Something from USMLO and a few other New Year messages and articles I came across. I hope to post a few delayed articles in January-February.
"New Year’s Message of CPC(M-L) – In 2025 Empower the People! Make Way for Renewal!" – cpcml.ca/cpcmlarticle2501011210/
From the Workers Party, USA in Chicago – "The Real Terrorists Claim Victory in Syria" – workersparty.org/index.html
One of a few January-February editorials from the CPBML: www.cpbml.org.uk/news/peace-land-and-bread-britain-2025
www.cpbml.org.uk/news/growing-threat-war-what-can-workers-do
www.cpbml.org.uk/news/threat-war-campaign-lakenheath
www.cpbml.org.uk/news/not-left-or-right-british-workers
From the CPGB-ML – by Harpal Brar – thecommunists.org/2025/01/01/news/sad-downfall-syrian-government-bashar-al-assad/
FRSO: fightbacknews.org/articles/new-year-new-level-of-struggle-join-the-fight-in-2025
"Communists do not give up! Better death than dishonor!" – www.workers.org/2024/12/82775/
"How the U.S. and its allies destroyed a sovereign state" – www.workers.org/2024/12/82881/
"Refugees, foreign goods flood Syria as prices rise" – www.workers.org/2025/01/82955/
[ www.workers.org/2025/01/82952/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mayotte-and-mozambique-contrasting-responses-to-cyclone-chido ]
"Washington escalates regime change conspiracies against Venezuela" – www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/02/igun-j02.html
theworker.news/2025/01/01/new-year-resolutions-for-revolutionaries/
[ theworker.news/2025/01/09/biden-blocks-sale-of-u-s-steel/ ]
[ theworker.news/2025/01/10/mpp-en-celebracion-del-natalicio-del-presidente-gonzalo-y-dia-del-epl/ ]
[ flagrednews.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/red-flag-news-celebrates-its-one-year-anniversary/ ]
[ flagrednews.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/against-defeatism-for-palestine/ ]
[ anti-imperialist-action-ireland.com/blog/2025/01/01/irish-socialist-republican-new-year-statement-2025/ ]
www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2025/01/01/how-the-wealthy-engineered-white-supremacy-the-wilmington-massacre-of-1898/
From APL: redphoenixnews.com/2025/01/01/a-new-years-message-from-the-heart/
UK satire: www.normalisland.co.uk/p/there-will-never-be-another-year as brilliant as 2024...
Also from the UK: www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/happy-new-year-almost-seems-like an inappropriate thing to say...
sonar21.com/a-note-of-gratitude/
sonar21.com/taking-stock-of-2024-is-there-hope-for-a-happy-2025/
simplicius76.substack.com/p/onward-ho-end-of-year-wrap-up-and a look ahead to 2025
[Google translation: "More than half of the Spanish mercenaries in Ukraine have fallen" -- diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/han-caido-mas-de-la-mitad-de-los-mercenarios-espanoles-en-ucrania/ ]
eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/desertion-and-incineration
karlof1.substack.com/p/putins-new-year-message-to-russians-74c and Russophiles
RT: www.rt.com/russia/610245-putin-traditional-new-year-address/
[ socialistchina.org/2025/01/01/full-text-of-president-xi-jinpings-2025-new-year-message/ ]
[? -- www.nknews.org/2025/01/kim-jong-un-rings-in-new-year-at-concert-but-makes-no-new-policy-announcements/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/01/cuba-celebra-el-66-aniversario-del-triunfo-de-la-revolucion-cubana/ ]
banderalobby.substack.com/p/which-way-ukrainian-hooligan
scottritter.substack.com/p/happy-new-year
New posts at: throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/ , a blog on Japanese left topics
Tradition – “'Kagami Mochi:' Japan’s New Year Rice Cakes" and more – www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02245/
[A year of the snake (wood) [(Chinese: 蛇 or Japanese: 巳)] begins with the East Asian lunar new year on January 29th, though Japan goes with the Western new year, January 1st; some images and graphics [年賀状/nengajou postcard type images] marking the occasion collected by ANN: www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2025-01-03/happy-new-year-from-around-the-anime-world-snakes-on-a-plane-part-xii/.219696 [ and www.spoon-tamago.com/japanese-designer-new-years-cards-of-2025/ ] See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_(zodiac) 2024 was a year of the dragon (wood) [(龍, 龙, or 辰)], beginning February 10, 2024: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac) [A year of the horse (fire) (馬, 马 , or 午 ) begins February 17, 2026.] [ www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00110/ , www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02174/ , www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b09806/ , www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu900291/ , "Japan in 2025: Key Events in the Year Ahead:" www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02241/ ]
