March 8 is International Women’s Day, the worldwide celebration of women’s struggle for emancipation. As part of Kasama’s participation in IWD, this website will be featuring the horrific conditions and inspiring contributions of women.
Growing up in the 1960s, I would wander with friends through New York’s Greenwich Village. Often we passed the plaque on an NYU office building that marks the site of the 1911 Triangle Fire.
It would not take much for us to imagine that narrow street piled with the smoldering bodies of women workers, or imagine their screams as they plunged down from above, trailing flames behind them.
Often, in those heady days, we would swarm out of Washington Square Park, flying our red and black flags high, and take the streets of the Lower East Side. And many among us would imagine that marching alongside us were those fearless sisters of the Ten Thousand whose dreams of socialism had echoed, like ours, through the narrow streets of Alphabetland.
And now, decades later, young women all over the world are relentlessly herded in unprecedented numbers into brutal sweatshops and the global sex trade — worked without mercy, threatened, underpaid, raped, beaten, and then discarded.
This story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is not a world of the past, it is the world of our present. The bitterness of this fact shatters claims of social progress over the last century. All the accumulated wealth and technology has brought us to this: We need a revolution.
This series is about police brutality, and pacifists at protests cooperating with law enforcement. The cartoons are from 2007 (before I started making cartoons in color). They ran in a UK anthology called Excessive Force. There are five today, and the story will continue with another five next week.
The job of revolutionaries is to make revolution. It is not something else. It is to overthrow governments, social orders, oppressors, and the smothering quiet of ordinary times.
After the rise and fall of socialist revolution in the 20th century, we now live (unfortunately) in a world where the capitalist system is (for the moment at least) hegemonic — and rarely challenged.
In other words, all the governments that people face are oppressive, outdated, corrupt, encrusted obstructions to people’s aspirations.
There are contradictions between the various ruling classes that play a role in opening revolutionary possibilities — and we should take advantage of those contradictions (meaning those openings), whenever appropriate and helpful.
But our task and orientation is to overthrow these oppressive governments and the imperialist system that they all, to one degree or another, serve and reflect. And we should support the oppressed who rise up against such governments.
This should be a simple and obvious point, I suppose. But it is a controversial one — and that fact that it is controversial says a lot about how much dreams have dimmed among walled-off silos of exhausted left politics.
Several people, including Stiofan, have suggested that we share this essay from the Unrepentant Marxist. This essay follows a previous one by Louis called “Qaddafi and the Left.” Posting this essay (and the many other essays we post) does not represent an endorsement by Kasama of particular arguments — we are forced to write this repeatedly because the concept is apparently hard for some people to grasp or believe.
Qaddafi and the Monthly Review
by Louis Proyect
MRZine appears to be the latest entrant in the anti-anti-Qaddafi current on the left. The use of the term “anti-anti” is appropriate since the grounds for being “pro”-Qaddafi nowadays is so tenuous.
I have found the term “anti-anti” useful over the years. I first heard it in Lillian Hellman’s memoir “Scoundrel Time” when she referred to the anti-anti-fascist left. It also pretty much describes people like Marc Cooper, David Corn and Michael Bérubé who wrote article after article red-baiting the anti-war movement while including pro forma statements from time to time about how wicked the invasion of Iraq was. As anti-anti-war activists, there was not much to distinguish them from all-out supporters of the war like Christopher Hitchens.
In the wake of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the people of Libya have taken to the streets to demand the end of Gaddafi’s rule. Who are the social forces involved, what are their relations and their histories? How will this affect the politics of the region and the world as a whole?
Libya: Past and future?
George Joffe
Many believed that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya would withstand the gale of change sweeping the Arab world because of its reputation for brutality which had fragmented the six million-strong population over the past 42 years.
Its likely disappearance now, after a few days of protest by unarmed demonstrators is all-the-more surprising because it has systematically destroyed even the slightest pretence of dissidence and has atomised Libyan society to ensure that no organisation – formal or spontaneous – could ever consolidate sufficiently to oppose it.
