Showing posts with label APL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label APL. Show all posts

Sunday, June 15, 2025

June 2025 issue of Towards ML Unity published

The June issue, volume 7, of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity:  A Journal of Discussion and Debate was published June 14th and will be posted at:  mltranslations.net  The reason for this revival of TMLU iexplained on page 2.  Contributions and criticisms are welcome, they say.  The next issue is scheduled to come out iAugust, with the deadline at the end of July.     



Contents:


Teamsters Local 572 Condemns Violent ICE Raids and
Injury of SEIU President David Huerta......................................................................... 3
Trumpism, fascism and the working class..................................................................... 4
Vote for Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York City............................................... 5
Once Again, Much of the U.S. Left Separates Itself from the Workers on May Day!.. 6
May Day in Puerto Rico................................................................................................ 6
The April 5 protests and the fight against Trump – our role in the growing movement 9
The Petrodollar System................................................................................................ 10
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Billionaires” Bill and Other Reactionary Measures.............. 13
Stop the bosses’ assault on Medicaid!.......................................................................... 14
Black History Month and the Black radical tradition.................................................. 16
Unity & Struggle #50 is now available........................................................................ 18
The American-Zionist "Aid-Distribution Centers" Are Mass-Death Traps
and a Tool for Forced Displacement............................................................................ 19
The Perpetrators of Genocide in Charge of Saving their Victims............................... .20
Winning the masses for revolutionary struggle........................................................... .21
Sección en español
La Guardia Nacional invade Los Ángeles: ¡No a la guerra fascista contra el pueblo!. 23
El sindicato Teamsters Local 572 condena las violentas redadas del ICE y
las lesiones infligidas al presidente del SEIU, David Huerta....................................... 25
Trumpismo, fascismo y clase obrera............................................................................ 26
Primero de Mayo en Puerto Rico................................................................................. 28
¡Detengan el asalto patronal a Medicaid!..................................................................... 30
Los genocidas a cargo de salvar a sus víctimas........................................................... 32
Unidad y Lucha #50 es ahora disponible..................................................................... 33
Conquistar a las masas para la lucha revolucionaria................................................... 34

Friday, February 14, 2025

Some statements on the 2024 presidential election

This article also should have been posted months ago.  I could have added more.  


I thought it was said, seriously or not, that presidential elections could be predicted based on which major party candidate's Halloween mask was most popular in stores, yet I heard nothing about that in 2024.   Was the media hiding bad news for Harris or is it not really predictive?   


Not in much of an order:




November 4th:  The PFLP calls for boycott of U.S. elections www.workers.org/2024/11/81765/


www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-trump-wins-as-the-democratic-party-moves-further-to-the-right/


This link to a PDF sent out November 10th by the PCUSA might not work :  chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://johnreedcenter.net/images/PCUSA%20Post-Election%20Statement%202024.pdf


From Simplicius:  simplicius76.substack.com/p/election-aftermath-notes-on-the-grand


GATT -- goingagainstthetide.org/2024/11/13/the-reactionary-repudiation-of-a-restorationist-program-and-the-ongoing-tantrums-of-two-reactionary-petty-bourgeoisies/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/11/why-we-should-commemorate-nov-11-4/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/04/the-siege-of-north-gaza/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/08/the-revolution-never-gets-old/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/09/a-cuban-perspective-on-race-and-revolution/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/17/amsterdam-pogrom-was-anti-palestinian-not-anti-jewish/


www.workers.org/2024/11/82029/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=solidarity-with-samidoun-and-charlotte-kates


www.workers.org/2024/10/81626/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=yahya-al-sinwar-su-vida-inspirara-a-muchos-mas-para-liberar-palestina


October 26th:  www.workers.org/2024/10/81659/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hamas-affirms-solidarity-with-iran


Portugal:  Belated fruits of the November 1975 coup  www.workers.org/2024/11/82209/


Passed away October 12th in Hyderabad, India:  G.N. Saibaba, 1967-2024:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81696/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=g-n-saibaba-1967-2024


www.workers.org/2024/11/81678/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=martinique-and-guadeloupe-french-colonies-in-the-caribbean-demand-lower-prices


www.workers.org/2024/11/82136/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trumps-cabinet-picks-are-cast-of-vultures


From a July 2010 tour in China  An educational trip to China:  Reflections of a philosopher www.workers.org/2024/11/81725/


Evaluating Lebanon ceasefire deal:  www.workers.org/2024/11/82220/


www.workers.org/2024/11/82216/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resistance-praises-hezbollah-for-forcing-israels-ceasefire-in-lebanon


November 3rd, on a demonstration October 20th in New York:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81735/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=palestinian-feminists-expose-democrats-attempt-to-hijack-reproductive-justice-in-new-york


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/15/trumps-fascist-cabinet-picks-and-what-will-stop-them/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/11/only-mass-struggle-can-defeat-trump-and-all-capitalist-reaction/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/09/trumps-fascism-revival-faces-working-class-resistance/


www.workers.org/2024/11/81872/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=british-imperialism-renew-indian-ocean-bombing-base


November 2nd:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81868/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hamas-says-temporary-truce-wont-stop-genocide-in-gaza


march in Seattle against the ‘two-party war machine:’  www.workers.org/2024/11/81934


From Monica Moorehead, November 12th:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81931/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=capitalism-biggest-winner-in-election-campaign


November 5th:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81782/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=defend-the-multinational-multigendered-working-class


October 29th: Election Day – and after  www.workers.org/2024/10/81640/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/11/07/working-class-activists-and-u-s-president-cross-paths-in-baltimore/


From APLredphoenixnews.com/2024/11/09/trump-wins-we-fight-on-harder-than-ever/  redphoenixnews.com/2024/11/05/election-2024-fascism-is-at-the-gates/


November 22nd:  liberationroad.substack.com/p/refuse-resist-contest compare to

November 4th:  liberationroad.substack.com/p/finding-our-balance-facing-the-moment


www.racket.news/p/the-democrats-dirty-tricks-playbook 


portside.org/2024-11-19/four-myths-about-kamala-harriss-loss  


? -- portside.org/2024-11-25/democratic-socialist-post-election-musings


Trump’s Victory Calls For Amputation – Democratic Necrosis Is To Blame -- theredspectre.com/dem-necrosis.html


? -- indi.ca/the-resistance-gives-a-shit-about-your-elections/ 

 indi.ca/no-one-is-running-america/ 

 indi.ca/zombie-democracy/ 


www.racket.news/p/goodbye-to-joe-biden-and-whoever 


From before the election:  racket.news/p/the-democrats-dirty-tricks-playbook


The Democratic Party consultant con:  thebaffler.com/latest/the-consultant-con-kiefel


From Jack Rasmus:  jackrasmus.com/2025/01/24/bidens-pernicious-presidential-legacies-print/ 


From Stephen Semler:  www.stephensemler.com/p/how-the-most-unpopular-us-president 


Seymour Hersh on the Biden Administration's adventurism abroad, etc.:  seymourhersh.substack.com/p/nord-stream-and-the-failures-of-the


From Aurelien:  aurelien2022.substack.com/p/the-curse-of-zhou-bai-den 


cosmonautmag.com/2024/11/election-2024-dont-mourn-organize/


cosmonautmag.com/2024/11/lessons-of-the-election/


cosmonautmag.com/2024/12/the-day-after-trump-won/


cosmonautmag.com/2024/12/birth-of-a-bonaparte-trump-and-the-end-of-us-bourgeois-democracy/


unpopularfront.news/p/what-happened-here-c9f and portside.org/2025-02-08/what-happened-here


www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/02/bidens-environmental-record/


A war on the environment in Gazawww.counterpunch.org/2025/02/09/ravaging-the-soils-of-gaza/


cosmonautmag.com/2024/11/towards-a-united-front-for-palestine/


A statement from the PFLPdiario-octubre.com/2025/02/08/comunicado-del-frente-popular-para-la-liberacion-de-palestina-2/


