and he demanded that his corpse be buried in a private lot on which a memorial building was erected mimicking the building of the usual "presidential library" of the US Presidents. The burial in a private space is illegal in Greece.

Six years after the above dialogue, between the two policemen, in November 1980, the riot police attack the demonstrators that were marching towards the US Embassy during the yearly march commemorating the 1973 uprising of the students against the dictatorship. The Karamanlis [uncle] police kill 26-year-old Iakovos Koumis and Stamatina Kanellopoulou, a young worker, by crushing their skulls.

In 1981 the "socialists" (PASOK) win the elections. Andreas Papandreou, the US educated professor of economics at Berkley, becomes Prime Minister. His first act: he DOUBLES the salaries of the policemen! Four years later, in 1985, the Papandreou police kill 15-year-old Michael Kaltezas by shooting him in the back of his head, again during the yearly demonstration of the uprising. The killer is acquitted. That same year, Catharine John Bool [spelling?], a 22-year-old American is killed by the Greek police, for refusing to have her car searched by them. Around that period a young Turkish man is beaten to death in an Athens police station. The Greek press never includes his name in the usual list of persons killed by the Greek police. This list consists of the names of about one hundred persons killed by the "socialist" or the rightist police, from 1974 to this day. Not a single policeman was ever convicted. The latest murder is that of the 15-year-old Alexis Gregoropoulos, son of an upper middle class family, six days ago in Athens.”

For more click here.

This is starting to take on the features of a real political event of importance as various political pundits begin to evaluate these actions for their significance.

Christmas songs

Here are a few of my favorite X-mass Songs:

John Lennon

Frank Zappa and the Mothers - Uncle Bernie's farm

Jethro Tull - Christmas song

Along with Warren, why not invite the Ku Klux Klan?

Now that President-elect Barack Obama invited Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, will he now appoint someone from Ku Klux Klan to speak. After all, Warren is a hate monger who backed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his home state of California. According to The Wichita Eagle, Dec. 23, 2008:

“Rick Warren's critics: other evangelicals

BY RACHEL ZOLL

Associated Press

Rick Warren is in a place he never expected to be: at the center of a culture war.

The pastor chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to give the inaugural invocation backed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his home state of California. But he did so belatedly, with none of the enthusiasm he brings to fighting AIDS and illiteracy.”

The article goes on to say that a lot of evangelicals are unhappy that he’s not more hateful and for the spreading of aids. But for a lot of us, he is hateful enough. There is no need to include anti-gay bigots in our political landscape. There is no reason we should listen to the likes of Rick Warren.

40th anniversary for the Communist Party of the Philippines and theNew People’s Army

This is the 40^th anniversary of the The Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing, The New People’s Army. The group saw a set back after the overthrow of Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. But the democracy of Cory Aquino did not fulfil all its promises, so the People’s War has resumed.

The presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been very harsh and she has jumped on the President George Bush bandwagon to “fight terrorism.” She had become Represive and is trying to wipe out the Communist Party and the Moro National Liberatio Front.

Despite the Arroyo Regime’s efforts, the NPA and CPP has only gained in size and strength.

From the BBC:

New People's Army (NPA)

The New People's Army is the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and has been in existence for more than 30 years.

The group, based on the island of Mindanao, has an estimated 10,000 members according to a presidential adviser on the peace process.

Peace talks between the CPP and the Philippine Government stalled in June 2001, after the NPA admitted killing a Filipino congressman.

The CPP/NPA was added to Washington's list of foreign "terrorist" organisations in August 2002.

For more click here.

Messages of solidarity to Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of re-establishment on 26 December 2008

From the Moaist Revolution Yahoo Group:

Dear Comrades,

On behalf on the entire membership of the Maoist Revolution web list (3, 741and counting) we the core of the group would like to send our solidarity greeting to you, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on your 40th year of leading the revolution in the Phillipines. .

The CPP was reestablished on December 26, 1968 and under the leadership of the advanced section of the working class of the Phillipines sought with Marxist - Leninist - Maoist ideological line to continue the people's democratic revolution to completion.

