Three articles from Scintilla 135, published by the Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy

I'm posting upcoming events at durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/04/april-issue-of-revolutionary-democracy.html and I hope to post a late summer and fall calendar in August.

Vilnius: a summit of war and rearmament

On the mutiny of the mercenary Wagner

The EU financially supports the Tunisian dictator[ship] in its fight against migrants  

Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy  

Vilnius: a summit of war and rearmament  

The annual summit of NATO took place on July 11 and 12, 2023 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, practically on the borders of the Russian Federation. A clear sign of the escalation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.  

During the summit the heads of state and government of the imperialist and capitalist countries that are at war with Russian imperialism approved plans to:  

– Further prolong the ongoing war, an imperialist proxy war that is the continuation of a decades-long policy of expansion, provocations and threats of NATO, paid mainly by the Ukrainian and Russian working masses. This is without providing for any negotiation other than Zelensky's "10-point peace formula" (achievable only with Russia's unlikely defeat on the ground) and thus supporting a protracted war.  

– Intensify the war by providing the corrupt Ukrainian regime with cluster bombs, F16s, advanced tanks, long-range missiles, depleted uranium munitions, to consider the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons, in addition to the huge financial support (a fund of another $20 billion) without which Kiev would collapse.  

– Prepare for the expansion of the theater of war in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Arctic, regions where Russian imperialism is present, as well as in Belarus and Russia itself. This is while military interventions are being prepared in other regions: in the Middle East, in North Africa and in the Sahel, in the Balkans, in the Caucasus, in the Asia-Pacific region.  

At the last summit in Madrid it was decided to strengthen the "Battle groups" positioned on NATO's eastern flank and to expand the "NATO Response Force" from 40,000 to more than 300,000 soldiers. In Vilnius it was decided to put these troops in a position of high readiness, adding others until they reached the level of combat brigades and including air and naval forces. In addition, an Allied Response Force has been set up to respond quickly to crisis situations in every direction.  

The bandits gathered in Vilnius also discussed the further enlargement of NATO: after Finland, Sweden (it will be the 32nd member, twice as many as in 1990), Georgia, Bosnia, Moldova, etc. The process of integration of Ukraine that will be concluded after the war is advancing. So said Biden, demonstrating how cynical he is using Kiev as its pawn.  

This is while NATO's Asian partners (Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea), as well as the EU itself, are increasingly integrated into the US-led war policy to maintain its world hegemony, which is threatened by the rise of imperialist China, which Washington wants to strategically detach from Russia.  

The NATO summit in Vilnius has very high costs, so NATO members will have to devote at least 2% of their GDP to NATO spending on a lasting basis. At the same time, it was decided to modernize the war apparatus on the basis of a more developed military industry, this also in Europe (imperialist Germany is particularly interested), with supply chains that cannot be blocked by imperialist rivals.  

As the war is becoming more and more "industrial", the member states are called upon to contribute to exercises (especially on the eastern flank) and military missions with trained and equipped troops, armaments, logistics, growing economic resources, at the expense of the economic and social needs of the workers and peoples.  

At the Vilnius Summit, NATO reiterated that strategic nuclear weapons, particularly those possessed by the USA and also stationed in Europe, are the foundation of its war policy, as they are capable of imposing unacceptable costs on the adversary.  

This means that the Atlantic Alliance is preparing for war with a nuclear dimension, modernizing and strengthening its atomic terror apparatus.  

As a result, the NATO members will increase exercises to prepare to use nuclear weapons simultaneously with conventional weapons. NATO's willingness to use nuclear weapons also emerges from the criticism of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which would undermine NATO's ability to threaten other states.  

The arms race of the Western imperialists is therefore continuing. Obviously, imperialist Russia, like imperialist China, will not sit idly by.  

The militarist process to which NATO is giving a strong impetus is seeing internal disputes. The imperialist states behind the scenes are fighting over the division of spheres of influence and the spoils of war, for trade agreements and investments, for energy sources and routes, in the face of the "cohesion of solidarity" proclaimed at the summit.  

Faced with the USA that wants to bring its allies into line and unload on them (that is, on the working masses of these countries) the costs of ever wider military involvement, the European bourgeoisies are hesitating.  

Even behind the reluctance of European governments on cluster bombs, it is not difficult to see the fear of a more massive commitment in a conflict that is also directed against their economies, which are already suffering from energy supply difficulties, the consequences of sanctions, with the now imminent recession.  

Europe's warmongers also fear the response of the working masses, who are increasingly tired of suffering the costs of war. The divergences are therefore bound to widen.  

But what is the position of Italian imperialism in this process?  

It undoubtedly plays a leading role in the ongoing war.  

For the US, Meloni [Italian Prime Minister] was a "positive surprise", having followed the line dictated by Washington without breathing (even more so will it have to do so with regard to China).  