ohiobarbarian.substack.com/p/aaron-bushnells-sacrifice-and-the
On the Pueblo Revolt against Spain: ohiobarbarian.substack.com/p/the-first-american-revolution-the
[ www.workers.org/2024/12/82894/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=u-s-oil-imperialism-incites-war-against-palestine-and-west-asia ]
[ edberg.substack.com/p/acceleration-afterthoughts/ ]
[ mronline.org/2025/01/06/is-u-s-democracy-a-sham-biden-gave-us-the-answer-were-you-listening/ ]
[ mronline.org/2024/10/24/the-wests-support-for-israels-genocide-is-destroying-the-world-as-we-know-it/ ]
[ consortiumnews.com/2025/01/08/craig-murray-twisting-the-terrorism-narrative/ ]
[ consortiumnews.com/2025/01/08/nyt-rejects-quakers-ad-calling-gaza-a-genocide/ ]
[ www.versobooks.com/collections/the-verso-palestine-pamphlets ]
[ husseini.substack.com/p/the-human-shields-con ]
[ chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-zionists-kill-doctors-in-gaza and Silence Them Here (with Rupa Marya)]
[ mronline.org/2025/01/08/wikileaks-has-just-put-all-its-files-online-its-all-there/ ]
[ mronline.org/2025/01/06/marco-rubio-from-perfect-little-puppet-to-most-dangerous-man-alive/ ]
[ mronline.org/2025/01/07/the-case-against-western-marxism/ ]
[ mronline.org/2025/01/03/luigi-mangione-and-the-morality-of-killing/ ]
[ www.kitklarenberg.com/p/its-official-british-army-facing ]
[? -- www.messynessychic.com/2020/02/28/the-first-man-to-reach-the-north-pole-was-an-african-american-desk-clerk-the-world-forgot/ ]
[ popularresistance.org/asheville-blade-journalists-sue-over-illegal-arrests/ ]
[Before dawn on January 9th WUNC, the local NPR station, announced that [Dr.] Lavonia Allison, a former leader of the influential Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People PAC, has passed away, with a statement already out from Governor Josh Stein, installed the week before.] [There was going to be another gubernatorial inauguration event on the 10th (? at the NCMA??), but it has been cancelled due to forecasted snow or other winter precipitation the afternoon of the 10th into the 11th, forecast to melt quickly on the 11th, if it does fall. It would be our first substantial snow this winter, and I think the first in two winters in the area, according to the NWS (?). Central North Carolina gets snow and ice, at one time enough for cross-country skiing, I've read, but there hasn't been much in recent years, perhaps a sign of a changed climate. Did it snow a little around Christmas Day in 2022 or January 2023??]
[NPR's Morning Edition discussed Meta/Facebook's new position on "fact checking" in a Steve Inskeep soft interview with Steven Brill of somehow for-profit NewsGuard (Russia, China, and Iran are just overrunning the Internet, Brill says) January 8th. They don't censor people, Brill claimed, but NPR didn't like it very much when Twitter labelled NPR as something like state media, which they might as well be. That term is generally reserved for RT, etc. on NPR; not even Voice of America is called state media. I turned on the news on the 9th and the BBC reported that the Australian government is likewise upset about Meta. I've heard that Facebook, Twitter, and many universities heavily limit "pro-Palestinian" speech and activism, something little reported to unreported on NPR. Also on the 7th or 8th Morning Edition replayed a Inskeep interview with Jimmy Carter from 2007 on the "edgy" issue of Israel's "apartheid" – I couldn't tell if the interview was about NPR helping a Democratic politician, by giving Carter air time to defend his comments, or singling Carter out for going too far left on Israel. Biden's CIA director will get a no doubt likewise soft interview, with Mary Louise Kelly, on All Things Considered the afternoon of the 9th. On NewsGuard: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewsGuard I heard on the 8th that a school system in Canada (Ontario?) wanted to purge all books from before 2008 over a lawsuit (?) and the Durham County Library might have had a purge not long ago. On NPR, the truck attack in New Orleans and Palestinian actions are "terrorism," but the explosion in Nevada (due to PTSD, someone said) and attacks by western Ukraine and Israel on journalists, etc. are not.]
