Day of Mourning
November 24, 2016
Greetings my relatives,
Here we are again. This time the year is 2016. It has been more than 41 years since I last walked free and was able to see the sun rise, and sit and feel the earth beneath my feet. I know there have been more changes then I can even imagine out there.
But I do know that there is a struggle taking place as to whether this country will move on to a more sustainable way of life. This is something we wanted to have happen back in the seventies.
I watch the events at Standing Rock with both pride and sorrow. Pride that our people and their allies are standing up and putting their lives on the line for the coming generations, not because they want to, but because they have to. They are right to stand up in a peaceful way. It is the greatest gathering of our people in history, and has made us more connected than ever before. We need to support each other as we make our way in these times.
Water IS life, and we cannot leave this issue for our children and grandchildren to deal with when things are far worse for the natural world than they are now.
And Mother Earth is already in struggle.
And I feel sorrow for the water protectors at Standing Rock because these last few days have brought a much harsher response from the law enforcement agencies there, and our people are suffering.
(GPA) Ankara – On Monday, Wikileaks released a batch of almost 58,000 emails sent and received by Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak.
The release, termed by Wikileaks as ‘Berat’s box’ includes thousands of emails detailing Albayrak’s dealings as the Turkish Minister of Energy. The emails encompass a span of sixteen years beginning April of 2000 until September of this year. Wikileaks was given the database of emails by a Turkish Marxist-Leninist ‘hacktivist’ group known as RedHack.
RedHack had initially announced that they had obtained the emails in September but their social media accounts and pages containing news of the hack were taken down. Originally the group threatened to release the emails if the Erdogan government wouldn’t release Alp Altınörs, a member of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and a journalist named Aslı Erdogan. Suspected members of RedHack have beenthreatened since September by the government and subjected to the ongoing post-coup torture.
The Turkish government has also banned access to Wikileaks prompting the organization to release the emails to “promote transparency in Turkey.” It’s understandable why the Turkish authorities wouldn’t want these emails to reach the public, they detail multiple shady aspects of both Turkey’s recent involvement in the oil trade out of Syria and their post-coup crackdown on, and manipulation of media in the country.
SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, Philippines — In the late-night hours and amid the chirp of crickets, Katryn welcomed a huddle of exhausted Filipino journalists in cheerful spirits like she was home. “Coffee?” she asked with a comforting smile.
Comrade Katryn is her nom de guerre, however, and for her, home is a rebel encampment concealed in the rain-soaked wilderness of the Philippines’ Sierra Madre Mountains. The 24-year-old walked away from her family two years ago to join one of the world’s longest-raging Marxist rebellions.
Mostly in their 20s and 30s, a few dozen New People’s Army guerrillas lugged M16 rifles and grenade launchers on a plateau where red hammer-and-sickle flags adorned a makeshift hall. Most wore mud-stained boots while cooking over wood fires or guarding the peripheries of the encampment, just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the nearest army camp.
They’re part of a new generation of Maoist fighters who reflect the resiliency and constraints of an insurgency that has dragged on for nearly half a century through six Philippine presidencies while Cold War-era communist insurgencies across much of the world have faded into memory. They are driven by some of the same things as their predecessors, including crushing poverty, despair, government misrule and the abysmal inequality that has long plagued Philippine society.
“The New People’s Army has no other recruiter but the state itself,” a young rebel, Comrade May, told The Associated Press.
“Revolution is having a sense of the historic moment; it is changing everything that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being treated and treating others like human beings; it is emancipating ourselves on our own and through our own efforts; it is challenging powerful dominant forces in and beyond the social and national arena; it is defending the values in which we believe at the price of any sacrifice; it is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity, and heroism; it is fighting with courage, intelligence and realism; it is never lying or violating ethical principles; it is a profound conviction that there is no power in the world that can crush the power of truth and ideas. Revolution is unity; it is independence, it is struggling for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world, which is the foundation of our patriotism, our socialism, and our internationalism.”
