News Network Communist Blog for the death of Fidel Castro

Translated to English by Google

From Network Communist Blog (RBC):

Network Communist Blog (RBC) pays revolutionary tribute to Fidel Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution and key figure in the history of the second half of the twentieth century.

With the death of Fidel Castro is ended symbolically the revolutionary cycle begun in 1917.

This is not the time to enter political assessments on the role of Fidel Castro in the future of the communist movement, the class struggle internationally and the construction of socialism in Cuba. Sooner rather than later, a new cycle of successful revolutions know winnowing of his legacy grain straw to give birth a new world without capitalist exploitation.

In any case, as members of the RBC we have no doubt that the anti-imperialist internationalist spirit and strength of Fidel Castro and revolutionary who led Cuba will be an unfading inspiration for all future proletarian revolutions.

Buy I Am Pol Pot for the holidays

As the holiday's approach many of you are looking for that perfact gift—one that is not just a lot of bourgeois junk that no one really needs or wants. How about a book. And that brings me to I Am Pol Pot. Here is an historical interpretation of what the former dictator of Kampuchea might have been like if he had written his own auto biography.

From Amazon; this book is a steal at $19.16.

But for those who need something a little cheaper trie buying it as an i-books, for $8.99.

Just click on those hyperlinks and the book is yours. Buy it as a gift or for your own library.

A few thoughts about Fidel Castro, who just recently died

“I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life.”[1] 

By សតិវ ​អតុ

I was raised in an anti-communist household so when I first heard of Fidel Castro, he was described as a dictator. "He was against freedom and democracy. He had taken over Cuba and ruined it," or so I was told. Well, I changed over time and I'm not longer anti-communist.

Still, my views of Castro changed over the years. In the 1970s I believed that Castro was a pro-Soviet stooge. I saw him, as others I knew saw him, as a revisionist and part of the Soviet Empire. And to be honest he was a dictator and not all that found of freedom or democracy. His newspaper, Grandma, often said "this is not a place for liberals." It was a place for Marxists and Marxists only.

But by the 1970s I realized he wasn't all bad. He supported Salvador Allende, the Marxist president who won an election in Chile. It seemed ironic that Allende followed all the rules of the bourgeois democracy he came to power in. He never abused power. He was a benevolent ruler. And yet he and Castro were good friends while the Richard Nixon administration tried everything they could to get rid of Allende.

Years later he supported the Sandinista Revolution. That new government also respected bourgeois democracy, a free press (with a little censorship) and other freedoms. Once again our own president, Ronald Reagan, did everything he could to bring the Sandinistas down. Eventually they got voted out of office, but Fidel and his party still reigned in Cuba.

For all the other parties, politicians and guerrilla groups in Latin America, the Cuban revolution has stood alone. Some left-wing governments came and went, but Castro and his Island remained.

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Castro and his party defied all odds to keep Cuba a Marxist regime. Today, it still is. There is no telling how much longer Marxism will survive in its one last stronghold. But it is 2016 and the Cuban revolution is still there.

After the Soviet Union fell, I gained a lot of respect for Castro. Leaders in other Soviet Block countries scrambled to find favour with the west. But Castro stood his ground. For that I gained a lot of respect for him.

While his government falls way short of the kind of Marxist revolution I have hoped for all my life, it seems like a nostalgic breath of fresh air in a world run mostly buy right-wing jerks. Today Daniel Ortega is president of Nicaragua again, even though the country is not the Marxist paradise many of us wanted to see in the 1980s. We have the  "Bolivarian Revolution" in such countries as Venezuela, even though it may not last much longer.   

Castro is one of the last of the old cold warriors of the 20th century. He has outlived John Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. There may never be another Fidel Castro. He deserves to be remembered for all the good he did, despite his faults.

---

[1] And he did stay a Marxist-Leninist until the end of his life. History Channel; http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-declares-himself-a-marxist-leninist

Luminosas trincheras de combate- Bandera Roja

Black Friday—a fake holiday for corporate profits!

By សតិវ ​អតុ

We stand on the edge of time for another Black Friday, a corporate consumer holiday designed to send the bold and adventurous, in the early morning hours of the day, to try and buy cheap stuff. Yeas cheap is the word. They want all their stuff to be bought cheap, but at a pace that brings them huge profits.

The corporate captains of our day have changed the story of a little god-baby in the manger into a crass orgy of consumerism and greed. From Thanksgiving until Christmas day, that important holy day for Christians around the globe, capitalist corporate pirates will be trying to entice people into buying various products for themselves and as presents to their friends, relatives and children.