A Hamas report on Israel's ceasefire violationswww.dropsitenews.com/p/hamas-report-israeli-ceasefire-violations-gaza-netanyahu


A pregnant woman killed by Israel in the West Bankdiario-octubre.com/2025/02/10/israel-asesina-en-cisjordania-a-una-mujer-embarazada-de-ocho-meses/




On the new chair of the DNC:  theworker.news/2025/02/08/new-dnc-chair-praises-good-billionaires-condemns-palestinian-resistance/





At the Democratic Party's 2024 National Convention:  theworker.news/2024/08/25/the-dnc-and-opportunism-in-the-palestine-solidarity-movement/


kathleenlwallace.substack.com/p/how-did-we-get-here


CAM:  covertactionmagazine.com/2023/11/16/what-happened-to-the-liberals/


indyweek.com/news/wake/plain-clothes-ice-agent-at-wake-county-justice-center-tells-attorneys-to-take-their-immigration-conversation-elsewhere/


www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/07/the-palestine-exception-to-free-speech-is-un-american/


patrianuestra.wordpress.com/2025/02/10/fbi-halla-miles-de-paginas-secretas-sobre-el-asesinato-de-john-f-kennedy/


mltheory.wordpress.com/2024/12/22/the-syrian-assad-government-has-fallen/


fair.org/home/nyt-advises-trump-to-kill-more-venezuelans/'


fair.org/home/syria-is-free-say-media-but-that-shouldnt-mean-free-of-us-occupation/


sonar21.com/illusionary-empire-by-ryan-l-dudley/


Will Gaza's resistance sink both Trump and Biden? --  meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/will-trumps-honeymoon-end-on-saturday


unpopularfront.news/p/what-happened-here-c9f and portside.org/2025-02-08/what-happened-here


www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2025/02/08/usaid-democrat-as-much-as-republican


simplicius76.substack.com/p/usaids-demise-sparks-dizzying-acceleration


Rights and Dissent on Tulsi Gabbardwww.rightsanddissent.org/news/tulsi-gabbards-nomination-for-director-of-national-intelligence/


US mercenaries in Gazaresponsiblestatecraft.org/us-contractors-gaza/


On the allegation that KPA soldiers fought in the Ukraine Warresponsiblestatecraft.org/north-korea-troops-in-russia/


covertactionmagazine.com/2024/12/03/media-distorting-north-korean-role-in-russo-ukraine-war/


"Color revolution" tactics and sabotage, to stop Trump and state Republicans, but not the ethnic cleansing carried out under Biden:  portside.org/2025-02-11/doge-hiring-response-did-not-disappoint





unac.notowar.net/end-the-attacks-on-samidoun-and-all-palestinian-rights-supporters/


International Human Rights Day - the Crime of Sanctions -- December 10th 7-9pm Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1518 M Street NW, Washington, DC -- https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tZBOyiJPQOudUzHUjOS2Eg#/registration






Originally posted at:  nepajac.org/election2024.htm

 

UNAC statement on the 2024 Presidential Election


11/06/2024



In the 2024 Presidential elections, neither candidate spoke for peace.  The election was held while there was a US/NATO war with Russia in Ukraine and a US/Israeli genocide in Palestine and an ever-expanding war in West Asia.  The election was held at a time that the US is militarily encircling and threatening China and North Korea and intensifying sanctions against Cuba and some 42 other countries around the world. But there was almost no mention of this or of peace during this campaign.  The US electoral system failed the people by not providing a choice for peace or a choice on other issues that are essential for the people in the US or the people of the world.  Instead, we heard racist rhetoric and name calling.


The wars and the massive military budget which feeds them will continue while food prices, rents, and the costs of other essentials will rise.  More and more adult children are moving in with their parents as job opportunities disappear and higher education is out of reach for most.  Addressing these issues along with the worsening climate crisis could have made a difference.  The campaign could have been used to mobilize people around these issues and the results might have been different, there could have been an advance for humanity.  But instead, it was the people of the US and the world who lost this election no matter who won.


But this is what we expected.  The two capitalist/imperialist parties that are the only two that are allowed to seriously contend in federal elections could never mobilize people to struggle for peace and human needs.  By definition, they are for increasing profits for the obscenely rich which means exploitation of working people in the US and around the world.


So, what do we do now?


This election, perhaps more than any other in the recent past shows us that we will not get our needs met through the 2-party electoral system.  All gains we have won in the past have been through struggle, whether for the right to join a union, the women’s right to vote, abortion rights or other women’s rights, civil rights, LQBTQ+ rights or peace.  This is still the only way forward.  We must continue to build our movement and harness the power of millions of people demanding their right to peace, justice, freedom and the right to thrive.  This will be a movement against these Capitalist parties and their billionaire backers. UNAC, as a peace coalition, is working to build such a movement.  You can join UNAC by going here: https://www.unacpeace.org/join.html.


We must accelerate our movement against this new right-wing government by staying in the streets, organizing against the genocide in Palestine and joining with UNAC and others who will be building for a demonstration in DC and around the country during Trump’s inauguration. Join us.






Sent out by email November 20th and posted at:  blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/2024uselection




The Face of the White People's House May Have Changed but the War on the Oppressed Working Class Hasn't


No Matter Who Sits in the White Peoples’ House the War Being Waged by the U.S. Colonial/Capitalist Class Against the Black Colonized Working Class and All Oppressed Peoples and Nations Will Continue



“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories...”
— Amilcar Cabral



It was under the Democrats and the first “Black” president that the Department of Defense 1033 program that militarizes local police forces was expanded by 2,400%; the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) expanded by 1,900%; Libya, the most prosperous African  and Pan African nation was attacked and destroyed; the war on Yemen began; the Occupy Wall Street Movement was smashed; the FBI created the “Black Identity Extremist” label; the banks were bailed out from the economic collapse that they created, but not the working class; Black people lost more wealth  than was lost at the end of Reconstruction in 1870s; and, despite police killings across the country, including Mike Brown in Ferguson, the Obama administration only brought Federal charges against one killer-cop.  Yet, with the return of Trump, opportunists in our communities and beyond are telling us that the real culprits in our oppression and the targets for opposition are Trump and republicans.


The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) rejects this kind of ahistorical opportunism.


We are clear. The anti-democratic duopoly is made up of  representatives of the capitalist class and provides cover for what is, in reality, the dictatorship of capital. In this, the duopoly reveals the class nature of the state. This dictatorship, the true enemy of the people, is the target of our agitation and organizing.


Focusing attention on the Trumpian wing of the capitalist class as the primary or principal contradiction facing the people in the U.S. or in the world, obscures the reality that the dominant wing of capital, finance capital, along with the U.S. based transnational corporations, have captured and are operating through both parties. However, it is the democratic party wing of the dictatorship of capital that has championed what is popularly referred to as neoliberalism. Neoliberalism, first given coherence under Ronald Reagan, eventually migrated to the democratic party under Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council, whose “third way politics” aligned with both neoliberals and neoconservatives (neocons). Trumpism is the particular (national) manifestation of the global crisis of neoliberal capitalism. The republican party’s capture of the executive and all branches of government will not resolve the structural contradictions of neoliberal capital. What we can expect, then, is the strengthening of the repressive state apparatus and more targeted repression. To be clear, this process would have continued under a Harris administration because Harris promised to maintain the same trajectory of state repression in the name of capital. Because of the bipartisan jettisoning of liberal democratic and human rights in favor of the capitalist order, it does not matter which individual is sitting in the white peoples’ house. Therefore, the correct approach for opposition forces is one that grounds the people’s understanding of the objective structural contradictions of the capitalist order and that builds their capacity to struggle against that order  – regardless of which wing of the duopoly represents it. Focusing on only one part of the duopoly is akin to focusing on only one faction of the capitalist class.