However, the Italian bourgeoisie must not be reduced to the role of mere servant of the USA. It participates in the war for the interests of its war and energy monopolies, of the big "re/construction" companies that are competing with other monopolies to expand all over the world, dragging behind it the medium and small capitalism.  

The ruling class, by participating in the war and the plundering of dependent peoples, is trying to find abroad the solution to its serious internal problems. Therefore, military spending is growing, taken from social and social security spending. But every euro of military spending means an extra euro for oppression and violence against the working masses.  

Today the struggle against war and the warmongering government of Meloni, against sending weapons and funds to Ukraine, for the withdrawal of troops sent abroad, for the withdrawal from NATO and all imperialist alliances, for the closure of US and NATO bases, against the increase in military spending at the expense of social ones, for the banning of nuclear weapons,  is presented as an item on the agenda. Let us therefore prepare ourselves for an autumn of struggle, without siding with any of the imperialist parties in conflict, but by developing proletarian internationalism which means in the first place a struggle against "our own" imperialism.  

As decided in the Milan assembly of June 11, the imperative is to join forces to start a mass struggle that will frustrate the war plans of the Meloni government and NATO. The commitments are clear: to work for the success of the national mobilization of October 21 with demonstrations in front of the military bases of Coltano and Ghedi (in the latter airport there are atomic bombs).  

To this end, it is necessary to work for the success of the strike of the conflicting unions on October 20, involving in its preparation the delegates and combative workers of all the unions, intervening in the other deadlines of struggle that are being prepared, closely linking the question of peace to that of the bread and freedom of the workers, raising the flag of international solidarity of the proletarians,  of the brotherhood of peoples, which can triumph only with socialism.  

 

Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy  

On the mutiny of the mercenary Wagner  

In June, a clash took place in Russia between sectors of the bourgeoisie for the control of the private militia Wagner, engaged in the war in Ukraine and in several African countries (Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan, Mozambique, etc.) in defense of the interests of Russian imperialism.  

The oligarch Prigozhin defended his lucrative business (which includes remuneration in mineral and oil wealth) with weapons in hand, threatened by Putin who wanted to absorb him into the state ranks.  

After months of accusations against senior Russian military officials, treated as incapable, on June 24 Prigozhin "crossed the Rubicon" and took control of Rostov-on-Don Square (an important rear for Russian troops in Ukraine) to put pressure on Moscow.  

It was certainly not a coup, as many have said, but a full-blown mutiny.  

However, on its way Wagner found the forces loyal to Putin, who treated it as traitors and bombed with the air force the column of military vehicles of the mercenary gang headed to the capital of the Russian Federation to ask for the heads of some generals and safeguard its existence and its relative autonomy.  

Prigozhin was thus forced to swallow an agreement that subordinates part of Wagner's mercenaries to the Russian Minister of Defense and provides for himself, as head of the mutineers, an amnesty of a sort with asylum in Minsk.  

Asylum soon retracted since, according to what has been learned from the press, Putin and Prigozhin would meet in Moscow: the material needs of the war, which sees Russian troops in difficulty in some sectors, evidently have priority.  

The rhetoric of the chauvinist Putin, who went so far as to confuse today’s situation with that of 1917, comparing Prigozhin to Lenin, was shameful, as was the social-chauvinist policy of the CPRF revisionists, who continue to support the Russian imperialist regime and its military adventures. The 36-hour confrontation between Putin and his former aide Prigozhin revealed that bourgeois power in Russia is undermined by irreconcilable cracks and contradictions.  

The rot of the Russian imperialist state has come to light, a colossus with feet of clay in the hands of factions of mafia capitalist oligarchs and brutal "warlords" who associate and compete with each other in imposing exploitation, oppression and hard sacrifices on the working class and the popular masses.  

The destruction of the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism has led to today's misery and tragedy, the restoration and triumph of capitalism creating war, corruption, hunger and misery.  

For their part, the Western powers, led by the USA, have taken advantage of the clash that took place in Russia (they knew Prigozhin's plan [DS – supposedly they knew far in advance, and if that is true, the obvious question is whether there was US involvement.  Who would get nuclear weapons and radioactive materials if there were a new Russian civil war?  Chaos, disintegration, and poverty in Russia seems to be the goal of many in the "West," though there would probably be unintended results, as with the decades of war in Afghanistan.]), keeping a low profile: the group of brigands led by Biden wants a prolonged proxy war to weaken Putin and bleed Russia, but prevent it from getting out of control as a nuclear power.  

But even at home the problems and instability are serious: we remember Trump's attempted coup against Biden, the fierce rivalry that exists within the Atlantic Alliance for spheres of influence, the division of the spoils of war and reconstruction, the numerous mercenary armies (such as Academi, DynCorp, Vinnel in the USA, Asgaard in Germany, Gallice security in France, etc.), contractors and providers of military "services" at the service of monopolies and states.  

The solution is not to side with one robber, whether big or small, winning or losing, against another robber.  