As a child, I understand the joy of getting new toys on Christmas day. But as I get older I realize that trying to fulfil my needs, wants and desires from this season are mostly good for the capitalists who make all the money providing these things.  And let's  be serious folks. A lot of what we are enticed to buy is useless crap that most people don't need. And there are always those items we think we will enjoy but they become forgotten so quickly.

I'm not a Christian. I do like the holidays but as an Epicurean. I celebrate Winter Solstice rather than Christmas. That is a holiday that allows the same traditions. (they were taken from early Pagans by the early Christian Church.)  But I avoid buying a lot of crap from name brand stores.

I don't buy many gifts and the ones I do buy I try to get from small local businesses- not large corporations like Wal*Mart.  

So for me on Black Friday...I'm home relaxing and drinking a beer.

Frank Zappa/ Mothers- Uncle Bernie's Farm

Bad News - Cashing In On Christmas

US- North Dakota- Water cannons fired at water protectors, of the protesters of Standing Rock encampments

FREEZING TEMPERATURES INJURE HUNDREDS

This protest has been going on now for several months. It has been largely ignored by the mainstream press. This is probably the  most important protest movement of the last year.

The whole mess demonstrates once again that the Native American Indians, after 250 years of being cheated, lied to and just plain dehumanised through torture and murder— are still being ripped off by the US government today. Corporate interests of Three Forks are clearly more important to our Democrat President in office Barack Obama than Native American Indian rights. Would it be so bad if just once the government treated our Native American Indians with respect, dignity and fairness? That is not what is happening. Our government is taking the sides of Three Forks.

This protests has turned into an outright battle between the Native American Indian Protesters, of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and people across the country who are supportive of their cause.

The following article gives us a look at what is happening there now. -សតិវ ​អតុ

From Camp of the Sacred Stones:

Cannon Ball, ND-- Hundreds of water protectors were injured at the Standing Rock encampments when law enforcement blasted them with water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday evening.   The attacks came as water protectors used a semi-truck to remove burnt military vehicles that police had chained to concrete barriers weeks ago, blocking traffic on Highway 1806.  Water protectors’ efforts to clear the road and improve access to the camp for emergency services were met with tear gas, an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), stinger grenades, rubber bullets, and indiscriminate use of a water cannon with an air temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Some flares shot by law enforcement started grass fires which were ignored by the water cannons and had to be extinguished by water protectors. Law enforcement also shot down three media drones and targeted journalists with less lethal rounds. 

To see the rest of the article click here.

Also from this site:

Tara Houska, National Campaigns Director for Honor the Earth, says, “For weeks, the main highway to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation has been cut off, with no movement by the state to address a public safety risk. Attempting to clear the road was met with police spraying people with water cannons in 26 degree weather -- that’s deadly force, it’s freezing outside. They want to kill people for clearing a road? When will our cries be heard? Stop the Dakota Access pipeline. Respect the rights of indigenous people, of all peoples.”

LaDonna Allard, Director of the Sacred Stone Camp, says, “All I can say is why? We are asking for clean water, we are asking for the right to live, we are asking for our children to live. Instead they attack us, because they protect oil. Morton county and DAPL security are inhuman- what is wrong with their hearts?”

Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, says, “It is below freezing right now and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department is using a water cannon on our people, that is an excessive and potentially deadly use of force. Tribal EMS are stepping up and providing services that should be the responsibility of Morton County, this is ridiculous. Because of the police enforced road block, ambulances now have an extra 30 minutes to get to the hospital. Those are life and death numbers right there, and Morton County and the State of North Dakota will be responsible for the tally.”

The Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council released this statement: “The physicians and tribal healers with the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council call for the immediate cessation of use of water cannons on people who are outdoors in 28F ambient weather with no means of active rewarming in these conditions. As medical professionals, we are concerned for the real risk of loss of life due to severe hypothermia under these conditions.”

Another Thanksgiving- more mythology

By សតិវ ​អតុ

Today, Thanksgiving is seen by many as a "politically incorrect" holiday. The pilgrim forefathers took advantage of the Indians. And some people believe that it is barbaric to plan a holiday over killing a turkey. Still there are my relatives and I probably won't tell them how bad their holiday is, at least not until after we all eat. So I print this so all may know the truth.