["Fact checking" on Facebook was done without bias or censorship of free speech and NPR reports the truth: steveinskeep.substack.com/p/npr-still-checks-facts ]
[They broadcast the President Carter funeral events live, but I've wondered how they will cover the funerals of other recent presidents. On Morning Edition on the 9th they asked their correspondent Tamara Keith how history will remember Carter, as if that is a question that can be answered now, and different people will have different views. Carter, being a more or less mainstream Democrat, isn't going to be condemned for much on NPR. They might even soften on Donald Trump over time, as George W Bush, the Cheneys, Alberto Gonzales, etc. are now honored members of the anti-Trump "Resistance," and NPR invites Liz Cheney, John Bolton, and Condoleezza Rice in for interviews on current events.]
[Only Trump (and Putin) are expansionist in the 21st century, they say. They rebroadcast the How to Hide an Empire author interview on NPR's On the Media a week or two ago – what about the US occupation of oil-rich eastern Syria, under the Democratic Party, etc.? On the other hand, if Greenland is facing a serious threat of annexation by the USA under Trump, why is the government of Greenland pushing for independence from Denmark and more cooperation with the US at this dangerous time? I imagine that Denmark and the EU can offer much more military deterrence than Greenland, though Western Europeans claim to fear imminent Russian invasion. Can Greenland wage guerilla war if invaded? Morning Edition had to push a member of Greenland's , , legislature for a clear rejection of annexation around January 7th. [The US occupied Greenland from about April 8, 1941 to May 5, 1945: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_in_World_War_II and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland ; the US and UK also occupied Iceland during WWII, beginning with a UK invasion May 10, 1940: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_in_World_War_II ] Would it hurt the future the electoral chances of Republicans if Canadians were voting US citizens, in several states? Canada is very far from being a peace-loving country, though. I don't think much of their current government. There has long been concern in Canada about invasion and annexation by their southern neighbor, and there were invasions before our Civil War. The US has also of course invaded Mexico, and Trump brought up the seizure of the Panama Canal right around the anniversaries of Panama regaining control of its territory (December 31, 1999: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal ) and George HW Bush's invasion of Panama.]
[Commemorating January 9, 1964: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs%27_Day_(Panama) ]
[There will be a real "January 6th" coup attempt in Venezuela January 9-10th?]
[I think NPR or the BBC claimed afterward that literally no media were allowed at the inauguration: www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2025/01/11/venezuela-an-anti-fascist-presidential-inauguration/
[Nicaragua and Venezuela: diario-octubre.com/2025/01/11/un-rio-de-aguas-divinas-una-inmensa-mayoria-de-jovenes/ ]
[ mpr21.info/estados-unidos-asume-el-gobierno-de-libano-de-facto/ ]
[ mpr21.info/israel-debe-prepararse-para-una-guerra-directa-con-turquia/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/qasem-un-legado-de-lucha-antiterrorista/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/siria-declaracion-de-la-resistencia-al-gobierno-terrorista-apoyado-por-el-imperialismo-de-ee-uu-y-la-u-e/ ]
[ mpr21.info/yemen-ha-sufrido-un-cuarto-de-millon-de-ataques-aereos-contra-su-poblacion/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/75-ninos-fueron-asesinados-en-gaza-en-la-primera-semana-del-ano/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/palestina-la-resistencia-elimina-a-otros-tres-soldados-genocidas-ya-no-asesinaran-a-mas-ninos/ ]
[At 12pm EST (live every week) on YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, X/Twitter, Twitch, and Instagram: "The end of UNRWA?" with Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesperson; Nora Barrows-Friedman; Jon Elmer; Ali Abunimah; Tamara Nassar; and Asa Winstanley – electronicintifada.net ]
[From HASTRO on January 9th:
"This evening observers in Europe, West Arica, North America, Central America and the northern parts of South America can view an occultation of one or more stars in the Pleiades by the waxing gibbous Moon:
Alcyone (eta Tau): https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/HIP-17573/301/2025-01-09G [has maps and times]
Electra: https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/HIP-17499/301/2025-01-09G
Maia: https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/HIP-17573/301/2025-01-09G
Atlas: https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/HIP-17847/301/2025-01-10G
A few days later, observers in the southern hemisphere can view an occultation of a bright star which in olden days was shared between Auriga and Taurus:
Elnath (beta Tau): https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/HIP-25428/301/2025-01-11G "
[Johann George Adam Forster or Georg Forster (November 27, 1754 – January 10, 1794): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Forster ]
From the National Lawyers Guild:
Legal Support for Palestine Activists on Campus
January 10th, 12 PM - 1 PM EST Via Zoom
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Dear [ ], Are you looking for guidance on how you can use your legal skills to help student activists facing disciplinary proceedings? Join us and Palestine Legal for an intro (or review!) of the basics of the student conduct process, the relevant legal landscape, and info on how to get connected with student activists. For over a year, students have boldly spoken out in support of Palestinian lives and have demonstrated extraordinary courage and resilience in the face of efforts by universities that try to silence them. Lawyers can play a key role in supporting students who are navigating these politically motivated crackdowns, particularly in the student discipline process. If you are interested in helping but unable to attend this session, please make sure to fill out Palestine Legal's attorney network form and let us know: https://palestinelegal. org/attorney-network Register at https://bit.ly/pal_legal_ webinar. [ |
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The Guantanamo Bay detention camp was created January 11, 2002, an example and excuse for Israel today, not that Israel just began torturing and killing its prisoners, POWs, and hostages in 2023: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp
[@judicarydems on X (?) called for closure and then deleted the post?]
