People Before Profit blog

Ending of anti-Cuba policies moves forward slowly

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 15:39:00 +0000

This week, a Cuban delegation arrived in Washington D.C. to continue discussions with the U.S. State Department on the proposals for regularizing relations between the two countries. At the same time a number of bills have been presented in the Senate and House of Representatives for the purpose of eliminating the legal structure of the 55 year U.S. trade blockade and prohibitions of travel to Cuba.

The first task, as explained by the head of Cuba's delegation, Josefina Vidal, who is in charge of U.S. affairs in the Cuban foreign ministry, is to get Cuba removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This should be simple because everybody but the most extreme Cuba-haters agrees that Cuba is not, indeed, a state sponsor of terrorism.

Cuba, in fact, deplores all terrorist acts, whether carried out by ISIS in the Middle East or anybody else. Cuba itself has been the victim of numerous terrorist attacks, many of which have been launched against the island from the territory of the United States or allied countries. Both Cuba and Venezuela have demanded the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, a former Central Intelligence Agent who is accused of blowing up a Cuban civilian airliner in mid-airliner in 1976, with the loss of 73 lives of passengers and crew. In the United States, Posada was only prosecuted for immigration violations and acquitted. He is now lionized in right wing Cuban exile circles in Miami.

President Obama, in his speech on Dec. 17 of last year, called on Secretary of State John Kerry to review the listing of Cuba as a terrorism sponsor. The reasons given in the recent past for maintaining Cuba on that list have been paper thin: Cuba allows the existence of the Basque separatist organization ETA to function, but that was arranged at the request of former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, and the Basque campaigns of armed action are ending.

Also, Cuba allows an office of Colombia's Armed Forces of the Colombian Revolution-People's Army to exist in Havana, but this is at the behest of the Colombian government. Cuba and Norway are cosponsors of peace talks between the FARC-EP and the Colombian government of President Manuel Santos, which are going so well that major breakthroughs in ending the Colombian civil war seem imminent. Secretary of State Kerry has named veteran U.S. diplomat Bernard Anderson as a special representative to the Colombia peace talks, which was applauded not only by the Colombian government but by the FARC-EP as well.

The anti-Castro diehards cling to the idea of blocking the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List by harping on the theme of Assata Shakur. Politicians such as Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtenin, R-Fla., have denounced Cuba for refusing to extradite Shakur and others who, years ago, requested and got political Asylum in Cuba. However, the Obama administration does not seem to be swayed. At any rate, Cuba has made clear that it will not extradite them.

So the removal of Cuba from the list seems probable. The Cubans, however, ask for quick action. Vidal pointed out that it would be strange for Cuba and the United States to negotiate the restoration of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana while the former accuses the latter of being a terrorist sponsor.

There are practical implications: For many months, the Cuban diplomatic missions in Washington and at the United Nations in New York have had to go without U.S. bank accounts because U.S. banks are afraid that Cuba's presence on the list would entail major financial risks for any U.S. or foreign bank that did business with the socialist nation. Also, Cuba is urging the Obama administration to finalize the process in time for the 15th Summit of the Americas which will take place on Apr. 10-12 in Panama. U.S. officials say that this will not be on the agenda for the meeting in Washington.

At least 10 bills have been introduced into the Senate and House of Representatives for the purpose eliminating the U.S. trade and travel blockade against Cuba. Details can be found at the website of the U.S. Congress. They include several bills to end the travel ban (S 299 and HR 664) and to allow travelers to Cuba to spend money there for normal travel-related expenses (HR 664). Several would end the trade blockade completely ( HR 274, HR 403, S 491) or partially (HR 735, HR 635). HR 570, would cut off funding for the scandal ridden Radio and TV Marti, broadcasters of U.S. propaganda to Cuba. It is likely that more bills will be introduced.

People who want to see a change in U.S.-Cuba policy should study the details of these bills and check if their own senators and their House member are listed as co-sponsors. If so, they should contact them to thank them and to urge them to push the bill until it is passed and signed by President Obama. If not, they should urge them to sign on as cosponsors and work for the bill's passage. Contact information can also be found on the Congressional website.

Both Democrats and Republicans should be contacted. Republicans may be convinced to support ending the blockade because of pressure from agricultural and other industries who want normal trade with Cuba.

Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP

Opposition to repressive Canadian legislation grows

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 12:59:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, B.C. - After initially wavering on the issue, the official opposition in Parliament, the center left New Democratic Party (NDP) has now vowed to fight Bill C-51, Conservative legislation that will give intelligence and police agencies new legal powers to crack down on dissidents.

"Terrorism is a real threat, and public safety must be the priority for any government," according to NDP leader Tom Mulcair. "But we cannot protect our freedoms by sacrificing them. We have a responsibility to stand up for our values and to never allow these cowardly attackers to change our way of life.

"The NDP has identified several serious problems in C-51, including that the bill will give broad new powers to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) without enhancing oversight, that it includes provisions that could impact legitimate dissent, and that the government has not produced any plan to counter radicalization in Canadian communities. This legislation is sweeping, dangerously vague, and likely ineffective. The Conservatives have played politics and intimidated the Liberals into giving them a blank cheque to pass any law, even one like C-51 that goes too far," added Mr. Mulcair. "Canadians can count on New Democrats to take a principled stand for our rights and freedoms."

When the rightwing Conservative government of Stephen Harper first introduced Bill C-51 on Jan. 30, the NDP's initial reservation about the bill was the lack of parliamentary oversight over intelligence agencies. Only the Green and Communist Parties came out strongly against the legislation. The Liberal Party, which has also expressed reservations about the bill, has said that it will vote for the legislation, despite its defects.

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) report, obtained by Greenpeace recently, hints at whom the Harper Conservatives might go after if C-51 is passed by Parliament. Dated Jan. 24, 2014, the police report states: "There is a growing, highly organized and well-financed anti-Canada petroleum movement that consists of peaceful activists, militants and violent extremists who are opposed to society's reliance on fossil fuels," states the report which is stamped "protected/Canadian eyes only."

"If violent environmentalist extremists engage in unlawful activity, it jeopardizes the health and safety of its participants, the general public, and the natural environment." The report emphasizes the importance that the oil and gas industry play in the Canadian economy.

"NGOs such as Greenpeace, Tides Canada and Sierra Club Canada, to name a few, assert climate change is now the most serious global threat, and that climate change is a direct consequence of elevated anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which, they believe, are directly linked to the continued use of fossil fuels.... Research and analysis done in support of ongoing RCMP criminal investigations show that those involved in the anti-Canadian petroleum industry have an interest in drawing public attention to, and building recognition of the perceived environmental threat from the continued use of fossil fuels. The publicizing of these concerns has led to significant, and often negative, media coverage surrounding the Canadian petroleum industry."

Bill C-51 defines terrorism as: "interference with the capability of the government of Canada in relation to intelligence, defense, border operations, public safety, administration of justice, diplomatic or consular relations, or the economic or financial stability of Canada; changing or unduly influencing a government in Canada by force or unlawful means; interference with critical infrastructure; interference with global information infrastructure; an activity that causes serious harm to a person or their property...; an activity that takes place in Canada and undermines the security of another state."

The "violent" extremists mentioned by the RCMP can only refer to environmentalists who have used acts of peaceful civil disobedience such as sit-ins and blockades to stop the expansion of pipelines to transport bitumen from the oil sands, because there have been no bomb attacks or other acts of sabotage against the industry. Civil liberty organizations fear that C-51 will allow the RCMP and CSIS (Canada's version of the CIA) to infiltrate and criminalize the environmental movement because it interferes with economic stability and infrastructure.

The Harper government, which is closely aligned with the gas and oil industry, has long viewed the environmental movement as a threat.

