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The Blockade of Cuba, Fifty Years On

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

HAVANA TIMES, Feb 8 � Johana Tablada, the deputy director of the North American Division of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, granted us an interview to discuss the US economic embargo against Cuba, which has just marked its 50th year of remaining in place under ten US presidents. Q: One of the arguments given by the proponents of the embargo is that it's an excuse used by the Cuban government to explain all of its own mistakes.

Colombia, Coal, and Murder

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A Mystery That Continues to Confound, But Also To Instruct My family and I have recently taken to watching re-runs of the X-Files.�� As the reader might recall, this was a show which revolved around two independent-minded and quite earnest FBI agents who are engaged in an incessant search for the truth � �The Truth is Out There� being the subtitle of the show.� And, the quest of these two agents is forever stymied by dark, shadowy government figures from some unknown government agency who are conspiring to cover up the truth.�� By the end of each episode, our loveable agents find themselves incarcerated, near-death, lost, out of their minds, or all of the above as retribution for their quest for truth.

ALBA Summit on Puerto Rican Independence

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Heads of state from the Bolivarian Alliance for the People�s of Our America (ALBA, in Spanish) approved on Sunday a special declaration regarding the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and full independence at the second session of the XI ALBA summit.

No War, No Sanctions On Iran!

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

No War, No Sanctions On Iran! Clear the Middle East of All Nuclear Weapons! As the drums of a military strike against Iran are getting louder and louder, the leaders of the United States and Israel, in a good-cop/bad-cop style of approach, are trying to present the U.S. and Israeli public opinion with an apparently �inevitable� � but certainly false � choice. While the �bad-cop� Israel is threatening Iran with an immanent Bush-style �preemptive strike,� the Obama Administration, trying to look like a �good-cop,� is pretending to be �opposed� to such a unilateral military action on the part of Israel, while forcing other governments into taking part in the imposition of devastating economic sanctions on Iran and its people.

Where Next for Cuba?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Recent changes to Cuba�s economy have raised many questions. Some see them as a move towards capitalism and as a recognition of the failure of socialism. But what is the truth? On a recent visit to the island as part of a Morning Star/Cuba Solidarity Campaign media group, we were able to get a clearer idea of what is going on.

Raul Castro at ALBA Summit

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Comments by Army General Ra�l Castro Ruz, President of the Councils of State and Ministers during 11th ALBA-TCP Summit of Heads of State, Venezuela, February 5, 2012. Year 54 of the Revolution. Now, of all the issues in our five meetings, in our humble opinion, the principal issue is that of the Economic Complementarity Council. Everything else depends on the success we have economically.

Stiglitz, an Ideologist of Capitalism

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Translated Avante! article by Albano Nunes, Member of the Secretariat of the CC, Portuguese CP. Capitalism has assumed different forms of existence in time and space. Its ideologists have never spoken with one voice.� And if there exist times of great unanimity and �unique thought,� [Editor: the notion that there is no alternative to neoliberalism]� as happened during the years of the triumphal celebration of socialism�s tragic defeats, there are also other times in which capitalist crisis and the class struggle breed real disagreements in the dominant class, namely between the two great historical currents which support it, the �liberal/conservative� and the �social-democrat/Keynesian.�

Why Record Black Male Unemployment Remains Invisible to the First Black President

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

It's not complicated. In the Obama White House, like everyplace else, crucial tasks get accomplished, less important ones put off, and the least meaningful ignored altogether. Take the State of the Union address, typically a grab bag affair with a little something for everybody that matters. Whether you're a a dependable friend or a despicable enemy, or if your cause is just worth a prevaricating presidential applause line, you'll get it. If the president judges you worth patting on the head, pointing to as an example, or lying to or about, it will happen then and there. And if you're not mentioned at all, anyplace from the beginning to the end, well, you just don't matter much.

An Exchange on the Solidarity Center

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Cannibalism on the Left At a time when economic inequality has reached record levels and unions face existential threats, you would think the Labor movement would refrain from eating its own, but no. In a recent article in the online newsletter Counterpunch, long time unionist Alberto Ruiz attacks the AFL-CIO sponsored Solidarity Center, whose mission is to strengthen unions in countries like Colombia, as an imperialist organization. Pointing to a half dozen WikiLeaks cables that document meetings at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Ruiz claims that Solidarity Center staff are working to undermine the very unions they are supposed to support. After reading the WikiLeaks cables, a very different picture emerges. The reality is that Solidarity Center staff meet with Embassy officials in order to draw U.S. government attention to the dangers facing unionists in Colombia. There have been 2,837 murders of union members since 1986.

The Genius of Chavez

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

President Chavez presented his annual report to the Venezuelan Parliament on activities carried out in 2011 and his program for 2012. After thoroughly carrying out the formalities required by this important activity, he addressed the official state authorities, members of parliament from all parties, and supporters and opposition members who had come to the Assembly to participate in the country�s most solemn act.

2102 - A New Year of Tough Times Ahead

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

The new year has dawned upon a deeply troubled America. Times are not good in the best of all possible nation states, which has suddenly discovered that the seven-league boots with which it is accustomed to stride the globe have become ill-fitting and down at the heels. In recent years, particularly since the onset of the Great Recession, it has become clear to many Americans that their country is composed of two different societies with clashing interests � a very small minority in possession of great wealth and power, and everyone else, with some getting by and many falling by the wayside.

Theater of the Absurd

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Talented artists are gifted with the ability to take some commonplace belief or unquestioned assumption and reveal underlying nonsense. Still others craft inventive works that expose fatuity lurking behind pomposity and platitudes. But consider some of the events transpiring over the last few weeks. Reality is indeed stranger than fiction. These events rival any work of literature in illustrating hypocrisy and proud ignorance. And the real-life actors in this public theater know no shame or regret.

Free-Market Medicine - Personal Account

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

When I recently went to Alta Bates hospital for surgery, I discovered that legal procedures take precedence over medical ones. I had to sign intimidating statements about financial counseling, indemnity, patient responsibilities, consent to treatment, use of electronic technologies, and the like. One of these documents committed me to the following: �The hospital pathologist is hereby authorized to use his/her discretion in disposing of any member, organ, or other tissue removed from my person during the procedure.� Any member? Any organ?