From the Close Guantanamo Coalition:
"Join us for a powerful online event marking 23 years since the opening of Guantánamo Bay – a call to action against injustice, torture, and indefinite detention.
🔊 Hear firsthand testimonies from Guantánamo survivors as they share their stories of resistance, courage, and the ongoing fight for accountability.
Event Highlights:
- The case of Abu Zubaydah, the forgotten prisoner from Gaza, tortured and detained without charge.
- Calls for the immediate closure of Guantánamo Bay and an end to systemic torture and indefinite detention.
- Exposing the U.S. government's use of authoritarian tactics and its global legacy of injustice.
- A reminder of the enduring fight for freedom and human dignity – dismantling systems of oppression together.
🗓️ Date: January 11, 2025
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM [in the UK, 1pm EST?]
🌐 Location: Online
🔗 Register Now: www.cage.ngo/events/guantanamo-survivors-speak
Together, let’s stand against injustice and advocate for human dignity.
Best regards," ]
[ icssmarx.org/internal-disintegration-prevents-turkiyes-regional-aspirations-mehmet-bayram-january-12-2025-1030-am-pacific-time/ ]
[From The Cradle: popularresistance.org/outgoing-cia-director-says-no-sign-iran-developing-nuclear-weapons/
[NPR's debate program at 6pm on the 12th had a headline like 'nuclear Iran or bomb Iran,' with the usual implicit assumptions that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, that it wants nuclear weapons (and doesn't already have them), that the US can prevent a 'nuclear Iran,' that this is an issue of concern for the US, etc. I heard the beginning and they did go into some of this. I think the debaters were a woman from the Wilson Center and a man from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies or whatever (is he an dual national?). I doubt that they considered Iran's public statements or point of view, though the JCPOA, and its abrogation by Trump, were mentioned.
Several weeks ago I was surprised to hear NPR news briefs about something like a new FDA ban on the well-known native hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria as a food additive [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria ]. I'm not necessarily against the use of hallucinogens or other "drugs," but they are suddenly so mainstream and risk-free? "Microdosing?" What happened to all of the media concern about "cultural appropriation" and respect? I thought that there were some high risks in using Amanita, etc., including accidentally consuming a misidentified dangerous species, or just having a "bad trip" or doing something self-harming while impaired. They haven't talked about peyote, yet. In theory even some common plants and food products sold at grocery stores, or growing wild nearby, are hallucinogenic or psychoactive.
NPR seems very interested in "dry January" (but not New Year's resolutions) and condemning the use of alcohol, tobacco, "raw milk," etc., while being soft or even encouraging on hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, caffeine, sexual promiscuity (under and over 18), high body weight, etc. The BBC joins NPR in some of this, such as on alcohol and tobacco. How dare RFK Jr. condemn fluorination, they say. I'm not necessarily against all of this, I use fluoride and sometimes other things, but NPR, etc. seem to be pushing agendas. A dentist in a report focused on fluoride, even though they themselves brought up the issue of poverty and lack of dental care in New York City. They didn't consider whether dental care could be made more accessible, regardless of income, making fluorination less important. Another report (on Science Friday?) said that Chinese studies on the effects of fluorination are somehow low quality and don't apply to the amount of fluoride in US tapwater. They didn't bring up an obvious solution -- doing new studies in the US to settle any issues. Another recent report praised the role of the neoliberal ACA or Obamacare (the term varied for the intended audience??) in increasing the number of people with health insurance. Do they get 'good' insurance and care, for what they pay?]
