NLG on the ceasefire in Gaza, censorship at Columbia, and the immigrant support movement

 A new NLG know your rights, or risks, guide has been posted at:  www.nlg.org/massdefenseprogram/responsive-guides/

The NLG's annual Week of Abolition will be March 3-7, with the theme: "Practicing Everyday Abolition" --  www.nlg.org/woa/

Sent out by email the evening of January 16th:

The National Lawyers Guild Says Ceasefire Today, Liberation Tomorrow! The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in the occupied territory of Gaza. This is the least that could happen, given Israel’s recent escalation of their 76-year, ongoing, genocidal campaign against Palestinians. It comes at a time when the death toll has exceeded 46,000 people, with reports that this number is undercounted. Israel has displaced more than 90% of the Palestinians living in Gaza. It will take decades to rebuild all the damage that was done, and therefore it's imperative that we also demand an immediate lifting of the lifting of the siege and ongoing economic embargo on Gaza.  This level of violence and destruction witnessed could not have been achieved without our elected officials at every level of government aiding Israel. The U.S. federal government has sent over $26 billion in weapons since October of 2023. Congress passed legislation designed to target non-profits who dare to speak out about the genocide of Palestinians. States like Texas have censored pro-Palestine speech on college campuses.  All of this did not stop the massive wave of popular support that the Palestinian people have across the world. Mass protests broke out against the ongoing genocide. Universities became encampments, as students took over public spaces demanding an end to the genocide. The International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice both have cases against Israel for violating human rights, thanks to the initiative and pressure of Palestinians and their allies from South Africa to Chile to Ireland, and many more. The world has witnessed the atrocities that Israel is committing, and they are fighting back.  We call on the US and international legal community to escalate our pursuit for legal accountability for the last 467 days of genocide and all Israeli colonial violence, ethnic cleansing, ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of apartheid, in our global and local legal institutions. We support the efforts of activists and progressive legal communities who are pursuing legal justice against individual members of the genocide army through national laws of Universal Jurisdiction. Every state which has signed and ratified the Geneva Convention is duty bound to prosecute those responsible for violating the Conventions.  We must also call for  our legal community to unite in the pursuit of real justice against U.S. individuals and institutions who have directly participated, aided and abetted in the genocide and famine, from the Biden administration officials, to member of Congress, to the media. They are all responsible.The ceasefire agreement has yet to be ratified, and is set to be rolled out in stages. We must keep our eyes on Gaza and the Palestinian people. The NLG continues to reiterate its support for a free Palestine. We believe that the Palestinians have the right to self-determination, by any means necessary. We also continue to reiterate the “legitimacy of the right of the Palestinian people to resist illegal military occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing" as is clear in international law and any correct moral standard. We join others in the statement Ceasefire today, Liberation tomorrow!

The National Lawyers Guild Is In Solidarity with Katherine Franke, and Condemns Columbia University The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns Columbia University’s forced retirement of former NLG Executive Director, Katherine Franke. This response is only one of the many attacks Columbia University has lobbied against anyone daring to speak out against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Professor Franke is a true embodiment of the NLG’s spirit and fight of putting people and the planet over profits.  After 25 years of service, Professor Franke was forced out of Columbia University for her unwavering support for Palestinian liberation. This is retaliation from Columbia University against her statements in support of the student encampments protesting Isarel’s genocide against Palestinians. She also brought to light the fact that Israeli students who had recently served in the Israeli military were using violence against anti-genocide protesters.  Columbia University’s response to these student encampments is unequivocally one of violence: the University sent in the NYPD to clear the encampment, allowed Zionist students and professors to attack anti-genocide protestors, and has retaliated against anyone on staff who dares to support these brave student protestors. Israel’s genocide against Palestinians continues to intensify, claiming the lives of over 46,000 since October 7th, 2023. Standing in solidarity with Palestinans who are asserting their right for liberation and self-determination is not radical. We cannot remain silent in the face of continued Israeli occupation of Palestine. Katherine Franke reminds us that we must speak out, no matter the cost.

[Re-posted:

 The National Lawyers Guild Says Ceasefire Today, Liberation Tomorrow! 

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in the occupied territory of Gaza. This is the least that could happen, given Israel’s recent escalation of their 76-year, ongoing, genocidal campaign against Palestinians. It comes at a time when the death toll has exceeded 46,000 people, with reports that this number is undercounted. Israel has displaced more than 90% of the Palestinians living in Gaza. It will take decades to rebuild all the damage that was done, and therefore it's imperative that we also demand an immediate lifting of the lifting of the siege and ongoing economic embargo on Gaza. 

This level of violence and destruction witnessed could not have been achieved without our elected officials at every level of government aiding Israel. The U.S. federal government has sent over $26 billion in weapons since October of 2023. Congress passed legislation designed to target non-profits who dare to speak out about the genocide of Palestinians. States like Texas have censored pro-Palestine speech on college campuses. 