Despite any rhetoric to the contrary, BAP expects Trump will govern as a neoliberal. That is why certain elements of the ruling class turned to him again. Continued austerity, especially at the state and local levels, will persist, as well as privatization of public assets, tax breaks for the capitalist class, the suppression and repression of labor, fiscal and monetary policies that prop-up capitalist profits and undermine human rights and, of course, the targeted use of military power to advance the interests of the capitalist dictatorship. We believe, however, that Trump will make as his main mission the primary concern of the neoliberal elite:  smashing the movement toward de-dollarization.


We cannot afford to have any illusions or harbor any sentimentality about the nature of this system. As we organize in political spaces controlled by Black democrats, it would be suicidal if we did not understand the role these neocolonial puppets play – primarily against any organized opposition – in the war that capital is waging against the people. Under Biden-Harris, we saw  police, judicial, and media suppression of mobilizations in solidarity with the Palestinian people, the student intifada, the Uhuru 3, African Stream media, and many others. And it is no coincidence that so-called “cop cities” are being constructed across the country in those urban areas being managed by Black democrat party functionaries or, what Black Agenda Report refers to as the “Black Misleadership Class.”  


This corrupted Black petit-bourgeois professional/managerial class, positioned in government, corporate and non-profit sectors, provides the buffer and role models for individual material advancement at the expense of the Black working class.


And while we are dealing with cop cities, we also understand what is coming with the mass deportations of non-white migrants and the violent law and order rhetoric that is already emanating from the Trumpian forces. But let us not forget that, under the Biden-Harris regime, mass deportations rose by 250 percent, of which Harris campaigned on being “tough” on the border. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is also bipartisan.


Like all people, we want to live decent, prosperous lives in peace and in harmony with all humanity and nature. But we are going to have to fight for peace. And for that struggle BAP is guided by the principles of the Black radical peace tradition that states clearly:


Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the achievement by popular struggle and self-defense of a world liberated from the interlocking issues of global conflict, nuclear armament and proliferation, unjust war, and subversion through the defeat of global systems of oppression that include colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.


That is the task and the responsibility that we take on. We are not afraid of any individual or oppressive system. We gladly take on this fight with the certainty that one day we will defeat the Pan European white supremacist colonial/capitalist patriarchy that is the enemy of collective humanity.


The struggles and sacrifices being made by the Palestinian peoples to defend their dignity and popular sovereignty is the example we embrace. This is why we say that, no matter the circumstances, no matter the challenge, no matter the intensity of the repression, we are building on the sacrifices of our people and guided by revolutionary principles. Our call will always be:


No Compromise, No Retreat!

Coordinating Committee, Black Alliance for Peace






This was originally posted November 13th at: piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/la-vittoria-di-trump-e-le-sue-conseguenze/  or see:  piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/leggete-scintilla-n-149-novembre-2024/ ; slightly edited. 


Scintilla n. 149, November 2024
edited by Piattaforma Comunista – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy



Trump's Victory and its Consequences


On November 5th, the American people were granted the deceptive right to choose which of the two vampires will suck the blood of workers, exploited workers, oppressed peoples, at home and abroad, for the next 4 years.


The most reactionary and chauvinistic candidate, the proto-fascist tycoon Donald Trump, won.


But the US came out of these elections even more divided and polarized. The election campaign with its side dish of attacks and personal attacks has left wounds that will not heal in a short time.


Trump's victory is the victory of those most aggressive and chauvinistic sectors of finance capital, those super-billionaires (Musk, Horowitz, Mellon, Adelson, Griffin, Uihlein, etc.), the big cryptocurrency operators and AI promoters, who supported his candidacy with hundreds of billions of dollars to achieve higher profits through protectionist policies, the tax cut and deregulation for the big monopolies promised by the tycoon.


The return to the White House of Trump, one of the most aggressive pacesetters of the world reaction, will determine consequences that are not difficult to predict.


First of all, with a second presidential term it will be easier for the Trump-Vance duo to establish an even more reactionary, anti-democratic and repressive system of government. U.S. fascism will take further steps.


The consolidation of white supremacism, authoritarianism and anti-worker policies in the States will lead to the strengthening of the autocrats in power and of the extreme right-wing politicians in the various countries, with a development of racist, chauvinist, populist and fascist movements. 


Social media will be used to the maximum as a sounding board to spread irrationalism, conspiracy theories, fake news and fears that are exploited by the far right. 


On the international level, the struggle to maintain the world hegemony of declining US imperialism will become even harder, and will be directed mainly against the growing Chinese imperialist power, through trade and financial wars, increasing tariffs on imported goods, blockade of investments, accompanied by the strengthening of the military apparatus in the Asia Pacific.


Other than "I will stop wars", as Trump declared. With the MAGA program, the struggle between the imperialist powers will enter a new and sharper phase, increasing international tension in every respect and entering into direct conflict in many countries.


Zionism, with its criminal and genocidal policies, will be even more supported by Washington, even perpetuating the open conflicts between the cliques of the pro-imperialist Arab bourgeoisie. In Venezuela, support for the coup plotters will continue to fight Chinese and Russian rivals who present themselves with the illusory face of multipolarity.


Another consequence of Trump's victory will be the growing tension in relations between the US and the EU.


The result of the US elections will have several impacts. The protectionism of US industry will hurt exporting countries; the increase in military spending to increase military autonomy from the US, always in "unshakable alliance" (Meloni dixit) with the US and NATO, will aggravate the burden weighing on the shoulders of workers and peoples.  


[Two missing paragraphs, translated with Google: 


Hard years await us, of worsening of the general crisis of the imperialist-capitalist system, of more intense reaction, in which the development of the policies of a proletarian united front and of a united anti-imperialist and anti-fascist front will be of fundamental importance.


This is a line that communists must apply at the national and international levels, taking into account the different specific situations to build alliances and tactical agreements subordinated to the strategic goal, without ever renouncing their independence and their political and ideological positions, working to accumulate and prepare forces in view of revolutionary developments.]






This was originally posted atwww.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13473 


En Marcha #2116, November 12-18, 2024
Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador




USA: The far right wins again with Trump


Trump's election is the result of a demagogic and populist discourse that was based on the great aspirations of the American people, for whom the four years of Democratic government have meant a deterioration in their living conditions.


On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the United States elections took place, which resulted in the triumph of Donald Trump as the 47th president, after having obtained the majority in the Electoral College.


Trump's election is the result of a demagogic and populist discourse that was built on the great aspirations of the U.S. people, for whom the four years of Democratic government have meant a deterioration in their living conditions and disappointment with the failure to comply with the electoral promises made in 2020 by the Democratic Biden – Harris team, in particular, the frustration regarding the offers of protection to the migrant and African-American population.


Under the Biden administration, inflation increased, which meant a reduction in the purchasing power of working-class wages; while families saw their wages purchase less and less, the government invested [b]illions of dollars in military support to Ukraine, but health care and educational services, as well as infrastructure, are deteriorating, as seen in the storms and hurricanes such as Helene in North Carolina.


The Democrats ran the current Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidate, so they had to build a discourse that defended the management of the government, while the Republicans developed their discourse as an option against the war and the economic crisis, something similar to what Trump developed in 2016 in his first election. Another cause is the weakening of the U.S. popular movement that has not been able to stop the massive layoffs by several companies or actions such as those of the Supreme Court, when it decided to ignore the right of women in the U.S. to abortion, which led several sectors, instead of confronting the extreme right, to seek agreements to present themselves as "reasonable" or "rational," accepting measures against migrants and workers.


The American Party of Labor (APL) has pointed out that: "In the face of Trump's victory, democratic, progressive and socialist forces must unite to fight tirelessly against the rise of fascism wherever it appears. To put it plainly, when the contradictions of capital manifest themselves and the workers become radicalized, there must be a communist party present and prepared to confront them."


Saturday, November 30, 2024

Unity and Struggle issue #49 published

The winter issue of Unity and Struggle, the journal of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO, cipoml.net/ ; in English, Spanish, and Turkish) was out in English by November 29th and the Spanish edition will be out shortly.  Unity and Struggle can be ordered from Red Star Publishers for $7 dollars (orders from outside the USA will cost more), preferraby paid for via PayPal.  Backissues might also be available from redstarpublishers.org and sold on member parties' websites.