The year of 1968 was the storm of anti revisionist struggle, centred in People's China with the conscious aim to overthrow the beourgiouse within the Communist Party of China and in stiff opposition to soviet revisionism. Amongst this turmoil, the CPP was reestablished and another phase of Communist led struggle shook the Phillipines which sent shivers down the spines of the imperialists and reactionaries within the Phillipines and globally.

The CPP, armed with the correct Marxist - Leninist - Maoist ideological line took the initiative to wage armed struggle and through this process develope the people's war. With the correct Maoist line of organisation, the CPP has through the three 'magic' weapons mobilised the people to make revolution. First the party (CPP) and under the proletarian leadership, masses have been mobilised for revolution through the united front organisation the National Democratic Front of the Phillipines (NDF) and the cutting edge, the New People's Army (NPA).

We are proud as members of the Maoist Revolution web list to identify the Internationalist line of the CPP and its disemination to the international proletariat by using 'modern' technology not only of the ongoing peoples revolution in the Phillipines, but also the messages of solidarity given to the international proletariat. The recent message from the CPP to the CC of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [CPN(M)] is just one example to name a few.

The current socio-economic crisis of the imperialist system is and will continue to weigh down upon he peoples of the world, in particular the oppressed nations, of which the Phillipines consists. The socio-economic crisis will inevitably bring turmoil, upheaval and peoples resistance! This will take many forms and will without doubt shake both the oppressor and oppressed nations alike. Resistance will take various forms from peasant land grabs, workers strikes, rebellions of inner city proletarian youths as witnessed by the Greek peoples rebellion. These struggles will without doubt be grand and we can be sure that without the leadership of the genuine proletarian parties, these struggles will be attempted to be hijacked by various reactionary classes attempting once again to re-establish themselves once events quieten down.

The ledership of the CPP in your nation is an assurance to us, the international proletariat that the masses will be led correctly and with the aim of completing the new democratic revolution, prior to the socialist. In parallel we have the Maoist contingents in India, Nepal, Ceylon, Iran, Bhutan not to mention the Maoists in the imperialist countries of Italy, France, the USA..

We once more reaffirm our continued solidarity to you Comrades and we will endeavour to distribute your statements to the people. We look forward to the future birth of the Peoples Republic of the Phillipines, a red base area of world revolution!

Indian Moaist hit phone company

This is from India:

Distributed by Yahoo Group Maoist Revolution

In two separate attacks, Maoist guerillas destroyed a tower of Reliance Communications (R-Com) and a telecom exchange of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in the Kanker district of Chattisgarh.

The incident took place on Saturday night but the 'officials' could get the information only yesterday night, as the whole communication network crocked up in the region, after the attack.

Over 100 heavily-armed Maoists attacked BSNL communications at Kapsi, a sleepy village situated in the thickly forested pocket in Kanker region, about 300 km-south from Raipur.

In the same locality, they set on fire a Reliance (Communications) facility in another attack.

Kapsi is located in the region, which is an area of Maoist activity. Later the Maoists later set the exchange of state-run telecom major BSNL and tower of Reliance Communications on fire.

Officials also said that extra police forces were rushed to the Kapsi area, some 300 km south from Raipur, to launch an offensive against the Maoists to no avail.

Before slipping into the forest, the Maoists stayed in the village for over 3 hours with the people. While leaving the village, the Maoists cut two trees, which fell on the 33 KV main power supply line of the electricity board.

However, both the telecom companies refused to reveal the details of the loss and said an assessment was on. They were not even in a position to state when the service would be restored.

Sources also said that over 1,000 mobile subscribers and 200 telephone subscribers were affected by the attack, particularly the reactionary police and army who use mobiles to trace Maoist revolutionaries.

Brownback out – What about Tiahrt?

Brownback is bowing out of the Senate and it would seem like a good thing since he is such a lousy Senator. But actually he has opened the way for such slime balls as Rep. Todd Tiahrt.

According to The Wichita Eagle:

Dec. 19, 2008

“Brownback to bow out of U.S. Senate

Republican U.S. Reps. Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran have expressed an interest in running for the seat.

Associated Press

TOPEKA - Kansas Republican Sam Brownback formally announced Thursday that he will not seek a third full term in the U.S. Senate.

Brownback made his announcement at the Statehouse, saying he owed it to Kansans to keep his word and retire more than keeping seniority in the Senate.