All of this did not stop the massive wave of popular support that the Palestinian people have across the world. Mass protests broke out against the ongoing genocide. Universities became encampments, as students took over public spaces demanding an end to the genocide. The International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice both have cases against Israel for violating human rights, thanks to the initiative and pressure of Palestinians and their allies from South Africa to Chile to Ireland, and many more. The world has witnessed the atrocities that Israel is committing, and they are fighting back. 

We call on the US and international legal community to escalate our pursuit for legal accountability for the last 467 days of genocide and all Israeli colonial violence, ethnic cleansing, ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of apartheid, in our global and local legal institutions. We support the efforts of activists and progressive legal communities who are pursuing legal justice against individual members of the genocide army through national laws of Universal Jurisdiction. Every state which has signed and ratified the Geneva Convention is duty bound to prosecute those responsible for violating the Conventions. 

We must also call for  our legal community to unite in the pursuit of real justice against U.S. individuals and institutions who have directly participated, aided and abetted in the genocide and famine, from the Biden administration officials, to member of Congress, to the media. They are all responsible.The ceasefire agreement has yet to be ratified, and is set to be rolled out in stages. We must keep our eyes on Gaza and the Palestinian people. The NLG continues to reiterate its support for a free Palestine. We believe that the Palestinians have the right to self-determination, by any means necessary. We also continue to reiterate the “legitimacy of the right of the Palestinian people to resist illegal military occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing" as is clear in international law and any correct moral standard. We join others in the statement Ceasefire today, Liberation tomorrow!

The National Lawyers Guild Is In Solidarity with Katherine Franke, and Condemns Columbia University

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns Columbia University’s forced retirement of former NLG Executive Director, Katherine Franke. This response is only one of the many attacks Columbia University has lobbied against anyone daring to speak out against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Professor Franke is a true embodiment of the NLG’s spirit and fight of putting people and the planet over profits. 

After 25 years of service, Professor Franke was forced out of Columbia University for her unwavering support for Palestinian liberation. This is retaliation from Columbia University against her statements in support of the student encampments protesting Isarel’s genocide against Palestinians. She also brought to light the fact that Israeli students who had recently served in the Israeli military were using violence against anti-genocide protesters. 

Columbia University’s response to these student encampments is unequivocally one of violence: the University sent in the NYPD to clear the encampment, allowed Zionist students and professors to attack anti-genocide protestors, and has retaliated against anyone on staff who dares to support these brave student protestors.

Israel’s genocide against Palestinians continues to intensify, claiming the lives of over 46,000 since October 7th, 2023. Standing in solidarity with Palestinans who are asserting their right for liberation and self-determination is not radical. We cannot remain silent in the face of continued Israeli occupation of Palestine. Katherine Franke reminds us that we must speak out, no matter the cost. ]

Sent out by email the evening of January 24th:

New KYR for immigration justice advocates: Assessing Risks in Supporting Immigrants at Points of Intervention, Understanding the “Harboring” Non-U.S. Citizens Federal Crime, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)

In collaboration with Southern Coalition for Social Justice and National Immigration Project, the NLG’s Mass Defense Program has created a new KYR for people advocating with and supporting non-U.S. citizens. The new Trump administration has already stated its intent to use laws to prosecute “immigration-related violations,” which can extend to individuals who help and advocate on behalf of non-U.S. citizens. In the past, the federal government has utilized a federal crime against immigrant advocates, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A), “Bringing In and Harboring Certain” Non-U.S. Citizens. Understanding this very broad law can help assess risks at different points of intervention!

Read the full guide across our website and social media platforms:

Website

Instagram 

Bluesky

Facebook

Resources for non-U.S. citizens when protesting:

National Immigration Project Resources: bit.ly/nipresources

National Immigration Law Center's KYR: bit.ly/nilckyrimmigrants

Sent out by email January 15th in the afternoon:

Letter to Character and Fitness Committees Regarding Advocacy for Palestinian Rights

Dear [ ],

This morning, January 15, 2025, Unlock the Bar and Palestine Legal, joined by the National Lawyers Guild, Center for Constitutional Rights, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Palestinian American Bar Association, and the Climate Defense Project, have submitted a letter to each attorney licensing jurisdiction in the country, reminding the Character and Fitness Committees of their constitutional and legal obligations when evaluating applicants to the bar.

Both historically and currently, the attempts to utilize the Character and Fitness process in order to withhold licensure from social justice advocates engaging in liberative movements has been an unfortunate reality. In this moment of anti-Palestinian bias, there have already been examples of prospective applicants being subject to unfair and disparate treatment as they attempt to become lawyers. Character and Fitness Committees must be mindful to not allow such bias to affect their applicant review process.