Anti-Inauguration events around the country in January:
January 13-20 days of action – unac.notowar.net/all-out-for-the-anti-inaugural-actions-in-local-areas-and-washington-dc-january-13-20/
wefightback2025.org/action-listings
action.womensmarch.com/local – events January 5th and 18th in Raleigh, NC, etc.
[From another poster on the HASTRO listserve January 9th; slightly edited:
"Continuing its journey eastward, on Jan. 13/14 the full moon will occult Mars -- itself close to opposition -- for observers in parts of North America and West Africa.
https://ssp.imcce.fr/forms/occultations/499/301/2025-01-14G
A detailed news item is here:
Live Science, 1/8/25:
"The moon is about to 'swallow' Mars for 4 hours — and you can watch
it from the US"
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/the-moon-is-about-to-swallow-mars-for-4-hours-and-you-can-watch-it-from-the-us
Bonus: Castor and Pollux join the show nearby."
[...]
[For more information:
[On the occultation and Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3); the comet has been bright (but low in the sky or very near the Sun?) in the morning and is physically close to the Sun on January 13th, much closer than planet Mercury; it will be in the evening sky in a few days, if it isn't destroyed: spaceweather.com
[I thought I heard WRAL say that the ISS would pass over at 6:13pm on the 13th, but I didn't hear it again. They did cover the occultation.
[According to the January issue of Astronomy magazine, Mars will be covered by the Moon over about 20 seconds around 9pm on the East Coast and Mars will re-emerge on the other side about an hour later; I think WRAL said 10:15pm. Mars was closest to the Earth around 9am EST on the 12th, at 59,703,891 miles. Mars reaches opposition (aphelic, in this case) around 10pm on the 15th and will going retrograde for a month. Mars, Castor, and Pollux in Gemini will be almost perfectly lined up around the 17th. I think it was said that Pollux has a similar color to Mars, though that is probably more for telescope users to see.
The Moon is full on the 13th, technically at 5:27pm. It will be close to the star Spica to the morning of the 21st, and from west side of Africa the Moon will occlude Spica. At 7am on the 21st Pluto will reach solar conjunction.
Venus reached its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun (at 47 degrees) around midnight on the 9th. It will be in Pisces by the 23rd.
Venus and Saturn will be close together (2 1/4 degrees) around the 17th. A few weeks ago I noticed that the relatively bright star Fomalhaut (marking Piscis Austrinus), below Saturn, is now lost in the trees from here by dusk, though it must still be pretty high in the sky from more open areas. A few hours later I've been be to see Naos (zeta Puppis) and pi Puppis (Ahadi?) in the south, under Canis Major, through the bare trees recently. The Moon and Saturn were close together on the 4th and will be again on the 31st. Saturn is near the star phi Aquarii. Neptune is nearby, in Pisces. Uranus is in Aries and near the Pleiades (8 degrees); Uranus will be "stationary" around 2pm on the 30th.
Very bright Jupiter, above the Hyades star cluster in Taurus, reached opposition December 7th. According to the December issue of Sky and Telescope Jupiter at opposition was or is bright enough to cast shadows, though that would probably be in dark areas.
Mercury is up in the morning and brightening somewhat, but also sinking down and will be hidden by the Sun very soon. I haven't seen Mercury in a while; I have to go to a nearby shopping center to look for it. -- From the January issues of the magazines Astronomy and Sky and Telescope.]
The next Balance and Accuracy in Journalism meeting – "Free Speech vs. the New McCarthyism," with sociology professor emeritus Michael Schwalbe of NCSU, Lily Roth of UNC Students for Justice in Palestine, and Toby Posel of TransparUNCy – will be January 14th at 7:30pm at the Community Church of Chapel Hill. More to come. [For more information see: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/01/baj-january-14th-free-speech-versus-new.html ]
[Week of action for Palestinian prisoners January 15-22: samidoun.net/2025/01/free-ahmad-saadat-and-all-palestinian-prisoners-week-of-action-january-15-22-2025/ and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/01/samidoun-free-ahmad-saadat-and-all.html ]
[ icssmarx.org/compatible-left-in-service-of-imperialism-stansfield-smith-january-19-2025-1030-am-pacific-time/ ]
[The traditional Aquarius period is around January 20th to February 18th, but today the Sun is 'in' Aquarius around February 17th to March 13th. According to Chartrand's 1982 Skyguide, the Sun is now in Sagittarius December 19th-January 19th (and then in Capricornus).]