No War on Iran!

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:20:50 +0100

Below is a statement by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) on the assassination of Iranian scientists and the growing threat of war against Iran. Also, UNAC members participated in a national conference call on Tuesday with many other antiwar and Iranian groups.� The meeting called for demonstrations on February 4 to protest the threat of war against Iran. Please join us on February 4 and plan a protest in your local area. There is a Facebook event for February 4 here: http://www.facebook.com/events/214341975322807/ On the Assassination of Iranian Scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan� and the Growing Threat of War Against the Islamic Republic of Iran

How To Waste Your Vote In 2012

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

It's true enough. Your vote really is your voice, and in the modern era, every government on earth claims to rule with the consent of the people. This bestows upon the vote a unique kind of legal and symbolic power. The gap, however, between this legal, this symbolic power of the vote and any real ability to change things for the better is a vast one. The authorities rightly fear the people's voice, and so have contrived law and custom to ensure that we are seldom heard and almost never heeded.

Carlos Lozano Explains Anti-Communism (Eng. & Esp.)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

As pretext for war against leftist insurgents and repression of political opponents, the Colombian government conjures up terrorist enemies. That's of a piece with U. S. reasoning to justify both its own global war making and military support and funds for Colombia's iron fist. The two governments are together in serving business and financial interests. To be sure, U.S. apologists for assistance to Colombia also raise the specter of narco-terrorism. That's a hot potato for a Colombian government tied to rightwing paramilitaries who work for narco-terrorists.

Post-Modern Imperialism

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

I confess that I cringe when I see the word �post-modern.� This word has obscured more discussions, confused more gullible readers, and conned more writers than any word since �existential� and its �-ism.� For the most part, it has served as a kind of fashionable linguistic operator that signals something radical and profound will follow. Almost always, what follows disappoints.

MLK's Message and Today's Struggles

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Anthony Monteiro speaking before 500 labor, community and Occupy activists at Philadelphia's Martin Luther King Jr rally at AFSCME DC33. Organized by the Occupy Philly Labor Working Group, the rally followed a short march from the 30th Street Train Station, where TWU spoke, with a stop at the Post office, where the APWU spoke out against USPS cuts. Anthony Monteiro's speech: MLK's Message and Today's Struggles (http://youtu.be/iYatWZJDLyk). January 16, 2012

How To Think About Socialism in Korea

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

At the end of 2011 the Irish and international media had a feeding frenzy about the death of Kim Jong-il, head of state of the Democratic People�s Republic of Korea (North Korea). His death once again presented an opportunity for them to indulge in wholesale anti-communism, equating all the problems, tensions and difficulties on the Korean peninsula with the nature of the political-social system in North Korea and, by extension, with all those who advocate a socialist alternative to moribund monopoly capitalism around the globe.

May Day 2012 Labor Trip to Cuba

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

With U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba as a program consultant, Marazul Charters, Inc. is organizing a research delegation to Cuba for full-time trade unionists: �April 25-May 2, 2012.

World Peace Hanging by a Thread

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Yesterday I had the satisfaction of having a pleasant conversation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I had not seen him since 2006, more than five years ago, when he visited our country to participate in the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement of Countries in Havana. During the summit, Cuba was elected for the second time as president of the organization for a three-year term. I had become gravely ill on July 26, 2006, a month and a half prior to the summit, and could barely sit up in bed. Many of the most distinguished leaders who participated in the event were kind enough to visit me. Chavez and Evo visited me several times. One afternoon four visitors came by whom I will always remember: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; an old friend, Abdelaziz Buteflika, the president of Algeria; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran; and the vice minister of Foreign Affairs and current Foreign Minister of China, Yang Jiechi, on behalf of the leader of the Communist Party and the president of China, Hu Jintao. It was really an important time for me; I was in the midst of intense physiotherapy on my right hand that I had seriously injured when I fell in Santa Clara.

Song and the Working Class Movement

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Dick Gaughan is the famous Scottish guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. Known and loved as a singer and writer of working class songs, there is no one better to take us through this topic than Gaughan whose web site is <<http://www.dickgaughan.co.uk/>> The presentation was sponsored by the Morning Star, the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world,� as part of its Our Class, Our Culture series in Scotland. It was recorded March 1, 2011 in Augustine Church Centre, Edinburgh. Dick Gaughan - Song and the Working Class Movement� (http://scottishcommunists.org.uk/morning-star-videos/dick-gaughan-song-and-the-working-class-movement) (http://youtu.be/M6X1qPc0riE)

Interest in Communism Surges: Where is the CPUSA?

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A� recent Rasmussen poll published on March 15, 2011 indicates that 11% of Americans favor communism over capitalism. Put that way, it may not sound like much, but if you look at the numbers it is significant in a country totally brainwashed by the capitalist controlled media. Based on a U.S. population estimate of 312,000,000 it means that roughly 34,320,000 people in the U.S. think that communism would be superior to capitalism.

Richard Ahearn: An NLRB Director and a Tale of Two Struggles

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

When EGT, an international corporate behemoth, threatened to break their union in Longview, Washington, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and their friends from the community organized a massive demonstration, sat down on the tracks and stopped a train.� They did it more than once.� The nation�s workers took heart at this bold action.

Democracy and the Pathology of Wealth

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Social critic and noted author Michael Parenti speaks about Democracy and the Pathology of Wealth. Parenti discusses developments in the U.S. political scene, the Occupy movement and the struggle against corporate capitalism. Michael Parenti is an internationally known award-winning author and lecturer. He is one of the nation�s leading progressive political analysts. His highly informative and entertaining books and talks have reached audiences in North America and abroad. Parenti�s writings cover: U.S. politics, culture, ideology, political economy, global imperialism, fascism, communism, democratic socialism, free-market orthodoxies, religion, ancient and modern history, news and entertainment media, environmentalism, sexism, racism, ethnicity, and his own early life. For more information visit his website <<http://michaelparenti.org>> M (http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/michael-parenti-democracy-and-the-pathology-of-wealth-2012/)ichael-Parenti-January-6-2012-Democracy and the Pathology of Wealth (http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/michael-parenti-democracy-and-the-pathology-of-wealth-2012/) � --� Video

Wikileaks Revelations: The AFL-CIO and Colombia

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Ernesto Guevara �feels that in social and political matters the role of Latin America has been one of neglect. As an example of this, he remarked on one occasion, �Five thousand workers are shot down in the Bolivian highlands, and maybe there is one line in the New York papers, which mentions that there is labor unrest in Bolivia.�� He wonders if the United States so-called international labor unions would take an interest in the South American worker and if it might help to raise the living standards of the Latin Americans to a level which might come closer to that of the North Americans.� �CIA biographical report on Che, 1958,� as reproduced in Who Killed Che?� How the CIA Got Away with Murder.

