Showing posts with label anti-fascism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-fascism. Show all posts

Saturday, May 17, 2025

En Marcha on the anniversaries of the defeat of Axis imperialism in '45 and US imperialism in '75

[Commentaries on the shooting of four diplomatic staff from the Israel'embassy in DC, two fatally:


A Maoist neworganization:  theworker.news/2025/05/22/a-just-act-just-not-a-correct-act/  (I wondered that evening ithis event could be used to advance the repressive agenda of Trump-Vance and the supportive Democrats, similar to Bush-Cheney and 9/11, on a smaller scaleor Nazi Germany and the 1933 Reichstag Fire, and according to the article, the PSL is being blamed, though the alleged shooter was only a member briefly, in 2017, and not connected to the party since then, according to Wikipedia.  Federal hate crime and terrorism charges might be applied, in addition to murder.  An alleged manifesto from X/Twitter is online above and at:  www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-israel-embassy-shooter-manifesto )


On individual violent actions in general, posted before May 21st redphoenixnews.com/2025/05/12/urban-guerilla-theory-the-role-of-violence-in-capitalist-crises/


[ caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/05/23/thoughts-on-the-israeli-embassy-staff-killings/ ]


[ www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2025/05/22/stinking-to-the-high-heavens-of-a-false-flag  [The shooting hacovered up the news thaIsraeshot at diplomatfrom several "Western" countries near Jenin (?) in the West Bank, Palestine and Israel was been threatened with consequences for starving Gaza.  Netanyahu is talking about "babykillers," etc. the evening o the 22nd and there wasomething from him or someone about "incitement" and "bloodlibels," by the EU (?) for daring to criticize Israel's war crimes and atrocities.  In the morning on the 22nd NPR had a headline, something about someone condemning Netanyahu's promise to 'end' the war in Gaza if the prisonerare released, Hamas surrenders (and ...?), and if Trump's "brilliant," revolutionary" plan to depopulate Gaza ifollowed, "tantamount to ethnic cleansing" someone said -- why add "tantamount?"  The liberal Town of Chapel Hill probably stands with the US, EU, UK, Canadian, Israeli, and other war criminals, to a greater extent than the City of Durham.]


[I'm sure there is interesting discussion on www.nakedcapitalism.com under the daily Links, etc.]


On the right:


envisioningtheamericandream.com/2025/05/22/murder-in-the-name-of-palestine/  (supporter of the Democratic Party?)


www.counterextremism.com/press/counter-extremism-project-condemns-murders-israeli-embassy-workers-capital-jewish-museum 


For background:  


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_killing_of_Israeli_embassy_workers_in_Washington,_D.C.  ]



[May 28th Israel claims to have killed Mohammed Sinwar (born September 16, 1975 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza), said to be the leader of Hamas in the GazStrip and leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades; his older brother YahySinwar (October 29, 1962, also in the Khan Yunis camp – October 16, 2024):  the morning BBC radio newprogram , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Sinwar , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Sinwar ]


[ samidoun.net/2025/05/77-years-of-ongoing-nakba-the-crumbling-zionist-project-and-the-revolutionary-road-to-liberation-and-return/ ]



There are also articlesuch as (machine translated):  



World Biological Diversity Day [May 22nd in Ecuador;  pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13778 ]

Joseph Stalin, leader of the Great Patriotic War 

Battle of Stalingrad 

Brecht, revolutionary poet and playwright

THE MOTHER, by Maxim Gorky

Dimitrov and the defense of communism in the Leipzig trial

The Fifth Congress of the Communist International 

Engels, thinker 

Dien Bien Phu, an example in the people's liberation struggle 

The PCMLE fights and denounces Chinese revisionism 

The 1970s and the development of the PCMLE 

The PCMLE disputes the political leadership of the masses 

6th Congress of the Tunisian Workers' Party 

Popular First Aid Brigade

May 29 [1969]: Student's Day 

Adolescence 




I received these two translated articles and added introductory parts that are machine translated: 


En Marcha #2136, May 7 to 13, 2025  [ www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13762 ]

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

80 years since the victory of the epic struggles of the peoples against fascist barbarism

Commemorating the 1945 Victory from a realistic and objective perspective implies understanding that the fight against fascism is part of the broader struggle against the capitalist system that gave rise to it. It implies recognizing that the working class and oppressed peoples were the driving force of resistance and victory, and that we must strive to reclaim their emancipatory role.