In response to the RCMP report, John Bennet, national director of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, said the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have no plans to launch unlawful actions against the oil industry, and accused the RCMP of having "a one-sided view" of climate change.

"In policing terms, there is a lot more to be concerned about when it comes to climate change. It's not just protesters the RCMP needs to be thinking about. The RCMP is an institution we will depend on as climate change causes more frequent and more severe storms. Only last week the RCMP was criticized for not having a clear plan for seizing unsecured firearms during the 2013 Alberta floods."

"Climate change is something we know - not something we 'assert.' This understanding is based on science and not on anything else. It's a real threat - not 'perceived' - and the threat is, in fact, getting more significant every day. Clearly the RCMP has not kept up and does not understand what is coming their way."

Bennet said that instead of getting angry, he wrote to the RCMP offering to provide workshops on climate change to the police force "so they can understand why so many of us are exercising our rights to free speech and assembly."

On Jan. 30, Harper introduced C-51 to ensure that security agencies can uncover and halt jihadi terrorist attacks. However, critics assert that the number of people who have met a violent end from terrorist attacks in Canada over the last decade can be counted on one hand.

Photo: Vitality Magazine

Syriza and the banks: a Greek tale for U.S. workers

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 10:00:00 +0000

In preparing for anti-austerity negotiations with the European Central Bank (ECB) the new Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, of the left-wing Syriza party, made the following political characterization of his government's position:

the European crisis is not just another cyclical slump ... the question that arises for radicals is this: Should we welcome this wholesale subsidence [fragmentation] of European capitalism, as an opportunity to replace capitalism with a better system? Or should we be so worried about it as to embark upon a campaign for stabilising European capitalism? My answer has been unequivocal ... Europe's crisis is, as I see it, pregnant not with a progressive alternative but with radically regressive forces that have the capacity to cause a humanitarian bloodbath while extinguishing the hope for any progressive moves for generations to come.

Rising inequality across the world, expressed internationally as imperialism, led to the cataclysmic era of 1914-1945. Who thinks it will not have similar consequences again? To those conservatives who make fun of the Greek position by characterizing it as "Forgive my debt or I will shoot myself [leave the European Union and return to its own currency, and maybe become an EU "suicide bomb"], the Syriza leaders say: "Austerity will kill us, and the whole EU project." The European Central Bank position can also be ridiculed as "If you don't pay off your debts, we won't give you the ability to pay off your debts." ECB declarations that "prudence" [read-austerity] will "promote growth" have been painfully exposed as lies, as Greece's economy has shrunk nearly one-third since it began following these "pro-growth" policies.

Debt relief could take many forms. For example debt-for-equity swaps, as in Greece gives Germany the Parthenon in exchange for debt forgiveness (I'm kidding, but you get the idea); an EU-wide unemployment fund; and EU-wide investment and development funds to expand employment; or, simply allowing Greece to invest and leverage its current surpluses (yes, it currently has a small budget surplus but ECB rules will not allow it to spend it) toward relief for its people's suffering - nearly 25 percent are unemployed. Greece imports both food and fuel, payments for which, like payments on debt, are made to foreign firms and governments through the ECB, and subject to its approval.

In its first joust with the ECB, Greece's Syriza-led government has prevailed against a threatened ECB credit cut-off, and also released funds from its small surplus to invest in helping the suffering of its people. The just-announced temporary deal will last four months, with other provisions of the ECB "memorandum" from the previous Greek administration also in place for that long. As economist Paul Krugman writes, "The next step will come four months from now, when Greece makes its serious pitch for lower surpluses in future years. We don't know how that will go. But nothing that just happened weakens the Greek position in that future round."

The Syriza-led struggle shows that realistic working class and democratic politics can force the "iron positions" of finance capital centers to retreat. Mountains remain to be climbed - a determined struggle remains - but Syriza gives hope those mountains can be not only climbed, but moved! In contrast, recall Ireland's financial crisis and how opposition to austerity a few years ago collapsed almost immediately following ECB threats. As Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis put it:

"We are determined to clash with mighty vested interests in order to reboot Greece and gain our partners' trust. We are also determined not to be treated as a debt colony that should suffer what it must."

As the Greek drama plays out, how can one help but observe how much closer U.S. workers' situation today is to that of Greek workers. Until recently, our troubles seemed far less threatening. Thanks to the stimulus efforts of the Obama administration and its allies to counter the 2008 austerity program promoted by US banksters and billionaires, we did not incur a society-destroying, 25 percent official unemployment rate. However, the 2014 billionaire-led Republican sweep of the U.S. Congress and many state legislatures was a con job of historic magnitude, and promises to "fix" that.

Inside Trojan horses of various racist, anti-women, anti-democracy, gun insanity movements, mostly bankrolled by billionaires, including fascist and pro-Confederate political organizations masquerading as Christian churches, a vicious anti-worker austerity program, equaling what the German-led banks imposed on Greece, is already plainly exposed. The very first Republican initiatives range from direct payoffs to the banksters, to ultra-right political control over the Republican Party, and to outright wage-cutting assaults in every Republican-led state. Cut taxes for the rich. Raise them on the poor. Cut people's health care. Kill prevailing wage. Kill unions. Stop raises in the minimum wage. Kill health and safety. Kill the EPA. Kill public education. Kill reproductive choice. Kill voting rights. Return to military domination of foreign policy and global conflict. Nullify democracy.

The Greek economy is $250 billion. The US is $14 trillion. The Greek population is 11 million. The U.S. population is 300 million. When the next downturn - and it IS coming, and before any full recovery - comes, especially if Republicans take the White House in 2016, U.S. workers will face enemies no less implacable than the German banks in their attitude toward Greece. However, the scale of this human bloodbath could drown the whole world. And we may ultimately be confronted, as are the Greeks, by a similar existential challenge: If you are going to take us down, we are going to take you with us. Greece is showing that challenge, if sincere and genuinely reflected in the hearts of the Greek people, can be the key to turning away from barbarism, and towards civilization.

Photo: Supporters of the left-wing Syriza-led government gather in front of Greece's parliament to back its demands for a bailout debt renegotiation, central Athens, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. Yorgos Karahalis/AP

Judge withdraws from Ukraine Communist trial because cops raided his office

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:27:00 +0000

On Feb. 18, Valerii Kuzmenko , the main judge presiding over the trial of the Communist Party of Ukraine, resigned after complaining that prosecution officials had raided his office and walked off with computers and documents, thereby fatally compromising the integrity of the judicial process. Shortly after, all other judges involved in the trial also withdrew. How the trial, which is designed to make the Communist Party illegal, will now proceed, is not yet known.

The Communist Party of Ukraine received 13.18 percent of the vote in the 2012 elections to the Ukrainian Congress, or Verkhovna Rada, which gave it 32 of the body's 445 seats.

Most of the Communist seats were from the Eastern regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (provinces) in the highly industrialized Donbas area that borders on Russia's Rostov province, and from the region of the Black Sea port city of Odessa. The Communist Party was also strong in the Crimea, now annexed to Russia. The party is also strongest in Russian speaking areas of the East.

So when the government of President Victor Yanukovych of the Party of the Regions was overthrown in the Maidan protests in February of 2014, it was clear that the Communist Party was in for a rough time.

The Communist Party had been critical of both Yanukovych and his opponents, for corruption and for having temporized with Ukraine's ultra-right fascist and neo-Nazi movements. After the Maiden events, The Communist Party had taken a position that to settle differences between Eastern and Western Ukraine, and between Ukrainian and Russian speakers in this vast country of 44 million inhabitants, there should be a move to a federated system with regional autonomy and a new government structure with much greater power to the legislature.