By Martha Grevatt
Attorneys for the state of Michigan have filed a 62-page motion to dismiss a lawsuit on behalf of children in the Detroit Public Schools. The DPS student body is over 90 percent African American. The lawsuit argues that, based on the 14th Amendment, all children have the right to literacy. This right is denied by the conditions under which Detroit children are forced to learn: buildings infested with rodents, insects and mold; classrooms that are frigid in winter or steaming hot due to malfunctioning heaters; widespread shortages of books, desks, supplies and even teachers; and class sizes over 50. Teachers staged walkouts during the previous school year to protest these deplorable conditions.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Haynes argued that “literacy is a component or particular outcome of education, not a right granted to individuals by the Constitution” and that “the U.S. Supreme Court has unambiguously rejected the claim that public education is a fundamental right.” Apparently he slept during class when Brown v. Board of Education was discussed.
Though out of the public spotlight, Flint, Mich., continues to suffer from a water crisis caused by decisions made by state-appointed EMs. The city was lead-poisoned after the EM decided to stop supplying water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and draw water from the polluted Flint River. When Flint, in order to cut costs, did not add anti-corrosive chemicals, the lead from aging pipes leached into the water supply. Children with elevated blood lead levels were suddenly failing school.
The assault took place at around 7 a.m. as the victim — Soha Salama, 45 — was heading to work on the 7 train. She was wearing an MTA uniform and a hijab at the time.
The suspect followed her off the train and shoved her down the stairs, police said.
Salama was taken to the hospital for treatment of leg injuries. She said she is in a lot of pain, but does not have any broken bones.
Late Monday, Salama was nursing a twisted knee and a swollen ankle following the attack.
“He called me terrorist, I shouldn’t work here, go back to country,” she said.
Salama told CBS2’s Valerie Castro said she was not able to say anything to the man.
“I wasn’t able to say anything. I was running for my life,” she said. “I was afraid he was going to throw me down the tracks or do more bad to me than he already did. He was like pushing me down.”
A New York City transit worker who is Muslim was pushed down the stairs at Grand Central Terminal by a man who called her a terrorist, authorities said.
The assault took place on Monday morning as the victim, 45, was heading to work on the subway, CBS New York reported. The suspect followed her off the train and shoved her down the stairs, police said.
Sources told CBS New York the suspect allegedly called the victim a “terrorist” and said she shouldn’t be working in the city. She was wearing a Muslim head covering at the time of the assault, and was treated at a Manhattan hospital for ankle and knee injuries.
Authorities say a good Samaritan intervened, and police are looking for the man who committed the crime.
The assault marked the latest in a string of incidents in which Muslim women were seemingly attacked because of their faith. On Saturday, a man harassed and threatened an off-duty police officer who was wearing a Muslim head covering in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, authorities said.
The officer, Aml Elsokary, had encountered a man who was yelling and pushing her 16-year-old son. She tried to intervene, according to police.
Police said the suspect, 36-year-old Christopher Nelson, said to her, “ISIS [expletive], I will cut your throat, go back to your country,” CBS New York reported.
Nelson was arrested on charges of menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment in the case, the NYPD said on Monday. He was arraigned and bail was set at $50,000.
In another incident, a young woman wearing a Muslim head covering was harassed while riding the subway on Thursday.
United Nations, Dec 5 (Prensa Latina) - Cuban ambassador, Ana Silvia Rodriguez, has thanked today the examples of sorrow, admiration and solidarity received from the five continents at the island’’s Permanent Mission to the UN on the death of Fidel Castro.
The interim charge d'affaires told Prensa Latina that representatives of more than 140 UN members, senior officials of the organization and hundreds of activists of solidarity with Cuba and New York residents has gone to the embassy to pay tribute to the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution.
The mission opened between Monday, November 28, and Sunday, December 4, several books of condolences for the death of Fidel, on November 25 at the age of 90, records reflecting the affection and recognition of Fidel’s legacy and his example for the struggles for the just causes.
Rodriguez recalled some moments of great emotion experienced in recent days, during which the messages of encouragement, the exaltation of the life and work of the revolutionary leader, the tears for his death and the commitment to follow his path in defense of the peace, justice and equity, were analyzed.
Hundreds of New York citizens from several sectors gathered for some hours December 4 in front of the diplomatic headquarters in Manhattan, where the slogans ‘We are all Fidel’, banners, photos of the leader and the long line to sign the books of condolences , changed a stretch of Lexington Avenue, accustomed to the constant coming and going of pedestrians and the huge car traffic.
On the morning of December 4, the ashes of the undefeated Comandante en Jefe of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, were laid to rest in Santiago de Cuba’s Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, declared a National Monument given its historic, architectural and cultural value; where a solemn and private ceremony for family members and specially invited guests was held.
As Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Party and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, remarked yesterday evening, December 3, in the city’s plaza Mayor General Antonio Maceo, the Comandante en Jefe of the Cuban Revolution is “very close to the Mausoleum of National Hero José Martí; his compañeros in the struggle at Moncada, from the Granma, and Rebel Army, from the clandestine campaign and internationalist missions.
”The tombs of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, father of the homeland, and the legendary Mariana Grajales, mother of the Maceo brothers and, as I dare to improvise in this act, also the mother of all Cuban men and women, are located just a few feet away. Also close by is the pantheon where the remains of the unforgettable Frank País García rest; a young man from Santiago, murdered by Batista’s henchmen at only 22 years of age, one month after his younger brother Josué died fighting in an operation in this city,” added Raúl.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected retired Marine General James Mattis to exercise civilian control over the Department of Defense. Originally known as the Department of War, it was renamed Department of Defense in 1949. But war is precisely what Mattis, known as “Mad Dog,” has enthusiastically done throughout his career.
In 2005, Mattis declared, “It’s fun to shoot some people.” That was one year after he oversaw the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq, which began in April 2004, after four Blackwater Security Consulting mercenaries were killed and their bodies mutilated. In retaliation, US forces attacked the village and killed 736 people. At least 60 percent of them were women and children, according to independent journalist Dahr Jamail, who interviewed doctors at Fallujah General Hospital and at other small clinics inside the city both during and after the April siege.
Trump has also chosen notorious hawks Michael Flynn for National Security Advisor and Mike Pompeo for CIA Director.
Trump frequently makes contradictory statements about foreign policy. During the campaign, he insisted that he opposed the Iraq War and Libya regime change, when in fact he supported both. In fact, Trump called for all US troops in the Middle East to overthrow Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.
RALEIGH: The Ku Klux Klan showed up unannounced in Roxboro late Saturday to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s victory with a quick parade of vehicles, but thousands of Klan opponents rallied all day across the state.
The Loyal White Knights of the KKK was expected to gather in Pelham, just south of the Virginia state line in Caswell County. The group didn’t show, but a caravan of about 30 protesters, many from Durham, arrived before 9 a.m. at Pelham United Methodist Church. Other protesters joined them, swelling to more than 100 by afternoon.
Several hundred people also gathered Saturday afternoon for an NC Justice and Unity Rally in Raleigh.
“The promise of what the South can be is what we are fighting for today,” Sandi Osterkatz told the crowd in Moore Square. Osterkatz said she was was representing the children of survivors of the 1979 Greensboro massacre.
The crowd listened quietly as she talked about how activists were gunned down during a planned march by armed Klansmen and Nazis. Greensboro police showed up five minutes after the shooting had begun, stopping only one vehicle in the 10-car Klan caravan. Two all-white juries later found the Klansmen not guilty.
The new struggle can build on past foundations, Osterkatz said.
“We do not have to start new organizations from scratch. We have experienced leadership, we have historical lessons that we can and must learn from, the struggle for justice and unity demands deep listening and humility, and more than anything a commitment to show up and do the work,” she said.
Dear Cuban comrades and co-fighters
With best greetings,
The geographical distance amongst us is more than 11800 kilometers, but a mutual concept and message raised from common aspirations and objectives has brought our hearts so close to each other that we can ignore the geographical distance.
Brothers & sisters!
What has tied us together despite the long distance on the geographical maps is the concept of “struggle” and the aspiration for “destruction of arrogance” which the commander Fidel is one of its greatest leaders in the contemporary world. We write in the honor of a Castro whose determination and braveness turned the “backyard” to a hell for the Yankees and his tireless fight with the prevailing forces and oppressors of the world became a source of inspiration for many of the oppressed in the global society.
Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the C.C., Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee, was interviewed by the Cuba TV Broadcasting Friday. He is leading the DPRK party and state delegation on a visit Cuba to mourn the demise of Fidel Castro Ruz, supreme leader of the Cuban revolution.
The Korean people are in bitter grief together with the Cuban people over the demise of Fidel Castro Ruz, he said, and went on:
The demise of Fidel Castro Ruz is a great loss to the party, government and people of the DPRK and Cuba.
Kim Jong Un, chairman of the WPK, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, visited the Cuban Embassy in Pyongyang to mourn the demise of Fidel Castro Ruz.