[Photo]

On May 9, 1945, Nazi Germany signed its surrender in Berlin, after having provoked the bloody war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Eighty years have passed since the roar of arms of the armies contending in Europe during the Second World War ceased and the red flag with the hammer and sickle flew over the Reichstag (Parliament) in Berlin. Eighty years since humanity, represented in the heroic struggle of the Soviet Union and the allied coalition, dealt a mortal blow to the bloodiest and most reactionary regime that history had known: Nazi Germany.

Commemorating this historic victory is not a mere exercise in memory, but a political and ethical necessity, especially at times like the present, when the ghosts of the past are trying to return. Analyzing this victory objectively allows us to go beyond the superficial and often distorted narrative, to understand the deep forces, class contradictions and material interests that clashed in the Second World War, revealing its true meaning and the defeat of Nazi-fascism as a victory of working and oppressed humanity against the most brutal expression of capital in crisis.

The Second World War did not come out of nowhere, its roots were sunk in the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system in its imperialist phase, as analyzed by Lenin, Stalin and other Marxist theoreticians. The Great Depression of 1929 exacerbated inter-imperialist tensions, leading to a bitter struggle for markets, resources, and spheres of influence. In this context of structural crisis, the bourgeoisie of some countries, especially in Germany and Italy, resorted to fascism as an extreme form of open terrorist dictatorship of monopoly capital. Fascism was not simply a crazy ideology, as some call it; it was the response of big capital to the revolutionary threat of the organized labor movement and to the very existence of the Soviet Union, the first socialist state in history. Hitler's National Socialism, with its racist delirium, its expansionist pan-Germanism, and rabid anti-communism, represented the culmination of this reactionary degeneration, seeking to annihilate the "inferior race" (Jews, Gypsies, Slavs) and crush any vestige of workers' organization or dissident thought. Its manifest goal was world domination and the enslavement of vast territories and populations for the benefit of German capital.

In the face of this onslaught of barbarism, the Soviet Union emerged as the main bulwark of resistance. Since its birth, the USSR had faced the hostility of the capitalist powers, but the fascist aggression of 1941 placed it at the epicenter of the global struggle. The Great Patriotic War, as this period is known in the countries of the former USSR and progressive sectors, was a feat of epic proportions, a life-and-death struggle for the defense of the first experience of socialist construction. The Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, led by Stalin, mobilized all their forces and resources to repel the invader. Soviet industry, massively moved eastwards in the face of the enemy advance, showed an astonishing capacity for resilience and war production, surpassing German in many respects, despite the enormous initial territorial losses.

The Red Army, composed of millions of workers, peasants and intellectuals conscious of what they were defending, fought battles of unprecedented courage and ferocity. The defense of Leningrad, subjected to a siege of almost 900 days that cost the lives of more than a million civilians; the bitter and courageous battle of Stalingrad, which marked a strategic and moral turning point in the war, destroying a large part of the German army; the gigantic tank battle at Kursk; and the unstoppable final offensive that culminated in the capture of Berlin, are milestones that testify to the supreme sacrifice of the Soviet people. It was not just a military struggle; It was an all-out war in which the civilian population, the partisans (guerrillas) in the occupied territories, the women who took up the work in the factories and the countryside, all contributed decisively to the victory. It is estimated that the Soviet Union suffered more than 27 million casualties, both military and civilian, a figure that shows the magnitude of its contribution and the price paid for victory. Without Soviet sacrifice, the defeat of Nazism would have been unthinkable or would have required an infinitely greater cost to the rest of the world.

But the victory was the result of a combined effort. The anti-fascist coalition integrated capitalist powers such as the United Kingdom and the United States, despite their contradictions with the USSR and their own imperialist interests. The United Kingdom bravely resisted Nazi bombing during the Battle of Britain and contributed on fronts such as North Africa and the Atlantic. The United States, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, deployed immense industrial and military power that was crucial, especially on the Pacific front against Japan and in the Normandy landings, which opened a second front long desired by the USSR.

It is also essential to recognize the heroism of the resistance movements in the occupied countries. Communist partisans, socialists, democrats, and patriots fought clandestinely against the invader, sabotaged its operations, rescued victims of persecution, and kept the flame of hope alive. The resistance, more often than not led by the communists, played a vital role in weakening the enemy and preparing the ground for liberation. This dimension of popular struggle and resistance from below, often downplayed in official histories, is crucial to a full understanding of victory.