However, the Communist Party opposed, and opposes, the breakup of the country, the basis for its prosecution.

The main issue that got the Kiev "Maidan" protests going was that of international economic relations. Yanukovych had been negotiating for the inclusion of Ukraine in a relationship with the European Union, to lead perhaps to full membership. However, Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe despite its rich agricultural resources and valuable mining and industrial operations in the Eastern part of the country, with a per capita gross domestic product lower than that of El Salvador. Therefore when Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Yanukovych what appeared to him to be a better deal, Yanukovych withdrew from the European Union project. It cannot have escaped Yanukovych's notice that the European Union and the related Euro currency group was not doing very well for the poorer member countries, such as Greece, Portugal, Italy and Ireland, who were being forced to accept drastic austerity measures in order to stay in the Union.

However, Ukrainian nationalists of various kinds, including neo-Nazi and fascist groups whose bases are in the Galizia region in the far West of the country, also have an extreme anti-Russian ideology, and part of their desire to become "part of Europe" is related to this. Easterners have both cultural and economic links to Russia, which buys much of what their factories produce.

So when the new post-Maiden government began to put out its program, many in the East began to resist control from Kiev. Among their fears was that native Russian speakers would be deprived of their language rights. Another was that one of the most violent forces in the Maidan uprising and also in the new power structure include admirers of Stepan Bandera, an extreme nationalist and fascist who collaborated with Nazi Germany in World War II. Two political forces in modern-day Ukraine, the Svoboda Party and the Right Sector, admire Bandera and are known for violent thuggish attacks on their opponents as well as prominent displaying Nazi and fascist symbols; several of these people were given important positions in Yatsenyuk's government.

So in the spring of 2014, there were plebiscites in the Eastern areas in which the idea of either autonomy or outright independence for the East was strongly voiced. The new government of right-winger Arseny Yatsenyuk decided to crush this movement, which it labeled as separatist, by military force. So when the Kiev government sent in troops to suppress the autonomist movement in the East, they met with strong resistance and were thrown back in many cases. Kiev became more and more reliant on the forces of self-organized fighting groups such as the Aidar and Azov battalions, which contain many neo-Nazis, fascists and other extremists.

These elements have launched violent attacks against Ukrainian Communists and others they despise, which have led to many deaths and injuries, including at least two score burned to death in a horrific attack in Odessa last May.

Last fall, the Kiev government successfully moved to drive the Communist Party out of the Rada. Soon after, the Kiev government announced it was prosecuting the Party with a view to making illegal not only its overt political activities, but also "communist ideology" in general. The trial was to have started last year, but was delayed. In addition to the trial of the Communist Party, individual party members, and leaders are being tried for allegedly promoting "separatism."

Meanwhile, due to recent defeats of its troops in the East, the Kiev regime is being forced to accept much of the program which the communists promoted a year ago, including a high degree of autonomy for the Donbas region.

The United States has continued to claim that the revolt of 'Eastern Ukraine is nothing more than "Russian aggression" and is followed in this by our corporate press.

Photo: Right-wing lawmakers (blue jackets) attack Communist members of the Ukrainian parliament in a 2014 session of that body. | Vladimir Strumkovsky/AP

Morena, the hope of Mexico

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 14:17:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - On Friday, Feb. 13, a binational meeting took place between committees of the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), or Movement for National Regeneration, in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

This historic event marked one of the rare times that Mexican citizens from both sides of the border joined together to discuss issues facing the working people of Mexico.

Morena is the new left party of Mexico. The "Movimiento" has transformed itself into a political party, obtaining its electoral registration in June 2014. Excitement and support for this new party are evident by the fact that although it's only eight months old, polls show that if a presidential election were to be held today it would win in many areas of Mexico including Mexico City.

Although this meeting was organized to bring together members from the northern part of Mexico, such as the Comité Municipal de Tijuana, and surrounding areas of Los Angeles, participation included, via U-Stream and Skype, Morena committees from Minnesota, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and cities in Canada.

Four main topics were covered throughout the day's event:

1. Getting out the vote in the upcoming 2015 election, as well as establishing a mechanism to defend it. Attendees agreed that international observers are needed to oversee the entire process, from the moment the ballot boxes are picked up to the moment they are returned to the offices of the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE).

2. Development of political education with regard to the electoral process, including new forms to educate members of Morena. All agreed that learning how the system works in the electoral process in Mexico is vital to defending the vote.

3. The voting rights of Mexicans living outside of Mexico and how to obtain their voter identification card. It was noted that Mexicans living outside of Mexico are now the number one source of revenue for the country, surpassing oil revenues, and they should therefore have the right to vote wherever they reside.

4. The defense of Mexican immigrants rights, a comprehensive immigration law, and the study of the new U.S. presidential executive orders DAPA and DACA. Participants from Mexico were informed of the new orders and discussion centered on encouraging as many immigrants as possible to sign up.

All agreed that the discussions, food, and the camaraderie were the highlights of this first binational meeting. Participants recognized the importance of working collectively to bring hope and justice to their beloved country of Mexico, and left by recommitting themselves to this struggle.

Photo: AP

Peace and justice organizations oppose new authorization of military force

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:08:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Federal Building was the backdrop for a Feb. 17 press conference bringing together leaders of peace and justice organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area, in response to President Obama's announcement last week that he will seek Congressional approval for a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

The president's proposal would authorize military operations against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) for three years. It would allow for limited use of ground troops but not allow "enduring offensive ground combat operations."

The proposal would repeal the 2002 AUMF authorizing the ground invasion of Iraq. But it would leave in place the 2001 AUMF authorizing President George W. Bush to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The gathering coincided with the start of a new campaign, Say No to Global Wars! initiated by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), to renew the message of the great mass peace demonstrations of 2003 that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"When we started planning this campaign, we could not imagine that today we would be in a situation where the president is asking the Congress for a blank check to wage war in Syria, so parallel to the situation we confronted in 2003 with respect to Iraq," UFPJ leader Jacqueline Cabasso told the crowd. At the same time, she said, the crisis over Ukraine, involving Russia, the U.S. and NATO, "has brought into focus the ever-present and growing danger of nuclear war and the urgent need for progress on the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Several speakers emphasized the importance of repealing the 2001 AUMF. Stephen McNeil, Wage Peace director at the American Friends Service Committee in San Francisco, called repeal a "first step," citing the 2001 measure's use "over 30 times, to do lethal drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia, special operations in Mali, and actions in Pakistan."

McNeil said the AFSC is urging the use of diplomacy as well as economic actions to cut ISIL's funding.

Janet Weil of Code Pink emphasized the devastating effects of multiple deployments to battlefields on soldiers and their families. "Our country has wrecked and poisoned Iraq, has damaged Afghanistan, has done vast environmental and political damage throughout the Middle East, and drained resources from our needs at home," she said.

Cat Brooks of the Onyx Organizing Committee called attention to the link between Black Lives Matter struggles at home and freeing peoples around the world "from the threat of American bombs, missiles and gunfire."

A statement from U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who represents Oakland and neighboring communities, was met with warm applause.

Lee emphasized Congress' constitutional responsibility to debate and vote on matters of war and peace, and expressed hope that the Republican leadership will allow debate on the issue. She called the 2001 AUMF "a blank check for endless war."

Lee said grassroots action by peace and justice organizations and others is "changing the conversation," and urged continuing pressure "to reestablish the checks and balances on war-making that are enshrined in the Constitution."

Last week Lee and U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., introduced House Joint Resolution 30, to require President Obama to submit to Congress a "comprehensive diplomatic, political, economic and regionally-led strategy to degrade and dismantle" ISIL, within 90 days of enactment.