The Struggle in Mexico

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Interview with the Communist Youth League (Mexico) by the International Center of the Young Communist Movement of France, Seine-Maritime Federation, Rouen, France What is the political situation in Mexico right now? We think it is important to highlight that, in our country, the economic system that prevails is capitalism at a fully developed stage and in crisis, which seeks in every way to exploit and oppress the Mexican people at ever higher rates.

2011-2012: Summing Up, Taking Stock

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

People across the political spectrum share one thing: they sense that we are living at a critical moment in the history of capitalism. Where the last decade of the twentieth century brought a near-universal and smug celebration of capitalism�s success, the second decade of the twenty-first century finds uncertainty, doubts, and fears in every conversation about global capitalism.

The Crisis of Capitalism and the Revolutionary Perspective In Hungary

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:50:27 +0100

The forces of capitalism both in Europe and Hungary make enormous efforts to hide the fact that contemporary capitalism is in a deep crisis. They cannot deny the existence of serious problems of capitalism, but they try to demonstrate that all problems can be solved in the frameworks of capitalism by capitalist reforms. But the truth is that the serious internal crisis of capitalism cannot be solved by traditional capitalist reforms. The revolutionary perspective of solving the problems of capitalism is becoming more and more real. Hungary is one the weakest elements of contemporary European capitalism.� Hungarian capitalism is in a deep crisis independently of the worldwide crisis. But it is being made even deeper by the general crisis of capitalism. The crisis is far from being solved, and nobody can foresee its consequences. Under these circumstances we should not only criticise the capitalist system but we should as well demonstrate to the people the real possibility of establishing a new world. We should demonstrate socialism as a real alternative to existing capitalism. It means that the communist movement in Hungary is entering a new situation which means new possibilities and new tasks.

Socialism: What "Unviability" Are We Talking About?

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The website of Cuba's Temas magazine has a section titled Catalejo � (Telescope) that solicits commentaries in the form of short essays on a variety of topics. Many of these commentaries respond to longer articles in the magazine itself, and some have sparked debate among contributors.� One of these debates has been initiated by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jose Luis Rodriguez. Mesa-Lago is a Cuban-born US economics professor who has written extensively on Cuba. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Jose Luis Rodriguez was Cuba's Minister of Economy and Planning from 1998-2009. An economist, he is now a consultant at Cuba's Centre for Research on the World Economy (CIEM).

Why the U.S. Media Turned on the Arab League This Time

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Once again, we see the frightening collusion of the U.S. imperial government with its British war partner, but this time not in Iraq, but in Syria. Immediately upon the arrival of the UN-sponsored Arab League Delegation (AL) into the Syrian capital and cities, the American media antagonists wasted not a second in discounting the AL's initial reporting, fearful that the 150 plus observers in the delegation weren't going the way of their interventionist plans, and not siding with the opposition's claims, coming primarily from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Anderson Cooper, the CNN poster boy popularized by the corporate media as going beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind , (amazingly covering events in Haiti, Libya, Somalia, the Sudan, etc.) all reinforcing the dominant White House/British/French narrative, is now busy promoting the opposition in Syria.

Climate Change and Class

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It�s �the most urgent fight of our lives. It is our last chance,� says NASA space scientist James Hanson. He warns of �runaway greenhouse effect that would destroy all life on the planet,� adding that �The biggest obstacle to solving global warming is the role of money in politics.�� (�Storms of my Grandchildren,� Bloomsbury, 2009)

The Wasteland of Democratic Party Politics

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

There is no drama in the Democratic Party, this election year. The Democratic domain is a dead zone that has had all the oxygen sucked out of it by Obamaism. Of course, Obamaism is simply Clintonism with a darker face. Bill Clinton was the first Democratic Leadership Council President. Al Gore would have been the second, if George Bush had not stolen the 2000 election through massive disenfranchisement of Black voters in the Sunshine State. Gore did not see fit to contest the election based on the theft of hundreds of thousands of Black Florida votes. Instead, he hitched his fortunes to hanging chads and a Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court.

"Certain Basic Questions": Corruption, Migration Policy, Foreign Policy

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Cuban President Raul Castro at the closing session of the Cuban National Assembly Comrades: The 8th ordinary session of the National Assembly of People�s Power which ends today has approved the economic plan and the Budget Law for the year 2012. At the same time, deputies received abundant information on the progress made in the implementation of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the [Communist] Party and the Revolution approved by the 6th Congress. The President of the Supreme People�s Court and the Attorney General of the Republic also reported to Parliament.

War on Venezuela: Washington's False Accusations Against the Chavez Government

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Ever since the US-supported coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela failed in April 2002, Washington has been pursuing a variety of strategies to remove the overwhelmingly popular South American head of state from power. Multimillion-dollar funding to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela through US government agencies, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has increased exponentially over the past ten years, as has direct political support through advisors, strategists and consultants- all aiming to help an unpopular and outdated opposition rise to power.

Korean Leader's Death a Danger for North Korea, Not Its Neighbors

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

There are a few facts to keep in mind to understand what�s going on in the wake of the death this week of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. #1. US foreign policy vis-a-vis North Korea has always sought to force the latter�s collapse to pave the way for its absorption into the US-dominated South [1] � and did so well before Pyongyang began to work on nuclear weapons. US hostility toward North Korea has never been about nuclear weapons. On the contrary, North Korea�s nuclear weapons are a consequence of US hostility. US hostility, now in its seventh decade, is about what it has always been about: putting an end to what Washington mistakenly calls North Korea�s Marxist-Leninist system (Marxism-Leninism has been replaced by Juche ideology�a home-grown doctrine of self-reliance), its non-market system, and its self-directed economic development [2]. None of these offer much latitude for US profit-making at North Korea�s expense, and hence are singled out for demolition.