From a Marxist perspective, the anti-fascist alliance was a classic example of a united front, a tactical union of diverse and even contradictory forces in the face of a common enemy. While the USSR was fighting for the survival of its socialist system and the liberation of the peoples, the allied capitalist powers were also defending their own interests: to stop an aggressive imperialist competitor that threatened their possessions and trade routes. The tensions and differences in objectives between the USSR and its capitalist allies were palpable during the war and would become evident immediately afterwards, giving way to the so-called Cold War. However, at the crucial moment of the struggle against fascism, the need for unity prevailed.

The victory of 1945 had consequences of historic scope for the development of the 20th century. Fascism, as a state ideology, was discredited and defeated militarily. A period of decolonization began, as the European imperialist powers, weakened by the war, could no longer maintain their vast colonial empires in the face of the rise of national liberation movements, many of them inspired by the Soviet example and socialist ideas. The world political map changed radically with the formation of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe and Asia, expanding the field of countries seeking to build alternatives to capitalism. The prestige of socialism and the international communist movement reached very high historical levels.

In addition, awareness of the magnitude of Nazi atrocities, in particular the Holocaust, created an impetus for the development of international humanitarian law and the creation of multilateral bodies such as the United Nations, aimed at preventing future wars and protecting human rights. While these institutions have often been limited and exploited by the interests of the great powers, their creation was, in part, a response to the need to establish safeguards against the barbarism that fascism represented.

Eighty years later, we cannot rest on the laurels of victory. The reactionary winds are blowing again. Capitalism in global crisis creates growing inequalities, social polarization and despair, a breeding ground for the resurgence of ultra-right ideologies, exclusionary nationalism, racism and xenophobia. The denial or minimization of the crimes of fascism, the attempts to equate communism with Nazism, and the glorification of fascist collaborators in some countries are red flags that demand our utmost attention and firm opposition.

Commemorating the 1945 Victory from a real and objective approach implies understanding that the struggle against fascism is part of the broader struggle against the capitalist system that engendered it. It implies recognizing that the working class and oppressed peoples were the driving force of the resistance and victory and that we must strive to salvage their emancipatory role. It reminds us of the importance of organization, unity of action and international solidarity to face the threats of the present. The struggle for historical memory is a political struggle; combating the unconsciousness and distortion of the past is essential to defend the rights and achievements of the present and to build a different future.

The victory over fascism showed humanity's ability to overcome barbarism when united around a common goal. The immense sacrifice made by the Soviet Union and all those who fought against the Fascist Axis, imposes on us the responsibility of not allowing history to repeat itself. The struggle for a world without exploitation, oppression, racism and war, a world of peace, social justice and labor, remains the fundamental task of our time. It is the best way to honor those who gave their lives for freedom.

80 years of the Great Victory over fascism! Honor and eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, to the communists, partisans, to the resisters, to all workers and to the peoples who fought and gave their lives! for freedom! Fighting fascism in all its forms is an obligation for the present! For a world without imperialist wars, or capitalist oppression!

[An added photo?]






En Marcha #2136, May 7 to 13, 2025 [ www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13768 ]

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

Vietnam: 50 Years of the Vietnamese People's Victory over U.S. Imperialism

Since the Tet Offensive, launched by the Vietnamese Liberation Front in 1969, the initiative rested with the Vietnamese people. The liberation of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of a political-military process that defeated US imperialism and its minions.

[Photo]

April 30 marked the 50th anniversary of the defeat of U.S. imperialism in Vietnam. This historic event is of great importance for the anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist communist movement internationally; seen in the heroic struggle of the Vietnamese workers and people; it affirmed the solidarity, brotherhood of peoples and the internationalist struggle; it meant the reunification of the country, the victory of its self-determination and independence.

Between March and April 1975, U.S. diplomats and military began fleeing Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. It was clear that the advance of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam was unstoppable. The withdrawal of most U.S. troops during the previous months evidenced the political-military defeat that the Vietnamese people had already inflicted on the U.S.

The victory was made possible by massive popular support for the troops of the Liberation Front and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army). "We had to use the small against the big, antiquated weapons against modern weapons", "In the end, it is the human factor that determines the victory" the revolutionary and head of the Vietnamese People's Army Vo Nguyen Giap would say. The fundamental element for the victory was the people in arms, the same one that allowed for the annihilation of the military forces of imperialism, thus allowing all its political and military maneuvers to be undone. In this process, the revolutionary forces combined guerrilla warfare, insurrection in the towns and cities, workers' strikes and boycott actions by the masses. The period of simultaneous offensives and insurrections, which began with Tet in 1968 and ended with the liberation of Saigon in 1975, was the result of the coordination of the military and political struggle.