The solution lies only in the hands of the working class and oppressed peoples, who have the strength to defeat the exploiters and warmongers.  

Therefore we will not cease to call and participate in the struggle against "our own" imperialism, currently led by the Meloni government, which wants to drag us further and further into the abyss of war and militarization, as well as to appeal for the workers and peoples of Russia and Ukraine to shake hands and turn their weapons against their real enemies to establish lasting peace and fraternal cooperation,  in a new socialist society.  

To carry out this work successfully, today more than ever, the Party of the Proletarian Revolution is needed, the only one that can pave the way for the future.  

 

Scintilla num. 135, July/August 2023
by Communist Platform of the Proletariat of Italy  

The EU financially supports the Tunisian dictator[ship] in its fight against migrants  

In mid-July, the European Union (EU) reached an agreement with Tunisian dictator President Kais Saied under which the Tunisian government will help keep migrants out of the EU.  

The Tunisian government will receive about 1 billion euros in return, if it also adopts the IMF's neoliberal economic "reforms".  

In the process, the reactionary populist Saied is working massively against migrants and refugees. Its police abandon the sub-Saharan population, including children, in the desert, where they are without water and without any help.  

The EU, with its supposed moral values, every day looks mercilessly at migrants drowning in the Mediterranean. However, the growing number of migrants and refugees is mainly a consequence of imperialist policies, including those of the EU. The countries of Africa are especially exploited to this day by the imperialist countries, their resources are plundered and their economy ruined by cheap imports from the industrialized countries. This is how they want to keep these countries in eternal dependence.  

Climate change, for which the large imperialist countries are responsible, also leads to the fact that living conditions in Africa are also deteriorating dramatically. This is another cause of the flight from those countries. The peoples in the exploited countries are bearing the consequences of the economic crimes of the exploiting states.  

The wars of the imperialist states, including now the war in Ukraine, are aggravating the situation of the peoples in the plundered countries. Rising food and energy prices are increasing their misery and hunger.  

The resistance of the workers, peasants and masses against this plunder is suppressed with the help of dictatorial regimes, which also receive so-called "cash aid" from the EU.  

As more human beings are driven to flee in this way, the dictators, reactionary measures, and the isolation of Europe are being used more and more openly against the victims of EU policy, and a 'fortress Europe' is being built with ever higher walls.  

Even within Europe, politics is becoming increasingly reactionary and anti-working-class. Far-right and racist forces such as the Meloni government in Italy are being used. The EU is a stronghold of reaction – against the peoples and against its own people.  

We oppose this reactionary and inhumane policy and the capitalist system that creates it!  

Let us refuse to make Tunisia a border guard and a concentration camp for migrants and refugees for the benefit of the imperialist and capitalist countries of the EU!  

We stand by the peoples and organizations of the different countries that are fighting for democratic rights, social and national liberation.  

Let us fight for a society without capitalist and imperialist exploitation, for a world of solidarity!  

We therefore demand:  

• The end of the EU-Tunisia immigration agreement!  

• No criminalization of migrants and refugees and their rescuers! Safe corridors and flights!  

Let us fight against the causes of migration and wars, instead of against migrants and refugees!  

Let us not be divided!  

Let us fight together against the profiteers of exploitation and plunder!  

July 2023  

Communist Party of Albania  

Communist Party of the Workers of Denmark – APK  

Communist Party of the Workers if France – PCOF  

Organization for the Construction of a Communist Party of the Workers of Germany (labor Future)  

Movement for the reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE 1918-1955)  

Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy  

Marxist-Leninist Group Revolusjon – Norway  

Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCEML  

Workers' Party of Tunisia  

Party of Labour (EMEP) – Turkey  

From Rebel to Revolutionary: War on War! Not one more!

[From derebeldearevolucionario.com/2023/07/25/guerra-a-la-guerra-ni-una-mas/ – ¡GUERRA A LA GUERRA! ¡NI UNA MÁS!]

From Rebel to Revolutionary  

| Bulletin | July 25, 2023 |  

Communist Workers and Students for Social Change  

WAR ON WAR! NOT ONE MORE!  

The aggression, repression and hypocrisy of the United States is evidenced by three events that occurred on July 25. First there was the invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, commanded by General Miles, who played a leading role in almost all the bloody battles against the North American Indians, including the battle of Wounded Knee (1890) in which the Yankee army massacred more than 300 natives of the Lakota tribe. It was followed by the farce of the creation of the constitution of the Commonwealth [Free Associated State] of Puerto Rico in 1952, which is neither free nor associated, but subordinate, and which only has the value of the paper on which it is written. Then comes the murder in 1978 of two young independentistas, Arnaldo Darío Rosado and Carlos Soto Arriví in Villalba, Puerto Rico by the repressive forces of the police commanded by the assassin Governor of the country at that time, Carlos Romero Barceló and the FBI.  