Political Islam, whether radical or moderate, has been the principle victim, especially after an Islamist rebellion in Cyrenaica, the country’s eastern region, in the latter 1990s. Other political currents have been exiled since 1973, when “direct popular democracy” was declared and the jamahiriyah, the ”state of the masses”, came into existence.
Even the Libyan army was treated with suspicion, with its officer corps controlled and monitored for potential disloyalty. No wonder that major units now seems to have broken away from the regime and made the liberation of Eastern Libya possible.
This article from Workers World has gotten considerable play — among political forces who have (generally) seen a string of third world governments as anti-imperialist because of their conflict with the United States. It is worth understanding the argument here which is (with careful wording) concentrated in its closing paragraph:
“Progressive people are in sympathy with what they see as a popular movement in Libya. We can help such a movement most by supporting its just demands while rejecting imperialist intervention, in whatever form it may take. It is the people of Libya who must decide their future.”
Some initial questions worth asking:
The title of the article is “Libya and Imperialism” but it says surprisingly little about the ongoing relationship of Libya and imperialism (as a world economic system) over the last decades. If a country produces oil for the world market, and invests vast sums in imperialist banks, hasn’t it been deeply entwined in the world imperialist system? What is the nature of the Libyan government’s previous conflict with some imperialist powers and its alliance with other powers, starting with Italy?
The article writes: “Its leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi, has not been an imperialist puppet like Hosni Mubarak.” While Gaddafi is obviously different from Mubarak in origins, political rhetoric and international alignment — what is the class nature of the Libyan regime? Isn’t it bureaucrat capital (of the oil economy kind) complete with an utterly corrupt elite (million to Maria Carey for 4 songs?)? One with its own ability to invest capital internationally (and prop up Italian banking and finance)? In other words: How exactly is the class nature of a Mubarak different from Gaddafi?
While we should all energetically oppose U.S. intervention (including in Libyan events), why is that treated here in the way it is, in a way that overshadows the people and seems to imply that anti-government uprisings are suspect because of the current weakness of radical forces?
Isn’t imperialism already dominant in Libya — with the country fully integrated into the imperialist economic world order and politically entwined with complex relations within that world order?
When this article talks of “supporting just demands” — does it imply that some demands of the people deserve support and others do not? While any demands for NATO intervention should not be supported, is this perhaps also a lean toward supporting demands for reform, but opposing demands for the ouster of Gaddafi?
Isn’t that also implied in this sentence “Getting concessions out of Gadhafi is not enough for the imperialist oil barons” — where it seems concessions would be good, but that overthrow of this regime is a sign of imperialist interests? (By contrast, isn’t it actually true that getting concessions out of the Gaddafi family “is not enough” for Libya’s people?)
What does it mean that this article speaks so little about the oppression and repression of the people of Libya by their current government? For example it writes: “The Libyan people are suffering from the same high prices and unemployment that underlie the rebellions elsewhere and that flow from the worldwide capitalist economic crisis. There can be no doubt that the struggle sweeping the Arab world for political freedom and economic justice has also struck a chord in Libya. There can be no doubt that discontent with the Gadhafi regime is motivating a significant section of the population.” Is it true that the discontent of the people in Libya is mainly under-girded by “high prices and unemployment” — and that the nature and actions of this particular government (repression, corruption, exploitation, isolation, and more) are not major impulses?
This article was published in the midst of extensive government violence against the people (with evidence of hundreds of deaths and random massacres). What should we think of the way this article treats those government massacres? Does it address and condemn them at all?
To local and international friends, supporters, and readers,
Yesterday, February 22, an immense earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand’s third largest city. Currently there are 55 confirmed dead, 20 unidentified bodies, and an estimated 300 missing. The quake occurred at 12.50pm and was followed shortly after by a major aftershock.
This is the second major earthquake to strike Christchurch in 5 months. This more recent quake – 6.3 – in magnitude was far more destructive than the last, as it occurred only 10 Km south of Christchurch at the shallow depth of 5 Km. It happened during the lunch hour of a working week day which has compounded human suffering and trauma.