There was a “first Thanksgiving” dinner, but not likely turkey or the fixings we see today. The original meat was fish and deer.  The turkey became part of Thanksgiving about 1857. It is supposed to be of foods native to the New World. It became a national holiday in 1941. The traditional fixings came from a women’s magazine in the 1850s.
For a look at the real first Thanksgiving see the Kasama Project. For the Kasama Project:

"Every schoolchild in the U.S. has been taught that the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony invited the local Indians to a major harvest feast after surviving their first bitter year in New England. But the real history of Thanksgiving is a story of the murder of indigenous people and the theft of their land by European colonialists–and of the ruthless ways of capitalism."

I’m an Epicurean and don’t believe in praying to god, I will simply be thankful, while I am with friends and relatives this season. I'm thankful for all of them. I'm thankful for being alive and I'm thankful that I have friends and family involved in political movements that may someday make a difference in this world. 

Addam's Family Values Thanksgiving Play

Alien Sex Fiend - Stuff The Turkey (This is not that political, but sometimes a Marxist just wants to have fun.)

Donald Trump's new cabinet—The Scum rises to the top—Despicable

From The Idiot Factor:

For those who thought that maybe future Prez. Donald Trump isn't all that far to the right—Think again. Trump's appointments to cabinet positions amount to a 'who's who' of far-far-far to the right scum bags that are now crawling out from under their rocks to poison the political culture of America. 

Most of the bad things people accused trump of being are being realized by the despicable people he has chosen.

For example:

Stephen Bannon, chief strategist and senior counsellor: OK we can all see that this guy is a Neo-Nazi style far right extremist....so maybe he is just one bad guy....no there is more...

Jeff Sessions, attorney general: This man is a blatant racist—the type we thought we finally got rid of when southern politicians such as George Wallace, and others like him, finally died off. This guy is strait out of the 1950s complete with admiration for the Ku Klux Klan.

Gen. Mike Flynn, national security adviser: a blatant Islamaphobe.

Mike Pompeo, CIA director: Trump seems eager to collect Kansas' garbage politicians and put them on the national sceen. This man is the most pro-war, pro-military, pro-imperialist Republican to come from Kansas. If this country isn't at war soon after he takes control of the CIA, it won't be because he isn't trying. He has cheered when the NSA spied on millions of Americans. He saw no threat to our privacy. He said we need to trust the government.

These people are some of the worst scum that Republican politics can produce. If this is a look at the future Trump administration- Wow! Get ready to fight the good fight.

Pix from www.pinterest.com.

The Peace and Social Justice Center's Annual Dinner —Wichita, KS' main opposition group to US imperialism

Maxine Phillips, editor of Dissent Magazine, will be the speaker for the Peace and Social Justice Center's Annual Dinner. I realize this speaker is a democratic socialist, but the Peace and Social Justice Center has been a major opponent of militarism and imperialism here in Wichita. Regardless of their political and religious leanings, the group has done a lot of good for this area and deserves support. I work with this group every chance I get. -សតិវ ​អតុ

From Peace and Social Justice Center:

Maxine Phillips, daughter of an Italian immigrant, was raised on stories of both opportunity for and opposition to immigrants. Her church, Judson Memorial in New York, works with the New Sanctuary Movement to protect and advocate for immigrants facing deportation. She is former executive editor of Dissent Magazine and a vice chair of Democratic Socialists of America. For many years, she was  co-editor of the magazine Religious Socialism and currently serves as a volunteer co-editor of the blog religioussocialism.org/ and the print newsletter Democratic Left. Maxine will speak about strategies for supporting undocumented immigrants and changing U.S. policy. Dinner is $25. Please RSVP at 316 2635886. Seating is limited. On December 3, at noon, we will host an activist workshop with Maxine at SEIU, 3340 W Douglas.

US: "In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America"

I’m a little confused as to all the protesting across the USA over the election of Donald Trump for our president. I agree he is racist, misogynist and fascistic, but just how different is he from someone like Richard Nixon? And I also wonder were the protests will lead. I’m not against the protests. I’m just wondering where we can take such actions. I would estimate that most of the protesters will wear down and give up trying to change things by January 20. I really doubt if our government will give in and remove Trump. I’ve seen petitions to get rid of the Electoral College and allow Hillary Clinton to be president based on her winning the popular vote. But petitions take time—a lot of time. I can’t imagine such a petition being acted on in just one month, no matter how many people sign it. It would make sense to get rid of the Electoral College, since it is a relic from the 1700s and has no place in a modern government. And that is beside the point that the Electoral College is just plain stupid and unfair. Still if people think there is something to gain from protests let them go for it. -សតិវ ​អតុ

14 November.

From A World to Win News Service:

We selected the following four items from the 14 November 2016 issue of Revolution, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (revcom.us). The first, a message signed revcom.us which came out immediately after the election of Donald Trump, is being widely distributed as a leaflet (see revcom.us for a pdf) and in other forms.