"It would be a tremendous error for our Congress to finally debate a long overdue authorization for the ongoing war against ISIL and neglect the important nonmilitary options that comprise a comprehensive solution," she said.

Lee said that while the new resolution prevents deployment of U.S. ground forces, "it does not close the door for military action," which would have to be debated and authorized by Congress.

"Any comprehensive strategy must address the underlying political, economic and diplomatic elements that have contributed to ISIL," she added. "This bill recognizes that ISIL is a multidimensional program that requires a multidimensional solution."

Photo: ISIS fighters use captured U.S. military eqipment and guns. AP

Today in people’s history: The Japanese internment

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 11:30:00 +0000

On this date in 1942, pursuant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, over 127,000 Japanese Americans living in the Pacific coastal states were evacuated to ten concentration camps in remote areas of Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and inland California. Two-thirds of them were U.S. citizens, or "Nisei," native-born Americans, including veterans of World War I. Altogether, they lost an estimated $400 million in property (in 1942 value), which they were forced to sell off in short order. The United States had entered World War II in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Some of the interns, eager to prove their American loyalty, volunteered to fight in one of two all-Nisei army regiments and went on to distinguish themselves in battle on the European front. It was one way of escaping the harsh conditions in isolated, cold, desert camps that took away the internees' civil liberties.

One who tried to resist the government relocation action using the American legal system was Fred Korematsu, but he found little sympathy in the courts. In Korematsu v. the United States, the Supreme Court justified the executive order as a wartime necessity. The nation seemed blinded to its own race prejudice and wartime hysteria. Almost no civic organizations spoke out against it.

When they internees were allowed to return to their homes after January 2, 1945, some were able to resume their former lives with relative ease, as neighbors and friends had protected their property in their forced absence. But others suffered irreparable loss and long-lasting psychological damage, and many found they could not return to their hometowns at all owing to continuing local hostility against Japanese Americans.

In the post-war McCarthy Era, the government had camps set up to contain communists and radicals. Many people who subsequently obtained their FBI files found out that they had been designated for detention in the event of a similar new executive order. It took a long time to overcome the unconstitutional consequences of hysteria against the nation's perceived "enemies," and there is no guarantee that we have completely forsworn a repetition of such acts.

In 1988, Congress attempted to apologize for the 1942 evacuation by awarding each surviving intern $20,000. The U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs. These American concentration camps remain an indelible stain on the nation.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

For a further introduction to this complex history click here.

Venezuela denounces coup attempt

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 16:37:00 +0000

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the left wing government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that it had nipped in the bud a plan to carry out a coup d'etat with backing of unnamed political sectors in the United States. A number of mostly junior level active service and retired air force officers have been arrested for their part in the plot. Senior retired officers and civilian politicians are also implicated.

In the first half of 2014, opposition organizations carried out violent protests called "guarimbas" in upper and middle income communities in several cities. Forty-three people, most of them government supporters, security force members and bystanders, were killed.

The government has also been struggling with problems of inflation and the scarcity of some consumer items, part of which it blames on deliberate economic sabotage. It blames hoarding of consumer goods by businesses as well as smuggling operations which move scarce, price subsidized goods across the border into neighboring Colombia, as the causes. The government has been carrying out crackdowns on businesses engaged in these practices. However, the task has been made harder by the worldwide slump in the price of oil, caused by a glut on the market that began last summer. Venezuela is a major oil producing nation and uses oil sales to obtain dollars necessary to import goods not produced locally.

Evidently, the right wing opposition has decided to take advantage of this unfavorable situation to make a new push to remove Mr. Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its communist party and other allies from power.

So the right promised to renew the guarimbas after the space of one year. On Feb. 2, President Obama signed legislation passed by the U.S. Congress imposing sanctions on certain Venezuelan officials. The spurious motive for the sanctions vote was "violations of human rights" in the battle with the guarimbas, but most observers believe that the Venezuelan government exercised great restraint in the face of huge provocations. The mostly symbolic move of imposing sanctions contributes to the tension and to the portrayal of the Maduro government as being in the wrong in its conflicts with the right wing opposition. Corporate controlled U.S. media have piled on.

During the week of January 26, three former right wing presidents of Latin American countries, Andres Pastrana of Colombia, Sebastian Piñera of Chile and Felipe Calderon of Mexico. came to Venezuela to meet with the jailed right wing opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who is detained and facing trial because of his part in last year's violence. The Venezuelan government would not let them meet with Lopez.

The government complained that there were major efforts afoot, coordinated from the United States, to destabilize Venezuela. Maduro convoked meetings of UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) and CELAC (The Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes all Western Hemisphere states except the United States and Canada) which unanimously denounced outside interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. Ernesto Samper, the Secretary General of UNASUR and former president of Colombia, has been delegated to speak to the Obama administration and urge no U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Venezuela is also exploring new trade relationships with China and other countries.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, a trio of right-wing opposition leaders issued a statement calling for President Maduro's removal from power and replacement by a "transitional" government. These included Leopoldo Lopez, the scion of one of Venezuela's wealthiest families, metropolitan Caracas Mayor Atonio Ledezma and former parliamentarian Maria Corina Machado whose family is heavily invested in the "Polar" retail chain and the SIDOR steel company. Polar has had friction with the government, and SIDOR was nationalized by Hugo Chavez in 2008 in the context of labor disputes.

The statement strongly suggests that such a transitional government would back away from the Chavez-Maduro program of empowering the poor and working class and promoting Latin American independence from the United States. There is also a hint of prosecution of members of the present government.

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Venezuelan government announced that it had nipped in the bud an armed coup attempt to be carried out by low ranking Air Force officers, several of whom, along with some civilians, were arrested.

According to the Speaker of the Venezuelan parliament, Diosdado Cabello, a Tucano jet plane, originating from outside the country but painted with Venezuelan insignia, was going to launch bombing or strafing attacks on targets in downtown Caracas, including the Miraflores presidential palace, the Ministries of Defense and Justice, the Supreme Court, the parliament building and the TELESUR TV network headquarters among others. Cabello pointed out that deaths of officials, including perhaps Maduro, and ordinary civilians would result from such attacks.

Cabello, Maduro and other leaders complained that there are signs of collusion by U.S. officials in the plot, because the U.S. Embassy in Caracas had provided visas for some of the officers to go to the United States in case the plot failed. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said such accusations are "ridiculous", but in fact there is precedent for them: In 2002, some of the same forces in Venezuela carried out a coup in which President Hugo Chavez was taken prisoner and only freed by a mass mobilization of his working class base. In that coup, U.S. involvement was blatant. In 2009, the left leaning president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown by the military with the connivance of U.S. persons, and Zelaya's return to power was blocked by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Photo: The Latin American Parliament President Angel Rodriguez denounces the recent coup attempt. | Telesur

Today in people's history: Nelson Mandela released from prison

Wed, 11 Feb 2015 11:24:00 +0000

Today marks exactly 25 years since the day in 1990 when anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was released from prison to become a free man in South Africa. There followed a difficult four years of negotiation with the white-rule government to allow one-person one-vote, which led in 1994 to the overwhelming election of Mandela as president. He served until 1999, handing over the reins of government to a younger generation and entering an extended, graceful retirement. He died at the age of 95, a revered elder world statesman and a Nobel Peace Prize winner (with F.W. de Klerk), on December 5, 2013.

Mandela's 27-year-long imprisonment, the first 18 of them at the heinous Robben Island Prison off the coast of Cape Town, inspired worldwide calls for his release. Over time, from the 1960s through the 1980s, Mandela became the most visible symbol of resistance against apartheid. The socialist countries actively supported the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa and the leading force in the freedom struggle, which Mandela served in a number of capacities. In the Western countries, South Africa gradually became subject to boycotts, sanctions and divestment campaigns, making prospects for the future of white rule virtually untenable.