125 years after the invasion of Puerto Rico by the Yankees, the United States continues its policy of imperialist aggression from our lands to other countries of the world. With their policy of aggression and genocide, they have deployed their brutal force, in particular in the face of a possible third world war that is looming once again by wanting to extend their tentacles to the rest of the world to impose their bourgeois democracy, as is the case now with the war between Ukraine and Russia.  

Since the founding of that nation 247 years ago, the United States has carried out 230 wars, invasions, genocides and aggressions around the planet. With only 4% of the world's population, the United States has about 800 military bases around the world, thus dramatizing its political, economic and military hegemony, violating the sovereignty of the peoples in the name of capitalist-imperialist democracy.  

The annual US military budget reached $877 billion in 2022, close to a trillion dollars today (not counting the CIA budget which is a secret), which is three times more global military spending than the amount spent by China. This is enough to supply all the inhabitants of the African continent with water, light, medicine and education for a year.  

In the case of Puerto Rico, because of the colonial bureaucracy they have created, they have imposed a fiscal control board that has a greater mandate than the elected government, to collect a foreign debt, imposing unsustainable living conditions on the working class. It is a great hypocrisy of the US to force us to pay an illegal and unpayable debt, while in Ukraine billions have been spent on a war whose sole purpose is to control the natural resources of the region, strengthen its hegemony for private interests and suppress what was formerly the USSR (today the Russian Federation).  

The United States has imposed a colonial system on us for the past 125 years, since the invasion of our lands by cannon power in the Spanish-American War. This event, which they want to erase from our history, shows the criminal and genocidal character of Yankee imperialism.  

U.S. imperialism and its executioners, NATO, are laying bare that their economic and political interests are worth more than the lives of the working class. In order to defend their hegemony and economic interests, they will not hesitate to resort to nuclear war or fascism, if necessary. Today, U.S. imperialism is an empire in decline, challenged by the Russian Federation and China.  

In the face of the threat of a third world war, we call on the Puerto Rican working class as part of the international working class to unite against a common enemy that threatens the existence of humanity. Like Lenin's slogan, as a working class and communist, we declare:  

War on War!  

No empire lasts forever! Death to imperialism, capitalism and fascism! NO to inter-imperialist war! We want peace between nations and only war between classes!  

The workers' struggle has no borders! The working class has no borders! Long live communism! Long live Puerto Rico free and communist!  

Communist Workers and Students for Social Change  

derebeldearevolucionario at tutanota com 

#FreeSimonTrinidad Twitter storm at POTUS Biden and Colombian President Petro

 

Fight Back! News:  

Twitter storm to demand freedom for Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad

Tweet this image and in the text box, write "FreeSimonTrinidad" and tag U.S. President Biden “@POTUS” and Colombian President Petro "@petrogustavo". Please also tag the Colombian court asking for Trinidad’s return "@JEP_Colombia"

By staff

Fight Back! is circulating the following call for a Twitter storm in solidarity with Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad, a political prisoner held by the U.S. government in the Florence, Colorado supermax prison.

The National Committee to Free Simon Trinidad

Please join our “Twitter Storm” on July, 30, 2023, from 9am to 9pm Eastern time. We are celebrating the 73rd birthday of Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad and demanding the U.S. government commute his sentence so he is free to return to Colombia.

The Committee is calling for a Twitter Storm with the following instructions:

1) On Twitter, start a new tweet:

Upload the Simon Trinidad flyer (the image above) and the information

2) In the text box, write "FreeSimonTrinidad" and tag U.S. President Biden “@POTUS” and Colombian President Petro "@petrogustavo". Please also tag the Colombian court asking for Trinidad’s return "@JEP_Colombia"

3) Repeat as many times as you can to push the #FreeSimonTrinidad into trending

Who is Simon Trinidad?

Simón Trinidad is a Colombian revolutionary and political prisoner of the U.S. empire. He will pass his 73rd birthday in solitary confinement in a federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Simón Trinidad, born Ricardo Palmera, is imprisoned following a bogus extradition to the United States in 2004. Trinidad was convicted on trumped-up charges, and sentenced to 60 years in a Washington D.C. courtroom because he was fighting in Colombia for the freedom of his own country. This year he is being requested by the Special Peace Jurisdiction Court (JEP) in Colombia to help move his country towards peace with justice. With the incoming Petro-Marquez administration and strong mass movements, the conditions have changed in favor toward Trinidad’s release and role as a peace negotiator. Now is the best and probably only chance he will have to be set free and contribute.

On his 73rd birthday, revolutionary and progressive forces are calling for a Twitter Storm, in Spanish a Twitazo, that will tag President Biden to do the right thing and set him free.

“Now is the best and probably only chance Simon Trinidad will have to be set free. He can make great contributions to peace with justice in Colombia. His voice is an important one for the future of all Colombians. We need action now!” said Tom Burke with the Committee to Free Simon Trinidad in Michigan.