In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America
Rise Up... Get Into The Streets... Unite With People Everywhere
to Build Up Resistance in Every Way You Can
Don't Stop: Don't Conciliate... Don't Accommodate...Don't Collaborate

Donald Trump has now won the presidency. Under the slogan "Make America Great Again", he has viciously attacked Mexicans and Muslims, threatened to deport millions and boasted that he will build walls and close borders. He incites people to fear and hate those who are "different", or who come from other countries or nationalities, or practise different religions. He crudely demeans and degrades women, and openly boasts about molesting them. He's a champion of white supremacy who has insulted and threatened Black people, and whipped up a racist lynch-mob mentality. Trump has mocked the disabled. He is an aggressive and unapologetic militarist, who threatens to use nuclear weapons and will have his fingers on the nuclear codes. He openly advocates war crimes and crimes against humanity – including torture and killing the families of people accused of terrorism. He plans to pack the Supreme Court with justices who will gut and reverse the right to abortion, gay rights, and other important legal rights. He calls climate change a hoax and his policies will wreak further devastation on the environment. He has attacked and threatened the press and stirred up his supporters to do the same. Trump has utter contempt for facts and the truth, and consistently lies to advance his agenda. As for the rule of law, Trump went so far as to openly threaten his opponent, Hillary Clinton, not only with jail, but even assassination. Donald Trump is an outright fascist. And he is now the president-elect.

Fascism is a very serious thing. Fascism foments and relies on xenophobic nationalism, racism, and the aggressive reinstitution of oppressive "traditional values". Fascism feeds on and encourages the threat and use of violence to build a movement and come to power. Fascism, once in power, essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights. Fascism attacks, jails, and executes its opponents, and launches violent mob attacks on "minorities". In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and '40s, under Hitler, fascism did all these things. They imprisoned millions in concentration camps and exterminated millions of Jews, Roma people (Gypsies), and other "undesirables". And Hitler did almost all of this through the established institutions and the "rule of law".This is where this goes. And yes, Hitler himself could "talk graciously" when he felt it would serve his interests and lull his opponents.
Trump did not even win the popular vote, (even though he did win the "electoral college" which decides elections in the US). Hitler himself came to power through democratic procedures, including through the process of elections. Should people have accepted Hitler?! Unfortunately, they did, at a horrific cost to humanity. Today, with nuclear weapons, that cost could be far higher.
In the name of humanity, we must refuse to accept a fascist America!
The fact that Trump won as many votes as he did must be understood. The fact that he got more than even 10 percent of the vote is disgraceful and reveals some very ugly things about America. So why did this happen? The world today is turbulent, full of changes. Those who supported Trump's fascist program were overwhelmingly sections of white people, especially but not only white men, who yearn for the days of open white supremacy and American global domination, and the blatant subjugation of women. A significant minority of white people did oppose him, but we have to confront how deep the racism, the national chauvinism, and the hatred of women is woven into this society, and not give in to this, but vigorously challenge and fiercely oppose it.
But even more than this, Trump was backed by powerful forces in this society. Beyond those who directly supported him, the media, the Democratic Party, and others treated him as a legitimate candidate, refused to call him out as the fascist he is, and now call on everyone to accept his ascension to power. All the major powerful forces in this society bear the responsibility – it is they who have, over decades, either built up this fascist force or have "enabled" it.
You cannot try to "wait things out" with fascists. Those who lived through Hitler's Germany and sat on the sidelines, looking on as Hitler rounded up one group after another, became shameful collaborators with monstrous crimes against humanity. Trump and his regime must be resisted and defied, beginning now, in many different ways and in every corner of society.
Reconciliation and collaboration would be nothing less than criminal and deadly. Literally. Come together... resist... and let the whole world know that we will not allow this to stand!

Pix by www.makeamericafascistagain.com.