With this letter, legal groups and advocacy organizations are reminding bar committees that, as government entities,  they must be bound to the First and Fourteenth Amendments, anti-discrimination laws, and constitutional jurisprudence.

"As in all other realms in the U.S., the Palestine exception to free speech is affecting lawyers. They are facing heightened scrutiny and punishment for a rational political position,” said Xavier T. de Janon, NLG Director of Mass Defense. “Character and Fitness evaluations are dated, onerous, and shadowy processes that have little to do with the practice of law.”

Full letter: "Advising on Your Legal Obligations to Ensure an Equitable Character and
Fitness Review Process in the Face of Anti-Palestinian Repression."

The letter is currently taking sign ons of support. If you would like to join as a sign on to this letter, please fill out the form here.

En Marcha on inflation and wages in Latin America and the anti-crime Phoenix Plan in Ecuador

Originally posted at:  www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article12900 and www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article12907

En Marcha #2078, January 10-16, 2024

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador 

Latin America: Wages Lose Purchasing Power  

In 2023, the Latin American economy faced high interest rates and rising inflation, leading to a loss of purchasing power for workers in the region. In the first half of 2023, the average real wage for the region's 11 economies increased by 0.4% while inflation ended at 3.8%.  

In 2023, the [monthly] salary in Mexico was the equivalent of $440; Dominican Republic, $245; Colombia, $335; Uruguay, $570; Brazil, $291; Ecuador, $450; Costa Rica $687; Chile $521. For 2024, salary increases in those countries were announced in the following percentages: Mexico would be 15%, Dominican Republic with an increase of 19%, Colombia 12%, Uruguay 5.5%, Brazil 6.97%; Costa Rica, 1.83%; Chile aims to reach $567 by September 2024 and Ecuador a little more than 2%.  

Wage increases for the population with formal employment in the region were less than 1%, since there are countries such as Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua where wage variations were very low; To this we must add that only 50% of the population has this type of employment; we can conclude that the majority of the Latin American population does not have salaries that can cover their minimum conditions of production and reproduction of their labor power.  

In Latin America, informal employment is a feature of the dependent and backward development of our capitalist societies. The productive apparatuses of our countries increase informal work, which creates a counterweight to access a substantial minimum wage and become justifications for labor flexibility and precariousness. It shows that the rights to vacations, earnings, social security, unionization, overtime and supplementary hours, collective bargaining, are perks of a group that has stable work.  The most exemplary case is in Ecuador, a country in which its government justifies precarious forms of hiring under the argument of youth work or the violet economy [jobs for women].  

 

 

The Phoenix Plan: Only a Demagogic Offer 

President Daniel Noboa gave the name "Phoenix" to his electoral proposal on security, more out of demagoguery than because it was a real response to crime, since, in practice, it has been nothing short of useless.  

Right now, the escape of Adolfo Macías, alias "Fito" and 20 people deprived of liberty, from the Litoral penitentiary is well-known. In response to this, the police chiefs state that "they cannot affirm or deny" whether they are inside; the riots in prisons such as Turi, El Inca and Cotopaxi, demolish the supposed control of the Executive, and reveal the complicity of police and military elements in the escape.  

The existence of such a plan has been questioned, because, now that Noboa has been sworn in as president of the Republic [November 23, 2023:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Noboa ], extortion and murders have continued: on January 1 and 2 there were 50 murders, 25 each day, exceeding the average of 21 murders per day in 2023.  

The Phoenix Plan, and any other, in order to be successfully executed, requires economic resources that allow for the training of new police officers and providing them with equipment; the so-called security bloc (made up of elite police and army corps), for example, is activated with its own resources, without additional budgetary allocations.  

Ecuador ranks as the fourth most unsafe country in the region, with 46 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants during the year 2023. Faced with such a reality, the neoliberal government, representative of the big bourgeoisie, says that it will build two mega prisons like those of El Salvador, one in Santa Elena and the other in Puyo, that is, it will continue with the policy of the "iron fist", which, during the two years of Guillermo Lasso's government, did not work, despite countless states of exception.  

The country needs to combat insecurity with the creation of jobs; strengthening of the areas of: education, health, social housing; admission to universities, job stability, payment to municipalities and prefectures for public works, so the national government must deliver the corresponding budget. 

En Marcha: SIPRAL 27 Introduction and Final Resolution

En Marcha #2063, September 6-12, 2023

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

27th International Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America"

On September 1 and 2, 2023, the 27th International Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America" was held virtually, with the participation of seventeen countries, under the theme "The struggles of the working class and peoples, and inter-imperialist disputes". They were two days in which leaders of various political, social and trade union organizations of the continent exposed, through their presentations, the current challenges to which the left movements, the communists, the workers and peoples are exposed, as well as the perspectives of the working masses in struggle.