How did this victory come about?

The workers led by the Viet Minh, the League for the Independence of Vietnam founded in 1941, by Ho Chi Minh and by the Communist Party, raised armed resistance to the Japanese and later the French invader. The latter, financed and supplied by the United States, were defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.

In that same year, negotiators from France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Agreement to temporarily establish a territorial demarcation line that would divide Vietnam between French military forces and troops led by Ho Chi Minh.

In 1957, guerrilla forces fighting in South Vietnam and North Vietnamese troops took up arms to reunify the country. By 1963, reunification seemed imminent, so U.S. imperialism organized a provocation in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 to justify sending massive troops to Vietnam in 1965.

Nearly 600,000 U.S. troops were sent to Vietnam during the conflict to confront Liberation Front guerrillas, while the U.S. Air Force bombed Vietnam in a bloody and disproportionate way. According to some records, the United States dropped 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, a far greater amount than that used during World War II by all sides.

Vietnamese guerrilla tactics, supply routes, tunnels, traps, lightning attacks, etc., proved to be deeply resistant to the enormous technological power of the United States. During nine years of subjugation of the local population, the U.S. military never managed to break the will of the Vietnamese workers and people.

The My Lai massacres, in which U.S. troops murdered more than 700 men, children, and women (who were raped before being massacred), or the agonizing images of children with their skin melted by chemical bombs (white phosphorus, napalm, and Agent Orange), are examples of the criminal U.S. invasion. These actions of the Yankee army led to the indignation of the youth, workers and peoples of the world. Marches, rallies, festivals and other actions for Peace and in solidarity with the Vietnamese people, were generalized world-wide. To cite three examples, in 1968, millions of university and high school students in the United States staged a massive boycott in their schools as a show of opposition to the war; in 1969, thousands of U.S. citizens took the day off from work to participate in local demonstrations across the nation; in 1971, several groups of Vietnam veterans threw more than 700 medals down the steps of the Capitol. This movement in rejection of the Vietnam War was repeated all over the world.

Since the offensive carried out by the Liberation Front in 1969, called the Tet Offensive, the Vietnamese people took the initiative. The liberation of Saigon in April 1975 was the end of a political-military process that defeated US imperialism and its lackeys. This heroic deed of the Vietnamese people headed by their Communist Party shows the certain possibility of the defeat of imperialism.

The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people had a profound impact on popular culture, with music, film and literature reflecting opposition to the war. "The black eagles break their claws / against the heroic people in Vietnam" Quilapayun sang, and there were the great concerts for peace that would star figures such as Jimmy Hendrix, The Who, the Rolling Stones and John Lennon.

Vietnam was an encouragement for struggles for social and national liberation in the dependent countries. Algeria, Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala were several of the places where the guerrilla struggle would have a great influence of the tactics and strategy of the Vietnamese workers. This victory strengthened the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial movement, which spread throughout the world, promoting the struggle of the peoples for self-determination and independence.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

ADC – Breaking: House to vote on bill (HR 9495) targeting pro-Palestine organizations

Breaking: House to Vote on Bill Targeting Pro-Palestine Organizations


For Immediate Release

ADC Contact: media[at adc org]

 

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 11, 2024 – The attacks on pro-Palestinian voices continue unabated. As early as tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to vote on H.R. 9495, a bill that would grant the White House unprecedented and unchecked power to shut down any nonprofit organization – including civil liberties organizations, universities, media organizations, and religious institutions such as churches – based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing and without due process. Pro-Palestinian organizations will be the first targets, but indeed not the last. This legislation threatens all tax-exempt organizations, and it must not pass.ADC is vehemently opposed to this legislation, just as we were this past April when Members of Congress attempted to pass an earlier version of this bill.

 

Take Action: Demand that the House Reject H.R. 9495

 

This bill authorizes broad powers to the executive branch. It grants the Secretary of the Treasury virtually unfettered discretion to designate a U.S. nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” and to strip it of its tax-exempt status if the Secretary claims that the organization has provided material support to a terrorist group. The legislation does not require disclosure of the reasons or evidence for the decision, nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision. This leaves nonprofits entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support, preventing them from defending themselves in any way from what likely will be baseless accusations.