Must We Adore Vaclav Havel?

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Editors' note: Vaclav Havel has died and the mainstream press is filled with adulatory obituaries. This is an evaluation of Havel by Michael Parenti written in 1997.� It might give readers a more substantive picture.�

Census Bureau: One Half in US "Low Income" or "Poor"

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Editor's note: The number -- 50 percent -- was so dramatic that even the corporate media were stunned Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

In Memoriam Hans Heinz Holz (1927-2011)

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The philosopher Hans Heinz Holz died on December 11, 2011 at age 84 from long hard illness against which he literally fought to the end, doing scientific work with all his remaining strength.

The Chinese Puzzle

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Whither China? was the name of a widely circulated pamphlet authored by the respected Anglo-Indian Marxist author, R. Palme Dutt. Written in 1966, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, the pamphlet sought to shed light on the PRC's tortuous road from liberation in 1949 to a vast upheaval disrupting all aspects of Chinese society as well as its foreign relations.

Final Statement, World Meeting of Communist Parties

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The 13th�International Meeting of Communist and Workers� Parties was held in Athens on 9-11 December 2011 with the theme: Socialism is the Future! The international situation and the experience of the Communists 20 years after the counterrevolution in the USSR. The tasks for the development of the class struggle in conditions of capitalist crisis, imperialist wars, of the current popular struggles and uprisings, for working class-popular rights, the strengthening of proletarian internationalism and the anti-imperialist front, for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of socialism�

Cuba�s Medical Internationalism � Book Review, Interview with Cuban Doctor

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:24:26 +0100

Steve Brouwer�s remarkable book �Revolutionary Doctors� (Monthly Review Press, 2011) traces Cuban � Venezuelan collaboration in medical care and teaching.� That story, little known even to North American leftists, is of ideas and action converting health care into a driving force for international solidarity. Brouwer emphasizes that bi-national cooperation plays out within the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America, the solidarity alliance known as ALBA. Cuba has sent 15,000 physicians to Venezuela in exchange for reliable access to relatively cheap oil.� They�ve not only delivered health care to 80 percent of Venezuelans, most of them underserved, but also taught 30,000 Venezuelan young people who study in �medical schools without walls.�

Attitude to WFTU Is "A Basic Criterion" for Communist Parties

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Speech at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in Athens. Dear comrades, It is for the WFTU an important opportunity to greet the leaders of the Communist parties at a time when our trade union organization, during the last six years, is following a steady upward path, a path of strengthening its internationalist and class characteristics. In the last six years we succeeded in affiliating important trade unions to the WFTU adding 16 million new members; today our organized strength has 82 million members in 120 countries. In the six years we have built four new international sectoral trade organizations, in branches with strategic importance and we strengthened the voice of the WFTU in the four international organizations where we participate with permanent representatives in the UN in New York, in the International Labour Organization in Geneva, in FAO in Rome and in the UNESCO in Paris.

What Hama Says about Syria

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Hama, Syria, (Prensa Latina) The city of Hama visibly reflects what   Syria is going through today. Syria is a country now submitted to an   intense political attack, a terrorist violence imposed and fostered   from abroad, and a media campaign marked by distortion and false   statements about the reality.  

The AFL-CIO�s Covert Ops in Venezuela

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In 2002, the AFL-CIO�s international arm known as the �Solidarity Center� was greatly embarrassed when it came to light that it had been supporting actors in Venezuela participated in the short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez.� As a number of authors and publications noted at the time, the Solidarity Center, with money donated from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), gave support to the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (�CTV�) which in turn was instrumental in the coup against Chavez which, as the reader may call, involved the kidnapping of Hugo Chavez.

Germany In the Driving Seat

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Statement by the Communist Party of Ireland The agreement reached at the EU summit meeting is a clear victory for Germany. The decision to hand over more powers in relation to budgetary priorities and on greater supervision will further undermine the sovereignty of this state and the ability of the Irish people to effect change or to reverse the policies being imposed by the external EU-ECB-IMF troika in alliance with the internal troika of Fine Gael, the Labour Party, and Fianna F�il. ��

Free the Five! Final Declaration of the VII Colloquium

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Final Declaration of the VII Colloquium in Holguin, 2011 �� For the seventh time, friends in solidarity from all around the world are meeting at the Holgu�n Colloquium to discuss experiences and the work to come,� in this tough battle for truth, justice and the release of the Five.

Struggle to Overthrow Capitalism, Not Whitewash It

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

To the CP of Spain and the �United Left� Comrades, We read your letter which you had already published and in which you wonder on what the assessment of the article of our newspaper �Rizospastis�, which was published in the edition of 22nd November, is based on. The article reported in relation to the recent elections in Spain: �the United Left trapped voters in illusions for a �better management� of the capitalist system.�

Rejoinder to Roger Keeran

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Let me begin by acknowledging the positive. Keeran correctly identified one error in my book. On page 30 I wrote: �� Stalin did refer to Trotskyites in very hostile terms. But he did not advocate persecuting them [i.e. Trotskyites]. As Keeran notes, this is wrong. I should have written: �� Stalin did refer to Trotskyites in very hostile terms. But he did not advocate persecuting former Trotskyites. I�m grateful to Keeran for noting this error. Unfortunately, it is the sole valid criticism in his long review.

Black America at the Bottom

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The nation�s economic news is grim indeed, and is the grimmest of all for black Americans. Recently released census data shows that while the median yearly income in this country is $50,000, it is only $32,000 for black people [4], the lowest of any other racial group in the country. Hispanics had a median income of $37,000, whites $49,000 and Asians $64,000.

Annals of U.S. imperialism: Africa Update

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

U.S. military outreach to odd corners of the world coincides with hits to the military budget. President Obama announced recently that 2500 U.S. marines were heading for Darwin, Australia. And in a development barely touched upon in the mainstream media, U.S. military activities have accelerated in Africa.