"This is something that I need to do," he said. "I would lose a lot more and the people of Kansas would lose a lot more if I broke my word."

Brownback was elected to the Senate in 1996 to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Bob Dole, who resigned to be the GOP nominee for president. Brownback then won full, six-year terms in 1998 and 2004.

"I love doing this," he said. "Your word is your bond. Once you give it, you stand by it."

It is widely expected that Brownback, 52, will return to Kansas and run for governor in 2010. However, he declined to say Thursday what he would do after his term ended.

Brownback ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, dropping out early in the race and supporting eventual nominee John McCain.

Democrats hold the majority in the Senate with at least 57 seats to 41 Republicans. Two Independents also align themselves with Democrats. The Minnesota Senate race is still to be decided.

Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt, both Kansas Republicans, have expressed interest in giving up their House seats and running for Brownback's Senate seat in 2010. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has been mentioned as a possible Democratic challenger.”

For the rest click here.

For Tiahrt this would mean a bigger trough to slop out of. He sells off his votes, takes his family to Europe on the taxpayer’s dime and votes the party line when there is no way to profit from his votes.

He grandstands for jobs in Wichita with his unsuccessful attempt at an aircraft “tanker deal” and votes against badly needed aid for birth control to pacify his religious right constituents.

The last thing we need it Tiahrt at the Senate trough.

Jobs and layoffs are workers benefits from government bailouts

By -史蒂夫 奥托

Chrysler plans to close a one of its plants for a month and will halt production at all 30 of its factories at the same time. The big three auto companies came to Washington to ask for a $7 billion bailout. The bail-out has failed in the Senate last week. The auto industry has been raising fears of job cuts and a possible industry collapse.

Also, according to the BBC News;

“DaimlerChrysler is to cut 13,000 jobs at its loss-making US unit Chrysler.
It also indicated it could sell or spin off the money-losing unit, which would unwind a troubled 9-year-old merger between Chrysler and Mercedes.”

As these corporate captains of industry claim to struggle for survival, there seems to be no concern for the survival of their own workers. Here it is the holiday season and they are begging for government handouts while many workers will either lose their jobs or have to take a whole month off without income. How will these workers survive.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone in congress can listen to the auto giants wine about their survival with a straight face. The gap between workers and these corporate leaders is so great it they’re actions make their cause look absurd.

President George Bush said on the evening news this is a hard time for those who believe in the free market. Even he admits the US free market has failed for the Auto industry. When conservative Republicans admit the market is in crises, then the US economy is really sinking like a stone.

In the short run there are no simple solutions. No matter what congress does the real losers here are the auto workers.

News from the supporters of Peru's Sendersos

The Communist Party of Perú (PCP) — continues to carry out attacks on Peruvian military and police targets in 2008.

After joining the RIM of the worldwide Maoist revolutionary movement in 1980, PCP proceeded to conduct a Peoples War. When reorganised by Chairman Gonzalo of the Communist Party of Peru, the PCP's stated objective was the total reordering of Peruvian society along the lines of the People's Republic of China under Mao Tse Tung.

What should be a primary source of concern to the incoming U.S. imperialist administration, is that the PCP's resurgence is to be viewed as an integral part of a wave of leftist ideology in Latin America.

PCP's geographical reach and the military force it commands make it a competing and increasingly threatening "state within a state" in Peru.

The PCP's current leadership has been under constant pressure from Peru's reactionary US imperialist backed forces over the last year. The PCP is currently focusing their activities on the jungle-covered VRAE (Valley of the Rivers Apurimac and Ene).

The Communist Party of Perú (PCP) Strikes Back

Though government sources have estimated only 150 PCP fighters remain active, this force (if is the case) still continues to mount deadly attacks on Peruvian reactionary forces. In what was described by Peruvian Government sources as the bloodiest PCP attack in ten years, PCP guerrillas killed approximately 14 Peruvian soldiers in a carefully planned ambush of a patrol in Peru's Huancavelica province on October 9 (AFP, October 10). The PCP announced the attack was intended to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Peruvian Communist Party (EFE,November 19).

Following attack on outpost, graffitee is written.