Tambien disponible en español.



In this issue:


Brazil
China, Capital Exports and Capitalist Imperialism
Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR
Burkina Faso
Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Popular Uprising of October 30 and 31, 2014 in Upper Volta, Known as Burkina Faso
Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta
Denmark
Strengthen the struggle against imperialist war and the tasks of the communists
Communist Party of the Workers of Denmark - APK
Dominican Republic
The Necessary Struggle for Public Social Security and a Guarantee of Rights:
The Task of Every Revolutionary
Communist Party of Labor – PCT
Ecuador
Petty-bourgeois revolutionism
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador – PCMLE
France
On popular mobilizations that target the causes of climate change
Communist Party of the Workers of France
Germany
Marxism and Gender
Organization for the Construction of a Communist Party of the
Workers of Germany
India
India's support of Israel against the people of Gaza exposes Modi government
Revolutionary Democracy
Iran
The roots of the downfall of the Iranian "Left" in the lap of imperialism and Zionism
Party of Labor (Toufan)
Italy
The struggle to prevent the advent of an authoritarian regime in Italy
Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat
of Italy
Mexico
Neoliberal Continuity from Obrador to Sheinbaum
Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)
Spain
On the tasks of the moment
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCE(ml)
Turkey
China: Is it imperialist or a ‘good imperialism’?
Party of Labour (EMEP)
United States
Massive Layoffs in Technology: Sacrificing Workers to Boost Stock Prices
American Party of Labor
Venezuela
Imperialist wars, wars of aggression against dependent countries, carried out under the slogan of "freedom"
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela – PCMLV
 

Friday, June 28, 2024

June issue of Towards ML Unity published

A new issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity has been published and will be posted at:  www.mltranslations.net   Content for the next issue, to come out in August, should be sent during July; comments and criticism are alswelcome, a note says 



Contents:


Depleted Israeli military on brink of collapse
The November Elections: Don’t Vote for Demagogues or Repugnant Men
Comments on “No War But The Class War”, the new version of the “Left Forum”
On the Need for a Genuine Revolutionary Party of the Working Class
Remembering Marty Goodman
In a historic advance, Amazon Labor Union joins the Teamsters
Why Did Hochul Nix “Congestion Pricing?
The 2024 Elections and the Tactics of the Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)
28th International Seminar: Problems of the Revolution in Latin America
The IMF leads the Ecuadorian economy
Sección en español
Elecciones 2024 y la táctica del Partido Comunista de México (marxista-leninista)
XXVIII Seminario Internacional Problemas de la Revolución en América Latina

El FMI conduce la economía ecuatoriana

Thursday, April 25, 2024

April 2024 issue of Revolutionary Democracy published

The April issue of the English-language Indian Marxist-Leninist theoretical and political journal Revolutionary Democracy ( revolutionarydemocracy.org) came out April 19th and can be ordered from Red Star Publishers ( redstarpublishers.org ) for $6 dollars, which covers the shipping cost within the US.  For more information about ordering see the website or contact them at:  


Red Star Publishers
PO Box 1641
Manhattanville Station
New York, New York 10027
USA

An email is requested if payment is being sent by mail. 


Phone:  212 864 7595

Brick and mortar bookstores, organizations, and individuals selling copies in Canada, India, the UK, and the USA are listed at revolutionarydemocracy.org on the current issue page, linked at the top of the menu on the left.  Many of the articles are also posted there for free.  Unity and Struggle and Revolutionary Democracy are sometimes also available from:  www.americanpartyoflabor.com/shop .




REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY

April 2024

Contents

Israel is committing a massacre in Gaza: It is a genocide, not war!, ICMLPO.

The elections to the state assemblies in the five states of India in 2023, C.N. Subramaniam.

Budget 2024: Development for the few, Mandir for the many, New Trade Union Initiative. 

The initiation of operation Kagar: a large-scale mobilization of paramilitary in Abujmarh under the guise of countering Maoism, Facam.

The Rot Among the Communists of Nepal is Helping the Hindutva Takeover, Karan Varma.

Will Pakistan achieve economic and political stability? Shaukat Ali Chaudhry.

No to the Imperialist war in the Ukraine! Rafael Martinez.

The Partition of India, Badruddin Umar.

Lenin’s and Stalin’s Exposure of Bogdanov’s Tektology and Equilibrium Theory, A.V.Shchegolov

28th ICMLPO Conference calls for the working class and peoples to unity and struggle against the bourgeoisie and imperialism! 

Socialism and Education – An Historical Overview from the Anabaptists to the Utopian Socialists, C.N. Subramaniam.

Report of the Meeting between Comrade J.V. Stalin and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party, Thorez, (November 18, 1947).

Report of the CC of the CPC to the CC of the CPSU (B) with the Comments of J.V. Stalin, (4th July 1949).

India’s New Constitution (1950), Communist Party of India. 

On our Programme, Prokash, (July 1951), Communist Party of India


Saturday, March 16, 2024

Responses to self-immolation for Palestine and other causes

 More statements might be added in coming weeks.


A woman, 27, who has not been identified in the mainstream media burned herself with gasoline (?) outside Israel's consulate in Atlanta, Georgia December 1st.  "Jane Doe" survived and is at the Grady Memorial Hospital, an "unperson" for the media, as Sam Husseini put it, though maybe it can be justified to protect her privacy.  It was mentioned that she had Palestinian flag with her or a burned flag was found by the first responders.  Afterward her home was searched or ransacked by the Atlanta police – in a 'normal' way, or is she being treated like a terrorism suspect?  How "authoritarian" is government in the Atlanta area? – husseini.substack.com/p/jane-doe-who-immolated-herself-at  [It was December 1, 2023, and no details are given about whether "Jane Doe" survived her injuries, or Aaron Bushnell's birth date:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell  [Bushnell was born June 30th (he was 25 in 2024, so he must have been born in 1998?) according tohusseini.substack.com/p/aaron-bushnell-presente ]


Aaron Bushnell burned himself outside Israel's embassy in Washington, DC shortly before 1pm February 25th and passed away around 8pm that day.  NPR could not immediately 'confirm' why Bushnell did this?  After ignoring the anti-war movement for decades they have talked about and even promoted pro-Palestine anti-war events [note that they remain very much with the Biden administration on Ukraine, Haiti, China, Yemen, etc.].  Was the coverage of these two self-immolationstrange?  One factor might be not wanting to encourage suicide, but I don't remember them mention the anti-suicide hotline at any time in covering this:  one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=1234114390:1234114391 (audio) and www.npr.org/2024/02/25/1233810136/fire-man-israeli-embassy-washington   I think "Jane Doe" in December was only mentioned after Bushnell acted.  Some would condemn individuaacts of sacrificial heroism.  I think there was a lot of debate about this regarding the struggle in Turkey a few decades ago. 


Sam Husseini gave many examples February 26th:  husseini.substack.com/p/ignoring-immolators-lulls-the-society


Also Ann Wright, also on the 26th:  www.commondreams.org/opinion/kill-selves-to-stop-war


[An incomplete internationalisting, 1948 to 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations  I heard of an incident in Japan, probably before 2010, that doesn't seem to be included, etc.  I planned to add more here.]