Salutes to the masses and to the Brazilian martyrs

From Maoistroad/ Revolutionary Proletarian Feminist Movement Italy:

As RPFM, with great joy and emotion we bring here today in occasion of this celebration, the strong salute of our women comrades, labourers, proletarian women which are struggling in our country, to the popular masses that are rebelling and fight in Brazil to advance along the path for conquering a new power.

We honor all martyrs and women martyrs which have fallen fighting and combating and have raised the red flag of the revolutionary struggle.

On the 50th anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, we want to first honor the comrade Chiang Ching, militant and leader of the Chinese Communist Party, whose life was always at the service of the revolutionary struggle of the masses for the construction of a society free from exploitation and oppression of the ruling system, to advance along the road to communism.

Great was the Chiang Ching commitment on the issue of women in order to develop the struggle for genuine liberation from social and family oppression.

The ruling classes have deliberately distorted the meaning of life and death of Chiang Ching and, in general, on her you know the lies and slanders reported by the bourgeois press. It is obvious that the oppressors have hated her, because today, as then, Chiang Ching is a living and shining beacon for all, a comrade and communist leader who embodied fully the meaning of "It is raight to rebel" and that as a woman also concretely implemented the slogan "unleash the fury of women as a mighty force for revolution"… showing that this is possible!

Chiang Ching had to fight not only against obscurantism and patriarchy in Chinese society, but also against the internal one at the same CCP which, for a long time, until the '60s, prevented her from having a public political role.

Always on the side of Mao, she fought hard against everything that wanted to hinder and prevent the revolutionary development of the masses in China, the construction of socialism; and it was mainly in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution launched by Mao in May 1966, which brought to light his great firmness and ideological militancy, always strenuously defending it until her death, against the revisionists, even inside the Party, which aimed to did the capitalist restoration in China.

In the GPCR, Chiang Ching was at the fore as a leader comrade on several fronts. She animated and led many young rebels, the Red Guards, in the hard fight against the followers of the capitalist road, she difended in the deepest way the right of the masses to storm the heavens, to defy tradition and sweep away the old reaction in every field; she fought with great enthusiasm against revisionism, intervening decisively in the superstructural field of culture and education, giving a great contribution also to the revolution in the arts, in particular in the context of the theater, according to the proletarian revolutionary line that placed as its centre the mass action against the revisionist line that hiding behind an apparent ‘new’, continued to defend the privileges of class.

After Mao's death for 15 long years she was imprisoned by the revisionists who, with a coup, took power. But even in prison Chiang Ching with great strength and pride continued to rebel and claim the rightness of the GPCR, holding high the red flag of mlm, of communism, until his captors, unable to bend his will, left she die.

But her death does not deleted in any case her immeasurable value and her being an example for women and all humanity, her being one of the greatest communist revolutionary leaders of our time, to which women must look and especially women comrades, women revolutionaries, women communists if really we want to storm the heavens.

Today in China, the Maoist left that is working to resume the path traced by Mao, looks and refers to Chiang Ching, and thousands are the testimonies of revolutionary love that even with much difficulty come to light.

Who does not value the role of Chiang Ching in the GPCR, does not recognize in reality the role of the revolutionary women's movement in the PCR, and raises the flag of the GPCR to scuttle the GPCR.

Veterans day-Another year to celebrate imperialism

by សតិវ​អតុ

Every year I write something about veteran's Day. That is the day this country (United States) honors its vets. Since after World War II, the US fought the cold war and now it just fights to preserve a giant empire against ISIS (Islamic State). For the first time in the history of the world, the US has built the largest empire since the Roman Empire.

Nothing has ever existed like this before. Every country in the world has to live with this empire trying to force its will on the world. So far there are no other super powers that can rival the US Empire since the fall of the USSR. However ISIS is putting up a real fight. They have the land. They have an extended network of people to inflict civilian casualties in case they lose their land and state. But they are probably about to lose their so called state. When they do, it will be a little like the US winning the cold war over the Soviet Union. But ISIS was never as strong as the Soviet Union. And with our new prez., Donald Trump, he may send in the gazillion US troops it takes to l liquidate those people. President Barack Obama wants it to look like our puppet government troops of Iraq are in the process of "liberating their own country." However it is likely that Trump doesn't care if it looks like the Iraqis or US troops are doing the so called "liberating." He is not into subtleties. He is the US bull-in-the-China-shop. Results count and providing a saving face for imperialism will not be necessary.

From the National Interest:

In military terms, we know that roughly 750 military bases and installations staffed by American military personnel exist in approximately 130 countries around the world. We know that the United States accounts now for roughly two-fifths, 40 percent, of all military expenditures in the world.