[The no longer updated Facebook group:  www.facebook.com/p/National-Committee-to-Free-Ricardo-Palmera-100070964176108 ]

PCP(m-l): Notes on the Peruvian National Strike of July 2023

https://pcpml.net/2023/07/19/anotaciones-rumbo-al-paro-del-19-de-julio-de-2023/  

Notes on the National Strike of July 2023  

Statement of the Peruvian Communist Party (M-L)  

Since December 7, 2022, a civilian-military dictatorship has been established that has been nothing more than a temporary agreement between the two factions of the bourgeoisie that have been in conflict for years: the big financial bourgeoisie and the middle bourgeoisie. They decided together to form an alliance with the aim of stopping the advance of popular demands resulting from the greater politicization of the Peruvian working class. All parts of the State apparatus have coincided in this alliance, that is: the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Power; independent bodies such as the Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation, the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman's Office, the National Superintendence of Higher University Education (SUNEDU), the National Body of Elections (JNE), the Municipality of Lima; as well as CONFIEP {National Confederation of Private Enterprise Institutions], the hierarchies of the Catholic and evangelical clergy, the traditional and corporate press; and of course, the repressive apparatus at their service, the National Police and the Joint Command of the Armed Forces in coordination with the US Embassy. In the same tune they encouraged, endorsed and executed the most brutal repression against the Peruvian working people in the last popular uprising of December 2022.  

As a result of this agreement, the disorganization and demobilization of the working class was expected so that it would not be a danger or harm the interests of any bourgeois sector; the deregulation of economic sectors such as transport (ATU) and higher education (SUNEDU) favored the middle bourgeoisie. And the continuation of the mining-energy concessions, as well as the unlocking of other projects, was expected to increase the profits of the big financial bourgeoisie, which also ensures the domination of these resources under the influence of US imperialism, which is in conflict with Chinese, Russian imperialism and its allies.  

However, more than half a year after the coup d'état of the murderous Dina Boluarte and the butchers Alberto Otárola and Williams Zapata, the alliance of the bourgeoisie has mainly meant profits for the sector of the middle bourgeoisie that continues to dominate Congress and has managed to take over several of the autonomous bodies of the State that were previously controlled by the financial bourgeoisie, such as the Constitutional Court (TC), Office of the Ombudsman, SUNEDU, Urban Transport Authority (ATU); These last two have served to deregulate economic sectors that were already concentrated by the companies of the financial bourgeoisie. Hence, the alliance that was formed at the end of last year is increasingly fractured.  

The social outbreak of December 2022 passed without achieving the main demands of the popular movement: Departure of Dina, Closure of Congress and a Sovereign and Popular Constituent Assembly. The polarization remains and the mobilization has begun to take shape.  

The big financial bourgeoisie that has managed to maintain its control over the concessions it already had, still fails to unblock the mining-energy projects such as Tío María and Conga, due to the resistance presented by the popular movement, not even ceding on paper the exploitation of lithium from Puno to the Canadians has allowed its extraction since the entire Peruvian South is mobilized. That is why it is understandable that the corporate press is increasingly willing to discredit Congress and also call for immediate elections. It is aware that the coup d'état of December 7 has not brought greater profit to the bourgeois sector that it represents, and that the permanence of Dina and Congress means that polarization remains and increases, leaving no possibility, in the short term, to unblock the mining-energy projects that interest it. And their situation is aggravated by the upcoming control that the middle bourgeoisie poses over the electoral system (JNE, ONPE, RENIEC) and the reactivation of the protests on July 19; thus leaving an ally that is always subordinate to the interests of the U.S. Embassy: The Joint Command of the Armed Forces.  

On the side of the popular movement: The struggle, which did not achieve its objectives in the face of the attacks of the reactionary forces, obtained a psychological victory by unmasking the repressive character of the State, its class character and showing more clearly what social class directs it. More and more the working class understands the need to raise its economic demands to political ones and unify them in a first stage in the struggle to achieve the Sovereign and Popular Constituent Assembly.  

The formal and informal proletariat, the poor and middle peasantry, and the progressive petty bourgeoisie are gradually emerging from alienation and economic immediacy, to understand that, if they do not acquire class consciousness and organize themselves with clear political objectives, they will not be able to provide a concrete solution to the economic backwardness of the country and will not be able to solve the crises that the inter-bourgeois struggles continuously generate.  

In order to achieve the objectives of the popular movement, the National Unified Committee of Struggle of Peru (CONULP) was formed, driven mainly by the organizations of the Southern Macro Region, with which it hopes to overcome the strategic and tactical errors that were made in the outbreak of the summer of 2022. An attempt was made to overcome the lack of coordination and spontaneity, as well as the opportunist and conciliatory management of the organizations that lead the National Assembly of the Peoples (ANP) and the trade union centers that Patria Roja, PC-Unidad and Nuevo Perú lead. To date, however, CONULP has not been able to agree on a platform to guide the coming struggles.  