"J. Edgar" and the Terrorism of Film

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

J. Edgar, the new film by Clint Eastwood, is a real horror film, it is an act of violence, an act of terrorism. The film's careful construction of FBI founding father J. Edgar Hoover as a flawed but justifiable hero rather than an individual villain performing the tasks of a villainous institution has hit theaters with the precision timing of a predator drone strike and with similar political design. As old antagonisms produce new and threatening responses, as new generations emerge taking their turn asking serious questions about the planet, equality, justice and self-determination, be they occupiers or decolonizers, Hoover returns even in death to remind the liberal, the affluent, the White that their place atop the social pyramid is legitimate and must be protected by any means necessary. And no matter what they say they love him for it.

Trade Unions and Climate Change

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Dear comrades of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) It is a great honor and joy for WFTU being here today with our comrades from South Africa and representatives of the international trade union scene. Our joy is even greater because we participate in an initiative of NUMSA which is a historic, militant, class-oriented organization. We salute the struggles of NUMSA, which are important not only for the workers of the metalworking sector in your country but also from the wider region. NUMSA is one of the three organizations that are members of WFTU in South Africa. This year, WFTU celebrated 66 years of class struggle for the interests of the working class worldwide. Another historic event that took place in Athens, Greece this year was the 16th World Trade Union Congress in which more than 828 trade unionists from 101 countries of the world participated.

Netanyahu Shattering the Myth of Israeli Democracy

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A proposed Israeli law threatens groups promoting the equal rights of Palestinians in Israel.� Nazareth -� As protests raged again across the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel�s prime minister, offered his assessment of the Arab uprisings last week. It was, he said, an �Islamic, anti-western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, undemocratic wave,� adding that Israel�s Arab neighbors were �moving not forwards, but backwards.� It takes some chutzpah � or, at least, epic self-delusion � for Israel�s prime minister to be lecturing the Arab world on liberalism and democracy at this moment.

A "Euro-Germanic" Chauvinism

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Portugal has borne the full brunt of the EU austerity machine. Workers fought back in 2011 with a series of general and sectoral mass strikes.

Strikers Show The Tories Who's Boss: 2 Million Out To Save Their Pensions

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Tory attempts to belittle public-sector industrial action rang pathetically hollow today as millions of workers joined the fight against government-imposed pension cuts. Services across England, Scotland and Wales ground to a halt in the strongest show of union strength in a generation.

As Public Sector Sheds Jobs, Blacks Are Hit Hardest

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Don Buckley lost his job driving a Chicago Transit Authority bus almost two years ago and has been looking for work ever since, even as other municipal bus drivers around the country are being laid off. At 34, Mr. Buckley, his two daughters and his fianc�e have moved into the basement of his mother�s house. He has had to delay his marriage, and his entire savings, $27,000, is gone. �I was the kind of person who put away for a rainy day,� he said recently. �It�s flooding now.�

"Asia - Pac�fic": the USA Escalates Intervention

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Amid deep economic stagnation and the context of systemic crisis,� North American imperialism insists on a� totally irrational global strategy and the growing use of military power. The USA has a heritage as an oppressor. It is a country with a public debt which already has reached beyond 15 trillion dollars and soon will reach 100% of its GDP. It does not conceal its anxiety in the face of the challenge of China, as a result of that country�s development. Since 2010 China is the second biggest economy in the world and its biggest� creditor.

General Strike: A Strong Blow to Defeat the Pact of Aggression and to Save the Country

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Statement by Jeronimo de Sousa, General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) on the Portuguese general strike

Khrushchev Lied But What Is the Truth?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Khrushchev Lied: The Evidence That Every 'Revelation' of Stalin's (and Beria's) 'Crimes' in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous 'Secret Speech' to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956 is Provably False by Grover Furr. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media, 2011. $25.00. Pp. 425. In 1987 William Morrow and Company published a biography of a leading Soviet Communist, L. M. Kaganovich, written by Stuart Kahan, an American journalist and allegedly Kaganovich's nephew, who claimed to have interviewed Kaganovich in Yiddish in Moscow and who portrayed Kaganovich as the architect of Soviet terror.[1] In a blurb a Yale historian praised the book as an important contribution.

Barack �Money Bags� Obama Can�t Run on the "99 Percent" Ticket

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The trick that President Obama must pull off this election year is to raise a cool one billion dollars, while pretending to run as a man of the people � of the 99 percent.

Is There a Future for the European Union?

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

When the so-called �dismal science� � economics -- resorts to hollow metaphors like �contagion,� �belt-tightening,� �toxic,� or �tsunami� to describe economic facts and events, one might reasonably wonder if it represents dismay more than science. For sure, practitioners in this field eschew metaphors for technical jargon in their narrow academic studies that have earned many prizes and peer acclaim. But these studies have proven singularly unhelpful in explaining or resolving the four years of chaos that has befallen the global economy. Thus, it comes as a surprise that those who are paid handsomely to think for us are hailing the appointment of two professional economists to run Greece and Italy. Reflecting these changes, stock markets and other market indicators also reacted happily. Aside from the fact that -- over the course of a weekend -- the democratic content of two bourgeois democracies were exposed as shams, aside from the fact that the appointments were largely dictated by forces outside of the two countries, it is incomprehensible that two economists�one a former vice-president of the European Central Bank and the other a former European Union Commissioner � will do anything other than continue subservience to the neo-liberal agenda. In effect, Greece and Italy have been put into receivership by the European Union.

FARC Leader Alfonso Cano Dies in Combat

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Guillermo Le�n S�enz Vargas, who was known as Alfonso Cano and who headed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), died November 4 in a Colombian military attack in southeastern Cauca department. Colombian intelligence services had used U.S. electronic surveillance tools and CIA assistance to track Cano�s movements. With helicopters and planes overhead, his detachment of 20 combatants came under fire from a force variously estimated at from 1000 to 4000 troops.� Some regard the operation as an execution.�

A Phone Call from Fidel

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On Sunday October 9, Juventud Rebelde published Strange Disconnection , a report by students from the Faculty of Journalism about the problems associated with the use of the new technologies in the universities. The last thing they imagined was that this would lead to one of the biggest surprises of their lives.