From the Chatham County Government:
Chatham Community Library to Host Family Cultural Festival
PITTSBORO, NC— Chatham Community Library is excited to present a Family Cultural Festival on Saturday, January 25, 2025, featuring a musical performance by Diali Cissokho. This free, family-friendly program is open to the public, and no registration is required.
WHAT: Meet community members from around the world and learn about their cultures. At 3:00 p.m., enjoy a performance by Diali Cissokho on the kora, a traditional West African string instrument.
WHEN: Saturday, January 25, 2025 – 2:00-4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Chatham Community Library
Holmes Family Meeting Room
197 NC 87 N
Pittsboro, NC 27312
WHO: Community members from Costa Rica, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, and Italy will share information, food, clothing, crafts, and other culturally significant items from their countries.
Diali Cissokho is a Pittsboro-based musician and a renowned kora player and percussionist from Senegal. Cissokho moved to the US after years of performing and teaching in Senegal and in Europe. Born into a rich ancestry of Manding griots (the musician caste), Cissokho has been playing traditional West African music for as long as he can remember. While his greatest love is the kora, a 21-stringed African harp that is at the heart and soul of much West African music, he is also a passionate singer, songwriter, and percussionist. Crossing cultural boundaries with a wide range of sounds, from explosive dance rhythms to soothing hypnotic grooves, Cissokho brings an unparalleled virtuosity and unique personal style to this respected traditional art form.
Cissokho’s mother, MoussuKeba Diebate, and father, Ibrahima Cissokho, both hailed from long lines of griot musicians. Historically, each village had its own griot who told tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, affairs, and other important events and celebrations. In Mande society the griot, or jeli, served as a historian, advisor, praise singer, and storyteller. These musicians served as walking history books, preserving and sharing the stories and traditions of their culture through song. This inherited tradition, with deep connections to spiritual, social, and political powers, has been passed down through generations.
Funding for this program is made possible with the generous support of the Friends of the Chatham Community Library. The event is hosted by the Chatham Community Library Teen Advisory Board.
Residents may also visit the libraries’ website www.chathamlibraries.org, or contact the Library at (919) 545-8084 or youth.services[at chathamlibraries org] for more information on this and other events and programs.
[From The Plant: Tree Museum and Whiskey Release January 25th:
Join us Saturday, January 25, 4-9, for the grand opening of the Tree Museum and small-batch Whiskey Release at Fair Game Beverage [at] The Plant in Pittsboro!
Live music, winter market, burn barrels and warm drinks. See you there!
[From BAJ:
"Returning to the Triangle
“It's a Crime to Tell the Truth"
Singer-songwriter Tom Neilson and Lynn Waldron
Live performance 7PM in Raleigh January 24
3313 Wade Ave. Raleigh (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh)
sponsored by Chapter 157 Triangle Veterans For Peace
At the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh: The Venice and Ottoman empires exhibition ended at the beginning of January, but "Samurai: The Making of a Warrior" will last until February 2nd, with some side events: ncartmuseum.org/three-empires/ ] [The other current exhibitions: ncartmuseum.org/events-and-exhibitions/exhibitions/exhibitions-current/ ]
[The afternoon of February 2nd Grand Trees of Chatham will lead a free hike at the TLC's White Pines Nature Preserve, at the cool confluence of the Rocky and Deep rivers, south of Pittsboro on 15-501; register at grandtreesofchatham[atgmailcom]. I feel like I heard about another upcoming hike at WPNP, and the TLC organizes regular events there.]
