Kasama has published a more readable, printable PDF version of the open letter from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
“…in the name of struggle against dogmatism, there have been serious deviations in the International Communist Movement (ICM), often going into an even greater, or at least equally dangerous, abyss of right deviation and revisionism. In the name of creative application of Marxism, communist parties have fallen into the trap of right opportunism, bourgeois pluralist Euro-Communism, rabid anti-Stalinism, anarchist post-modernism and outright revisionism…”
Κυκλοφόρησε από τις εκδόσεις μας το βιβλίο Η κινέζικη επανάσταση και το Θιβέτ, που περιέχει κείμενα του Αμερικάνου αγωνιστή Μάικ Ιλάι που γράφτηκαν τη δεκαετία του 90 για το ζήτημα του Θιβέτ όταν αυτό βρίσκονταν και πάλι στο επίκεντρο, όχι εξαιτίας της επιλεκτικής ευαισθησίας των δυτικών ιμπεριαλιστικών δυνάμεων που εκφράστηκε πρόσφατα με αφορμή τη διεξαγωγή των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων από την Κίνα, αλλά εξαιτίας μεγάλων κινητοποιήσεων μέσα στο ίδιο το Θιβέτ ενάντια στην πολιτική αφομοίωσης που ασκούσε, η Κίνα στο Θιβέτ.
Στο βιβλίο, περιγράφεται αναλυτικά η ιστορική και πολιτική πλευρά του ζητήματος, ξεκινώντας από τα χρόνια κυριαρχίας των Λάμα στο Θιβέτ, πριν την επανάσταση, όπου περιγράφεται η καταπίεση, η εξαθλίωση και ο σκοταδισμός που επικρατούσε στις πλατιές μάζες του λαού του Θιβέτ. Στη συνέχεια, αναφέρεται στις μεγάλες αλλαγές στον τρόπο ζωής και σκέψης που έφερε η επανάσταση, στις κατακτήσεις του θιβετιανού λαού αλλά και στην προσπάθεια να αποτραπεί η αντεπανάσταση μέσα από τη δράση των κοκκινοφρουρών κατά τη διάρκεια της Μεγάλης Προλεταριακής Πολιτιστικής Επανάστασης. Τέλος, αναφέρεται στην περίοδο που κυριάρχησε η αντεπανάσταση στην Κίνα και την αντανάκλασή της στο Θιβέτ, καθώς και στο ρόλο του Δαλάι Λάμα στις νέες συνθήκες που διαμορφώθηκαν.
Τέλος, το βιβλίο προλογίζει ο Μανόλης Αρκολάκης που αναφέρεται στις τρέχουσες εξελίξεις στο Θιβετ και τις διαδηλώσεις που ξέσπασαν με αφορμή τους Ολυμπιακούς Αγώνες και αποσκοπεί μια σύντομη αναδρομή στα κύρια γεγονότα που καθόρισαν τις εξελίξεις στην περιοχή.
Honduras isolated over Zelaya ouster, leftists meet
By Mica Rosenberg
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Security forces faced off against angry supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Monday as leftist Latin American leaders met to thrash out a response to an army coup and the United States urged a return to democratic order.
Soldiers and police in riot gear lined up in formation in the grounds of the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, facing around 1,500 demonstrators.
Protesters, some of them masked and carrying sticks, taunted solders and burned tires just outside the gates. A military helicopter clattered overhead.
Some 200 demonstrators had defied a night curfew and held an all-night vigil by the palace, while Venezuela’s firebrand President Hugo Chavez led talks with Zelaya and other allies in neighboring Nicaragua.
The coup in the impoverished country — triggered by a dispute over Zelaya’s push to extend presidential terms — is the biggest political crisis to hit Central America in years and posed a test for U.S. President Barack Obama as he tries to mend Washington’s battered image in Latin America.
The following document is a major comment by the leading Politbureau of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on controversies within the international Maoist movement. It was sent to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on May 20, 2009, and has now been made public.
As the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has maneuvered on the doorstep of seizing state power, there have emerged a series of open letters from other communist parties — engaging the approach taken by the Nepali Maoists, and struggling over major controversies facing communist revolution internationally.
Previously Kasama published an exchange of letters between the RCP,USA and the UCPN(M). Now we are sharing this document by the Indian Maoists.
For now, we are also making this letter available in pdf format. We will be posting a more readable PDF version, in pamphlet format, Monday evening.