[Self-immolation during the "Gulf War" or the first Iraq War and the "Arab Spring:"  husseini.posthaven.com/twenty-years-ago-today-immolation-revolutions ]



[Samuel Mena Jr, a journalist, apparently set himself on fire over the war in the Middle East Saturday, October 5, 2024:  www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/10/06/journalist-fire-dc-israel-gaza-protest/ ]  [ popularresistance.org/journalist-self-immolates-outside-white-house-to-protest-gaza-coverage/ ]  [Only one of his arms was burned October 5, 2024, in front of the White House, and Mena survived:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell ]



[Two articles more on Matt Nelson:  www.commondreams.org/news/aaron-bushnell-2669203055 ]  [It was September 11, 2024, by Israel's Boston consulate; he passed away September 15th:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell ]



husseini.substack.com/p/self-immolator-matt-nelson-reportedly survived] [Matt Nelson burned himself on or around September 11th and passed away on the 15th, but the Boston police claimed that he was still alive on the 18th?? -- husseini.substack.com/p/the-life-of-martyrdom and x.com/samhusseini/status/1839502835353817475 ]



[On Matt Nelson's self-immolation September 12, 2024 in Boston (?):  husseini.substack.com/p/man-self-immolates-in-front-of-israeli ]  [In one of these links Sam Husseini mentions several cases, some currently anonymous.  An official pointed a gun at Aaron Bushnell, but someone who set themselves on fire outside a royal palace in Jordan sometime before September 14th was actually shot.]


[On Matt Nelson:  husseini.substack.com/p/video-my-name-is-matt-nelson-and ]



[Street vendor Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (طارق الطيب محمد البوعزيزي, Ṭāriq aṭ-Ṭayib Muḥammad al-Būʿazīzī; March 29, 1984 in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia – around 5:30pm January 4, 2011 in Ben Arous, part of greater Tuni(?)) burned himself in or by a road next to the governor's office in Sidi Bouzid around 11:30am December 17, 2010 and passed away January 4th:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi ]  [The BBC claimed that there were 107 or more self-immolations in Tunisia in the six months following January 4th.]


[Today (?), April 19, 2024, a man set himself on fire in a park near the New York City (Manhattan?) courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial for the falsifying business records and Stormy Daniels payments trial.  The police said something like the "victim" threw "pamphlets," relating to "conspiracy theories" in the air before burning himself.  The "conspiracy theories" might not relate to Trump.  The man is still alive and a few police officers were injured by the fire.]  


[5/1:  Apparently the man from Florida (I think Saint Augustine) who burned himself April 19th was Max Azzarello, 37, who studied anthropology at UNC (Chapel Hill?) and had an MA in urban planning from Rutgers consortiumnews.com/2024/04/30/patrick-lawrence-this-isnt-fascism/


[5/1:  Apparently the man, 37, from Saint Augustine, Florida  who burned himself, fatally, around 1:35pm EDT Friday, April 19th in Collect Pond Park, opposite New York's Centre Street Courthouse was Maxwell Crosby Azzarello (born April 11, 1987).  Apparently like me he studied anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he received an MA in urban planning from Rutgers.  He was an official in Tom Suozzi's 2013 campaign for executive of Nassau County, New York.  Apparently his mother died in May 2022.  In August 2023 he was arrested three times, in one incident for reportedly throwing wine at a Bill Clinton autograph.  On April 19th had a sign saying "Trump is with Biden and they are about to fascist coup us" (all capitalized?):  consortiumnews.com/2024/04/30/patrick-lawrence-this-isnt-fascism/ (I don't necessarily recommend the entire article), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Maxwell_Azzarello , and Azzarello'SubStack, The Ponzi Papers, iarchived at:  web.archive.org/web/20240420044339/https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside


Student George Winne Jr. (April 2, 1947 in Detroit – May 11, 1970 around 2am in La Jolla?) burned himself fatally after 4pm May 10th in Revelle Plaza at the University of California, San Diegoover the Vietnam War:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_George_Winne_Jr.


Alice Jeanette Herz (Strauß or Strauss; May 25, 1882 in Hamburg, Germany – March 26, 1965 in Detroit) fatally burned herself March 16th in Detroit over the Vietnam War, the first American to do so (?):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Herz 


Novelist Huguette Gaulin Bergeron fatally burned herself June 6, 1972 in the Old Port of Montreal's Place Jacques-Cartier; she was born in 1944:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguette_Gaulin


[David Stroh Buckel (June 13, 1957 in Batavia, New York – April 14, 2018 in New York City), a lawyer at Lambda Legal, burned himself fatally around 6am in Prospect Park in Brooklyn over climate change; there ia memorial grove in the Park:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Buckel ]


[Around July 5-6, 2025 Daniel Edrian Israeli soldier, reportedly set himself on fire and presumably passed away.  He reportedly said “I smell and see burning bodies all the time” (whose?).  According to the Quds News Network article from around July 7, 2025 [July 6th]: “Since the genocide began, the Israeli military reports that at least 40 active-duty soldiers, mostly reservists, have killed themselves” – husseini.substack.com/p/aaron-bushnell-presente (July 7th, with photos) ] [and qudsnen.co/i-smell-and-see-burned-bodies-all-the-time-israeli-soldier-commits-suicide-after-taking-part-in-gaza-genocide-and-lebanon-war/ ]


Catholic Worker Roger Allen LaPorte (July 16, 1943 in Geneva, New York – November 10, 1965 in Manhattan) burned himself fatally November 9th (?) in front of the UN'Dag Hammarskjold Library in New York City for pacifism (?):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Allen_LaPorte


[Wynn Alan Bruce (August 25, 1971 in Green Bay, Wisconsin-April 23, 2022) burned himself fatally round 6:30pm at the United States Supreme Court Building plaza in Washington, DC April 22, 2022, over climate change; apparently he made an attempt in 2017 at the WTC in New York City but was prevented from going through with it:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Wynn_Bruce ]


[Writer Kathy Change (born Kathleen Chang) October 10, 1950 in Ohio-October 22, 1996 by self-immolation that morningin Philadelphia, at the University of Pennsylvania (she burned herself with gasoline after 11:20am and was pronounced dead, with 100% of her skin burned, around 11:48am):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Change ]


Norman R. Morrison (December 29, 1933 in Erie, Pennsylvania – November 2, 1965 shortly after burning himself at the Pentagon over the Vietnam War):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Morrison ]


[Malachi Ritscher (born Mark David Ritscher) January 13, 1954 in Dickinson, county seat of Stark County, in North Dakota-November 3, 2006 by the Kennedy Expressway in central (?) Chicago, over the Iraq War:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachi_Ritscher and copycateffect.blogspot.com/2006/11/iraq-wars-fiery-protest.html   There are more posts, not all tagged under:  copycateffect.blogspot.com/search?q=self-immolation ]


[Mohsen Bouterfif, 37, burned himself January 13, 2011 after the mayor of Boukhadra, in Tébessa Province, Algeria, refused to meet with a group regarding employment and housing issues; he passed away January 24, 2011.]  [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[Maamir Lotfi, 36, burned himself January 17, 2011 in front of the town hall in El Oued, El Oued Province, Algeria, again after being denied  meeting with a governor [regarding employment and housing issues?]; he passed away February 12, 2011:   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[An unnamed man, 65, burned himself at some time in Samtah, Jizan, Saudi Arabia, apparently a first in the country; he passed away January 21 [23?], 2011:   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[Abdelhafid Boudechicha, 29, burned himself January 28, 2011 in Medjana, Bordj Bou Arreridj Province, Algeria over employment and housing, and passed away January 29, 2011:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ] 




[Restaurant owner Abdou Abdel-Moneim Jaafar, 49 burned himself in front of the Parliament of Egypt early in 2011 (?):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[Street vendor Noureddine Adnane, a 27-year-olMoroccan, burned himself in Palermo, Sicily, in Italy, February 11, 2011, and passed away that February 16th (?), in an incident apparently very much like that of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[Kambiz Roustay, a 36-year-old Iranian asylum seekerburned himself at Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands in spring 2011 (?), over denial of asylum:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi#Related_incidents ]


[Young rightis(?) Kosaburo Eto (江藤 小三郎Etō Kosaburō; April 20, 1946 in Sage Prefecture – February 11, 1969 (Japan's National Foundation Day) in front of the National Diet in Tokyo, Japan):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosaburo_Eto ]