Mandela wrote an autobiography, Long Road to Freedom, which was made into a film in 2014. People's World reviewed it here.

See video here of Mandela's release.

Photo by Claw Murray (Photobucket)

Repressive "anti-terrorist" legislation in Canada and resistance

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 16:11:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, BC, Canada - The right-wing Conservative Party government of Stephen Harper has introduced new legislation that if passed will further undermine Canadian privacy rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech.

On Jan. 30, Harper introduced Bill C-51 with the aim of empowering security agencies to uncover and halt terrorist attacks. Linking the Islamic State and two lone Muslim attackers who killed two Canadian soldiers in Ottawa and Saint Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, last October, he said that global jihadists are now targeting Canada.

The bill's most worrisome aspect is its broad definition of what constitutes terrorism. This includes: "interference with the capability of the government of Canada in relation to intelligence, defense, border operations, public safety, administration of justice, diplomatic or consular relations, or the economic or financial stability of Canada; changing or unduly influencing a government in Canada by force or unlawful means; interference with critical infrastructure; interference with global information infrastructure; an activity that causes serious harm to a person or their property...; an activity that takes place in Canada and undermines the security of another state; activity that undermines the security of Canada, meaning any activity, including any of the following activities, if it undermines the sovereignty, security or territorial integrity of Canada...."

Bill C-51 will give spy agencies new powers to, among other things, override privacy protections to increase information sharing between government and security agencies; expands the Canadian Service Intelligence Service's (CSIS) - Canada's version of the CIA - powers to include placing Canadians on a no fly list; criminalizes advocating, promoting or supporting terrorism on or offline - even when the person has no intention of carrying out a terrorist act - and will allow the CSIS to apply for court orders to remove websites; allows police to arrest suspects and detain them for one week without charges based on mere suspicion they might carry out a terrorist act.

"The words that are found under the definition of [terrorist] activities, which affects the security of Canadians, are so broad that it can apply to almost any activity, including peaceful non-violent disobedience. This bill could now treat peaceful protestors as potential terrorists," according to Green Party leader Elizabeth May. "Is Stephen Harper using the imagined fear of widespread security threats to score points before the next election? Parliament must not allow the Conservatives to turn the CSIS into a secret police force," she implored.

When she asked Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney during question period in Parliament if the Conservatives' new anti-terrorism bill "will apply to non-violent disobedience such as against pipelines," Blaney avoided answering her question and instead retorted: "Mr. Speaker, we live in a society of rights. Any violence is going against the Criminal Code. Terrorism, Mr. Speaker, is a criminal act and those who goes [sic] against the criminal code will meet the full force of the law."

Last year, documents released through the Access to Information Requests indicated that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and CSIS were spying on environmental groups opposing the expansion of pipelines from the tar sands project in Alberta. Another RCMP document considered environmentalists to be more of a threat to Canadian energy infrastructure than Al Qaida. "The Canadian law enforcement and security intelligence community have noted a growing radicalized faction of environmentalists who advocate the use of criminal activity to promote the protection of the natural environment." This information was also shared with the petroleum industry.

Open Media's David Christopher said in an interview that "we absolutely concur with Elizabeth May who worries this will essentially usher in a secret police force for Canada. The problem with these kind of sweeping spy powers is that they certainly have a chilling effect on free expression - when people believe they are being watched, their behavior changes." He is also concerned that Bill C-51 will allow Canadian intelligence agencies to target Canadians who support the Palestinian struggle for justice and movement to boycott Israeli products, environmentalists and the Quebec separatist movement. "Can you imagine the power this bill would give the CSIS!"

Christopher, who represents a coalition of 60 groups, from the National Firearms Association to major unions, also complained that the legislation will allow government agencies to share confidential information about Canadians with the CSIS and Canadian Security Establishment, which is currently prohibited. He also said that the existing two oversight bodies that exist meet infrequently and do not have the resources or staff to properly monitor Canadian intelligence services.

Canadian communists respond

According to Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa, "the Harper Conservatives are providing CSIS with powers going far beyond those which were stripped from the RCMP over 30 years ago as a result of its illegal activities such as barn-burning in Quebec and spying on Canadian Union of Public Workers - and at the same time the Tories are implicitly setting the political agenda for this new secret police operation.

"CSIS agents will be allowed to break into homes and offices, seize documents, remove whatever they find, install monitoring devices, or carry out any 'dirty tricks' or disruptive activities which a judge agrees is 'reasonable,'" asserted Figueroa.

"Since coming to power in 2006, the Harper government has engaged in massive surveillance against indigenous people's movements, and has frequently used back-to-work legislation against unions under federal jurisdiction, claiming that strikes at Air Canada, Canada Post, and elsewhere constituted a threat to the economy. Now, Bill C-51 will criminalize actions which 'interfere with the ability of the Canadian government to maintain economic or fiscal stability,' an obvious threat against both the labor movement and the right to strike, and indeed any movement which resists the agenda of the banks and corporations. Trade unions and Aboriginal peoples will be a major focus of the beefed-up CSIS, just as the RCMP was used for decades by federal and provincial governments to break strikes and target Aboriginal activists," predicted the Communist leader.

"Since the government has declared that Canada is at war, there is every reason to believe that any judicial limits on these police powers will be minimal at best, and that these activities will be integrated with the CIA's 'black operations' around the world. Just as ominous, there will be no mechanism for Canadians to even monitor CSIS, leaving only the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] and a tiny clique of powerless and complicit government officials with knowledge of its actions."

New Democratic and Liberal parties

The opposition New Democratic and Liberal parties want the Conservatives to introduce more parliamentary oversight to ensure that Canadian intelligence agencies do not abuse their powers. The Canadian Liberties Association and Canada's Privacy Commissioner have criticized Bill C-51's draconian over reach.

So far, the Conservatives have brushed aside criticism of Bill C-51, insisting that a judge will have to approve any intelligence operations and that it is urgent to pass the bill to prevent more terrorist attacks.

The Conservatives have used two attacks carried out last October to justify Bill C-51's passage. On Oct. 20, in the small town of St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Martin Couture-Roleau, 24, a recent convert to Islam, drove his car into a group of three soldiers walking along the road. Police pursued the man, who crashed his car in a ditch. Police then shot him dead when he lunged at them with a hunting knife. One soldier was killed while the other two were injured.

On Oct. 22, Michael Zeha-Bibeau, who also identified as being Muslim, went on a shooting rampage in Ottawa. Armed with an old hunting rifle, he killed a soldier guarding the National War Memorial and then entered Parliament, where he was shot and killed by security guards in a gun battle. Police suggest that the two men acted in retribution for Canada's decision to deploy warplanes to bomb Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Neither Harper nor the RCMP has presented proof that the two men belonged to terrorist groups. The man who stormed Parliament had a history of mental illness and drug abuse. Prior to the attack, Bibeau was telling people that demons were after him. Several years ago he robbed a McDonald's restaurant in Surrey, BC, with a steel pipe, hoping that he would be arrested and given some help. Police jailed him for one day and then released him.

Bill C-51 came two days after it was revealed that a government spy program called Levitation dating back to 2012 has been monitoring tens of millions of private downloads a day in Canada. They also collected millions of IP addresses of individual users, with a number of Canadian internet addresses among the targets. The information is shared with other spy agencies allied with the Canada without users' knowledge or consent. Canada is part of the "five eyes" network, working with the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Stephen Harper, right, at the Chichen-Itza archaeological site in Mexico, in 2006. Kimberlee Hewitt, Public Domain.