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“…in the name of struggle against dogmatism, there have been serious deviations in the International Communist Movement (ICM), often going into an even greater, or at least equally dangerous, abyss of right deviation and revisionism. In the name of creative application of Marxism, communist parties have fallen into the trap of right opportunism, bourgeois pluralist Euro-Communism, rabid anti-Stalinism, anarchist post-modernism and outright revisionism…
“‘Fight against dogmatism‘ has become a fashionable phrase among many Maoist revolutionaries. They talk of discarding ‘outdated’ principles of Lenin and Mao and to develop MLM in the ‘new conditions‘ that are said to have emerged in the world of the 21st century. Some of them describe their endeavour to ‘enrich and develop‘ MLM as a new path or thought, and though this is initially described as something confined to revolution in their concerned country, it inexorably assumes a ‘universal character’ or ‘universal significance‘ in no time. And in this exercise individual leaders are glorified and even deified to the extent that they appear infallible. Such glorification does not help in collective functioning of Party committees and the Party as a whole and questions on line are hardly ever raised as they stem from an infallible individual leader. In such a situation it is extremely difficult on the part of the CC, not to speak of the cadres, to fight against a serious deviation in the ideological-political line, or in the basic strategy and tactics even when it is quite clear that it goes against the interests of revolution. The ‘cult of the individual’ promoted in the name of path and thought provides a certain degree of immunity to the deviation in line if it emanates from that individual leader.”
A 1985 initiative following “We are the World” — which brought a more explicitly political and radical edge to the wave of artistic efforts. This happened at a high tide of U.S. war fever (vis a vis the soviet union) — and represented a lot of positive impulses to focus attention on the struggle and oppression of people all over the world (and the corrupt U.S. role in propping up that oppression).
Thanks to Ben for suggesting that we publish this. It also appears on his blog Lal Salam.
“In no way should the Peoples State in Nepal be dismissed, it was a highly significant part of the peoples war, and was able to make significant gains for women, people of low caste, ethnic nationalities and local governance, however, this state simply was not strong enough to be able to stand on its own against the central Kathmandu government. In time, it may have been able to develop into such a state, however this would have been a long and bloody process, and events transpired which fast-tracked the revolution and brought it to urban areas and across the country. This was the conquest of one state over the other, but it was politically, and not physically or militarily.”
“As Marxists, we understand that the state has a class basis, however no one is born with that knowledge. The Maoists time in government showed in practice that no matter what people vote for, a revolution can not be simply elected. More then any speeches the experience of a people’s government in a bourgeois state has shown the masses of people that radical change is necessary, when previously many had illusions in the prospects of a peaceful gradual change. It has become apparent to the people of Nepal that imperialism is central to the state, not because the Maoists said so, but because of the role of the India and American governments in overthrowing the elected government. With only propaganda, revolutionaries would have struggled to convince a majority of people, but, by making principled decisions, more and more people have been pushed into the revolutionary camp, and have become open to revolutionary ideas.”
“Within Nepal revolutionaries have already used this tactic within their parallel state structures during the peoples war. Elections were held, and what forces for the opposition parties were left in these areas were allowed to participate. It opened a way for the revolutionaries to get feedback from the grassroots. In some areas these opposition groups did quite well in these elections, and this showed the Maoist party in which areas they were not fulfilling their tasks well, in which areas there had developed a bureaucracy or an automatic way of doing things, and in which areas they needed to improve. In this way they were able to build more responsive party, with closer links to the masses.”
“A cop said to me: ‘Move faggot’, thinking that I was a Gay guy. I said, ‘I will not! And, don’t you touch me.” With that, the cop shoved me and I instinctively punched him right in the face. He bled! He was then on the ground — not me!”
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June 28, 2009 is the 4oth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a watershed moment in the history of the modern LGBT movement. Rowland is the instigator of the By Any Means Necessary blog, where this piece first appeared under the title “The History and Legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion.”
by Rowland Keshena
The Stonewall Riots were a series of violent clashes between New York City cops and groups of gay and transgender people. It all began on the early morning of the 28th of June 1969, and proceeded to last for several days. The clashes became a watershed for the worldwide gay rights movement, never before had gay and transgender people moved and acted together in such large numbers to forcibly resist police harassment directed towards their community. My intent here is to tell the history of Stonewall, and to attempt to do justice to its legacy.
This is a slideshow of the Iranian uprising to an MJ soundtrack. Itis not clear who made it, but its politics may be hinted at when it contains a complaint that the Persian Gulf is being remade into an “Arabian Gulf.” However in any case, this video is still of interest, and the images are striking. (Thanks to Koba for pointing it out.)
“Whatever the outcome, it is vitally important to keep in mind that we are witnessing a great emancipatory event which doesn’t fit the frame of the struggle between pro-Western liberals and anti-Western fundamentalists.”