The opportunism that still exists in the ranks of the popular movement has contributed to the fact that sectarianism, caudillismo and pragmatism remain and emerge. This, product of the fact that the Macro South which promoted it, continued and continues to lack greater participation of the proletariat. Among its organizations we find mainly the peasantry, merchants, progressive intellectuals of the cities and a smaller participation of the agricultural and industrial proletariat. The bulk of the working class remains under the influence of opportunist social democracy. And the CONULP, far from undertaking a tactic to win it, has engaged in internal struggles, in addition to believing that it does not need it to bring down the government or achieve the Constituent Assembly. Worse still, many of its leaders of the struggle prioritize more ethnic than class demands.  

This has meant that, far from taking advantage of the polarization that remains and the discontent that is growing among the working class, CONULP has ended up officially leaving two weeks before July 19. Leaving in confusion and bewilderment a large part of that disorganized but discontented working mass that hopes to go out to fight with a vanguard and a plan of action organized by it. It does not seem to understand that the united front does not eliminate political independence, much less a temporary unity in action. It does not take into account that, if the same mistakes of lack of coordination and spontaneity are repeated, the already weak alliance of the bourgeois sectors will still be able to use all its tools of repression and manipulation to win this last battle before breaking its alliance.  

The current debate on the restitution of Castillo or the advance of elections has served only as a pretext for the petty bourgeois caudillismo when it comes to ensuring the domination of its own spaces, without caring about sacrificing the outcome of the National Strike. They do not take into account that at least the fall of the government would give the necessary impetus for the working people to continue advancing towards the Constituent Assembly; and that if this is not achieved, it would bring the demoralization of the movement and the total delegitimization of CONULP itself or its two factions. They do not seem to see that the departure of the murderous Dina and her leadership is imminent, the dilemma will be whether the popular movement or the financial bourgeoisie will do it through some military coup when the threat of the struggle in July has passed.  

It is necessary to be clear that the fall of the government thanks to the struggle of July would prematurely break the alliance that the two bourgeois sectors have in order to re-enter their struggles, because it would mean the departure of the political representatives of the middle bourgeoisie in Congress. By giving the working class the opportunity to take advantage of the divisions of the enemy while becoming aware that the struggle is bearing fruit, it advances in the formation of popular power and understands the historical role it has to play to seize the political power of the State.  

The sectors that are contesting the advance of elections (without a referendum) or the restitution of Pedro Castillo have the same electoral interest. The former want to run immediately and the latter want to postpone the elections until they have the conditions to run.  

But for both, elections are the end, not the means; and the struggle in the streets is a mere formality that can be conditioned as long as they do not resolve who will be able to apply it.  

Faced with this situation, the Peruvian Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) reaffirms its commitment to continue fighting so that the popular movement advances and the Peruvian working class can achieve its immediate and medium-term objectives. We will not lower our arms in combating the deviations of opportunist social democracy and the various petty-bourgeois deviations (Maoists, Guevarists or Tawantinsuyanas [the Inca empire was called Tawantinsuyu, referring to four parts in Quechua, and there have been appeals to its example of collective economics, indigenous government, and anti-colonial resistance in the Andes]) that, far from advancing the movement, intend to lead it towards failure for the benefit of the bourgeoisie and imperialism.  

This July 19 we must all take to the streets, in a united front, so that the civilian-military dictatorship falls. Victory can only be possible guided by Marxist science that empowers the working class in its historic role of national and social liberation.  

LONG LIVE THE STRIKE OF JULY 19!  

ONLY THE PEOPLE CAN SAVE THE PEOPLE!, ALL INTO THE STREETS!  

DOWN WITH THE CIVILIAN-MILITARY DICTATORSHIP!  

LONG LIVE THE WORKER-PEASANT ALLIANCE!  

LONG LIVE THE PERUVIAN COMMUNIST PARTY (MARXIST-LENINIST)!  

BP of the CC. of PCP(m-l)  

PCOF: Success of rallies and demonstrations – "Justice for Nahel, Justice for Adama"

Slightly edited; see the original article for a number of photos.

https://www.pcof.net/succes-du-rassemblement-suivi-dune-manifestation-justice-pour-nahel-justice-pour-adama/ 

Success of rallies, demonstrations "justice for Nahel, justice for Adama" 

Published by PCOF on July 9. 2023 

 

 

July 8 rally, at the Place de la Republique [,Paris]

Updated 

Paris: success of the rally and demonstration of July 8 at the Place de la Republique 

The rally and demonstration in support of "Truth and Justice for Adama" committee brought together some 2,000 people.  

The 95th police prefect had forbidden the march of the committee that takes place every year in Ermont Beaumont since the assassination of Adama, a march that was followed by a party in which the inhabitants of the neighborhood participated. In its communication, the prefecture of Val d'Oise, announced many road checks, the closure of the station ... in short, a police closure to prevent any gathering and to isolate the city. 