Greece’s Tsipras declares end to austerity, favors jobless over creditors

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 13:35:00 +0000

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras set his leftist government on a collision course with Greece's creditors Sunday, proclaiming an end to the era of austerity and "five years of bailout barbarity." [Greece's creditors are European and international banks and financial institutions, mainly the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, often called the "troika."]

Tsipras presented his government's policy statement to Greek lawmakers which included, as he had forewarned, all the promises made by his radical left party, Syriza, in its manifesto before last month's election.

The government "has taken the irrevocable decision to stick fully to its pre-election commitments," Tsipras said, indicating that he would not compromise on his party's positions.

By demanding a "bridge agreement" that would give Greece and its creditors time to negotiate a new debt deal much more favorable to the country by June, Tsipras appeared to stick to an approach that got short shrift from European Union partners in a series of meetings that Tsipras and his finance minister had with European officials this past week.

"If our (EU) partners are willing, we can agree (on a bridge agreement) tomorrow morning," Tsipras said.

But this would mean the rest of the EU abandoning its declared policies and giving in to Syriza's demands.

"The (bailout deal) has been abolished by popular mandate," Tsipras said, referring to the two deals that have kept debt-ridden-Greece solvent and provided a historically unprecedented 240 billion euros in assistance.

This aid also went with austerity policies that shrank Greece's economy by a quarter and resulted in record unemployment, with more than a quarter of the workforce jobless.

Having come to power as a result of a popular backlash against these measures, Tsipras geared his speech completely toward a domestic audience, insisting that it is the EU that must return to its "founding principles of solidarity, social cohesion, growth and democracy."

"We declare categorically, we will not negotiate our history. We will not negotiate this people's pride and dignity," said an emotional Tsipras as he concluded his speech.

The current bailout deal runs until the end of February, but Tsipras said the government is "not entitled to ask for an extension," while blasting the previous government for purposely rejecting an EU proposal to extend the deal to June so that a Syriza-led government would face tight deadlines.

"They burned the crops and blew the bridges," Tsipras said of the previous conservative-socialist coalition government.

Syriza's own program includes measures to provide relief for the poor, such as free meals, free electricity and free health care; relief for the middle class by abolishing an unpopular property tax and replacing it with a tax on very large property; and sops to his supporters, such as the abolition of university reform and a re-establishment of the state TV and radio broadcaster that was shut down in 2013 and replaced by a slimmed-down version. But a pledge to raise the minimum wage to pre-crisis levels, once promised as the first measure to be implemented by the government, will be done in two stages and not realized until 2016.

Tsipras insisted that his government's budgets would be balanced, save for the debt servicing needs. On the debt, while his original demand for a minimum 60 per cent "haircut," or write-off, has been rejected by Greece's creditors, he has presented other proposals, such as issuance of low-interest "perpetual bonds," maturity extensions and deferrals of payments that would have the same effect. He said the EU should have no problem accepting his pledges to tackle corruption and tax evasion and reform the state administration.

Greek lawmakers will debate the policy statement and hold a confidence vote at midnight Tuesday.

Greece faces three crucial European Union meetings in the coming days: an emergency meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday, a summit of EU leaders Thursday, and another Eurozone finance ministers meeting on Feb. 16. It has been given a virtual ultimatum to present a program compatible with the bailout deal by that latter meeting; the European Central Bank has applied additional pressure by refusing to accept Greek bonds as collateral after Feb. 11, forcing Greek banks to seek funds from a, more expensive, emergency liquidity mechanism.

Photo: New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited the European Parliament on the Feb. 4, where he was welcomed by EP President Martin Schulz. After the meeting Schulz said: "Mr Tsipras is battling for European cooperation, not only seeking a solution for Greece. He has my full support." He also stressed the need for a framework for "constructive dialogue and solutions."(© European Union 2014 - European Parliament. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons license.)

Repression increases against Sudanese left and progressive media

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 11:48:00 +0000

The regime of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir has been cracking down hard on dissidents, including the Sudanese Communist Party, the Umma Party, the Sudanese Liberation Movement, and the Forces of National Consensus (a coalition which includes the Communists, the Umma and others).

Sudan has been in an increasing state of turmoil since its southernmost part broke off in 2011 and formed the Republic of South Sudan. This severely stressed revenues from Sudan's main export, petroleum, as some of the major petroleum producing areas are in the South. Toward the end of 2013, disturbances broke out in several cities after the government stopped subsidizing fuel, leading to a sharp increase in the cost of living.

As the first anniversary of that incident neared, the government feared that protests would grow, and began to go after opposition parties, journalists, youth and others that they feared might play a leadership role. Several opposition parties, for their part, signed a statement on Dec. 3, which called for the removal of Al Bashir's government and its replacement with a democratic and secular state. The government immediately declared the signatories to be traitors, and arrested forces connected with National Consensus leader Farouk Abu Eissa, human rights expert Dr. Amin Mekkey and several other oppositionists.

Reports are that Mr. Abu Eissa has suffered a serious deterioration of his health while in prison, and has been hospitalized.

The government has also cracked down on nongovernmental organizations and centers it considers subversive, including the National Writers' Union. Several opposition newspapers, including the Sudanese Communist Party's paper Al Midan, have seen their print runs confiscated. In the case of Al Midan, its editor in Chief, Mrs. Madeeha Abdalla, is being prosecuted for high treason for having signed the Sudan Appeal, and may be facing the death penalty.

This sort of action by Al Bashir's government is nothing new. It was therefore surprising to learn that his foreign minister, Ali Karti, and Ibrahim Gandour, a presidential assistant, were invited to attend the annual Prayer Breakfast in Charlotte, North Carolina. (the one that led to the right wing accusing President Obama of being anti-Christian) on Thursday. According to the Sudan Tribune, Karti, who has been linked to violent repressive actions in Sudan, was invited by two U.S. Senators, Robert Casey, D-Pa., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., but also would be meeting with Obama administration officials. Sudan is considered a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. government.

There were objections to this visit by Congresspersons by Congressman Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

All progressive individuals, and especially members of the media and journalistic professions, are asked to contact the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C. to demand the release of all political prisoners, the dropping of charges and an end to the suppression of Al Midan and other opposition media and organizations in Sudan. The contact information for the embassy is here:

To register a protest to the invitation of the Sudanese officials to attend the prayer breakfast, contact the White House, the State Department, and members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Photo: Demonstration in the streets of Khartoum, Sudan against Al Bashir, the dictator. | Khalil Hamra/AP

PEGIDA: Horrors and contradictions

Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:48:00 +0000

BERLIN - I cringe and shudder when I hear of bloodthirsty, barely-hidden "concerts" by German "Neo-Nazis," which too often lead to violence against subjects of their hatred: leftist youngsters called "ticks" (their vocabulary), but above all people with other accents, clothes or skin colors.

Such groups, present all over the map, seem strongest in southeastern Saxony, northeastern Mecklenburg and the western Ruhr region, all areas plagued by unemployment, especially among young people.

German ultra-right parties and groupings

Semi-secret ties connect them with the almost openly pro-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), legal despite various attempts to outlaw it. It is good that it has failed the requisite five percent hurdle for all but one state parliament; only in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania did six percent of the voters give it five seats (out of 71). Last May, for the European Parliament, with the hurdle at only 1 percent, its 1.03 percent all-German result let it squeeze into one seat in Strasbourg. Despite low votes, however, it has bases in all too many towns and villages thanks to its activity in voluntary fire departments, PTA groups, soccer clubs and outdoor festivities. Local fear often plays a role.

The next ring in widening rightist circles has been the PEGIDA movement with its marches, mostly Monday evenings, denouncing a fantasy "Islamization of the West." In late 2014 it grew alarmingly in the city of Dresden, where on one occasion more than 20,000 took part. Aside from its anti-foreigner bias (in a city with an immigrant population of only two percent, far below the average), it appealed to many who were worried about their livelihoods, resentful of traditional parties - and ready to load blame on scapegoats.