By Slavoj Zizek
When an authoritarian regime approaches its final crisis, its dissolution as a rule follows two steps. Before its actual collapse, a mysterious rupture takes place: all of a sudden people know that the game is over, they are simply no longer afraid. It is not only that the regime loses its legitimacy, its exercise of power itself is perceived as an impotent panic reaction.
We all know the classic scene from cartoons: the cat reaches a precipice, but it goes on walking, ignoring the fact that there is no ground under its feet; it starts to fall only when it looks down and notices the abyss. When it loses its authority, the regime is like a cat above the precipice: in order to fall, it only has to be reminded to look down…
In Shah of Shahs, a classic account of the Khomeini revolution, Ryszard Kapuscinski located the precise moment of this rupture: at a Tehran crossroad, a single demonstrator refused to budge when a policeman shouted at him to move, and the embarrassed policeman simply withdrew; in a couple of hours, all Tehran knew about this incident, and although there were street fights going on for weeks, everyone somehow knew the game is over.
His songs are part of the soundtrack of our lives — a fusion of irresistible talent with Motown soul and funk and disco and….
It is impossible to quickly comment on the passing of Michael Jackson — even though, in many ways, it feels like he’s been gone for many years. There is no way to simply sum up all the complex skeins of his life and work. What we can do is simply create this space for people to comment, discuss and remember.
Michael Jackson was never someone associated with political activism or rebellion. But he certainly lived at many sharp intersections of race, gender, narcissist celebrity culture, intimate abuse and alienation, tabloid-hyped controversy, and remarkable artistic creation.
There is inevitably much to say about him. I suspect this will be a place where there are very divergent views to share.
[Note: It is not possible to embed youtube videos (the embedding is disabled on his videos). But they are easily found here.]
Gary starts to lay out some of the available information on U.S. covert operations in Iran — which are important to excavate and expose.
By Gary
Redguard wrote:
“But this does not change the objective character of the movement, or its relationship to imperialism and its efforts to weaken and take over the Iranian regime.”
I’m not sure what the “objective character of the movement” is just yet. I see some images. I see the mass-produced English-language posters “Where is my vote?” which could very likely be the fruit of the $ 400 million Bush-era appropriation for “black ops”.
But I also see statements that give some hint at the ideological character of the movement. And of course the Maoist statements circulated by AWTW and on Kasama. (For example here, here and here)
So I’m not sure that the masses in the streets are generally serving as dupes of imperialism.
The issue for revolutionaries is really not whether Ahmadinejad ‘legitimately won’ most of the votes or not? Who gives a shit ultimately? The election itself is not legitimate — because this whole system is an oppressors’ system, a dictatorship of mullahs resting on a structure of capitalism. It is all illegitimate, and needs to be seen that way. And swept away.
by Mike Ely
So what is the point of all this hashing (among leftists) over “Did Ahmadinejad really win or not? Did he have a landslide?”
It is very strange to see some argue that if Ahmadinejad would have won even without fraud and vote stuffing — then somehow he has a legitimate right to rule.
Who set those terms for this moment? Who decided that this is a measure of who is right, and who is wrong in Iran and in the larger world?
There is in that a strange legitimizing of bourgeois politics (in both Iran and, by extension, in the U.S. and elsewhere.)
And it comes out sharply when people start portraying the Islamic theocracy in Iran as some kind of advance, as something precious. For example, the Workers World (see “What Fraud?“), connects their defense of Ahmadinejad with such positive assessment of the Iranian system:
” The Iranian people have benefited enormously from their revolution and cannot easily be turned back.”
I rejected this notion of “gains of 1979” elsewhere, and won’t repeat those arguments here.
But the basic fact is all these governments are bullshit (the U.S., Iran, the Iraq of Saddam Hussein and of today, Russia, France, and so on around the world): They all represent oppressors and criminals — without exception. All of their various electoral systems are carefully and institutionally rigged — stacked against the people’s interests in fundamental ways. And they all routinely involve layers of fraud, manipulation, demagoguery, deceit, bribery, coverup and much more.
But then, there come moments (flashes of conjuncture) when the nature of these political structures becomes VISIBLE more broadly. The underlying reality becomes VISIBLE to millions. There is a de-legitimization of institutions and governments that deserve no legitimacy. And it is a good thing for birthing more radical revolutionary movements.
Some initial thoughts:
In Iran: This election was rigged — fundamentally — in the sense that only supporters of the status quo could get in — and in the sense that any real opponents of this order have faced prison, torture and execution.