 

ADC National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director Chris Habiby said, “By threatening the tax-exempt status of advocacy organizations, the House of Representatives is arming the White House with a powerful tool to suppress freedom of speech and undermine the health of our civil society. Organizations advocating for Palestinian rights may be the first targeted, but they will not be the last. This bill threatens the tax-exempt status of universities, media organizations, and even religious institutions like churches. Congress must protect the fundamental freedoms that uphold our democracy, and reject this blatant attempt to demonize and silence voices that challenge or discomfort them, ”

 

Members of the House must vote NO on H.R. 9495 to protect the rights of all Americans. Both House and Senate members need to hear from constituents that this effort is a clear tactic from the authoritarian playbook, aimed at suppressing critical voices and political dissent. Now, more than ever, the work of organizations like ADC is essential.

 

Demand that members of the House vote NO on H.R. 9495 to ensure that the rights of all Americans are protected.


About the ADC


The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.






[An email sent out by the ANSWER Coalition the afternoon of November 16th [Take a stand against the repression of pro-Palestine activism]:


The ANSWER Coalition is circulating the following important appeal from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and The Center for Protest Law and Litigation. HR 9495 is a grave assault on the right to speak out for Palestine and against the genocide in Gaza. Especially as the Trump administration begins to take shape, stopping this bill is a crucial part of the broader fight to defend the right to protest against war and racism. Click here to get the contact information for the Congressional representative in your area.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is calling on all those who care about free speech and the right to dissent to take immediate action to contact Congress and demand they oppose H.R. 9495, a proposed new law that would grant President-Elect Donald Trump the ability to strip the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations engaged in free speech.

H.R. 9495, dubbed the “nonprofit killer” law, would enable the Secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations by designating them as “terrorist supporting.” The designation can be issued without evidence, without due process, and with no meaningful opportunity to challenge the designation.

“We know that, straight-away, this will be used to revoke the tax-exempt status of lawful non-profit organizations who speak out on issues related to Palestine, who oppose the genocidal slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, their forced ethnic displacement, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. They will first target groups who protest against the US support of the genocidal war against Palestinians. They will not stop there,” warned Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and its project The Center for Protest Law & Litigation.

“This law will be used to widely target those who dissent, those who protest and organize mass opposition and stand up for fundamental principles of justice. This law will be used as a tool for retribution and suppression as a matter of policy against those who democratically dissent. "

On Tuesday night, H.R. 9495 narrowly fell short of a two-thirds majority required for expedited approval. This following week, it is expected to be re-introduced to the House using a procedure that requires only a simple majority.

Last month the Center for Protest Law & Litigation and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund joined 100 civil rights and civil liberties organizations in a letter to Congress opposing these McCarthyist tactics that, as the letter said, “would empower the government to target civil rights, humanitarian, journalistic, and advocacy organizations based on their political positions, without providing meaningful opportunities to contest these opaque and potentially politically motivated determinations.”

Demand that your Congressional representative vote no on HR 9495


Sunday, December 31, 2023

UNAC: Drop the charges against war critic Heinrich Bücker!

Slightly edited; original posting and petition at:  unac.notowar.net/drop-the-charges-against-war-critic-heinrich-bucher/  


Another post on Heinrich Bückerdurhamspark.blogspot.com/2022/12/unac-justice-for-german-anti-war.html   


For more on the July 29, 2022 FBI and police raids against the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, over alleged violation of the Foreign AgentRegistration Act regarding Russiadurhamspark.blogspot.com/2022/08/two-statements-on-fbi-raids-targeting.html



PETITION TO THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY:

A prominent antiwar activist in Berlin has come under attack by the German government for his criticism of Germany’s role in the war in Ukraine.

Heinrich Bücker is the founder and operator of Berlin’s Coop Antiwar Cafe, a popular gathering place for leftist activists in the city. He also is a member of the board of directors of the German Peace Council; the Association of Anti-Fascists; the Berlin chapter of World Beyond War; and the advisory board of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign, among many other organizations.

His offense? He publicly asked why Germany is supporting neo-Nazi organizations in Ukraine.

Bücker raised that question at a ceremony at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin’s Treptow Park on June 22, 2022, an event that marked the 81st anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union,

Bücker reports that,

According to a letter from the Berlin State Criminal Police Office dated October 19, 2022, a Berlin lawyer has accused me of having committed a crime. One refers to the § 140 StGB ‘Reward and approval of criminal offenses.’ This can be punished with imprisonment for up to three years or with a fine.”