[Spring 2013 in Bulgaria, etc., a long list at:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations ; June 20th and 26th cases in 2018 in the USA; May 29, 2019 Arnav Gupta of Bethesda, Maryland burned himself near the White House; July 19, 2019 an unidentified Mr Kim, 78, burned himself fatally in front of Japan'embassy in Seoul, ROK; October 23, 2019 Ali Wazir burned himself in front of the UNHCR in Geneva, Switzerland over Turkey's invasion of Syrian Kurdistan; November 10, 2019 French university student Anas K burned himself over costs, neoliberalism, and fascism; July 18, 2020 US student Linda J Zhang, 18, burned herself over climate policy (?)September 21, 2022 an unidentified man in his 70s burned himself in protest of the state funeral for Shinzo Abe's ; May 1, 2024 Yang Hoe-dong burned himself over labor issues in the ROK;  September 15, 2024 Ekong Eshiet and Trayvon Brown set themselves on fire at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia.]  [Erik Thoen, 27, December 4, 1957 in Sunnyvale, California, over the Vietnam War; Poh Kwong December 8, 1959 in Thailand; Yui Chunoshin, 73, November 12, 1967 in Japan, over the Vietnam War; Thích Quảng Đức, 66, June 11, 1963 in Saigon, ROV; Soviet citizen Nikolai Didyk, 26, April 7, 1966, because he couldn't join the Vietnam War; Bruce Mayrock, 20, May 30, 1969 at Columbia University, over the Biafra War; Robert Rex Vice, 27, May 6, 1970, over the Vietnam War and the Kent State massacre; ROV Buddhist nun Thích Nữ Lien Tap, 24, June 4, 1970, over the Vietnam War, one of many in Vietnam; Greek university student Kostas Georgakis, 22, September 19, 1970, over the Greek Junta; Joseba Elosegi, 54, September 19, 1970, in Spain; Jeon Tae-il, 22, November 13, 1970 in the ROK; September 27, 1972 a 37-year-old Danish man burned himself over the European Common Market and unemployment; Swiss citizen Lynette Phillips, 24, October 3, 1978 in Geneva; Orland Payne McCafferty, 58, February 14, 1986, over 'Reaganism;' Timothy Brown, 48, December 9, 1990, due to the first Iraq War (?)Gregory Levey, 30, February 18, 1991, over the first Iraq War (?); Park Seung-hee, 20, April 29, 1991, over the police killing of Kang Kyung-dae; Rahşan DemirelMarch 21, 1992, Newroz that year, over Turkish mistreatment of KurdsNilgün Yıldırım and Bedriye Taş March 21, 1994, Newroz, over Turkish mistreatment of Kurds; Indian citizen (?) Abdul Raoob, 23, December 15, 1995, over the mistreatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka; Italian citizen Alfredo Ormando, 39, January 13, 1998, over Catholic policies on homosexuality; Necla Coşkun, 14, February 16, 1999, in the UK and Zülkuf Yilmaz around then in Switzerland, over Turkey's arrest of Abdullah Öcalan of the PKK; Zdeněk Adamec, 19, March 6, 2003 in Prague, over the Iraq War; Neda Hassani, 26, June 23, 2003 at the French embassy in London, over a raid against an MEK office in France, a few others did likewise around the same timeMaggy Mufu Delvaux, 44, October 5, 2004, over racism in Luxembourg; self-immolations against Israel's 2005 removal of vulnerable settlers from Gaza, though their siege and occupation of Gaza never ended; there have also been self-immolations in Western Europe to promote Islamophobia; Eleftheria Fourtoulaki March 28, 2006, over mistreatment of Kurds in Greece; Heo Se-uk, 54, April 1, 2007, against the South Korea – United States Free Trade Agreement; Mexican citizen Ramiro Guillén Tapia, 65, October 1, 2008, over land issues in Xalapa; Kumar Muthukumar, 26, January 29, 2009 in India, over the mistreatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka; Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, 26, February 27, 2009 in Switzerland, over the mistreatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka; Tang Fu-zhen, 47, November 13, 2009, over home demolition in Chengdu, China; Xi Xinzhu December 14, 2009 in home demolition in Beijing; Ye Zhongcheng, 79, and two relativeSeptember 10, 2010 in Yihuang County, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, China; self-immolations or Telangana statehood in India; Yacoub Ould Dahoud, 43, January 17, 2011 in Mauritania; Apostolos Polyzonis, 55, September 16, 2011 outside a bank in Thessaloniki, Greece, over the European debt crisis; July 14 (Moshe Silman) and 16 (Zion Vaknin) in 2012, over social issues in Israel; Valentina Gerasimovna, 57, July 18, 2012 in Novosibirsk, Russia; Akiva Mafi, 45, July 20, 2012, over the treatment of injured Israeli veterans; Charles R Moore, 79, June 23, 2014 in Grand Saline, Texas; Younes Asakere, 34, March 14, 2015, over the treatment of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran; Choi Yeon-yeol, 80, August 12, 2015, over Japanese colonialism in Korea; Khodayar Amini
30, October 18, 2015, over Australia's treatment of refugees; S. Erdene November 13, 2015, over labor and economic issues in Mongolia; Charles Ingram, 51, March 19, 2016, over VA  issues; an unidentified man February 11, 2017 in Sudan; Fathi Harb, 20, May 20, 2018, over the economic issues in Gaza; Chloe Saga, 31, June 20, 2018, over homelessness and mental healthJohn Watts, 58, June 26, 2018, over the VA; "Melanie Smith," not her true name, in her 50's, August 15, 2018 in the UK, over homelessness; Nicholas McCrary, 29, September 19, 2018, over involuntary celibacy and anti-autistic discriminationUmit Acar, 26, September 27, 2018, in Ingolstadt, Germany, over the continuing Turkish imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan; Mahsun Özen, 21, November 28, 2018, over Turkish mistreatment of Kurds; Uğur Şakar, 43, February 20, 2019, in Krefeld, Germany, for Abdullah Öcalan; Albert Razin, 79, September 10, 2019, for the Udmurt language in Russia; Adem Yarıcı, 42, February 7, 2020, over the Turkish economy; Yavuz Polat, 46, August 3, 2020, over the Turkish economy; Fikret GüvenAugust 14, 2020, for the same; Leroy Archie PonponNovember 2, 2020, for the payment of wages in Liberia; Liu Jin, 48, January 11, 2021 for the payment of wages in China; Halil S., 49, in Dresden, Germany, for Abdullah Öcalan; Behzad Mahmoudi, 25, from Iran, May 18, 2021, in Iraq; Ella Nik Bayan, 40, from Iran, September 14, 2021, over German transphobia and treatment of immigrants; an unidentified Australia man January 1, 2022 over vaccine ID and mandates; a Mr Krishanpal,52, May 18, 2022, in India; a man, 58, January 31, 2023, in Brazil; Prem Prasad Acharya, 37, January 24, 2023, over corruption in Nepal; Chet Bohrer, 42, March 1, 2023; Ahmed Jaouad, 61, March 27, 2023, over the economy in Morocco; Nizar Issaoui, 35, April 13, 2023, over the continuing issues in Tunisia; Karl-Udson Azor, 30, May 21, 2023, in Haiti; Robert Gituhu, 28, August 17, 2023, in Kenya; an unidentified man November 8, 2023 in the DRC; Maxwell Azzarello, 37, April 19, 2024 in NYC; Ruslan Palitsyn, 24, May 1, 2024, in Russia;  an unidentified man, 56, October 18, 2024, in Chile; Eduardo Miño, 50, December 1, 2001, over the Pizarreño asbestos disaster in Chile; many Tibetan activists and religious workers, Eastern European and East Asian rightists, etc.]