The March was then called to the Place de la Republique. The Paris prefect also banned gatherings and demonstrations. Appeals filed by several organizations in the name of freedom to demonstrate before the administrative court were unsuccessful. 

Hundreds of people joined at the Place de la Republique, to defend the right to demonstrate and to express their support for the collective "justice for Adama", its fight and the fight against police violence, to shout "justice for Nahel, justice for Adama" and all victims of police bullets. 

The demonstrators listened to speeches, including that of Adama's sister and LFI member of parliament E. Coquerel and other leaders of organizations. The police of Brav-M and gendarmes began to surround the demonstrators. Arrests were made, several of which were filmed: police brutality was once again directed against demonstrators. The way the Brav-M officers tackled Adama's brother to the ground, using the same "back tackle" technique that had been used against Adama, was filmed and the video is circulating widely, as well as videos of violence against photographers present at the scene. 

The interventions continued in front of the statue at the Place de la Republique, then the rally went into a demonstration on the Boulevard Magenta and grew as the march progressed. They chanted slogans against police violence, for justice "No justice, no peace" and "Zied, Bouna, Theo, we do not forget, we do not forgive!". The protesters stopped to listen once again to Adama's sister, perched on the roof of a bus shelter. As a roadblock of police blocked the boulevard, and made warnings to disperse with tear gas, the organizers called for the dispersal. 

This rally and demonstration was a success that showed that it is possible to resist the anti-democratic decisions that have been taken since Nahel's assassination. 

The government decided to prosecute Assa Traoré for calling for a banned rally when more than a hundred organizations relayed the call for this rally! 

Adama's sister, Assa Traoré  

500 people for Alhoussein in Angoulême [southwest of Paris near the coast]

This Saturday, July 8, the friends of the young Guinean worker shot dead by the police during a ordinary check of papers organized a rally followed by a march neither "white" nor silent. This tragedy took place 13 days before that of Nahel in Nanterre which triggered the rebellions of the popular youth throughout the country, and yet there was radio silence for Alhoussein! 

This youth from immigrant backgrounds was very appreciated, perfectly integrated socially and through his work at the Intermarché regional base a few kilometers from the city, he practiced football at CS Leroy d'Angoulême, which lost a great player and a clubmate always close to his teammates. He was just going to work, early in the morning! It is difficult even to accept the so-called "refusal to comply" because Alhoussein stopped at a red light, followed by the police. This raises the question of racism and police controls, the question of the law of February 2017 to be repealed quickly, not to mention the concealing of the RIO number and the activation, in principle mandatory, of the video of any police force before any intervention. 

So many questions were asked by the placards and many others, such as the public money used for new detention centers while the popular neighborhoods lack many basic things for the social life of the greatest number. The cries of "police murderers!", "no justice, no peace", "justice for Nahel", "justice for Alhoussein"... accompanied the walkers. 

The procession was made up of working-class families, young and old, all under discreet police surveillance whose main activity was to photograph the participants! At the end of the march, during the speech, the commissioner of the gendarmerie tried to speak... but the shouts and refusals prevented him! The killer has now been indicted for voluntary homicide, but will justice prevail? And when? We all remember "Truth and Justice for Steeve" 4 years ago, still without judicial response! 

The time has come to find concrete material support for the return of his body to Guinea, and especially to find the right lawyer capable of asserting the rights of the victim and his family, because in this case there is no camera or witness: only the facts serve as evidence. Hence the demand to repeal the "global security" law and then "on separatism" which prohibit any photo of a police officer in action (the famous Article 24 passed from one law to another following the popular and massive protest in autumn 2021). 

The organizations present were Lutte ouvrière, NPA, PCOF, LFI including a deputy, UJR, participants of the June Pride March, associations for the defense of unaccompanied young minors, Baobab and Aadmie, RESF ... as well as many people already present against the dissolution of the Earth Uprisings a few days ago. Coordination is being established. 

 

Strasbourg [on the border with Germany], demonstration of July 8  

Announced less than 48 hours before Saturday, July 8, the event "IN MOURNING, IN ANGER", first banned for portions of the course rejected by the prefecture, the organizing collective did not let itself be muzzled. The demonstration took place along an alternative route. It brought together between 700 and 800 people, all generations combined, from retirees to young students, the procession joined the Place de la Bourse chanting the slogans "Police everywhere, justice nowhere", "Justice for Nahel", "National police, militia of capital". "Mourning and angry." 

Many of those present were activists and expressed the need to rally against the current deleterious atmosphere. For many, systemic racism among the police must be combated by confronting the nauseating ideas of those who, like Macron, put forward a "republican front". 

All the participants greeted the hundred or so political parties, trade unions and associations that came together to sign this text in a few days. 

Anti-fascist chants resounded in the streets of Strasbourg. They will not pass. 