This particular “rigging” is a form that the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” takes in Iran. Electoral democracy is typically “rigged” in capitalist countries — in the U.S. it is done by the two party mechanism, the winner take all system, the need for zillions of dollars to be a “serious candidate,” the media ability to decide who is “credible” and who is “fringe” and so on.
Absent Cause, a new underground/dark culture zine, explores underground cultures, radical politics, hidden histories, feminist and queer sexualities, the gothic, surviving abuse, coping with mental illness, and the array of ways they intersect.
Kasama received the following piece from Greg Butterfield (aka Redguard). Greg is a longtime supporter of the Workers World Party and contributor to their newspaper WW, and has been engaging with the Kasama Project from its beginning.
Given the criticism that many have made here of these politics, it is helpful to hear them articulated and defended well. This pieces also appeared on Greg’s personal blog Absent Cause.
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By Greg Butterfield
“That struggle is desirable which is possible, and the struggle which is possible is that which is going on at the given moment.’ This is precisely the trend of unbounded opportunism, which passively adapts itself to spontaneity.”
–Lenin, What Is To Be Done?
A great deal of criticism has been leveled at Workers World Party over its position on the Iranian elections. Not surprisingly, the critics frequently couple this with a denunciation of WWP’s position in support of the Chinese government’s actions to halt the Tiananmen Square protest movement in 1989.
It must be said straight away that, even if the uprising in Tehran had clear, anti-imperialist leadership, it would still be the principle responsibility of the movement in the U.S. and Europe to oppose imperialist intervention — military, political, economic, covert, etc. The fact that those who are rushing to support this movement do not in most cases even raise the issue or speak about the dangers of U.S. intervention says volumes about the sorry state of these “revolutionary” forces.
?Harmless comic characters or racist robots? The buzz over the summer blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” only grew Wednesday as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures. Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They’re forced to acknowledge that they can’t read. One has a gold tooth.”
Carolyn pointed out the following piece that originally appeared on Chud.com. This piece lays out the insulting depictions in the new Transformer film, but then concludes:
What the whole Twins debacle really reveals, though, is the sheer lack of adult supervision on this film.
Is that really what this debacle “reveals” — immaturity? Or does it say something about the still casual, pervasive, profitable, cherished right to rudely disrespect Black people that permeates this culture?
Transformers’ Little Black Sambots?
by Devim Faraci
I am not a PC person. Those who know me in real life will attest that if an off-color, offensive or wildly juvenile joke needs to be made it’ll likely be me making it. I think people are too sensitive in the modern world, and I don’t think any topic is off-limits when it comes to laughs.
Kasama received the following from A World to Win news service. These are excerpts of a flyer put out by the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) on the night of June 20.
The intensity of fighting in the streets and alleys of central Tehran tonight, and the number of women and men who, with their lives in their hands, stood firm in the front lines and drove back the armed herds of violent thugs, were unprecedented. If you want to see how weak and desperate the regime is, look at the only thing it can rely on: its security forces. That’s all! Illusions have evaporated. Cunning religious preaching and the myth of the Imam Zaman [the Shia messiah] can no longer fool the angry people. The lies of the national media can no longer put the masses to sleep. Instead it increases their anger and hatred a hundred-fold. So the only thing left for the murderous ruling gang is guns, batons, teargas, chains, and herds of anti-riot and law and order forces, Basijis and finally the army.
This afternoon’s brutal attack against scattered but numerous crowds did not end the demonstration – instead, it spread it to other areas of Teheran. The Basij units and anti-riot police used the tactic of dividing the crowd into smaller groups and then encircling and beating up each group. It worked at first, but before long the scattered masses regrouped in the streets and alleys in the surrounding area, this time with a spirit and methods totally different from that of the demonstrations of the last couple of weeks. This time the slogans directly targeted the Islamic Republic and its leader. There was not much room for “God is great! ” A young person wrote in blue spray paint on a street corner, “Even Shah heard the cry of my revolution! [and resigned]. Jamaran [the Leader’s headquarters] is deaf! “…
Kasama received the following from A World to Win news service. The original title was :Iran – a power structure cracked but far from swept away.”
22 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Rage continues to sweep Iran. Young women and men are prepared to offer their lives to confront a brutal regime. The pillars of Iran’s power structure have been shaken and cracked.
At Friday prayer services on 19 June, “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei firmly took the side of President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad in his electoral dispute with the opposition and announced that any attempt to repeat the week-long protests would be crushed. Nevertheless, thousands of youth and others came out into the streets the next day, knowing very well that they would face batons, teargas and gunfire.