In addition to Bücker’s Berlin speech, the Coop Anti-War Cafe has initiated a statement blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking Russia into this war and has supported a similar statement initiated by the Odessa Solidarity Committee. Both statements have been endorsed by hundreds of organizations and individuals in nearly two dozen countries. (See http://coopcafeberlin.de and https://odessasolidaritycampaign.org)

So far, Bücker has been hit with a 2,000 euro fine (a little more than 2,100 U.S. dollars), which he is appealing, but a prison sentence of up to three years is still possible.

[Petition at:  unac.notowar.net/drop-the-charges-against-war-critic-heinrich-bucher/ ]

Heinrich Bücker isn’t the only one pointing out the existence of neo-Nazi organizations in Ukraine.  This is from The Christian Science Monitor, April 20, 2022:

When Russian-speaking separatists in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine raised a Russian-backed rebellion, the Kyiv government launched a war against them that continues to this day. Ultranationalist paramilitary units with neo-Nazi ties, such as the Azov, Aidar, and Dnipro-1 and -2 battalions, which were later incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard, spearheaded that war.

Here’s a headline from The Washington Post on April 6, 2022:

Right-wing Azov Battalion emerges as a controversial defender of Ukraine.

And a headline in the UK Independent of March 24, 2022, asks, “Who are Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion?”

Other reports and commentaries on neo-Nazis in Ukraine’s military have appeared in Reuters, CNN and other mainstream news outlets.

Bücker isn’t alone in being targeted by the German government.

In Germany, we are currently experiencing a narrowing of the space for debate and massive restrictions on freedom of expression – caused by one-sided reporting in the mainstream-media,” Bücker writes. “There are now a number of individuals who are in the focus of the German criminal investigation authorities. Similar tendencies are also reported from other EU countries.

In the United States, on July 29, 2022, the FBI raided the Florida and Missouri offices of the African People’s Socialist Party and its related Uhuru Movement. In St. Louis, they broke into the home of APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela and his wife, Deputy Chair Ona Zené Yeshitela.

The raid was reminiscent of police attacks on the Black Panther Party. At the Yeshitela’s residence, the feds came at 5 a.m. and used a drone and flash-bang grenades to force their way in, after which they handcuffed the couple and moved them outside. Omali Yeshitela is 81 years old.

The APSP, a Pan-African organization that has opposed U.S. foreign policy for more than 50 years, has been outspoken against U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The FBI raids apparently were to search for any evidence linking the APSP to the Russian government.

It’s more than ironic that the U.S., Germany and other NATO governments are cracking down on dissent at home at the same time they claim to be supporting democracy abroad. This increasing political repression, along with support for fascists in Ukraine, is moving these counties more and more to the right as the global economic situation gets more and more serious – a dangerous combination.

Therefore we, the undersigned, call on the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to:

  • Immediately drop all charges against Heinrich Bücker!
  • Stop all political repression against critics of Germany’s role in Ukraine!
  • End all German support for neo-Nazis in Ukraine!
  • End all German, U.S. and NATO support for Ukraine’s war effort!
  • No to NATO!
  • Money for Jobs & Education, not for War!

This Statement was initiated by the Coop Antiwar Cafe of Berlin, Germany, &
the 
Odessa Solidarity Campaign, based in Richmond, Virginia, USA, &
is being supported by the U.S. organization United National Antiwar Coalition.


Saturday, September 16, 2023

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Germany (MLPD) statement at SIPRAL 27

CONTRIBUTION OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF GERMANY (MLPD)


Dear comrades, and friends

On behalf of the Central Committee of the MLPD I would like to express my sincere thanks to the PCMLE and the JRE Youth League for the invitation to the 27th Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America".

Due to the acute political development in Ecuador and the tasks arising from the dissolution of parliament and new elections, unfortunately it could not be held face to face. Based on the publications of "En Marcha", we have also reported on the profound events in Germany and will continue to do so.

Of great importance and even growing explosiveness is the theme of this year's seminar: "The struggles of the working class and peoples and the inter-imperialist conflicts".

My name is Anna Bartholomé and as head of the MLPD for South America, I am very happy to participate in this seminar – as I have done many times.