[Around 8:05pm on January 15, 2025 an unidentified man in his 60'(50's?) set himself on fire near the CIO (Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officialsheadquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, near Seoul, ROK.  Earlier he had come to the attention of police over a fire that started around 12:11am on the 15th (?) near the Korean DP headquarters in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul Presumably he was supporting Yoon.  He passed awaaround 2:34pm on the 20th  


apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol-martial-law-court-riot-rebellion-impeachment-f233ca2040d9c618bd5cbd9bf7e945ec


www.cbsnews.com/news/impeached-south-korean-president-yoon-suk-yeol-detained/


www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/south-korean-authorities-take-impeached-president-yoon-to-detention-center-after-questioning/


www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/skoreas-impeached-president-defends-martial-law-as-man-dies-of-self-immolation/3451103


m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20250115013251315 – by the ROK Yonhap NewAgency


koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-01-20/national/politics/Man-who-selfimmolated-near-CIO-headquarters-dies-/2226434  January 20th


www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-01-15/unidentified-person-dies-near-s-korea-graft-office-after-setting-self-on-fire-report-says


www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/unidentified-person-dies-near-skorea-graft-office-after-setting-self-fire-report-2025-01-15/ 


According to one dictionary I consulted, "self-immolation" apparently covers more than just suicide through fire.]




en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell


www.democracynow.org/2024/2/28/aaron_bushnell_self_immolation_gaza_protest


www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/27/alet-f27.html


WSWS chair David North censored by YouTube?  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/15/rcyp-m15.htmlan-indicatorof-the-profound-change-in-consciousness-in-the-united-states/


By veteran Mike Prysner:  empirefiles.substack.com/p/tribute-to-aaron-bushnell-by-iraq


www.tempestmag.org/2024/03/aarons-sacrifice/


geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/media-israel-bias-aaron-bushnell-gaza-genocide


redphoenixnews.com/2024/03/03/honor-aaron-bushnells-sacrifice-organize-and-resist/


2022 Green US Senate candidate and veteran Matthew Hoh:  twitter.com/MatthewPHoh/status/1762160060975788131


www.thenation.com/article/society/aaron-bushnell-gaza-self-immolation/


By John Parker, Peace and Freedom Party candidate for Congress (California district 37, at the south end of the state):  www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/02/28/honor-aaron-bushnell-free-palestine/


informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/02/27/aaron-bushnell-burned-himself-alive-to-make-you-turn-your-eyes-to-gaza/14/


www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/27/us-airman-aaron-bushnells-self-immolation-outside-the-israeli-embassy-in-washington-d-c/


informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/03/02/disgust/14/


By Chris Hedges, condemned by David North of the WSWS?  chrishedges.substack.com/p/aaron-bushnells-divine-violence


english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/from-rachel-corrie-to-aaron-bushnell--sacrificing-for-palest


www.greanvillepost.com/2024/02/27/brian-berletics-moving-homage-to-aaron-bushnells-sacrifice/


theintercept.com/2024/02/28/aaron-bushnell-reddit-fire-protest-israel-palestine/


theintercept.com/2024/03/07/aaron-bushnell-fbi-anarchism-extremist/


The Claudia-Karina 2024 presidentiacampaign highlighted:  www.youtube.com/watch?si=BBiAv568T_VhuVdw&v=0QfPm2izBGU&feature=youtu.be ?


(?) nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-claimed-secret-knowledge-of-us-forces-in-gaza/


(?) www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2024/2/28/the-take-an-extreme-act-why-aaron-bushnell-self-immolated-for-gaza


Rightist associated with the Zionist Tabletthedailyscroll.substack.com/p/february-26-2024-the-peoples-temple  Only a passing reference to Aaron Bushnell, but typical Zionist points from Bernard-Henri Lévy www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/stop-the-war-in-gaza ; not connected to Bushnell but it sounds like the "War on Terror" years on local college campuses under Bush and Obama at UC Berkeley in the mid-2020's:  www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/berkeley-safe-space-for-hate ; the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations fund the alleged linkage of Zoroastrianism, remnants of Iranian monarchism, anti-government Iranian(portrayed as willing tools for the "West" in the media), Zionism, and anti-Palestinian politics on the occasion of Nowruz this week:  www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/deep-roots-nowruz-zoroastrianism ].  At least one Zionist on Facebook was wishing for more burnings after December 1, 2023, and I think that was the first time I heard that someone had burned themselves over Palestine, though even people in the "West" have been facing jail, private and state-sponsored harassment campaigns and doxxing, loss of employment and possibly education, deadly violence, etc.



www.workers.org/2024/03/77428/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aaron-bushnells-act-sparks-memories-of-mass-resistance-in-u-s-military


A vigil in Portland, Oregon February 28th, one of several across the country:  www.workers.org/2024/03/77324/  and www.workers.org/2024/03/77348/  Green Party candidate Jill Stein spoke at a rally at the UN building in New York March 15th.


Bronx Anti-War Coalition statement:  www.workers.org/2024/02/77193/


A poem by Julia Wright:  www.workers.org/2024/03/77403/


Search:  www.workers.org/?s=aaron+bushnell



From:  www.workers.org/2024/02/77176/ 



The following statements appeared on Resistance News Network on Feb. 26, 2024.



Islamic Resistance Movement


We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement, express our heartfelt condolences and our full solidarity with the family and friends of the U.S. pilot Aaron Bushnell, whose name has been immortalized as a defender of humanitarian values and the plight of the oppressed Palestinian people who are suffering due to the U.S. administration and its unjust policies, like the U.S. activist Rachel Corrie who was crushed by a Zionist bulldozer [March 16th, today,] in 2003 in Rafah, the same city for which Bushnell paid for with his life to pressure his country’s government to prevent the criminal Zionist army from attacking it and committing massacres and violations in it. 

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden bears full responsibility for the death of Aaron Bushnell due to its policy that supports the Nazi Zionist entity in the genocide war against our Palestinian people, as he gave his life in order to highlight the massacres and Zionist ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip. 

The heroic pilot Aaron Bushnell will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global humanitarian solidarity with our people and their just cause. 

The tragic incident that cost pilot Bushnell his life is an expression of the growing anger among the people in the U.S. who reject their country’s policy that contributes to the killing and genocide of our people, and rejects their government’s violation of global humanitarian values, by providing cover to ensure the impunity of the Nazi entity and its leaders from punishment and accountability. 



Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department


The act of a U.S. soldier sacrificing himself for Palestine is the highest sacrifice and a medal, and a poignant message to the U.S. administration to stop its involvement in the aggression.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine affirmed that the act of Aaron Bushnell from the U.S. Air Force by setting himself on fire in front of the Zionist embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest against the war on Gaza, in which he called for the “liberation of Palestine,” confirms the state of anger among the people in the U.S. due to the official U.S. involvement in the Zionist genocide war being waged on the Gaza Strip. 

It also indicates that the status of the Palestinian cause, especially in U.S. circles, is becoming more deeply entrenched in the global conscience, and reveals the truth of the Zionist entity as a cheap colonial tool in the hands of savage imperialism.

The Front expresses its full solidarity with the soldier’s family and all the U.S. sympathizers who took a honorable stance and whose struggle and pressure to stop the genocide on the Strip have not ceased, confirming that the act of a U.S. soldier sacrificing his life to draw the attention of the U.S. people and the world to the plight of the Palestinian people, despite its tragic nature and the great pain it involves, is considered the highest sacrifice and medal, and the most important poignant message directed to the U.S. administration, that it is involved in the war crime in Gaza and that the people in the U.S. have awakened and are rejecting this involvement, calling on the administration to stop this support and bias for the Zionist entity.

The Front sent a message to the Arab soldier to take this U.S. soldier who sacrificed his life for a noble cause like the Palestinian cause as an example and role model, and to leave the trenches of waiting, incapacity, and move to the trench of confrontation in support of Palestine and its people who are being slaughtered, besieged, and starved in full view and hearing of the world and just a few kilometers from Arab lands and meters from the borders.

Palestine will be victorious as long as it has deeply engraved itself in the consciences of the world, and history will record in golden letters the names of all the sympathizers and free people of the world who stood with it and sacrificed their lives for its sake.