As well as injury and loss of life there has been major damage to buildings, houses, and infrastructure. Soil liquefaction has damaged roads and transport. Originally there was an estimated 80% loss of power, as of mid-day today the estimate is now 50%. Currently three quarters of the city has no water. Phone lines and signal towers have also been wrecked or severely damaged. The Canterbury television building completely collapsed and has been one of the focal points for rescue efforts. There is concern that the Hotel Grand Chancellor- the tallest building in Christchurch – may still collapse from extreme buckling. The township of Lyttleton was at the epicenter of the earthquake and was extensively damaged.
Labor group calls for general strike if budget bill is approved
by Steven Verburg
The 97-union South Central Federation of Labor voted Monday night to prepare for a general strike that would take place if Gov. Scott Walker succeeds in enacting his budget repair bill, which would strip most bargaining rights from most public employee unions.
The strike would call for union and non-union workers in large swaths of the workforce to stop working, said Carl Aniel, labor federation delegate from AFSCME Local 171.
It was unclear Tuesday how many workers would take part and how the strike might work.
Walker’s proposal, part of a bill to close a $137 million budget shortfall for the year that ends June 30, sparked days of massive protests at the Capitol and a walkout by Democratic state senators that has stalled action on the legislation.
The strike could affect schools, governments and private businesses, but crucial life-and-death services would not be interrupted, Aniel said Tuesday morning. Read the rest of this entry »
குறிப்பு: கடந்த ஜனவரி 17-ஆம் தேதியுடன், ஆப்பிரிக்கக் கண்டத்திலுள்ள காங்கோவின் தேச விடுதலை நாயகன் பத்ரீஸ் லுமும்பா படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டு 50 ஆண்டுகள் கடந்து விட்டன. அவர் காங்கோவிலுள்ள கடாங்கா மாகாணத்தில், கொடூரமாக சித்திரவதை செய்யப்பட்டு படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டார். அவரைப் படுகொலை செய்த புனிதக் கூட்டணி, அமெரிக்க உளவு நிறுவனமான சி.ஐ.ஏ, பெல்ஜிய அரசு, காங்கோவை சூறையாடிய சுரங்க நிறுவனங்கள் மற்றும் மக்களை கட்டுப்பாட்டில் வைக்க முயன்ற கூலிப்படைகள் என நீள்கிறது. ஐம்பதாண்டுகள் கழிந்தும் மாறாத வடுக்களினால், ஆப்பிரிக்காவில் லுமூம்பாவை நினைவு கூறுவோரின் நம்பிக்கை தொலைத்த விழிகளில், இழப்பின் துயரத்தையும், ஆத்திரத்தையும் நாம் இன்றும் காணலாம். பத்தாண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு மைக் ஈலி என்பவர் எழுதியதும், தற்பொழுது கசாமா எனும் இணைய தளத்தில் அவரால் திருத்தி எழுதப்பட்டு வெளியிடப்பட்டதுமான கட்டுரை கீழே மொழியாக்கம் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது.
Statement to Workers of Wisconsin by Kamal Abbas of Egypt’s Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services
About Kamal Abbas and the Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services:
Kamal Abbas is General Coordinator of the CTUWS, an umbrella advocacy organization for independent unions in Egypt. The CTUWS, which was awarded the 1999 French Republic’s Human Rights Prize, suffered repeated harassment and attack by the Mubarak regime, and played a leading role in its overthrow. Abbas, who witnessed friends killed by the regime during the 1989 Helwan steel strike and was himself arrested and threatened numerous times, has received extensive international recognition for his union and civil society leadership.
“…A new racial undercaste has been created in an astonishingly short period of time — a new Jim Crow system. Millions of people of color are now saddled with criminal records and legally denied the very rights that their parents and grandparents fought for and, in some cases, died for.”
The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
by Michelle Alexander
Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation’s “triumph over race.” Obama’s election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Obama’s mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that “the land of the free” has finally made good on its promise of equality. There’s an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized, or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs, and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.
Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.
“Keep the necessary, shocking and extreme intentions,
cull the lessons from our precious common past,
seek contemporary forms of speech, conception and presentation.”