I greet you very cordially from the chair of the MLPD party, Gabi Fechtner, and from Stefan Engel, leader of our theoretical organ, the REVOLUTIONARY WAY. I also bring you greetings from the head of the international section of the MLPD, Monika Gärtner-Engel, who performs the task of main coordinator of the world revolutionary organization ICOR and who is currently co-chair of the international anti-fascist and anti-imperialist organization. Children's Red Fox.

I apologize that our contribution to the seminar could only come to you late, but you can imagine that our tasks in party building and the class struggle and internationalist responsibilities place very high demands on us.

Parallel to the international seminar in Quito, from August 31 to September 3, the III International Miners' Conference is taking place, in which I myself will participate. For international finance capital, the attempt to drain old and new mining projects is of paramount importance, above all for the conversion of capitalist production to digitalization and electric mobility. This goes hand in hand with immense environmental destruction, against which fierce resistance is being waged.

The international miners' conference took place for the first time in Arequipa, Peru in 2013 and for the second time in Ghodavarikani, India in 2017. The current conference is taking place in Germany and active miners from 18 countries, as well as many supporters of the miners' movement, are meeting, debating and making decisions on how they can work together even better at the international level and to coordinate struggles together for their interests.

To give you an idea, we want to show you a short video of the opening day:

...

We are currently witnessing a far-reaching evolution of human history, without exaggeration, which challenges the clarity and determination of the revolutionaries of the world.

Humanity is in a latent existential crisis.

The war in Ukraine with the acute preparation of a world and nuclear war, like the global environmental catastrophe that has begun, has the potential to bring all of humanity to ruin. The world imperialist system and the single dominant international finance capital are responsible for this. The international socialist revolution has become an urgent necessity.

The global environmental catastrophe that has begun brings with it a "year of records": record heat in southern Europe, record forest fires with enormous damage, record floods in Pakistan, Slovenia, China, etc.

The global environmental catastrophe marks a development that is also bringing heavy mortgages for the building of a socialist society.

The processes of the complex biosphere system, which have developed over millions of years and have now been irreversibly disturbed or destroyed, cannot be reversed by individual technical measures! Self-reinforcing irreversible tipping points have been created or bypassed. The melting of the permafrost and of glaciers cannot be stopped. Just like one cannot stop the ecosystem of a rainforest that has evolved over millions of years.

For environmental awareness to develop and for people to fight for survival and take up the struggle for survival, we need clarity about the situation in which we find ourselves and a scientific approach.

The will among the masses is growing, despite all the agitation and criminalization of young environmental activists. This is also shown by recent surveys. However, to achieve a socially transformative struggle there is nothing more important in the struggle for the environment than to do this theoretical work to get ahead of development!

A supplement to REVOLUTIONARY WAY No. 35, "Catastrophe alarm, what can be done against the wanton destruction of the unity of humanity and nature?” under the direction of the party leadership and editorial director Stefan Engel together with a team of competent experts on the world environmental catastrophe, will appear in the coming weeks. And this book will certainly be translated as soon as possible.

As to the alternative already mentioned by Rosa Luxemburg – "fight for socialism or perish in capitalist barbarism" – it is perfectly clear that the masses of the whole world do not want to perish in the barbarism threatened by war, environmental catastrophe and massive impoverishment. They are taking up the fight for their future and that of the children and young people.

In Europe, we participated in a "militant spring" with general strikes and mass struggles in France, Greece, Portugal and Italy, which were not only directed against impoverishment by rapid inflation, anti-mass pension schemes as in France, but partly also against the warmongers, the gigantic rearmament for the war in Ukraine, etc. In Germany we are witnessing an awakening of class consciousness on a broad front with a tendency to further development. The social confusion spread by the rulers, their mass media and the so-called social media is beginning to dissolve into a struggle unfolded by the mentality.

Large sections of the population are disappointed and extremely dissatisfied with the government formed by Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, the so-called "traffic-light" coalition.

Especially among young people and the very active environmental movement, an increasingly global critique of capitalism is developing under the slogan "system change, not climate coincidence". This includes the search for a fundamental social alternative without already having a clear "we" over the "how".

As a counter-movement, the rulers are pushing for a right-wing development, especially through a populist, racist, misogynist and divisive agitation against refugees – in particular to build an increasingly openly fascist party, AFD – the so-called Alternative for Germany.

In this polarized situation, the MLPD together with its youth federation REBELL has launched an offensive to help genuine socialism gain new prestige against all anti-communist reservations. It is a dialectical negation of the latent existential crisis of humanity, which also produces tendencies to the cult of spontaneity, but also to resignation and panic.