"Where the 99% Kicked Out the 1 Percent"

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

From the remarks of Bill Preston, President AFGE Local 17,� at a November 18 panel sponsored by U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba and the Metro DC Coalition to Free the Cuban Five.� Cuba is a country where the 99% actually took over and kicked the 1% out of power. While we in the imperialist countries learn about current developments in Cuba's socialist economy, we cannot forget the internationalist duties of those of us who reside in the land of U.S. imperialism:

Democracy in Grave Danger

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Who runs Ireland? The revelation that documents relating to the forthcoming budget were found today (17 November) in Berlin in the German Bundestag, with German politicians poring over their contents, while neither D�il �ireann [Irish parliament in Dublin] nor, most importantly, the Irish� people have seen or read what is in store for them, is almost beyond belief.

Declaration of the Striking Greek Steelworkers

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Resolution of the General Assembly of the steelworkers of the �Helliniki Halivourgia� Industry Colleagues, hear the voice of the steelworkers!

Power to the People! Mavrikos in Peru

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A speech by George Mavrikos, General Secretary of the WFTU, to the international conference of CGTP Peru (General Confederation of Peruvian Workers) and the WFTU at the 13th Congress of CGTP Peru - Lima, November 16, 2011 It's a great honor and pleasure for the WFTU to be here today, together with various representatives of the international trade unions and trade unionists from Peru. We are particularly happy because we are celebrating a historic event, the 13th Congress of CGTP Peru, a militant, class-oriented, historic organization that has been a member of the WFTU for many years. The WFTU has led the class struggle for the interests of the working class all over the world for 66 years.

Human Rights Record of United States in 2010

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Editors' Note: Every year Washington prepares a series of reports on every other country on earth and what Washington thinks is wrong with the human rights situation everywhere else but in the United States of America. People's China, a perennial target of the the US propaganda campaign, which also targets Cuba and any other country whose political system fails to meet Washington's criteria, has prepared this valuable and detailed response. China's Information Office of the State Council, or cabinet, in April 2011 published a report entitled The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010. � Following is the full text:

Obama Ignores Global Warming

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The Obama Administration has largely remained passive about the critical imperative to reduce greenhouse gases to limit catastrophic global warming. Washington continues to insist upon exercising world leadership in all key global endeavors, including the environment, but has failed dramatically in terms of climate change. In fact, the White House is greatly expanding U.S. access to fossil fuel energy sources even as scientific and environmental organizations are intensifying their warnings about the need to immediately reduce greenhouse gas carbon emissions that are warming the planet.

Genocidal Cynicism

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

No sane person, especially someone who has had access to the elementary knowledge acquired in primary school, would agree that our species, especially those who are children, teenagers or youth, should be deprived of the right to live, today, tomorrow and forever.� Never have human beings, throughout their eventful history, as persons endowed with intelligence, ever heard of an experience like that.� I feel the duty to convey to those taking the trouble to read these Reflections the opinion that all of us, with no exception, are obliged to create awareness about the risks that humankind are running in an inexorable manner, towards a final and total catastrophe as the consequence of irresponsible decisions made by politicians who fate, rather than talent or merit, has placed the destiny of humankind in their hands.�

Wars for Profits: A No-Nonsense Guide to Why the US Seeks to Make Iran an International Pariah

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Flipping idly through my morning newspaper, my eyes fell upon a headline, which, given its significance, should have appeared on the front page, but instead was tucked away at the back, on page A9. �Israel won�t rule out attack on Iran�. (1)

Occupy America

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Beginning with Occupy Wall Street in September 2011, a protest movement spread across the United States to 70 major cities and hundreds of other communities. Similar actions emerged in scores of other nations. For the first two weeks, the corporate-owned mainstream media along with NPR did what they usually do with progressive protests: they ignored them. These were the same media that had given the Tea Party supporters saturation coverage for weeks on end, ordaining them �a major political force.�

"Occupy Wall Street" Finds Its Troubador

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

I think this might be the most important email I've ever sent out. Your response to it may, I hope, not only help promote my music at a crucial time, but may have at least some small impact in helping to foster a growing and vital social movement.

Six Fundamental Characteristics of a Communist Party

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Editors' note:� Several months ago, MLT posted Hans-Peter Brenner's article from the German weekly, Junge Welt, Of Saviors and Liquidators: V. I. Lenin, Alvaro Cunhal, Sam Webb. � It cited portions of a 2001 article by Alvaro Cunhal, Six Fundamental Characteristics of a Communist Party. We are grateful to Marcel Hostettler, a Swiss reader, for pointing out that the full article is available in English at the PCP web site: http://www.pcp.pt/en/ six-fundamental-characteristics-communist-party -�lvaro-cunhal.�

"A Stronger KKE Means Hope"

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The crisis in Greece is intensifying. A large mass rally-demonstration was carried out by the KKE on Friday night, November 4,� in Syntagma [Constitution] Square in Athens. The rally took place a few hours before the vote of confidence in the PASOK [social reformist] government, which was achieved by it (with 153 votes out of the 300 MPs in Parliament) with the promise that from now on it will seek wider consensus with whatever other bourgeois parties desire consensus. The main speaker at the large rally of the KKE was Aleka Papariga, General Secretary of the Central Committee, who stressed, among other things:

Where Does �Occupy Wall Street� Go From Here?

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

One of the most striking aspects of the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon is its failure to get any traction among the elite political strata, especially among elected officials with an eye on the upcoming elections. Sure, there have been numerous Democrats and even some Republicans who have, with an earnest, but patronizing tone, suggested that OWS is an understandable response to the pain inflicted by a sinking economy. But there has been no real attempt to harness the visible anger and outrage to the forthcoming political campaigns of 2012.

NATO's Genocidal Role

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On March 9th this year, under the title of NATO War, Lies, and Business, I published a new Reflection about the role of that warlike organization. I am selecting some fundamental paragraphs from that Reflection: As some may be aware, in September of 1969, Muammar al-Gaddafi, an Arab Bedouin soldier of a peculiar character and inspired by the ideas of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, promoted in the heart of the armed forces a movement overthrowing King Idris I of Libya, a country almost completely covered by desert and having very little population, located in northern Africa between Tunisia and Egypt.

Western Mercenaries and Corporations Pouring Into Libya

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Western security firms � a polite term for mercenary outfits � are cramming planes into Libya to make the country safe for an invasion of western capitalists, the real beneficiaries of NATO�s war.