[ socialistchina.org/2025/01/08/death-anniversary-of-canadian-surgeon-norman-bethune-commemorated-in-china/ ]
[? -- koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-01-02/national/northKorea/Espionage-in-Guam-South-Korean-accused-of-financing-North/2213875 ]
[? -- www.nknews.org/pro/kim-jong-un-meets-young-korean-students-from-japan-in-bid-to-win-their-loyalty/ ]
[? -- www.nknews.org/2025/01/blinken-raises-alarm-about-north-korea-russia-space-ties-on-final-trip-to-seoul/ ]
[? -- www.nknews.org/2025/01/north-koreas-official-2025-calendar-offers-sneak-peak-of-whats-to-come/ ]
[On graduate student unionization, etc., rather than anti-war protest being silenced by university administrators: portside.org/2025-01-08/universities-and-coming-storm ]
www.dropsitenews.com/p/south-korea-martial-law-biden-trump-kim-jong-un-nuclear-yoon ]
www.dropsitenews.com/p/rahmani-sanctions-journalist-silencing critical press coverage
[ www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinian-authority-west-bank-jenin-assault ]
[ deepdivewithleeslusher.substack.com/p/the-state-of-western-warcraft ]
[ deepdivewithleeslusher.substack.com/p/rubble-and-rhetoric ]
[ deepdivewithleeslusher.substack.com/p/the-uss-gettysburg ]
[ deepdivewithleeslusher.substack.com/p/western-leadership-and-other-myths ]
["This week in history: January 13-19" – www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/12/erlb-j12.html ]
[ portside.org/2025-01-13/week-peoples-history-jan-15-17 ]
["American Historical Association condemns Gaza genocide" – www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/13/ywio-j13.html ]
[An interview with Mazin Qumsiyeh of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS); in Durham at Duke 1993-1999: sonar21.com/palestinians-will-not-surrender-a-conversaton-with-mazin-qumsiyeh/ ]
[ fair.org/home/media-downplay-israeli-violations-of-hezbollah-ceasefire/ ]
[ fair.org/home/syria-is-free-say-media-but-that-shouldnt-mean-free-of-us-occupation/ ]
[ fair.org/home/20-years-after-his-death-gary-webbs-truth-is-still-dangerous/ ]
[By Gary Webb: fair.org/extra/taking-a-dive-on-contra-crack/ ]
[ fair.org/home/why-the-right-calls-mangione-the-ivy-league-killer/ ]
[ fair.org/home/nyt-panics-over-outrage-at-insurance-companies/ ]
[On Greenland and Denmark: mpr21.info/dinamarca-no-esta-en-condiciones-de-defender-groenlandia/ ]
[Related to the issue of Greenland: fair.org/home/remember-when-howard-dean-yelling-made-him-unfit-to-be-president/]
[ fair.org/extra/for-u-s-media-rape-culture-is-there-not-here/ ]
[ fair.org/home/fairs-critique-of-washington-post-makes-washington-post/ ]
[ fair.org/home/as-pakistan-murders-protesters-leading-papers-play-down-washingtons-role/ ]
[ www.globalresearch.ca/regime-change-iran-coming-soon/5875124 ]
[ www.globalresearch.ca/we-re-going-to-take-out-7-countries-in-5-years-iraq-syria-lebanon-libya-somalia-sudan-iran/5166 ]
[ www.globalresearch.ca/twenty-six-things-about-the-islamic-state-isil-that-obama-does-not-want-you-to-know-about/5414735 ]
[Claim that Ba'athist Syria disappeared and killed Hamas members: www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250106-assad-regime-executed-dozens-of-hamas-members-without-trial-report-reveals/ ]
[Claim of a DPR Korea Fukushima plot: www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3294559/spies-protests-and-fukushima-inside-north-koreas-plot-sow-south-korea-japan-discord ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/arteka-el-modelo-socialdemocrata/ ]
[ diario-octubre.com/2025/01/10/trump-y-obama-charlan-y-se-rien-en-el-funeral-de-jimmy-carter/ ]
[On Carter's early January UFO sighting in Georgia, questions about disclosure, etc. on NPR's Saturday Morning Edition January 11th.]
[? -- On the Committee to Protect Health Care versus RFK Jr's DHHS nomination, new in January: merylnass.substack.com/p/the-blue-blob-act-blue-creates-yet another astroturf organization to try and tank Bobby Kennedy's nomination
[ popularresistance.org/bap-condemns-ecuadorian-authorities-for-the-disappearance-of-four-black-children/ ]
[ blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/2025/1/9/los-angeles-fires-santa-ana-blowback ]
[ libya360.wordpress.com/2024/12/18/compatible-left-joins-imperialism-in-celebrating-defeat-of-syria/ ]
[ libya360.wordpress.com/2022/06/22/national-security-state-censoring-of-anti-imperialist-voices-the-latest-phase-of-their-long-term-strategy-to-divide-and-control-the-left/ ]
[ libya360.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/when-false-flags-fly-upside-down-the-isis-script-you-werent-meant-to-question/ ]
[Grover Furr responds to a critic of his recent book: msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/gfgreenecrit0125.html or msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/gfgreenecrit0125.pdf ]
"HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025! From the November 8th Publishing House" – A New Year's toast given by Stalin, then 22, at a working class home in Batumi in 1902 (up through the night?) [Batumi, Adjara, Republic of Georgia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batumi ] – "There's the dawn! Soon the sun will rise. The time will come when this sun will shine or us!" as it did.