Without underestimating the real gravity of the situation, it is necessary to encourage the masses to fight for a better world with proletarian optimism.

The final declaration of the 26th International Seminar on Problems of the Revolution in Latin America was also signed by the MLPD by decision of the Central Committee. We completely agree with the evaluation:

"The invasion of Ukraine by Russian imperialism has turned this country into the scene of a war in which the economic, political and geostrategic interests of several capitalist-imperialist countries are at stake. This aggression and the immediate intervention of US imperialism and its allies in the European Union and NATO in the conflict are an expression of the intensification of the inter-imperialist contradictions to the point of being waged on military terrain, turning this conflict into a war of an inter-imperialist character."

The economic war against Russia, justified by the war, has far-reaching consequences for the masses all over the world with inflation, famine, increasing exploitation of man and nature.

The war in Ukraine is the open outbreak of the struggle between the old and the new imperialist countries in the multipolar world, which has been dormant for years.

In this phase, German imperialism has clearly reinforced its ambitions to become the leading military power. The world has never been so close to a third nuclear world war. Putin wants to increase his intervention army to 400,000 men. Calls are being made through mobile phones, which are monitored everywhere. Thousands of people are fleeing. In Ukraine, tens of thousands of people are trying to get out of military service, which is no problem for the rich, given the rampant corruption: small farmers, artisans and workers are sent to the front as cannon fodder.

The growing weariness of war in all countries directly or indirectly involved is a special obstacle for warmongers.

German imperialism is trying to become the first military power. During a visit, War Minister Boris Pistorius complained about the decline in numbers of recruitment of soldiers. He criticized the Bundeswehr's previous advertising campaigns with adventure films and stressed that recruits must be suitable for missions abroad. The core is the "will to defend the country and the alliance" and that soldiers must be willing "to risk their own health for the safety of others". And, of course, not only their health, but their lives, but more and more young people are not willing to do so. In the struggle for peace, questions of principle and ideology must also be clarified in the international revolutionary and workers' movement.

There are crude falsifications which are being spread in Germany especially by the old revisionist party, the DKP, and former employees of the secret service of the GDR, the Stasi.

They describe only the USA is imperialist. Even German imperialism, as a vassal of the US, is underestimated in its independent aspirations. The revisionists use this to justify their policy of supporting Chinese and Russian imperialism. Such revisionist argumentation leads today directly to social-chauvinism.

Of course, there are major and minor imperialist powers. But we are against every imperialist –we don't pit the biggest thief against the smallest one.

Starting with the superpowers USA and China, they are attempting to form blocs in their quest for world domination. The recent BRICS conference is a case in point.

The new focus of international tension in Niger, Africa, is an expression of this intensified international competition.

We must promote the growing critique of capitalism, the growing openness to a socialist alternative, especially among young people, with our efforts to help genuine socialism gain a new reputation.

This requires not only good arguments, but we want to achieve small-scale low-threshold work with mass effect with all the appearance and image of the party. At the same time, we must develop systematic educational and consciousness-raising work.

Thus, we take the upcoming 50th anniversary of Pinochet's fascist coup in Chile as an occasion to refute all the illusions of a "peaceful road to socialism" that the revisionists have pursued until today and to convince people of the need for revolutionary struggle.

Last year's final declaration states: "We call for strengthening the unity and organization of the workers and peoples to confront the owners of capital. This unity must be anti-imperialist and anti-fascist and express the internationalist character of the struggle. From this America, where the peoples are struggling for their emancipation, we express our solidarity with all the peoples of the world who are struggling for work, life, freedom. We are united by the same ideals, we know that we are right, and also that we have the strength."

Forging such an anti-imperialist and anti-fascist united front is more urgent today than ever.

Proletarian internationalism of transnational cooperation and coordination is an adequate response to right-wing development, fascism, war and the world environmental catastrophe. For all its military, political and economic power, imperialism is weak. It can no longer solve the problems of humanity. The workers and masses are mobilizing; the question is, where is their protest headed? We have to influence it, organize the workers and the masses, collect their protest, unite it, coordinate it, radicalize it and revolutionize it through the work of consciousness.

We would like to appeal to all organizations, parties and individuals gathered here to participate actively in this great work and become members of the Anti-Imperialist United Front.

Thank you very much for your attention and I wish for a continued exciting and successful seminar.

Long live international solidarity!
Anna Bartholomé