What few Americans realize is that our standing as the richest most powerful country in the world demands that those in weaker countries suffer without those things that we take for granted. We have the best in electronic devices—iphones-computers-etc. And we have the best motor-vehicles and cheapest gas of anywhere in the world.

We have an unlimited supply of water, food and electricity. Not everyone in the world has those things (see A Nicaraguan travelogue—First hand look at 3rd world poverty).

The Melian dialogue—by Thucydides –the city of Athenians and the people of Melos-Relevant Quotes:

”Since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must" 

And the biggest lie of all—“These people fight for your freedom—Freedom isn’t Fee!”

To which I state:

No one in the US is fighting for your FREEDOM!!  -

NO ONE!!

Cheap gas and resources. That is what it is really all about.

Pix by JD Power.

After Trump won—what now?

What to people do now? Many Americans are in shock and disgusted that this man, Donald Trump, is now our president. But it happened. There have been protests all across the country against Trump. But what will they do? How do they think they can get rid of him? In the short run Trump is here to stay. In the long run, these protesters may find a way to counter Trump. For now we will just see what happens. សតិវ​ អតុ  

Pix by Reddit.

Anti-Trump Protesters Pour Into The Streets Of San Francisco, Oakland

Is Trump anti-establishment?

A Google Translation:

From Red Dazibao:

By JL Forneo

It turns out that not only the Spanish Social shebang created to blow ticket by large economic corporations and led by Pablo Iglesias is a party "anti - system" as its sister party Greek accomplice Troika Brussels, Syriza, but the Donald Trump single incarnation of Weberian capitalist spirit, billionaire unscrupulous, following the only ideology that believes the money, is capable of anything to increase your profits, so it is.
The "anti - system" option, as the call many media disinformation is, however, the GOP Bush and Reegan, which differs only from the "Democratic" progressives that bombard other fractious peoples and exploit the working class less hypocritically without both analgesic makeup.
Some even they were full the mouth of hope for peace stating that Trump will be more affordable to live as brothers, as if under the capitalist system is peace possible. First, capitalism is based on violence by one class, minority and parasitic on other majority and producer of wealth, in what Marx and Engels called "class warfare" unbridgeable conflict until not definitely eliminate these social classes, work can only be done working, because the capitalist always need the proletariat, the main source of their wealth; secondly, because capitalism, especially in its imperialist phase, needs war, economic or military to continue their need for more resources, more benefits, more added value of export of capital, so the agreements, alliances or relocations of some capitalist or other states are just vestibules of new wars:
"for this reason , alliances" German interimperialist "or" ultraimperialistas "in capitalist reality, not in the vulgar petty - bourgeois fantasy of English parsons or" Marxist "Kautsky - whatever its form: an imperialist coalition against another imperialist coalition, or a general alliance of  all  the imperialist powers - can not constitute,  in avoidably, rather than "truces" between the wars peaceful alliances prepare and wars. in turn, arise from the bosom of the war, the extent of each other, generating a succession of forms of peaceful struggle, not peaceful on  one and the same  basis of imperialist relations and mutual relations between the economy and world politics "(Lenin, imperialism, thehighest stage of capitalism).
capitalism, "inevitably" tends toward war, although a weak position in the imperialist chain (which are part of all states under a capitalist regime) apparently does seem that some capitalist states "they are not aggressive" and therefore, following this logic Kautskyan that desmotara Lenin, "are not imperialists."
So Trump, for unbelievers or lelos celebrating the victory of the capitalist offender

American who boasts of having become rich without paying taxes or respect the law (curiously, many of them did the same with the genocidal Obama when he became the "hopeful black president") does not differ much with respect to his rival Hillary Clinton then, as is normal for its class, any proposed even remotely change the system and the system of ownership, as Marx said in his Manifesto, is the basic point that every communist must put the core of his analysis.
as for the aggressiveness of US foreign policy (the continuity of the exploitation of the working class is taken for granted in both cases), and despite the easily or delude, as Kautsky, simply justify that same farm , the fact is that especially at a time when the unipolar world that emerged after the triumph of capitalism in the USSR in the nineties is losing ground to new imperialist blocs in the making, with Trump will follow the only way in that capitalism can develop: competition, theft, war, although at peak times the "truces", "alliances" and "rapprochement" between them may seem the opposite of what already Lenin showed that they were "preparation for new wars."
in short, and to return to the beginning, Trump, like Clinton, is actually a man of the system, become US president, lest we forget, thanks to an electoral process in which are the corporations who, by financing campaigns or their means of propaganda, decide what are the options that can be voted, the capitalist elephant and imperialist (remember the Reagan criminals, or Bush) or the capitalist donkey and imperialist (as in the case of Clinton and Obama genocidal).In all cases, although the primitive and pseudo - religious soul of post - modern man tends to put on the particular individual maximum imaginable power are only two puppets of the big monopolistic corporations in his country and, consequently, puppets of one or another imperialist bloc.