The social struggle in Latin America and the whole world has gained strength, due to issues that are common such as the onslaught of neoliberalism, the anti-popular policy of the right-wing governments, military conflicts, the constant search of the imperialisms for control of markets and to expand their influence in new sectors. They have forced the youth and workers to mobilize for their rights and for freedom. These struggles, characterized by their persistence and intense levels of combat, have prevented the crystallization of various scenarios that are to the detriment of the peoples. On the other hand, the territories of Latin America are areas of dispute of the imperialist countries, which seek to expand their commercial borders, their ideological hegemony in the region and diminish the power that US imperialism and its allies still hold.

In the two days of work of the Seminar, organized by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador and the Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador, there were around 1500 participants connected virtually, listening to the presentations and the criteria expressed about the convened theme. Presentations were made by various organizations from El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Mexico, the United States, Chile, and the host, Ecuador, which were presented in six discussion tables. Each organization contributed with the perspective of the popular movement and the workers, to keep their organizations cohesive and in permanent struggle, as well as to the discussion of those problems that affect the whole world due to the voracity of capitalism and imperialism.

Those attending the seminar agreed that only the organization of the workers and peoples, the women and youth, will let the struggle to be taken to other levels and to the seizure of power. Therefore, they insisted on the need to strengthen their organizations and the unity of the left to confront the offensive of the bourgeoisie in their countries.

The armed conflicts that have marked humanity in recent years are not alien to the participants of the Seminar, since the effects of the war are felt in several countries and it is the workers and youth who are the main ones affected. It is clear that the inter-imperialist war that has Ukraine as its scenario, is the maximum representation of the interests of the imperialist countries to expand their zones of influence. The Western countries have not spared in their financing and logistical support to sustain this war longer, in their eagerness to incorporate more allies. The workers and their organizations worldwide demand the departure of troops from Ukrainian territory so that their people can achieve peace.

The attendees of the 27th International Seminar ratified their solidarity with the peoples who remain in constant struggle for their freedom and for the right to a life in peace, such as Palestine, Western Sahara and those who, legitimately, confront the invaders of their territories.

The Struggles of the Working Class and Peoples, and Inter-Imperialist Disputes

These are not good times for capitalism, its inevitable internal contradictions are the source of the serious problems from which it suffers. More than a century ago it entered the stage that marked the beginning of its decline, and the struggle of the workers and peoples continues to tear down the walls of capitalist exploitation. Now, the world is witnessing a new wave of protests, expressing the discontent and rejection of the peoples of a system that only offers them uncertainty, oppression and exploitation.

Tens of thousands of workers on strike, massive protests of workers and youth in the streets, violent confrontation with the repressive forces, has characterized the political-social scenario of the main capitalist economies of Europe in the preceding months. This has been the response to the offensive of capital that places the crisis on the backs of the workers, and to the efforts of the big monopoly bourgeoisie to finance its war budgets with measures that cause the decrease in wages and the increase in unemployment.

Europe has become an epicentre of the struggle of the working masses, but it is present on all continents, in the countries with the greatest capitalist development such as the United States and China and in the countries with the least development, trapped by dependence on imperialism. The confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the working class, an expression of the contradiction between capital and labor, is gaining strength and is animating the actions of revolutionary organizations on the planet.

In the Americas, along with the struggle of the workers, poor and middle peasants, and youth and women, there is a component that, due to the characteristics of our countries, is of strategic importance: the indigenous peoples and nationalities. The mass struggle has stopped the anti-people plans of the neoliberal governments and those that present themselves as democratic and progressive; it has blocked the way to the conspiracies of the fascist right – as in Brazil – and has won, by electoral means, important political victories that, in several cases, have been betrayed by the inconsistency of those who benefited from those victories.

The sharpening of this contradiction, together with the exacerbation of those that occur among the imperialist states, configure a particular scenario in today's world, a context that confirms the thesis that capitalism-imperialism is a source of sharpening of the class struggle, of the struggle of the peoples against foreign domination, of the contention between monopolies and capitalist-imperialist states over spheres of influence and of the origin of conflagrations that can take the form of world wars.

The war that has Ukraine as its theater of operations is the most bitter expression of the contradictions between the monopolies and the imperialist powers, but it is not its only manifestation. Today's world is not conceivable without these confrontations, which at times reach levels like today, which even warn of the danger of a world war, and at other times appear relatively "relaxed", and which are present at all levels: in the field of trade, in technological-scientific development, in the financial field, in the arms race, in the cultural field, etc.