[A CPC(M-L) YouTube series: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiZWYhHlHKs&feature=youtu.be ]
["What to Expect with Inauguration of Donald Trump to U.S. Presidency" – cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/TS5501.HTM#3 ]
This message, by Kathleen Chandler, was sent from an official USMLO email account late in the morning on Thursday, January 2nd:
Happy New Year, One and All!
[Photo: A red banner – Biden, Trudeau, Netanyahu: We Are the Red Line – and Palestinian flags at the front of a march on a city street]
As we greet the New Year, despite all the horrors the peoples of the world have experience, we can take pride in the fact that 2024 also showed for the entire world to see that it is the peoples of the world and their Resistance Movements that are the makers of history -- not the U.S., not Israel, not the Bidens and Trumps of this world or the totally paralyzed international system incapable of stopping the genocide in Gaza.
We can take pride in the contribution the people of the U.S. made by making sure the U.S./Zionist forces could not get away with impunity, that they are held to account. Their declaration that they can be both democrats and support genocide will not fly.
The resistance is scoring successes, while the U.S./Zionist forces are desperate, resorting to extreme violence, failing to even keep the resistance forces in check, let alone under their command. Far from the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria being a major blow to the resistance, it is the U.S. and Israel which are weakened because they cannot force the peoples to abide by their wishes, imposed with bombs, using disinformation about what is going on, presenting terrorists as moderates and similar tales. The U.S. intelligence agencies have openly put terrorists in charge in Syria which means any attempts to claim the U.S. champions a "war on terror" or to paint our compatriots in this country and abroad as being terrorists have absolutely no credence.
The youth, students and freedom fighters from one end of the U.S. to the other can be proud of the bold fight they have waged this past year. It shows the entire world what the people of the U.S. are made of, settling scores with media attempts to paint them with the racist, terrorist brush that applies to U.S. presidents and their administrations.
U.S. claims to stand for human rights, democracy, or fair elections are done. All the presidency has left is extreme violence and the impunity of its police powers. Congress is more divided than ever and anarchy prevails. All the governing factions across the country are armed to the teeth. Everything is done to justify the attacks on immigrants, migrants, workers and those who are poor or vulnerable to the attacks of the virulent mafia forces who have usurped the decision-making powers of the state and its police forces.
Thanks to the bold actions of the Resistance forces, the red line of the peoples’ of the world against genocide stands steadfast, resilient and defiant. The Resistance Movements in Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon as well as Iraq have shown they are self-reliant, courageous and determined. Iran too stands firmly with the resistance as do the peoples of all the surrounding countries whose governments or leaders are vacillating, or conciliating, pushing their own agendas. Despite the increase of the use of extreme violence and the plots which are being hatched to sow doubt in peoples’ minds about the prospects for 2025, 2024 showed that by giving uncategorical support to the Resistance Movements, and uniting people in action, progress can be made.
The defiant resistance in Palestine shows the way for all. It is not Trump that decides how we organize and fight in 2025. That is up to us. Let 2025 be a time of taking initiatives to build on successes and lend a hand to the many struggles taking place, like those of Amazon and postal workers, dock workers, healthcare workers, teachers and immigrant communities everywhere, as well as of those upholding the rights of refugees, undocumented workers who are integral to the U.S. working class and the rights of LGBTQ2S+, prisoners and all those fighting against police impunity and to make sure Black Lives Matter.
Speaking in our own name, opposing politicians and the likes of Elon Musk who run rough shod over the peoples’ interests, building our independent organizations and mass media all are critical.
Let us further strengthen our organized defiance against genocide, the terrorist police powers being unleashed against us and all attacks on rights! Unity in action to advance our interests advances our fight for empowerment and our internationalist spirit defending the rights of all at home and abroad.
Best Wishes for Success in All Your Activities!
Kathleen Chandler, organizer for U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization, Peoples' Senate and Women United Against Genocide
For More Information on developments in Syria and Palestine see:
• U.S. Global War on Terror Bites the Dust in Syria – Pauline Easton
• Oppose All Attempts to Deprive Palestinian Resistance of Its Initiative – Kathleen Chandler
Heroism of Palestinian Resistance Knows No Bounds
• "Hunting Snakes" in Beit Lahia – Resistance Roundup
Outstanding Contribution of Yemen
• Resolute Support for Palestinian Resistance Intensifies
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