US- election time again- lousy choices again

“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” - Karl Marx

By សតិវ​ អតុ  

It is election time and here are some tid bits of ideas from earlier posts about these US elections. We are being asked to vote for two people that are miserably despised by the general electorate. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are hated by much of the electorate. And yet they are the two people being forced on us this election day.

For those of us who consider ourselves left-wing and issue oriented, this campaign is a terrible mess. Both candidates have some real problems that will plague us if or when he or she wins. 

Neither candidate is really that far to the left or right. Compared to most Republicans Trump is to the left of the others. That is not to say he is left-wing, rather he is a right-wing candidate compared to his far-far-far right-wing Republicans. Clinton’s politics are almost right of center. She is best labelled a center-wing candidate—maybe even a right of center candidate.

On the domestic side Clinton will be choosing the next Supreme Court Judge if she is elected. That is a good thing as she will probably pick someone who will stand up for abortion rights and civil liberties. Also if she wins the Republican Party will not be able to consolidate their power they have massed over the last few years. They have used clever organizing tricks and gerrymandering to take over the Senate, the House and most state level governments in this country. With Trump in office the agenda of the Republicans is set to take off. Nothing will stop the most repressive political establishment party in US history (at least in my lifetime). Most important to me and others will be the end of Obama Care (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/ PPACA, or Affordable Care Act/ ACA). While it may be a disaster, as the Republicans have claimed, for some health businesses and some middle and upper class patients, it is the first time many lower middle class and poor workers have been able to afford health care. The Republicans seem to want to see those classes of people go without insurance and die. As a member of the lower middle class workers, I resent the idea that I should die for the convenience of wealthier workers and business people.

 

But Clinton’s benefits come at a price. She is the most hawkish and pro-US imperialist candidate for office in years. So far she has voted to go to war at every opportunity that came up when she was in the US Congress. She voted to go to war in Iraq. She supports arming the Free Syrian Army, a right-wing pro-imperialist pro-NATO guerrilla movement. She will probably increase troops in the war against ISIL (the Islamic State). She will probably increase involvement in Afghanistan. She probably make havoc for left-wing governments in Latin America. She is way more hawkish than our present leader Barack Obama. 

As a member of the Peace and Social Justice Center in Wichita, Kansas and as a major activist in the anti-imperialist movement, this means we will be busy working against Clinton’s pro-war pro-military policies.

From the past:

Elections and Democracy

A question has arisen in one of my comments on the establishment of elections. Does that make a democracy?
On the question of US elections, we have two parties. The press, the Electoral College and the two ruling parties have all collaborated to insure that Republicans and Democrats are the only ones to be taken seriously. The Libertarian Party has had presidential candidates on the ballet in every state for several elections and they get no press coverage at all. On various levels (national, state, local) the press has paid the most attention to the candidate who spends the most money. The money comes from special interest groups, the majority of which are corporations. Anti-abortion groups, environmentalists, and other special interest groups make up a very small percentage of the campaign contributions politicians get to run for office. This means that the corporations get most of a congress person’s attention. The campaign contributions are protected by our constitution even though they amount to a legal form of bribery.

For the rest click here.

The Ten Big Lies of Parliamentarism

The following article is originally in  Portuguese. I used Google Translator to read it. I’m posting the first paragraph in English. I am reposting a larger part of it here in Portuguese, along with a link to the original page. I like this article because it helps explains how parliamentary democracy is phony. I’m not against democracy or elections. Elections have their place. But to insist that these elections actually result in democracy is a pipe dream. Democracy implies that people are deciding who their leaders are and making major decisions about their destiny. National political elections don’t do that at all.

The choices given to the voters are those of political parties influenced by corporate interests and not the interests of the people they are supposed to represent. In the US we have two parties. While they have their differences they are extremely limited choices. The voter is a mere spectator and not really a participant in the process of choosing leadership.