The mourning period was declared in the DPRK and leading officials of the party, state and the army and officials of the armed forces, working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions visited the Cuban Embassy to mourn the demise of Fidel Castro Ruz.
This is a clear expression of fraternal and militant friendship between the DPRK and Cuba.
Fidel Castro Ruz is a close friend and old revolutionary comrade-in-arms of the Korean people.
Fidel Castro Ruz visited the DPRK in March 1986 and met with President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il.
He exerted great efforts to strengthen militant fraternity and friendship between the peoples of the two countries fighting together at the outpost of the struggle against imperialism.
The friendship between the two countries provided by Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il together with Fidel Castro Ruz will invariably develop under the deep care of Marshal Kim Jong Un and respected Raul Castro Ruz.
We are firmly convinced that the fraternal Cuban people would overcome the pain over the loss of their outstanding leader, firmly defend the country, revolution and socialism and achieve prosperity of the country under the guidance of Raul Castro Ruz, true to the lifetime intention of Fidel Castro Ruz.
Late Thursday night (December 1st) police responded to a call of two suspects breaking into vehicles along Hawk Street in Rockledge, Florida. What exactly transpired upon the officers’ arrival is unclear as of right now. However, bodycam footage captured an RPD officer as he shoots a 17 year old kid who lay flat on his stomach, arms stretched out across the ground, seemingly motionless. The incident was captured by the officer’s body-cam, and, as we’ve seen so many times, especially as of late, nowhere in any of the footage do we see this young man move before he is shot at point blank range.
The footage was posted by Florida Today along with their report of the incident, and I urge you to please continue reading after you’ve watched it, as I want to note some issues I have with how Florida Today went about their coverage.
Comrade, an unarmed, 17 year old kid of color was shot in my home county and the story has thus far largely been swept under the rug. Please, help me break this story so it receives the attention it deserves.
- Zach
By Mahtowin, United American Indians of New England
It has been a very roller-coaster kind of day with #NoDAPL events. It is NOT all over and people are NOT all going home now. Please do not turn your gaze away from this struggle. Read on:
–ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS DID NOT GRANT THE EASEMENT TO BRING THE PIPELINE UNDER THE WATER AT THE CURRENT ROUTE THAT IS ON UNCEDED TREATY LAND. This means that Energy Transfer Partners does not have the proper permit to follow their currently planned route and drill under the water at the current site.
This is definitely a victory for the Power of the People when we take action. The government was forced to bow before the incredible strength of the movement that we all have been building for several months.
BUT people are legitimately worrying that Energy Transfer Partners might still drill there anyway – they might just go ahead and drill and worry about the fines later, which the Trump Administration may not even levy. Maybe the corporation and the feds hope that everyone will go home and then there will only be a handful of people on-site to oppose them.
Another unanswered question is whether the Trump Administration will simply find a way to reverse the Army Corps of Engineers’ current decision.
–Even if the Dakota Access Pipeline does not go through at that site, the feds are clearly making plans to reroute it so it can be finished. This project is still not safe. Water is still sacred. The black snake pipeline needs to be stopped no matter where it is routed!
–The Army Corps of Engineers’ eviction notice for December 5 has not been rescinded. They had previously issued this notice and said that the camps needed to be cleared away from land that the Army Corps of Engineers considers to be “theirs” (even though it is actually unceded treaty land belonging to the people of Standing Rock). It remains to be seen whether Morton County or any other authorities will try to clear the camps, although they would be unlikely to do this right now when the numbers of people are in the thousands.
–There is still the very important matter of hundreds of people (more than 550) who have been charged with various crimes and misdemeanors. No matter what happens, a key demand will need to be: Drop All The Charges Now! Additionally, Morton County Sheriffs and other abusers will need to be brought to justice.
–All of this means that everyone who supports #NoDAPL will need to continue to be vigilant and apply all possible forms of pressure.
Saturday, December 10 - 11:00 am to 12 Noon
Ralph Bunche Park (across from United Nations Headquarters), 42 E 43rd St, New York, New York 10017
Called by Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine / International Action Center
Stand with “Children of Donbass Write to the World”!
“In the evening, my mother collected warm clothes, documents, took water, and we went down to sleep in the basement. It was very damp and cold. Now I dream of the smell of the damp cellar at night,” Dima, 12 years old.
“There was no light, no water. I had to walk to the village of Roskoshnoye for it. It was scary. For the first month I didn’t sleep. I hugged my cat at night and cried. Kitty was also afraid,” Daniel, 12 years old.