The agreements, treaties, joint actions, the composition and recomposition of economic, political and military blocs that are occurring among the largest economies on the planet, confirm that for decades we have lived in a multipolar world, in which US imperialism has played a hegemonic role (now in decline), which is not synonymous with being the only imperialism. That hegemony is now contested by Chinese imperialism and for this it has also made agreements, accords and investments that allow it to put into circulation its financial capital, no less exploitative and oppressive than that coming from any other imperialist country. No imperialist power, as well as no economic bloc commanded by imperialist monopolies, can be a source of independent and sovereign development for the dependent countries, as is now intended to be presented with regard to the plans that China and Russia have with the bloc known as BRICS, with which they intend to contest with US imperialism and its allies. We reiterate what has been said on other occasions: there are no good imperialisms, they are all part of the world imperialist system and they are all enemies of the workers and peoples.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the object of inter-imperialist contention, U.S., Chinese, Canadian, British, Russian, German, Japanese, etc. capitals circulate in the economy of our countries exploiting oil, mining, agricultural resources; in the financial system; in hydroelectric projects; in military equipment, etc. The massive presence of Chinese capital has gone hand in hand with the "progressive" governments that have fulfilled and are fulfilling the role of renegotiators of the external dependence of their countries.

In the struggle to win social and national emancipation, the revolutionary forces must present to the workers and peoples a strategic project oriented by a policy of class independence that means: having a program that aims to meet and resolve the material needs and rights of the workers and peoples, affect the interests of the owners of big local and foreign capital and, defend the sovereignty of our countries; to rally the motive forces of the revolution and isolate the enemies of the revolution; to fight imperialism in all its expressions. In this sense, for the revolutionary struggle to advance, the building and strengthening of powerful Marxist-Leninist parties is a necessity.

The attendees of the 27th International Seminar Problems of the Revolution in Latin America reiterate our repudiation of the imperialist war in Ukraine, we demand immediate peace, we demand the departure of Russian troops from that territory and that the US and NATO take their claws out of Ukraine; we ratify our solidarity with the people of that country and with the peoples who suffer from the imperialist confrontation.

We support the national liberation struggles of the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara who are waging legitimate and just battles, above all against U.S., British and French imperialism, as well as against the apartheid regime of Israeli Zionism and the occupation by the Moroccan feudal monarchy of the Saharawi national territory, in open violation of the right to self-determination of the peoples. We express our solidarity with the workers, peasants, youth and peoples who on all continents are struggling against the effects of the domination of capital, for work, land, shelter, for freedom, for life. In these struggles lies the germ of the revolutionary torrents necessary to put an end to the world of capital.

Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina (PCRA)

Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR – Brazil

Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist–Leninist)

Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)

Communist Party of Marxist-Leninist of Ecuador

Popular Unity – Ecuador

Socialist Regroupment for a New National Initiative (RASIN Party – People's Camp)

Communist Party of Labor – PCT – Dominican Republic

George Gruenthal, Toward Marxist-Leninist Unity – USA

Women's Movement for Social Liberation – MMLS of Peru

Union of Student Youth of Peru – UJE PERU

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela

Communist Reconstruction of Uruguay

Salvadoran Trade Union Coordinator

Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador

Ecuadorian Association of Friendship with the Saharawi People

General Union of Workers of Ecuador – UGTE

National Union of Educators – UNE (Ecuador)

Women for Change – Ecuador

Quito September 2, 2023

Revolutionary Communist Party of Uruguay statement at SIPRAL 27

I received some translations of reports or statements made at the 27th International Seminar Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, usually held yearly in Quito, Ecuador, but meeting online this year, September 1-2.  The RCP of Uruguay was founded about 50 years ago, in December 1972:  pcr.org.uy/

Political situation

After three governments of the Frente Amplio [Broad Front], a front led by social democracy, revisionism (PCU) and social populism (MPP, of former President Mujica), a coalition of the traditional right and the fascist ultra-right has governed since March 2020, which won the 2019 elections by 1.5%.

The National Party of President Lacalle Pou leads the coalition; it includes the Colorado Party of former President Sanguinetti, Cabildo Abierto of retired General Manini Ríos, an ultra-right party with a military leadership very committed to the defense of the fascist military dictatorship and its crimes; the PI, Independent Party, a social democratic party, and the People's Party of the liberal right. It is noteworthy that Cabildo Abierto has 20% of the parliamentary seats of the coalition and weighs decisively on all issues.

What the three Frente Amplio [FA] governments did and did not do

1. The Law of Impunity was not repealed, very little progress was made in Truth and Justice and Manini ended up being promoted as the commander-in-chief of the army, an oligarch and member of a fascist lodge.