VRAE (Valley of the Rivers Apurimac and Ene) region Perú, 2008

Ominously, an October 22 report stated that PCP members had dynamite from the mining camp of the US imperialist firm Doe Run, likely presaging the form of future attacks by PCP in the area. Indicative of the isolated character of the area and the nature of PCP's existing and planned activities, the guerrillas also took medical supplies, food and radios from this US imperialist firm (Reuters, October 22).

November marked yet another upsurge in PCP attacks. On November 12, two Peruvian soldiers were wounded when gunmen believed to be PCP fighters targeted a helicopter responding to an earlier attack that wounded two other Peruvian soldiers (Latin American Herald Tribune, November 15).

Another ambush in the Huallaga Valley on November 27 killed five police officers, including two members of the Special Operations unit. At least 40 PCP guerrillas using hand grenades, shotguns and automatic weapons were involved in the attack (Peruvian Times, November 28). The ambush was remarkably similar to one carried out in nearly the same place in 2005 by 30 PCP guerrillas.

The latest PCP attack came days after a sweep of the Huallaga Valley by reactionary state agents of the "Huallaga Front" failed to locate the PCP commander. Over 60 Peruvian state reactionaries have been killed in ambushes on roads in the region since 2001, with the annual rate on the increase (Con Nuestro Peru, November 29).

Reflecting the PCP's long-term ambitions, the PCP is reported by Peruvian Police sources to have been planning attacks in Peru's capital, Lima, during the recently concluded summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. The APEC Summit meeting, in what must have been a very inviting target, brought together the heads of state of 21 imperialist and reactionary nations, including U.S. imperialist George Bush and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

Actual PCP documents captured from one of the group's camps, and reportedly authored by PCP's leadership, characterised the APEC Summit meeting as being attractive to the group because of the media coverage that an attack would garner (Peru.com, November 18).

Conclusion of supporters of Perú Revolution.

We have admired the support of the past and appeal to the peoples, RIM and Maoist parties outside RIM to inform and disseminate details of the resurgent Maoist led peoples struggle in Perú.

Please don't remain silent! We will and are in the process of once again building our beloved party along the line of people's war in accordance with the concrete condition of Perú.

Long live the developing peoples war in Peru!

Long live MLM!

Struggle against wrong lines and develop peoples war!

Long live Revolution in Perú, Nepal and around the world!

Long live RIM!

From the

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/MAOIST_REVOLUTION

Riots continue in Greece

Like the 1968 spring uprising in France, the rioting in Greece is continuing. What started out an outbreak over the shooting of a teenage boy has boiled over into street warfare in Greece.
In the 1968 uprising, where students took over universities an tried to topple the French government, the institutions servived, but caused the removal of the Charles de Gaulle. Now violence is threatening to spread to other countries.

From the Times Online:
Dec. 14
“Greek riots spark fear of Europe in flames
Matthew Campbell
Seldom do Greek academics attain the heroic status that was bestowed last week on Christos Kittas, an eminent professor of pathology and rector of Athens University.
More comfortable in front of a whiteboard Kittas, a wiry figure with grey hair and a silver beard, found himself on the front line in what looked like a war zone.
From his palatial office on the first floor of the university, he organised a “human chain” of colleagues to defend the historic building from being ransacked in Greece’s worst street violence in decades.
“I’m terrified,” he confided on Friday as yet another column of demonstrators filed past the building, screaming abuse at police – “killers in uniform” – for having shot dead a teenager six days before.” For more click here.

And from:
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/MAOIST_REVOLUTION

6th Statement of the Communist Organization of Greece (KOE)
14 December 2008

The revolt goes on!

The youth keeps occupying the streets! On Friday 12 December a huge crowd of secondary education pupils, university students and teachers gathered in the centre of Athens and marched peacefully towards the Parliament. There, once more, the repressive forces attacked them with chemicals and arrested dozens of pupils of 13, 14 and 15 years old. In many cases the teachers, bystanders, even journalists got angry and tried to liberate the arrested kids, clashing with the police. Similar demonstrations took place all over Greece.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) as usual made separate demonstrations – in Athens they marched towards an… empty building that used to be a Ministry (!) and then headed towards the offices of the Coalition (!), where they shouted insults… The government ministers and the pro-government Media keep congratulating the KKE for its “responsible” stand. At the same time, on Friday the Minister of Education “warned” the leadership of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA) to “control this organization of your Coalition who talks of government of murderers and calls the youth to continue the riots”!