Happily, its shady yet somehow charismatic leader had to step down after his Facebook self-photo imitating Hitler and his viciously brutal epithets against immigrants went too far. His successors soon split up, and PEGIDA in Dresden has called off further "walks" for now and may collapse. In other cities it was always countered or blocked by immigrant-friendly opponents in far superior number. But people of color in Dresden still live in fear!

Nine-tenths of those PEGIDA walkers look to a party called the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Founded in 2013, it won seven percent in the European Parliament vote and then nine percent to 12 percent in three state elections. It rejects the euro, opposes immigration and same-sex marriage but rejects being called the "German Tea Party." Some fine-sounding economic demands steal voters from the LINKE (Left) but it lacks any clear shape. At a recent congress in Bremen its ever-grinning leader Berndt Lucke, once a World Bank economist, narrowly forced through a change in its current triumvirate rule, granting himself sole top leadership. The AfD, despite populist phrases and a stack of professors among its delegates, reminds me of a one-cell organism called the "brain-eating amoeba." Like it, the AfD may become a dangerous rightist menace. And it has far more than a single cell.

Angela Merkel's party, not to be outdone, also shows skill at talking out of two sides of its mouth. While she boldly denounces racists and proclaims that "Islam belongs to Germany," Stanislaw Tillich of the same party, the minister-president of Saxony, contradicts her in a very transparent code: "Muslims are welcome and can practice their religion. But that does not mean that Islam belongs to Saxony." In that state, whose capital is Dresden, the votes of PEGIDA walkers and other bigots can always be useful politically. Why lose them?

Indeed, Volker Kauder, the head of Merkel's CDU fraction in the Bundestag, also wants to burn down no xenophobic bridges and lose voters. Referring to the PEGIDA sing-out on Dec. 22, he found it "really good that the people in Dresden sang Christmas carols!" Perhaps they thought of the child in the manger, this conspicuously Christian politician surmised.

Germany's foreign policy

In other matters Kauder is rather less gently inclined. It was he who welcomed Vitali Klitschko to the Bundestag, conservative Germany's favorite boxing champion and planned ruler of the Ukraine until stronger US managers re-classified him to be only the mayor of Kiev. Quite undeterred, and despite the frightening dangers boiling up in that terribly troubled region, Klitschko flexed his biceps, waved his big fist and declaimed: "With no fight there's no victory!" And Kauder, even more vividly, promised aid so as "to bring into full radiance the flame of victory."

Kauder's enthusiasm is understandable if one knows that he is the main parliamentary pillar of Heckler & Koch, one-time maker of Mauser weapons, whose main plant is in his district, which contributes handsomely to his campaigns, and which he supports just as enthusiastically in its export (for strictly peaceful purposes, of course) of handguns, rifles, submachine guns and grenade launchers to all and sundry, like the U.S.A., Bosnia, Nepal, Indonesia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, probably pre-NATO Libya.

Contradictions are common in the coalition of Merkel's CDU and the Social Democrats, especially on relations with the Ukraine. Sometimes it resembles a "good cop - bad cop" scenario, whereby the roles can change. Foreign Minister Steinmeier (SPD) often calls for a diplomatic solution, Merkel for tougher sanctions against Russia. Then she praises diplomacy, while her man Kauder and German President Gauck want to march on and delight at the roar of Phantom fighter jets in Estonia skimming along the Russian border. However, despite transatlantic pressure and that from Kauder & Co. and such gun-lovers, the Berlin government has thus far kept to one position: "No weapons for Kiev." And a majority of the public also rejects any hostilities.

The mass media, less troubled by complexities or power rivalry when backing Pentagon and State Department positions, has in its ruthless attacks on Putin virtually deleted any thoughts on German-Russian history or its consequences. This rule was briefly broken by a few journalists after the death on Jan. 31, at 94, of Richard von Weizsäcker, West Berlin mayor (1981-1984) and German President (1984-1994), and they recalled some of his courageous words:

Surprising a hushed Parliament in Bonn in May 1985, Weizsäcker broke with West German usage and spoke of May 8, 1945 as "a day of liberation...It liberated all of us from the tyranny of the National-Socialist regime." Referring to seeming forgetfulness about those Hitler years he continued:

"When the unspeakable truth of the Holocaust became known at the end of the war all too many of us claimed they had not known anything about it or even suspected anything... Anyone who cared to inform himself could not escape the fact that the deportation trains were rolling..." No, young Germans could not be blamed for crimes of their elders, he said, but they had been left "a hard legacy...Those who close their eyes to the past will remain blind regarding the future....Anyone who closes his eyes to the past is blind to the present."

How relevant this seems today. After the elections in Greece and with ones to come in Spain, Merkel and Finance Minister Schäuble fear any progress which threatens their "austerity policy" - imposing that old hegemony of German power and finance in all Europe at the cost of living standards for working people, pensioners and young people, also those in Germany (meaning new recruits for PEGIDA or AfD). Indeed, if such "threats" gain real strength, two fearful responses are always possible. The racist, neo-fascist structures could strengthen - the vehicles are present - or the bugles of war could trumpet toward that path. Neither route excludes the other.

Are we again facing the horror of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," destruction by the sharp, bloody pendulum of expanding war or another fatal fall into a dark, abysmal pit? Or can we fight our way clear of both these destinies?

Photo: Tens of thousands participate in a demonstration against racism and for an open society in Dresden, Jan. 10. The protests came in reaction to anti-Islamic demonstrations in Dresden organized by PEGIDA. Banner reads: We are Dresden. | AP Photo/dpa, Arno Burgi

Brazil’s communists: Dilma’s reelection sets stage for “historic advance”

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 11:40:00 +0000

In the interview below, the chair of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Renato Rabelo, discusses the reelection of Dilma Rousseff of the Workers' Party to the presidency of Brazil in a highly polarized political environment last fall. The victory of Dilma, as she is popularly known, was also a victory of the democratic, progressive, popular, and patriotic movement throughout Latin America as well as in Brazil.

Rabelo also addresses the challenges facing Dilma, the governing coalition, and the Brazilian people in the period ahead. In her campaign for reelection to the presidency, Dilma spoke of the need for a "new cycle of transformations." The significance of this process and the struggles around it extends far beyond Brazil, holding important lessons for Americans.

In the first round of voting in early October, Dilma Rousseff won 41.6 percent of the vote and her two opponents Aecio Neves 33.6 percent and Marina Silva 21.3 percent. Rousseff then beat Neves 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent in the runoff in late October.

The interview below was conducted by Sam Webb for the People's World.

People's World: How do you assess the October 2014 victory of President Dilma Rousseff? It was reported in the press here that she was in trouble in the early stages of the elections, but came back to score the victory.

Renato Rabelo: President Dilma Rousseff achieved, in October 2014, the fourth consecutive victory of the Brazilian people, with the majority of votes in the nation. [Rabelo is referring to the previous election victories of Workers' Party leader Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (popularly known as Lula) in 2002 and 2006, and Rousseff's first election win in 2010.] But it was an election fought in a hard and acrimonious atmosphere, of intense polarization, marked by twists and turns and surprises. The people of our country want more democracy, more knowledge and more opportunities, more social justice.

PW: What is the significance of her victory for the people of Brazil? For the people of Latin America? For the socialist project?

Rabelo: It was a historic victory, because this is the third longest government since the second reign of Pedro II [Emperor of Brazil from 1831 to 1889]. When Lula became president - in 2003 - we didn't have on the political horizon that it was possible for the democratic and progressive forces, left-wing forces, to achieve this level. In relation to Latin America, our president reaffirmed the commitment to strengthen the emerging forms of Latin American cooperation and independence from the United States: Mercosur - the South American Common Market, Unasur - the Union of South American Nations, and the Community of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (Celac).