For more click here.

Alice Cooper - Elected

JOHN LENNON - "GIMME SOME TRUTH" 

Turkey- Erdogan arrests MPs in a new phase of his totalitarian coup

From For what we are ...they will be:

The Islamist President has launched a new offensive against what may remain of "democracy" in the Turkish Republic. Tayyip Erdogan, self-proclaimed admirer of Hitler and one of the main backers of Islamist terror in Syria and Iraq, has taken yet another step forward in his career to become an absolutist tyrant, ordering the arrest of many leaders of the Democratic Party of the Peoples (HDP), including its two co-presidents, which are both MPs. In order to do that he has decreed the end of Parliamentary immunity. 

Among the victims of Erdogan's fascist repression are Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag (photo), Turkish and Kurdish, male and female, co-presidents of the internationalist and socialist party that was in the last half-transparent elections (the last ones were a partial fraud) the third largest in the Turkish state and, by far, the largest one in Northern Kurdistan and some other "less Turkish" areas of the East. Also arrested have been the co-mayors of Diyarbakir, Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, who have been replaced by some guy directly appointed by Ankara. Many other HDP MPs have been arrested as well.

Connection to Internet in North Kurdistan and possibly other areas of the Turkish state has been severed. In the rest of the state access to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. is extremely difficult. 

Coverage of what is happening, in Western as well as in Russian media, is scant at best, very distorted at worst. 

Erdogan's slow motion coup recap

Right after the (staged?) military putsch attempt of July, Erdogan began purging the state from everyone who disagreed with him: public officers, judges, teachers, etc. were expelled en masse. This was the real coup, something Erdogan had prepared beforehand. A new phase of the coup is happening this week: first he jailed key progressive journalists of the main independent newspaper Cumhuriyet, now he's frontally charging against the HDP. If someone blinks, as Merkel just did, he says that they are "aiding terrorism", by which he means not the terrorism of his Islamist paramilitary dogs nor the one perpetrated by the Turkish state against Kurds recently as well, but the armed struggle of the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK). 

Incidentally the very first part of Erdogan's coup was to break the years-long truce with the PKK (using, as the Nazis did so often, a false flag attack as pretext) in September 2015. This change of Kurdish policy awaited almost exactly until the arm of Syriza was broken in the Greece-EU standoff of early 2015. Why? Because earlier he was ready to stage a war against Greece if Athens dared to disobey the Troika's mandate. Only once the "western front" was clear, he turned to the "eastern front" with all his might and cruelty. That is because the petty dictator knew that Turkey would have a very hard time fighting in those two fronts simultaneously, plus the still not healed internal Turkish class front (remember the widespread 2013 protests). 

But why would Turkey attack Greece? Because the Western powers asked them maybe? Well, I can't say for sure but most probably yes. It was mainly because of the unspoken but known Turkish threat that Greece could not afford to challenge the Troika, exactly the same reason why Cyprus could never incorporate the British colonial bases because, well, Turkey invaded the north of the island back in the day.  

So when Erdogan now, after the mysterious military coup of which we know almost nothing, appears to have pushed him towards Russia, I just have a very hard time believing anything. Putin is here behaving very naively, in my opinion, unless he has some hidden cards that I am unaware of. It would not be the first time the retorted maneuvers of the Western secret services catch the Kremlin off guard anyhow, look at what happened in Ukraine! 

Russia is tough in the military aspect no doubt but when it comes to intelligence they seem to be always behind NATO and particularly Washington. It is not the first time that Russia plays unwillingly the West's game: a lot of UN Security Council resolutions that gave the USA pretext for war against small countries, from Afghanistan to Syria itself, were passed with the approval of Moscow and Beijing. Putin is not that smart, really: he's been conned too often. Maybe this Turkey's flirting is just another instance of the same NATO convoluted power games, or maybe is just Erdogan on his own tricking Russia into not backing the PKK (a well funded Kurdish guerrilla would be a nightmare for his totalitarian aspirations), only to backstab Moscow later again when he feels stronger.  

In any case Erdogan, Hitler's 21st century apprentice, is clearly consolidating his totalitarian power in the Turkish state, without making any major concessions to anyone, blackmailing the EU into submission by manipulation of refugee flows and quite possibly terrorist attacks signed by his loyal DAESH puppet, making peace with Russia after shooting down their airplane and keeping the very all-powerful USA unwilling to make any sudden move against him.