At the end of the course, the national text was read followed by several other interventions, including that of an LFI deputy who denounced a racist leaflet of a fascist group distributed in Mulhouse containing swastikas and insignia of the 3rd Reich.

UNAC: Israel mounts all-out offensive against Palestinians in Jenin

UNAC posted this statement July 6th at nepajac.org/jeninstatement.htm

Israel mounts all-out offensive against Palestinians in Jenin

More than 1000 Israeli soldiers invaded the occupied West Bank city of Jenin including the crowed Jenin refugee camp.  The invasion force included Apache attack helicopters, drones, and bulldozers along with the ground forces.  It has been described as the worst Israeli attack on Palestinians in decades.  As people poured out of the refugee camp, many saying they were forced from their homes by the Israeli military, Young Palestinians resisted the Israeli forces with rocks, Molotov cocktails and small arms.  As of this writing, more than a dozen Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured. Civilian infrastructure, including homes, streets, water pipes and medical facilities, have been destroyed.  Paramedics and journalists have been targeted.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that this was not a one-time event and said “Israel would continue as long as necessary.”

This attack is a major escalation of Israel’s genocidal policy towards the Palestinian people and it is a war crime.  This attack on Jenin comes after near-daily military raids in the West Bank killing almost 200 Palestinians and as Israel has announce 13,000 new homes in illegal settlements in the West Bank.

These attacks can only come with the tacit approval from the United States the biggest supplier of arms and other aid to Israel.  In the face of these attacks, the only statement from the White House is “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups." Not a word of support for victims of Israeli terror.

 

UNAC supports the resistance of the Palestinian people against these attacks and demands,

No US aid to Israel!

Stop the annexation of Palestinian Land!

Freedom and Justice for Palestine!

APK: Condemn Israel's criminal attack on Jenin!

 Condemn Israel's criminal attack on Jenin!  

Solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people  

 

APK expresses its full solidarity with the heroic struggles of the Palestinian people. We strongly condemn and abhor apartheid Israel's latest criminal attack against Jenin and the refugee camp [at the north end of the West Bank]. It is a violent military attack and massacre in the long series of Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people with continued ethnic cleansing and subjugation of ever larger areas of land.  

Israel has not been able to eliminate the growing Palestinian resistance to Israel's occupation and theft of Palestinian land. A new combative youth, despite repeated invasions, is taking up the struggle against the occupation. Therefore, on Monday morning the 3rd of July, Israel carried out a new military assault on the Jenin refugee camp, unprecedented in more than 20 years.  

The refugee camp was surrounded with over 100 armored vehicles, so that no one could escape.  Bulldozers [see below] were driven in along with military jeeps and 1000 Israeli soldiers. From the air, airplanes and drones bombed streets and houses. This resulted in the killing of more than 9 Palestinians and the arrest of dozens of others.  

The Israeli government is driven by its need to satisfy the bloodlust of illegal settlers and driven by revenge for Palestinians resisting occupation and land theft, not the least in the Jenin refugee camp.  

In Denmark, we see a Danish government that unconditionally supports apartheid Israel without consequences for the apartheid state's long-standing illegal and criminal actions. On the contrary, the government and parliamentary majority undermine the international movement for a boycott of apartheid Israel in the worst way by purchasing Israeli Elbit military equipment.  

The latest Israeli attack will increase Palestinian anger even more against the Israeli occupation. We and the freedom-loving people of the world will raise their voice in even greater international solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people for their legitimate national rights for a Free Palestine.  

Solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people  

Boycott Israel - Stop the arms trade with Israel  

Free Palestine  

4.7.2023 APK, The Communist Party of Labor, Denmark 

[Original, in English:  apk2000.dk/en/condemn-israels-criminal-attack-on-jenin/ 

There is a long-standing campaign against Caterpillar for selling heavy equipment to the Israeli, such as the massive D9 armored bulldozers the Israeli military uses to demolish Palestinian homes (it was a D9 that killed American International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie in 2003), and now there is a campaign targeting Hyundai CE, which apparently stopped its involvement in illegal gold mining on indigenous land in the Amazon but has yet to stop abetting Israel's crimes:  actions.eko.org/a/hyundai-ce-separate-your-brand-from-oppression  The Israeli military tore up roads, claiming that there were hidden explosive devices, but this apparently also cut off the refugee camp's water and electricity and made it difficult or impossible for ambulances to enter.  There is such a contrast between the over the top statements broadcast by the media after an alleged intentional or accidental Russian attack that harms western Ukrainian civilians and the value the "West" places on the lives of Palestinians and even the lives of Palestinians with citizenship in a "Western" country (and the lives of eastern Ukrainian civilians and dissenters in Ukraine, neither of which exist, according to the mainstream media).  The US government, through the Trump administration, claimed to be even-handed and working for peace, but the Biden administration doesn't even pretend to have a peace plan and backed Israel's actions.]