The security forces tried to create an atmosphere of terror around the area between Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) and Enghelab (Revolution) squares. Nobody was allowed to gather. People of all ages were beaten indiscriminately. Then the security forces closed the cross streets to prevent those in one area from joining those in another. Some people, feeling powerless and discouraged, chose to go home. But thousands of youth had the courage and ingenuity to get around the obstacles. They gathered and marched toward Azadi Square. More people joined them and the crowd – tens of thousands according to some reports, hundreds of thousands according to others – began marching together from there. That was not the end of it. The protesters had to confront the forces of reaction blocking the way. Clashes continued throughout the day and until midnight. Some people who couldn’t get to the main crowd joined another large march in Forsate Shirazi Street or smaller ones in various Tehran neighbourhoods.
Sections of the popular upsurge have displayed the Islamic green that is now associated with Mousavi
Kasama received the following from the A World to Win News Service. These are excerpts of a public message put out by the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) on the morning of June 20, 2009. We will be posting Communique #7 soon. Mousavi is the presidential candidate who was officially declared the loser in Iran’s recent elections. The Sarbedaran uprising discussed below was the unsuccessful armed revolt against the Islamist regime organized by Maoists and carried out in the Amol forests on January 25, 1982.
CPI (MLM) Communiqué #6:
People Beware! Mousavi is not your brother and he is not on your side!
These words might sound unpleasant for many of you engaged in bloody battle with the enemy, but open your eyes and ears!
Mir Hossein Mousavi called on you to “consider the Basiji your brothers”. This means you should consider your brothers those who used knives and machetes on the bodies of your dearest sons and daughters. Mousavi told you “not to consider the army to be against you”. This means considering to be your friends those who under the orders of Khamenei are trying to smash your uprising and are shooting our youth in many corners of the country.
Young people, be alert!
Mousavi claims that “the genuine call of Islamic revolution” is what has moved you. This is a blatant lie. He knows very well that what has moved you is a burning desire to change this world. It’s impossible to change the existing order without overthrowing the Islamic Republic.
Sometimes you get a glimpse into the hidden world where decisions are made. And for decades, President Richard Nixon’s tapes have been one window — into discussions and mentalities at the heart of American state power.
New tapes have just been made public. Along with the brutal exercise of imperial power (revealed in raw discussions of Vietnam) there are some new passages documenting the casual racism within the White House.
In 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion, Nixon was (as we might expect) filled with reactionary concerns about its impact on the traditional patriarchal family and “permissiveness” (Translated: he was concerned about the social changes that come when women are able to directly control reproduction and their own bodies).
Then Nixon remarked that there may be times (outside the framework of that “traditional family”) where abortion is needed. His examples: aborting the results of rape and interracial sex.
Here are his words:
“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white.” he told an aide. Then he added, “Or a rape.”
Ah, the Presidential burden of protecting the purity of the white race, by any means necessary….
This article was posted on the BBC. Thanks to Ka Frank for pointing it out.
India bans Maoist communist party
The Indian government has banned the Maoist Communist Party of India as a terrorist group, giving security forces enhanced powers of arrest.
The move provides Indian police with the power to detain members of the party even if they have not been involved in insurgent activity.
Earlier, five states across east and central India were put on a high alert as the Maoists called a two-day strike.
One district in West Bengal briefly fell under almost total Maoist control.
The rebels said the strike they declared was in response to the “war” on people in Lalgarh, West Bengal, where security forces launched an offensive in recent days. Read the rest of this entry »
We will spread this fire, says the Maoist from Lalgarh
21 Jun 2009, 0848 hrs IST, Sukumar Mahato, TNN
My name is Manoj.. It’s not the name my parents gave me, but all my comrades call me ‘Manoj’.. My father’s name is Dhiren Murmu. I am his second son and I am 25. I was born at Bamundanga village in Salboni. I’ve lived most of my life in this hopeless village.
Our village falls under the Kansijora gram panchayat. The Left Front has been in power here for 30 years. Salboni has always been a CPM stronghold. But, in 30 years, neither the state government, nor the panchayat and Zilla Parishad took any interest at all in developing this area. We might have been living in the Stone Age.
When it rains here, the dirt tracks turn muddy and we are forced to drag ourselves and our cattle through the muck. We are not able to ride our bicycles or use carts. We don’t have clean drinking water. People are forced to drink filthy, yellow water. After sunset, we live in the dark as there is no electricity here. No jobs either. During the paddy season, we work in the fields and then sit idle for the rest of the year. Because we are tribals, no one has bothered to do anything for us. Read the rest of this entry »
Kasama has published a more readable, printable PDF version of the open letter from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
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