On Saturday 13 December the secondary education students gathered once more in front of the Parliament peacefully during the whole day, until dawn of Sunday. Then the police, exploiting the fact that there were no many people in the streets, attacked them. Incidents broke up for hours around the Polytechnic School. During the afternoon of Saturday thousands of people gathered spontaneously in the place where Alexis has been murdered, shouting slogans against the police and the government. The whole day dozens of demonstrations took place in the neighborhoods of Athens and in many cities all over Greece, organized by the Left (with the exception of KKE).

Hundreds of schools and universities are now under occupation, despite the efforts of PASOK and KKE to use calumniation and even violence to prevent the students entering the universities, gathering and mobilizing. On Monday 15 December a new protest is organized by the newly founded Coordination of Schools “Alexis Grigoropoulos” in front of the Athens’ Police Headquarters. Dozens of student and teachers unions call for a national popular demonstration in Athens on Thursday 18 December. The Communist Organization of Greece prepares new actions all over Greece from tomorrow until Thursday, calling the people to throw down this government.

The repression and the coordinated attacks against the revolt will fail!
It is right to rebel! All to the streets! We continue!

*****Communist Organization of Greece / Kommounistiki Organosi Elladas (KOE)International Relations Department, 2008

Bush gets the shoe in Iraq

It’s only fitting that Bush gets shoed while he pours out a venomous speech about his accomplishments in Iraq. At least one Iraqi was not impressed with what he had to say:

Bush's Iraq-Afghan farewell tour marred by dissent

AP – In this image from APTN video, a man throws a shoe at President George W. Bush during a news conference …

KABUL, Afghanistan – President George W. Bush wrapped up a whirlwind trip to two war zones Monday that in many ways was a victory lap without a clear victory. A signature event occurred when an Iraqi reporter hurled two shoes at Bush, an incident the president called "a bizarre moment."

Bush visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

For more information click here.

Auto companies: “Brother can you spare $7 million?”

By -史蒂夫 奥托

The big three auto makers have come to Washington to ask for a handout. What do we owe to these people and their long history of making the US more dependant on foreign oil? This is the same industry that bought up a lot of our mass transit systems and deliberately destroyed them so this country would become dependent on buying autos.
Out so called “love affair with the auto” has always had a huge price tag. Almost a quarter of our economy is dependent on car or truck ownership of some kind. Our government waist more resources on roads than most other industrialized countries since we have such scant mass transportation in the US.
The auto industry conned the public into buying huge gas guzzlers. As the price of gas skyrocketed, those big vehicles became a money vacuum to their owners. These companies made money hand over fist. They gorged out on the public until the prices brought people back to reality. The car companies acted as if gas was so plentiful, we’d never run out. Now that we are running out, they the put too much money into oversized vehicles, and had no back up plan for smaller, more efficient cars. Now they want the taxpayer to bail them out.
The Republicans are jumping on the populist “don’t bail them out” bandwagon. That is all grandstanding since they know the bailout will go through, eventually. Today, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that Republicans are now pushing for lower workers wages before they will agree to a bail out. The Republicans have now uncovered their true nature, which is to strike at workers and their unions before they will save the big auto companies.
To let the car industry die would affect too much of this economy. It would only hastened the decline that is already setting in from rising “peak oil” prices and the new recession.
We have a capitalist system, so we will end up having to pay these modern day robber barons while the rest of us get no help at all from the government to pay our bills. The individuals are of little importance to the politicians of today.

Looking back at Afghanistan

Here is a view on the Afghanistan Invasion. President elect Barack Obama has already said he plans on a surge in Afghanistan, so this article is from Shola Jawid, the voice of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, and it is quite relavent:

Afghanistan seven years after the invasionPart I: The state of the occupation
3 November 2008. A World to Win News Service. This is the first of a three-part series on the occasion of the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. A second article, taken from Sholeh Jawid, the organ of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, will examine the situation of the Taleban and other Islamic fundamentalists. A third will examine the U.S.'s strategic alternatives and perspectives. These articles will not run consecutively.
Within two months after they invaded Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition forces ousted the Taleban from power and declared victory. But the war wasn't over. In fact, now even American military authorities admit that the war's end is receding further and further from sight.
After seven years of occupation, the military and political situation in Afghanistan has become critical. The occupiers are making every effort to ease the situation and reverse the tide that has been running against them. Their methods include building up their troop strength, obliging their occupation partners to join the fighting in the war zones, and murdering civilians (including many children) in aerial attacks on an unprecedented scale. On the other side, the Taleban and other fundamentalists are taking advantage of the chaos and misery created by the occupiers and the puppet regime. They are advancing their war and imposing their medieval theocratic dictates over more of the country and its people, although they do not have stable areas of political power.
What the invasion brought Afghanistan
This war launched with the pretexts of a "war on terror" and "freeing the people of Afghanistan" was in fact a war of aggression aimed at serving the interests of the U.S. and the other imperialists, regional interests given greater importance by their global context. But the achievement of the war's aims has run up against obstacles arising from its unjust and reactionary nature. This is something that the arrogant imperialists could not and did not want to foresee. All the various imperialist countries, whether ruled by open right-wing regimes or social democratic governments, obeyed only one logic: the interests of monopoly capital and imperialist power relations. They took advantage of 9/11 and the anti-woman brutality of the Taleban regime to legitimise their invasion of Afghanistan. They never doubted that victory would come quickly and easily.

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The Greek Riots

There has been rioting in Greece, from Saturday to today. It appears to be a major blow up in that country. The rioting is the most intense disturbance in quite a while in Western Europe as can be seen on this video. The following news story is from the main press:

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Bursts of tear gas exploded in downtown Athens as police continued to battle hundreds of young self-styled anarchists rioting Sunday in major cities across Greece.

In a fury over the death of a teenager killed by police on Saturday, angry demonstrations had not abated by late Sunday night.

"It at first seemed like it was calming down today, but then at 5 p.m. Athens time it kicked off again," according to Joel Brown, a CNN senior press officer visiting Athens. "There are lots of burning bins and debris in the street and a huge amount of tear gas in the air, which we got choked with on the way back to our hotel," he said.

Tourists holed up in downtown Athens hotels were told by hotel staff not to leave their rooms as police fanned out across the city, Brown said.

The U.S. and British embassies issued warnings to employees and tourists on Sunday, instructing them to avoid downtown Athens and other major cities until rioting subsides.

For more information click here.

I also have the reaction from a political party in Greece:

Info Statement of the Communist Organization of Greece (KOE)

The Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) salutes the dozens of thousands of youth and people who continue, for the third consecutive day, the resolute and combative demonstrations against the government and the police murder. At this moment (morning of Monday 8 December) thousands of school pupils are demonstrating in front of the Athens Police General Headquarters, as well as in many neighborhoods of Athens and all over Greece. This afternoon the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA) and other left organizations call for big popular demonstrations in the centre of Athens and in many other cities. Even the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), which until now made nothing and did not participate in any protest, now feels the pressure and the anger of the youth and of the popular masses and calls for a (separate, as always…) meeting in Athens.

The demonstrators all over Greece express a spontaneous and at the same time popular political demand: the condemnation of the government of K. Karamanlis. The anger and the protests of the masses are fully justified. The police murder cannot go unpunished. The attempt of the government to change the subject and to focus on the “destructions of public and private property” cannot cover the guilt of this government. The government is guilty, because it arms the killer cops and there is always not any punishment for their crimes. The government is guilty because it transformed the city of Athens in a huge gas chamber and tried to smash the demonstration attacking the people with chemicals and torturing the arrested demonstrators.

The government bears the full political responsibility. It failed everywhere: in economy, in education, in labor, in democratic rights. The sooner this criminal government falls, the better for the people and the society! The fake “resignations” of the Interior Minister and of the Public Order Vice-minister cannot calm the genuine social anger. Even more, as these “resignations” were not accepted by the Prime-minister, this fact proves the full political responsibility of the Prime-minister and of his government as a whole.

The revolt does not end. It just starts. We call upon the youth and the people: Everyone in today’s demonstrations all over Greece! Let’s declare the strike in schools and let’s occupy the universities. Let’s transform the general workers’ strike of this Wednesday in a popular uprising against the criminal government, in a People’s Court that will condemn the corrupted and murderous government. Let’s make the political responsibles pay dearly for their continuous crimes!