“The old socialist right was famous for saying “the movement is everything the final goal is nothing.” Kasama tries to say (by contrast) “the final goal is our start, the ways of moving there are still emerging for us.”
H/T to Joe Ramsey. This was originally posted on jadaliyyah.
Even though this was written before Mubarak was overthrown, we are posting it here because Amar’s analysis of the class interests and relations between various social forces is still useful in helping understand both the uprising and the ongoing post-Mubarak struggles in Egypt.
We’ve previously posted Amar’s analysis of Egypt’s military and police apparatus here.
Why Egypt’s Progressives Win
by Paul Amar
On 6 February 2011, Egypt’s hastily appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman invited in the old guard or what we could call the Businessmen’s Wing of the Muslim Brothers into a stately meeting in the polished rosewood Cabinet Chamber of Mubarak’s Presidential Palace. The aim of their tea party was to discuss some kind of accord that would end the national uprising and restore “normalcy.” When news of the meeting broke, expressions of delight and terror tore through the blogosphere. Was the nightmare scenario of both the political left and right about to be realized? Would the US/Israel surrogate Suleiman merge his military-police apparatus with the power of the more conservative branch of the old Islamist social movement? Hearing the news, Iran’s Supreme Leader sent his congratulations. And America’s Glen Beck and John McCain ranted with glee about world wars and the inevitable rise of the Cosmic Caliphate.
This is an excerpt from the graphic novel I did with the radical environmentalist writer Derrick Jensen, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial (Seven Stories Press, 2007). Though the book is in black and white, these are in color because a French edition of the book was recently published in color.
The plot of the book:
The US government gives robot machines from space permission to eat the Earth in exchange for bricks of gold. A one-eyed bunny rescues his friends from a corporate animal testing laboratory. And two little girls figure out the secret to saving the world from both its enemies (and it isn’t by using energy-efficient light bulbs or by investing in biodiesel fuel).
In this sequence, the President’s assistant attempts to inform him of current events.
The following is from a group calling itself the International Committee to Support the Peoples War in India.
LET’S SUSTAIN THE PEOPLE’S WAR IN INDIA
April 2-9, 2011 – INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF SUPPORT
In India the people’s war is intensifying day by day. Led by Maoist
Communist Party of India it involves and has the support of millions of poor farmers, women, masses of untouchables, and now controls about ten States of the Confederation of India.
That’s a people’s war against poverty, feudal capitalistic exploitation, in the regions where most acute are the contradictions produced by the turbulent development of plundering resources, caste oppression and exploitation, by the Indian capital linked to imperialism.
With the help and support of the imperialists and especially the American imperialists, the Indian reactionary ruling classes are trying to suffocate the revolutionary movement, carrying out huge atrocities, whose barbarism there is no precedent.
The following article appeared in the Times of India. It warns opinion-makers and oppressors in Official India that support is building internationally for the Maoists of India — exactly those who the government and army are trying to put in their murderous cross hairs.
This report (and others like it) are from the mainstream press — so that its statements and claims should not be assumed to be true. However an article like this is a statement of their views, their fears, and their assessments — i.e. that international support for the Indian Maoists is an important new development, just as the government’s army is planning systematic destruction of the revolutionary base areas.
NEW DELHI: If the government is finding it difficult to combat growing Maoist movement and its violent ways across the country, it now has more reasons to be concerned. The movement seems to be garnering international support, thanks to a solidarity initiative launched by Maoist parties and groups across the world. Their slogan — “Let’s sustain the people’s war in India” — does not augur well for the government.
According to a statement made by “International Committee to Support the People’s War in India,” a week-long international campaign to “sustain” the people’s war in the country will be held from April 2 to 9, 2011 across nations.
Posters have been made in various languages — like French and Spanish –showcasing the CPI (Maoist) cadres and their slogans in Hindi.
“International Committee in support of the people’s war launches a great international campaign, to be conducted in all forms, in the most number of countries as possible, through a week of action,” states an official release. It, however, does not specify what “all forms” refer to.