These statements were lightly edited [by Workers World and again here]."



Tweets from Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (?):


February 28th at 8:23am with 62.2k views, 195 comments, 573 re-tweets, 1.9k likes, and 25 bookmarks:

The West’s disgraceful antihuman policies with regard to the genocide in Gaza have reached such a point that a US military officer sets himself on fire. #AaronBushnell

twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1762830903410102578


February 28th at 10:39am with 337.5k views, 298 comments, 782 re-tweets, 3k likes, and 63 bookmarks:

The genocide in Gaza is even too much for that young person who was brought up in the Western culture. His conscience was hurting and he set himself on fire. #AaronBushnell

twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1762865228121768068


February 28th at 11:04am with 46.5k views, 207 comments, 496 re-tweets, 1.8k likes, and 18 bookmarks:

With regard to the situation in Gaza, Western culture has introduced itself, exposed itself, and revealed how corrupt, how perverted, and how cruel it is.

twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1762871443933569404



There have probably been many more responseinternationally.  street was re-named for Bushnell March 10th in Jericho, Palestine.



February 26th:

Statement by ANSWER National Director Brian Becker on the Self-Immolation of U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell at the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C.


The decision by U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell to set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy while condemning the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide being carried out against the people of Gaza was a desperate act designed to arouse public outrage. He made the ultimate personal sacrifice to end a genocide that the entire world has been witnessing for the past months. 

This was an act of martyrdom by a U.S. service member who was outraged by the actions of a government that speaks in his name. Aaron said as he set himself on fire, “I will not be complicit with genocide”. 

His actions cannot but remind one of the self-immolation of 22 year-old anti-war activist Norman Morrison, who doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below the office of then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the Pentagon to protest the escalating genocidal war waged by the United States against the people of Vietnam. Six months before Norman Morrison took his own life, president Lyndon Johnson had authorized the mass use of napalm against the people of Vietnam and escalated the carpet bombing that was killing thousands of civilians each week. Morrison’s act was also in line with the self-immolation protests carried out by Buddhist monks in South Vietnam to protest the South Vietnamese puppet government. Daniel Ellsberg witnessed Norman Morrison’s self-immolation. He was horrified and cited it, along with the mass anti-war protests sweeping the country, as one of the factors that affected him deeply as he moved into active opposition to the war. He ultimately released the Pentagon Papers to the media, which revealed that the U.S. government had been lying about the Vietnam War for a decade. 

People all over the United States, in the millions, have been involved in mass actions to protest the U.S. support for Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in recent months. People have also engaged in civil disobedience actions of many types. Many have been arrested and are facing trial, including many whose constitutional rights were violated by violent police repression. 

Aaron Bushnell’s action is a reflection, an indicator, a marker, of the profound change in consciousness in the United States. The previously dominant narrative that backed the Israeli apartheid government is dramatically giving way to a narrative based on the truth: that the Palestinian people have been the victims of dispossession, ethnic cleansing, violence of all types and now a genocidal killing spree in Gaza. And people in the United States and around the world are horrified and are mobilizing on multiple fronts in support of Palestine. 

Aaron Bushnell’s sacrifice takes place on the eve of a planned invasion of Rafah by the Israeli military. People all over the United States are coming together on March 2nd for mass actions in cities and towns across the United States as part of a global day of protest demanding no invasion of Rafah, a ceasefire to end the Israeli killing spree and the lifting of the siege of Gaza.

We send our sympathy and solidarity to Aaron Bushnell's family and loved ones. He has made the ultimate sacrifice in a quest for justice and in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine. 

Brian Becker,
National Director, ANSWER Coalition




Veterans for Peace, www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2024/02/26/veterans-peace-statement-about-aaron-bushnell-protesting-dea , February 26th:


Madmen Arsonists Strike Again: They as Much as Lit Aaron Bushnell’s Match for Him

 

Aaron Bushnell just couldn’t take any more.

He couldn’t bear to see any more people eviscerated and incinerated by American bombs dropped by Israelis on innocent Palestinians.

So, in his Air Force uniform, he walked determinedly to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. and set himself on fire.

What can we say about a young man who would do that to protest his government’s acts of cruelty and genocide?

It is important we say nothing before quoting his own calmly spoken, final words to the world.

“I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal. Free Palestine!”

You can see Aaron’s last minute of life in this video, blurred out after he strikes the match.

In it, he shouts, “Free Palestine” six times. The last five are combined with screams of agony before he falls silent.

A voice off-camera, shouts repeatedly, “Get him on the ground…on the ground,” which is the correct thing to do when someone is on fire.

People frantically rush in with a fire extinguisher. A police officer or uniformed guard appears and points a gun in Aaron’s direction. Someone calls out “I need a fire extinguisher…a fire extinguisher…another one…I don’t need guns; I need a fire extinguisher.”

Why would Aaron do something this extreme?

More of the “why” may come to light. But what he said in that video is sufficient. He could “no longer be complicit in genocide.”

Aaron’s motivation is strikingly similar to that of Norman Morrison, a 35-year-old, Quaker activist who set himself ablaze in the Pentagon parking lot below Secretary of War McNamara’s office, November 2, 1965.

In a letter to his wife, Morrison had written, “Dearest Anne, For weeks, even months, I have been praying only that I be shown what I must do. This morning with no warning, I was shown … Know that I love thee but must act for the children in the Priest’s village,” in reference to an article he had read in which a Catholic priest described Vietnamese “women and children blown to bits” from U.S. bombing and napalm.

Too many of us in VFP have seen the suffering war creates and it never leaves our memories. All of us agonize over our government’s aiding and abetting the slaughter of innocents.

We prod ourselves, “what is the most, the very best thing, I can do?”

That question moves some to learn the history of Palestine that they’ve too long ignored; some to contact elected officials; some to join a public protest; some to go on fasts; some to block roads or congressional offices and go to jail. But it never feels like enough.

Some may perceive fasting to the death or self-immolation as crazy and extreme beyond measure. Others see it as entirely appropriate because the horror protested is itself insane and extreme beyond measure.

Few who care deeply will have the courage to fast to the death or do what Aaron Bushnell did. But in addition to whatever inadequate things we already do, we can, we must, do two more things.

The first is to consciously let people who are pained and grieving at what our government does know that they are not alone. We should not assume our colleagues and comrades know we are aware of their anguish.

Secondly, we can resolve that we will move beyond simply reacting to bestial policies.

We could call our policymakers “madmen arsonists” because they go around the globe setting fires much faster than we can extinguish them.

These policymakers, swaddled in privilege, take their orders from those who profit from death and suffering. We know who they are: the people who run Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics and their fellow merchants of death, and the people who finance what the merchants do.

These madmen arsonists operate on a grand scale internationally but also on a singular, small scale as in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. They as much as lit the match for Aaron Bushnell. The fire that killed Airman Bushnell was simply the “collateral damage,” as it’s so callously called, of the ongoing conflagration in Palestine.

Our firefighting will never keep up with arsonists who operate on a global scale. We are long overdue to learn the fire prevention skills needed to halt them.

Fire prevention in this context means prohibiting the lobbying, advertising, vote buying, campaign funding and actual legislation writing that corporations do behind constitutional shields given them by the Supreme Court, like free speech and protection.

Until we strip corporations of their shields, they will continue to amass economic and political power to govern us, to set fires large and small, while we run frantically for fire extinguishers until we are exhausted, penniless and gone.

Veterans For Peace is learning the necessary fire prevention skills we need as we continue fighting fires set by the madmen arsonists. It is simply our responsibility to do both at the same time.

 

Millions will be in the streets against the Rafah invasion on March 2; find a demonstration near hyou [March 1st in Durham, to 'greet' the vice president, and March 2nd in Raleigh and elsewhere in NC?]. Vigils will be held across the country for Aaron Bushnell in the coming days.

If you are a member of the US military [and] want expert, confidential advice on how to get out, call the GI Rights Hotline 24/7 at 1-877-447-4487