2. Salaries – The FA took over after the crisis of 2002 when salaries had fallen by 40% and there was no rapid increase in wages; the wage level was regained only after 10 years, but at the cost of sharp conflicts of the workers and not by government decrees

3. IMF-External Debt-TPPI – This was immediately agreed with the IMF. The debt multiplied by 3 in 15 years and implied accepting the conditions they imposed, including not investing in OSE (state waters), for example, and giving perks to agribusiness, forest monocultures and soy plantations. They approved the Irrigation Law, promoting private dams, with disastrous consequences. On December 28, 2005 the TPPI (investment protection treaty) was signed with the Yankees with whom a Free Trade Agreement was even attempted.

4. Earth – In 2005, the first year of the government, the largest foreign takeover and concentration of land in history occurred in one year. The Minister of Agriculture was Mujica. After 15 years most of the land was in foreign hands.

5. Privatizations-PPP-Outsourcing – Attempts were made to keep the water privatized in Maldonador despite the successful plebiscite. Progress was made in privatizations and PPP (public-private partnerships) that created with them a hidden debt and huge businesses for financial capital.

6. Tax Reform – They promised to remove the tax on salaries and they put it on the IRPF [Personal Income Tax] paid by 80% wage earners and the IASS [tax on pensions] to retirees, while there are US $3,000 million tax exemptions a year for big capital. The Value Added Tax is 22%, one of the highest in the world.

7. Social Security - the AFAP [Pension Fund Management Companies], which profits from the contributions of the workers and takes finances from the BPS (state social welfare bank), was maintained. Most pensions are miserable.

8. Papeleras – The establishment of paper mills, UPM 1, Montes de Plata was promoted and authorized and committed to UPM 2.

9. Industry – The process of deindustrialization of the country continued. The few factories rescued after the crisis were supported by Chávez.

10. Health – There is still one health-care system for the rich and another for the poor.

11. Education – It is far from reaching 6+1% of GDP as was promised.

12. Corruption – There were important cases of corruption – PLUNA (state airlines), ANCAP (state fuel), State Casinos, etc.

1. The current right-wing coalition government

   A few days after taking office, it decreed the contraction of the state budget by 15% and that only 1 in 3 vacancies be filled in much of the state. Then there was a five-year National Budget, with strong fiscal adjustment. From there and with the excuse of the pandemic, a generalized salary reduction for more than 3 years.

   It is a government that went full steam ahead against the people and immediately promoted the LUC, Law of Urgent Consideration, with almost 500 articles that are largely repressive and punitive, limiting the right to strike, prohibiting occupations and pickets, with a great attack on public education.

   Faced with this law, there was a great popular battle in the streets, with strikes, mobilizations and a Referendum against 135 articles, for which 800,000 signatures were achieved and then with 1,078,000 votes, losing by 1.5%.

   The reactionary onslaught continued in each of the annual budget accounts and with the approval of the reactionary Social Security Reform, which in reality is only a pension reform, which increases the required retirement age from 60 to 65 years and obligatorily extends the AFAPs to all savings banks and all workers regardless of the amount of their salary.

   The AFAPs are a system of individual pension savings and imply a real emptying of the BPS (state), of US $1,200 million per year that come out of the contributions by the workers under this capitalist-imperialist system that imposes more and more job insecurity and super-exploitation. The reactionary chorus then speaks of the BPS's supposed deficit of $600 million annually.

   The AFAPs are a real scam at the service of financial capital that was imposed by the conditions of the IMF and other imperialist agencies. They were eliminated in most of the countries where they were established when it was seen in practice that they do not provide services other than pensions and that in the vast majority of cases these are very low.

   This government has deepened its dependence on Yankee imperialism and acts as a battering ram of its policy in the region and on the continent, permanently attacking Cuba and Venezuela as dictatorships and at the same time promoting an FTA with China, which has been the main buyer of U.S. exports: meat, soy and cellulose in recent years. It is a government that conceded a monopoly of loading and unloading of containers in the port of Montevideo to the Belgian company Katoen Natie for 50 years. It carried out the establishment of a second plant of the Finnish paper company UPM, taking charge of the state of a railway, road and bridge infrastructure for US $4,000 million. It is advancing the privatization of public companies, breaking up the Portland plants, and part of the fuel supplies in ports and airports, today in the hands of the ANCAP [National Administration of Fuels, Alcohols and Portland]; the same is happening with the state electric power company UTE and the telephone company ANTEL. With OSE, the state water company, a negotiation was approved with the construction monopolies, in the midst of the water crisis, the Neptune project to pump water of the Río de la Plata, which is questioned by scientists, environmentalists and the workers' union, because it implies privatization and the place of the occupation, Arazatí, has high levels of salinity and pollution.

   Economic situation

   Due to the crisis furthered by the pandemic, GDP fell sharply in 2020, the first year of the current government, by -6.1%, there was a recovery of 5.3% in 2021 and 4.9% in 2022, mainly due to the high prices of the main export products, meat, soybeans and pulp and construction works. of UPM2 and the great infrastructure that surrounds it.