“I wanted to shout to the whole world! Screaming in fear for my city, friends and family … I hope no one else ever experiences these horrible feelings! I want to have peace in the world!” Lyuba, 11 years old.
Since June, youth organizers in the Donbass Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk have gathered hundreds of letters from children and teens about their experiences under war and blockade imposed by the U.S.-backed regime in Kiev, Ukraine. The letters will be presented to representatives of the United Nations in Europe.
Join us at United Nations Headquarters on International Human Rights Day as we raise our voices in solidarity with the children of Donbass to demand that the Ukrainian and U.S. governments end their military and economic war on people in Donetsk and Lugansk.
We will have copies of some letters translated to English, and some blown up to poster size. Activists against the war in Donbass will speak, as well as youth who will make connections between the war on children in the U.S. and abroad. Media and UN officials will be invited.
Afterward, we encourage you to join in other important International Human Rights Day actions, including the Rally to Free All Political Prisoners in Harlem.
Dear Friends,
You may be as alarmed as we are by the way the Trump election has embolden the most right-wing, racist elements. Reports around the country and here in Michigan indicate an upsurge in threats and attacks against many sectors of our population among whom are African Americans, Latinos/as, Muslims, the LGBTQ communities, immigrants, people with disabilities, women and others. We need to respond with more than messages of unity and solidarity.
We think it is necessary in the coming period to be prepared to come out in physical defense of anyone under attack by racists and fascists. We need to let the public know that we will physically defend any victim of such threats and attacks. That may mean defending a mosque, church, synagogue, home, organization or individuals who asks for our help and solidarity – with our voices and our bodies.
The formation of an Anti-Fascist Defense Committee is serious work, requiring careful organization, planning and coordination. If you are willing to participate in such work, please attend an initial meeting on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 PM at 5920 Second Avenue (just north of Wayne State U at Antoinette St.). For further information please feel free to call 313-680-5508.
Sincerely,
The initiating committee for an anti-fascist defense committee:
Abayomi Azikiwe – Moratorium NOW Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs
William Davis – Detroit Active & Retired Employees Association
Elena Herrada – Detroit School Board in Exile
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Debbie Johnson – Workers World Party – Detroit
Joe Mchahwar – Fight Imperialism/Stand Together (FIST) – Detroit
Carlos Topp- President Black Student Union, Henry Ford Comm. College
A lot of people get the word revolution mixed up and they think revolutions a bad word. Revolution is nothing but like having a sore on your body and then you put something on that sore to cure that infection. And I’m telling you that were living in an infectious society right now. I’m telling you that were living in a sick society. And anybody that endorses integrating into this sick society before its cleaned up is a man who’s committing a crime against the people.
To Comrade Raul Castro, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Cuba
Dear Comrade Castro,
The political party “Our Home is Moldova” (Red Bloc) expresses to you and to all the Cuban people our deepest condolences on the death of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, your brother, Fidel Castro.
The name of this outstanding statesman, communist and revolutionary will remain forever in the memory of mankind, as a heroic symbol of the struggle of people for freedom, for a better and more just world, in which there is no place for capitalism.
The unwavering principles of Fidel Castro turned little Cuba into one of the most influential countries in the world, which can enforce its will while maintaining its sovereignty and independence. He embodied the ideals of moral leadership, not only for Cuba, but also the whole of humanity, becoming a symbol of the ideas of the struggle for justice. His memory will always remain in our hearts, and in the hearts of many citizens of Moldova.
In these mournful days which the Cuban people are now experiencing, we offer you these words of sympathy and support. Today, the whole world looks to Cuba as an example of dedication and perseverance against global capitalism. We wish the Cuban people courage and steadfastness in the face of this irreparable loss and the challenges to come.
Patria o muerte!
Venceremos! No pasaran!
Grigory Petrenko
Chairman of the Party “Our Home is Moldova” (Red Bloc)
Official obituary for Comandante Fidel published in Granma, organ of the Communist Party of Cuba:
The life of Fidel cannot be reduced to a few lines. His permanent, insoluble ties with the people, his brilliant oratory, his constant teaching, his unlimited dedication to the Revolution have left a indelible mark in the Cuban people and served to inspire millions of men and women on all continents. Future generations of Cuban will have in him, as in Martí, an enduring example and the inspiration to give continuity to his work.