The Communist Party, PCdoB, is now faced with new and greater challenges. The conditions for achieving our socialist mission and the great Communist ideal necessarily involve building large, varied and growing coalitions. We are convinced that in contemporary conditions - at the age of 93 - the Communist Party of Brazil is positioned to be a protagonist and driver of advancement, of the struggle for a new society - socialism in our country!

PW: What were the main issues on which the outcome of the election turned?

Rabelo: The presidential victory has the dimension of a great historical event. The level of acute polarization, demarcating more clearly two political camps, has paved the way for a "new cycle of transformations," as formulated by our President Dilma Rousseff. The democratic, progressive, popular and patriotic side triumphed and succeeded in the second round in more widely uniting the left. Other victories achieved by the same political forces in the world, more specifically in Latin America, demonstrate the victory's international dimension in strengthening the struggle for Latin American and Caribbean integration, the struggle for a new world order of peace, cooperation among nations, the right to sovereignty and national development.

PW: Can you say a word or two about Dilma's two challengers?

Rabelo: President Dilma and her allies led the campaign from the beginning to the end. And she always led the campaign firmly and without setbacks, even in the most difficult moments. In fact, she had to face two elections in the 2014 presidential election, against the two candidates of the conservative forces: first, Dilma had to face and defeat Marina Silva and then face and defeat Aecio Neves in the second round. These two big matches demonstrated her campaign's commitment to the wide majority of the nation: workers and the poor. The result of the presidential election is that most of the people responded and put their confidence in the policies of the Rousseff government.

PW: What are the main challenges facing President Rousseff and the electoral coalition that supported her in the post-election period? What will be the main political and legislative priorities?

Rabelo: It becomes urgent to unitedly support President Dilma. All political forces that participated in the big alliance to reelect Dilma should work to guarantee the fulfillment of the program of change and reform, and prevent assaults on it. Street mobilizations of democratic and popular forces grow in importance. In short, a new situation has emerged, with new components resulting from the big election clash of 2014. It demarcated the struggle between the advance of changes and reforms in the current stage versus backtracking to the old paradigms and neoliberal pacts of the early 1990s.

With the convergence among left and progressive movements that is under way, Brazil is able to begin to live a "new historic cycle of transformation" (in the words of President Dilma Rousseff), of "opening of a new cycle of changes." And, to generalize, the concerns and proposals to strengthen and enlarge the left include: formation of a broad left front, "where social movements, parties, party sectors, intellectuals, youths, unionists may in a common action (...) fight for democratic popular reforms." And to "transform Brazil's need to combine institutional action, social action and cultural revolution." On legislative priorities, the government will concentrate on big reforms, especially of the political system. The proposed changes are: prohibiting electoral campaigns from receiving donations from business; electing members of parliament in two rounds (one for parties and the second for candidates); and gender equality on party slates.

PW: What was the role and results of the Communist Party of Brazil in the elections and what will its posture be now?

Rabelo: The PCdoB has been one of the builders of this fourth victory - of great dimension for advanced forces. Since our 2013 Congress, and the decisions that came out of it, the PCdoB entered in the presidential campaign across the country and had a leading role in the re-election of Dilma Rousseff - a fact recognized publicly by the president. Rousseff has been striving to continue the progressive political project initiated by Lula in 2003. Despite the limits and major obstacles, the president is the most advanced in a democratic-popular sense. The result, inevitably, is a more acute and more acrimonious clash with the conservative forces on the right and its extremist appendages coming out of the shadows - the financial oligarchy, which is the dominant strata of the contemporary capitalist system.

In the present moment, the PCdoB has an important role of helping President Dilma in organizing the government team, defining priorities and especially building a majority in the parliament that can provide the fundamental support for the success of the government. The PCdoB also has a big influence among the youth and workers, trade unions and social movements, and this is crucial for winning public opinion to support the government, and reinforces the needed social, political and economical transformations.

PW: How do international economic conditions affect the situation in Brazil? How do the policies of the U.S. government bear on Brazil's prospects?

Within a globalized system, international economic conditions impact heavily on national economic dynamics. In Brazil it is no different. Since 2007, with the start of the global economic crisis triggered from Wall Street through the mortgage debt bubble that caused a real "tsunami" whose effects continue until today, the Brazilian government has made efforts to ensure the good fundamentals of our economy. The priority has been to make sure that the economic slowdown does not harm the levels of employment, wages and access to general consumer goods.

The most affected sector of our economy was the industrial one, and it is clear that its economic growth was hampered in recent years. This was one of the great debates of the election period and may be the biggest challenge facing Dilma´s government at the outset. In this context, all measures taken by the U.S. government must be watched closely, mainly because they indicate the global economic mood. As an example, right now there may be an increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. This fact alone should profoundly impact the flow of investments into the global market and the decline in commodity prices in general and oil in particular.

PW: How about the issue of balancing development with the need to protect the environment and address the warming planet and its potentially dire consequences for humankind if left unattended?

Rabelo: There is an explicit commitment of President Dilma to environmental sustainability of our economic development. She recalled in her inauguration speech that in the last four years the country had the four lowest rates of deforestation in the Amazonia. It was also in her first term that the National Congress approved a new Forestry Code - which was led by a leader of the Communist Party of Brazil, the current Minister of Science and Technology, Aldo Rebelo - and implemented the Rural Environmental Record. This year Brazil is engaging heavily in international climate negotiations so that our interests are included in the process of establishment of global parameters to reduce CO2 emissions.

Photo: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (in red) draws cheers at the Communist Party of Brazil's (PCdoB) national electoral convention during her reelection campaign, June 27, 2014 in Brasilia. On her right, in white jacket, is PCdoB chair Renato Rabelo. The banner reads: "PCdoB with Dilma, to renew hope." blogdoramonpaixao18.blogspot.com

Tens of thousands join Podemos rally in Madrid

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:30:00 +0000

Around a quarter of a million people marched through Madrid on Saturday in a show of strength by the populist Podemos party.

Podemos supporters from across Spain converged around the Cibeles fountain before packing the avenue leading to Puerta del Sol square in what was the party's largest rally to date.

Police said at least 100,000 people participated in the march while Podemos put the figure at 300,000.

Podemos aims to shatter the country's predominantly two-party system and the March for Change gathered crowds in the same place where sit-in protests against political and financial corruption laid the party's foundations in 2011.

The party hopes to emulate the success of Greece's Syriza party in the Spanish general election later this year.

Its rise is due in part to party leader Pablo Iglesias, a 36-year-old political science professor.

"We want change," he told the crowd. "This is the year for change and we're going to win the elections."

But the country's establishment had other ideas.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he didn't accept the bleak picture of Spain that Podemos propagated.

"They're a sad bunch, who go around saying how badly things are going," he said.

"They're not going to win the elections."

However, in only a year, Podemos has leap-frogged from being the dream of a handful of university professors and activists to a political party.

Opinion polls show the party could possibly take the No 1 spot in coming elections and thus trigger one of the biggest political shake-ups in Spain since democracy was restored in 1978.

This year, Spain holds elections in 15 of its 17 regions followed by general elections.

Podemos's first battle will be in the socialist heartland of Andalusia in March, followed by regional and municipal elections in the ruling Popular Party stronghold of Madrid in May.

Podemos has often expressed its support for some of the policies of left-wing governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

In Europe, it supports Syriza and has closely identified with its current campaigns against austerity and for debt cancellation.

Photo: Andres Kudacki/AP