   In the last two quarters of 2022, a slight technical recession was reached and a poor GDP growth of 1.3% is expected for this year. This reflects the "normalization" of international prices, the serious effects of the drought that mainly affected soybeans, a large drop in meat exports due to the drop in purchases from China and the end of the aforementioned works. In the first half of 2023, soybean exports fell -76% and beef exports -32%. In 2022, the main export destinations were China (29%), the European Union (15%), Brazil (14%), Argentina (9%) and the USA (5%).

   A factor that is greatly influencing the national economy is the backwardness of the economy, with a dollar that depreciates against the peso and artificially increases the production of goods and services in the country. The basis of this problem is in the issuance of bonds in UI (indexed units), in Uruguayan pesos that adjust for inflation and also pay high interest, which favors the speculative business. What successive governments have been doing with the argument of combating inflation in fact subsidizes all types of imports and permanently increases the public debt.

   Global public debt is around $50 billion and about $20 billion in interest. To this we must add the indebtedness concealed by the PPP [Purchasing Price Parity. The GDP forecast at the end of this year 2023 is US $73,000 million.

   In these years exploitation has increased, the percentage of submerged wages of less than $25,000 covers 33% of workers, about 550,000. 75% of workers do not reach the average family basket [of necessary goods], which today is $124,000, about US $3,100. There has been an increase in job insecurity, outsourcing and self-employment, much of which is "informal", covering some 350,000 workers.

   Poverty has increased, there are 650 irregular settlements where some 250,000 people live and with the pandemic popular pots have become widespread.

   The current workers' and people's struggles

   March 8 – National strike of 24 hours by Women of the PIT-CNT (labor federation).

   March 23 – Partial General Strike from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. against the government's reactionary pension reform.

   April 25 – 24-hour National General Strike against the Social Security Reform, the day it began to be voted on in Parliament.

   June 27 – Partial General Strike, 50 years after the Fascist Military Coup in commemoration of the heroic 15-day General Strike, carried out by the CNT in 1973.

   August 22 – Partial General Strike for wages, in defense of public companies and solidarity with those in conflict.

   Between January 1 and June 30, 2023, 60 labor disputes were registered in which 1,198,385 workers were involved. In the month of June there was an increase in sectoral conflict that was more than double that of the previous month and the highest figure in this period of government. This is explained by what happened mainly in construction and education.

   The struggles of the workers have been making their way despite the hegemony of opportunism in the leadership of the PIT-CNT, in a year in which a reactionary pension law was approved, the annual Budget Accountability is under parliamentary discussion, the last of the period, and the 10th Round of the Salary Councils. To this is added the struggle for drinking water, given the water crisis and very important conflicts in the unions of public companies (MSCE) against privatizations and for personal income.

   The class struggle currents have been advancing in influence and coordination in the Coalition of Trade Unions, and their weight has been decisive in achieving the general strikes and also in the launch of the Social Security plebiscite underway.

   Plebiscite for Social Security

   On August 10, in the Representative Table of the PIT-CNT, won an important victory by achieving a majority in its plebiscite proposal. The text proposed by ATSS (BPS workers) had the support of the class point of view, that of our party and that of the UP. The campaign to collect the required 300,000 signatures is already being prepared and then for the 1,200,000 votes needed in October 2024, together with the national elections. A constitutional reform is proposed to maintain the retirement age at 60 years, set a minimum retirement equal to the national minimum wage and eliminate the AFAP.

   The Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) and the Popular Unity (UP)

   The center of gravity of the mass work of the PCR, which commemorated its 50th Anniversary in December 2022, is in the labor movement and the unions, its members are part of the Class Trade Union Current. At this stage, we are fighting for a democratic, agrarian and anti-imperialist revolution in uninterrupted march to socialism.

   Since the end of the dictatorship in 1985, we joined the work in the Base Committees of the Broad Front, within the radical left. In 1989 we participated in the founding of the MPP (Popular Participation Movement), with the MLN-Tupamaros and other organizations. We were there until 2001 when the right-wing line of Mujica and Huidobro took over the leadership.

   From there we continued in the FA to try to defeat the traditional right and make an advanced popular experience, which was achieved in 2004. In 2005, due to the government's agreements with the IMF and other measures already mentioned, we withdrew from the FA and in 2006, together with the March 26 Movement and the Left Current, we founded the Popular Assembly, today Popular Unity.

   The UP, with a consistent anti-imperialist program, won one deputy in the 2014 elections, with 27,000 votes, which we could not maintain in 2019. We persisted for 17 years and prepared for the battles of the plebiscite and the elections of 2024.

   International situation

   The international situation shows a sharpening of the inter-imperialist contradictions whose center is the imperialist war of aggression of Russia in Ukraine, with the increasing involvement of Yankee imperialism and NATO and the growing danger of a third world war. The use of nuclear weapons is increasingly possible if the situation were to escalate.