Social Democracy, Soviet Socialism and the Bottom 99 Percent

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A measure of just how far to the right US electoral politics are is that the country doesn�t have a mainstream social democratic party. This absence prompted Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks to write It Didn�t Happen Here (1), the �it� being a social democratic party that could count on the ongoing support of a sizeable fraction of the working class population. By contrast, Western Europe and Canada have long had such parties, and social democratic parties have formed governments in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece and Canada as well as in Scandinavia and other places.

Interview with Salim Lamrani, Author of "State of Siege"

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

CSF [Cuba Si France, a solidarity group in France]: You've just published a new book under the title �tat de si�ge? What exactly do you cover in it? SL [Salim Lamrani, author]: As the book's subtitle suggests, it covers the unilateral economic sanctions that the United States first imposed upon Cuba at the height of the Cold War. The goal of these sanctions has been the overthrow of the revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, the social and economic reforms of which did not sit well with the Eisenhower administration of the period. More than a half century later the Soviet Union has disappeared and the Cold War is only a fading memory, still the United States persists in maintaining an economic state of siege that is suffocating for all levels of the Cuban population, although it� primarily effects the most vulnerable sectors: women, the elderly and children.

Obama, the Son of Africa, Claims a Continent�s Crown Jewels

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only engage for self-defence , says Obama, satirically. With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way.

Two Messages: To Fidel & Raul, and to the Cuban People

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

This is the message Cuban Five prisoner Rene Gonzalez sent to Fidel and Raul when he was released after spending 13 years in prison. It is followed, below, by his message to the Cuban people. Dear Comandante: First of all an embrace, my gratitude and appreciation not just for all of the support that you have invested in us, for the way in which you have mobilized an entire people and have mobilized international solidarity for our case, but � in the first place � for having served as an inspiration to us, for having been the example which we have followed during these 13 years, and for having been for us a flag behind which we were always going to march.

International Criticism of Webb's "A Party of Socialism for the 21st Century"

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Editors' Note: at readers' requests, we are printing, in one place, four major international criticisms of the Sam Webb article. Greece Greek Communist Party (KKE) International Relations Section, Central Committee, Athens, April 13, 2011    To the members and cadre of the CPUSA,  To the workers that struggle in the USA, To the communist and workers parties,

Greece, A Victim of Capitalism (Eng.; Esp.)

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Greece, cradle of slave-owning democracy, seems fated to be among the countries digging the upcoming grave of capitalist democracy. To understand what the future has in store for the people of Greece, you need to imagine an intruder breaking into your home, pointing a gun at your head and demanding you give him your salary, your savings, your car, your TV set and your refrigerator. That's how US writer and journalist Zoltan Zigedy sees the situation in his web site ZZ's Blog where, under the title Capitalism Mugs Greece. Who is Next?, he explains that the Greek people did not benefit at all from the orgiastic profits of international banking nor did it promote its irresponsible behavior, but now it is forced to pay the price for the damage which caused the collapse of the global capitalist system.

Adriana P�rez: "We are Keeping Alive the Hope That They Will Return"

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Adriana P�rez: We are keeping alive the hope that they will return    The life of her husband, Gerardo Hern�ndez, has all the elements of a movie. Leaving behind his family and work, using a false identity, he infiltrated terrorist groups to help stop planned attacks on the Cuban people. The Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez delivered a letter to President Clinton from Fidel Castro outlining criminal activities underway in Florida. Informed of the situation, the FBI decided to arrest five Cubans gathering information on groups like Brothers to the Rescue. One of these men was Gerardo, who was convicted by a jury in Miami and sentenced to two life terms in prison.   But his story is as a real life one. Adriana is firm in her explanation of the issues, but her voice cannot belie emotion when she recalls the man behind the hero. As we say goodbye, she asks, with a smile, if I think the media in the United States will publish the interview.   Do you think that the sentences your husbands received were a reward granted to anti-Castro forces in Florida?    We are totally convinced of that, since in the U.S. even self-confessed spies have been traded or deported or have been given much lighter sentences that the ones they [the Five] were given.

Wall Street as Public Enemy #1

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

There�s some talk in veteran left circles about the need to politically �educate� the adamantly leaderless, mostly white young people who have made Zuccotti Park in Manhattan�s financial district the center of the U.S. lefty world since September 17. Although there�s a large portion of Yippie-like mush in the Zuccotti mix � the kind of activism that seems more like aroma than substance � the core is clearly comprised of serious people determined to end the rule of the �One Percent.� The 99% versus 1% formula is quite powerful, directing the people�s anger towards the class that conducts its oppressive business on Wall Street: finance capitalists.

Class Warfare Indeed

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Over the last two decades or more, Republicans have been denouncing as class warfare any attempt at criticizing and restraining their mean one-sided system of capitalist financial expropriation. The moneyed class in this country has been doing class warfare on our heads and on those who came before us for more than two centuries. But when we point that out, when we use terms like class warfare, class conflict, and class struggle to describe the system of exploitation we live under - our indictments are dismissed out of hand and denounced as Marxist ideological ranting, foul and divisive.

Letter from San Antonio Activists Supporting the Cuban 5

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Oct. 2, 2011 The Honorable Jimmy Carter The Carter Center One Copenhill 453 Freedom Parkway Atlanta, GA 30307 Dear President Carter: We actors, artists, writers, teachers, cultural workers and other activists in the struggle for peace and justice in San Antonio, Texas, have read the letter that twenty Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 wrote you on April 8. We agree with the contents of that letter, which we have copied below, and we wish to add our names as signers to that letter. We are sending a copy of this letter to President Barack Obama, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to the five Cuban anti-terrorists who are in U.S. prisons, to the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, and to the U.S. office of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. Since we are not so well known as the twenty Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 who wrote you on April 8, we have added after our names for identification purposes the organization we are with, our title or some other identifier. We speak as individuals. If the organization with which we are associated has taken an official position, the organization will be listed separately. The following is the text of the April 8 letter to which we are referring:

War in Libya: Teaching a Lesson

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Critics say NATO assaulted Libya because of big power thirst for oil and supposed distaste for Libyan autocracy. Why Libya remains the only rebellious Arab nation receiving the NATO treatment remains unexplained, however. Earlier, after economic sanctions were lifted in 2004 and diplomatic recognition restored, the U.S. government seemed to have accepted Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Arab upheavals led to recalculation. Ghanaian columnist Prince Akyeampong recently alleged that Libya's good example represented a threat to big power hegemony. Living standards in Libya, he notes, are the highest in Africa, with superior health and educational outcomes. Families receive direct subsidies from oil revenues, and new infrastructure serves people's needs.