   This situation is taking place in a context of international economic crisis that was enhanced by the Covid 19 pandemic, and changes in the relations of forces of the imperialist countries. Yankee imperialism remains the main power in terms of its economic, political and military power, but it is in decline and in a multipolar world where Chinese imperialism is seriously contesting for hegemony and the BRICS is being enlarged.

   The imperialist powers are once again resorting to war and the arms industry to get out of the crisis and divert the class struggles within their countries. There is an alarming and generalized growth of ultra-right and fascist parties and organizations in the imperialist countries and also in Latin America.

   At the same time the proletariat and the oppressed peoples of the world have been developing very important struggles, confronting the adjustments against the wages and budgets for health care, housing and education for the people, and reactionary laws such as the reform of social security and those that limit the right to strike, with which international finance capital seeks to place the crisis on the backs of the workers.

   The struggle of the popular women’s movements that have become protagonists of great mobilizations is developing throughout the continent. In the case of Uruguay, these have reached 300,000 people on March 8, in Montevideo alone. These struggles have been making very important advances in the struggle for women's liberation and social equality.

   The imperialist exploitation of the natural resources of the oppressed countries is being aggravated, which is taking place in the midst of a great inter-imperialist contention over these resources and over the strategic infrastructure control. In Latin America China is making a great advance, both at the commercial level, where it is already the main purchaser in general, and in investments and infrastructure, ports and airports, also advancing in political influence.

   In our America the great struggles of the working class and peoples in the face of the crisis opened the way to the electoral defeats of the parties of the right in government, in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Colombia, where governments oriented by various forms of “progressivism” were established. In general, they quickly disappoint their peoples by not taking the necessary measures to break with dependency and carry out the fundamental reforms essential to really improve the situation of the workers and people.

   In Bolivia the heroic struggle of the people managed to defeat the fascist coup that overthrew the MAS government, headed by Evo Morales, and in Peru the struggle against the institutional coup that overthrew President Pedro Castillo is persisting.

   FORWARD WITH THE STRUGGLE OF THE WORKING CLASS AND
   THE PEOPLES OF OUR AMERICA!

Unity and Struggle issue #46 published

The May issue of Unity and Struggle, journal of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO, cipoml.net/ ; in English, Spanish, and Turkish) has been published and can be ordered from Red Star Publishers for $7 dollars (orders from outside the USA will cost more), via PayPal, check, money order, or cash.  Back issues might also be available.

Tambien disponible en español.

In this issue:

Bangladesh  

The Partition of India  

Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist-Leninist)  

Brazil  

The Reconstruction of Russia and the Construction of Socialism: The Soundness of the Soviet Economy in the Face of the Crisis of 1929  

Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR  

Burkina Faso  

The Deepening of the Crisis of the Imperialist Capitalist System Source of the Reinforcement of the Increasing Aggressiveness of Imperialism  

Revolutionary Communist Party of Volta – PCRV  

Chile  

Marxism versus Anarchism  

Revolutionary Communist Party of Chile  

Colombia  

2023, A Year of Slowdown and Uncertainty for Colombians  

Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist)  

Denmark  

“The Trotskyist World Movement”  

Workers’ Communist Party, APK  

Dominican Republic  

This Time It Must Not Be Reelection Much Less Return
to the PLD Model of Government  

Communist Party of Labor – PCT  

Ecuador  

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin  

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador – PCMLE  

France  

A Powerful Social Movement Against the Pension Reform  

Communist Party of the Workers of France – PCOF  

Germany  

A Multipolar World and Freedom Fighters?  

Organization for the Construction of a Communist Party of the Workers of Germany  

India  

On the Situation in Ukraine  

Revolutionary Democracy  

Iran  

Let Us Fight for the Unity of the Working Class of Iran!  

Party of Labour – Toufan  

Italy  

The Rise of the Extreme Right in Italy and the Struggle of the Working Class  

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

Mexico  

The Militarization in Mexico, Part of Fascistization and Fascism  

Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)  

Peru  

Popular Uprising in Peru, December 2022 to April 2023  

Peruvian Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)  

Spain  

Drawing Lessons from the Past to Build the Future  

Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCE(ml)  

Tunisia  

The Repression of the Left-Wing Movements in Tunisia  

Workers’ Party of Tunisia  

Turkey  

The Earthquakes in Turkey: A Fundamental Fracture: “Where Is the State?”  

Party of Labour (EMEP)  

United States of America  

Changes in the Forms of Imperialism over Stages of Capitalist Development  

American Party of Labor  

Venezuela  

The Policy of the Marxist-Leninists in the Current Situation in Venezuela  

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela – PCMLV