Chavez, Evo, and Obama

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Part One I take a break from the tasks that are occupying all of my time these days to dedicate a few words to the unique opportunity presented by the political science of the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly. The yearly event demands singular effort from those taking on the greatest of political responsibilities in many countries. For them, it constitutes a tough test.  For the fans of that art, and there are many since it vitally affects everybody, it is difficult to remove oneself from the temptation of observing the interminable but educational show. In the first place, there are infinite thorny subjects and conflicts of interests. For a great number of the participants it is necessary to take positions on events that constitute flagrant violations of principles.

The Chinese Alternative to Capitalist Crisis

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

So far China has managed to survive the post-2008 economic recession remarkably well. State control of the banks and public ownership of land, energy, communications, construction, transport, steel and of many hi-tech enterprises has enabled strategic state investment in infrastructure which has maintained growth at 9 and 10 per cent a year. The country�s transport system has been transformed.

China: Forward or Into the Ditch of Capitalism?

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Although the Communist Party of China holds the levers of state power, it is conscious of the reality that a party of 80 million members could not rule indefinitely against the will of more than 900 million adult citizens. Lessons have not only been learned from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, which divided the CPC leadership and shook a generation�s faith in the party, but from the collapse and counter-revolution in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

The Danger of Wider Regional War

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

1. The developments in the South Eastern Mediterranean are explosive and are shaping a very dangerous situation, with enormous consequences for the lives of the workers. After the imperialist intervention in Libya, which passes on the baton for the division of the loot, Turkey�s threats against Cyprus are strengthening, the relations between Turkey and Israel are sharpening, the aggressiveness of Israel against the Palestinian people, Lebanon, Egypt is being reinforced, while the imperialist plan for intervention in Syria is underway, which also aims at an offensive against Iran, using its nuclear programme as a pretext. These developments are related to more general realignments in region which are connected with the imperialist plan for the �new Middle East�, with the changes taking place in North Africa and in the Middle East after the overthrow of the anti-people governments in Egypt and Tunisia, with the attempts to reorganise the bourgeois political system, so that it corresponds with capitalist profitability�s current needs. This reality is distorted by the position concerning the �Arab Spring�, which the bourgeois and opportunist forces are reproducing.

Solidarity with Evo Morales

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The attached communiqu� was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) this past September 18th, 2011, in solidarity with president Evo Morales. It was approved before the events that took place this past Saturday, September 24th, but in essence it remains current. The events related to the confrontation between security forces and demonstrators served as a pretext for the right-wing opposition and corporate media to intensify its efforts to destabilize the administration of President Evo Morales. Certainly, the excesses by the security institutions are condemnable. More than ever, solidarity is on the agenda of democratic, progressive and revolutionary forces to support President Morales and his search, as stated in the attached communiqu�, to make whole the national territory� of this country. �

"The Media Attempt to Discredit Social Movements"

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Camila Vallejo: The media attempt to discredit social movements It is not easy to schedule an interview with Camila Vallejo. One must literally take a place in the long line of Chilean and international journalists requesting just a few minutes of her time. It's obvious that she is no friend of the Chilean press, mostly right-wing. Yet this young woman responds with the clarity that has made her the most visible face of the student movement which has put the Sebasti�n Pi�era government in a tight spot on seeing the neoliberal

Lessons from Our History

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of Canada. From its founding convention held in a barn in Guelph, Ontario in 1921 until today, we have striven to remain true to our guiding principles and theory, and to realize them in our daily activities and struggles � as a revolutionary party of the working class of Canada, based firmly on Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.

Robeson Display Traces Singer�s Fight for Equality and Unions

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Paul Robeson, once the premier African American artist of the 20th century, is well known as a scholar, athlete, actor and activist. Less well known is his long commitment to the union movement and his belief that the achievement of full equality for African Americans and other people of color is inextricably linked with the full equality of America�s working men and women.

Capitalism is Bad for Children

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

U.S. children are threatened, especially poor, Black, and Hispanic children. Hazards mount in tandem with child poverty, as wealth ends up in fewer and fewer hands. Capitalist rule makes children victims of class war. � The Children�s Defense Fund�s (CDF) report �The State of America�s Children 2011� presents data on child poverty, health and educational outcome, juvenile justice, family structure, housing, and exposure to violence. http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-of-americas-2011.pdf.� Findings are correlated with children�s ethnic origins. That emphasis takes on additional meaning from the suggestion of Vicente Navarro and others that race often serves as proxy for class.� http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/343.

Statehood: Victory or Setback?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Here comes September. The long-awaited month has finally arrived and brought with it controversy over the ramifications of the Palestinian Authority's proposal for statehood at the United Nations.

Why Longshore Workers are so Angry

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Longview, Washington State (Sept. 8)� Violence erupted today in a major labor dispute that has simmered for months at the Port of Longview, leading to work shutdowns at ports up and down the Washington coast. Why are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) � and their supporters in Washington and Oregon � so upset about a grain terminal that employs just 50 workers? Here's why. EGT Development is a joint venture of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Korea's STX Pan Ocean and St. Louis-based Bunge North America.

Imperialism Unmasked

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

If international solidarity is to be a cornerstone of building a militant and oppositional left in the US and other developed countries, then we have much work to do. Tragically, much of the left continues to tacitly or enthusiastically view NATO and US intervention in the affairs of far-off, small countries as support for just causes � noble military offensives for democratic change or the promotion of human rights.

Africa: Final Conquest For Pentagon's Global Military Sphere Of Influence

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Africa is the only grey area in the US's global military sphere of influence. America has the US North Command (USNORTHCOM), US EU Command, (USEUCOM), US South America Command (USSOUTHCOM), US Central Command (USCENTCOM) and US Pacific Command (USPACOM). These permanent and fully operational commands cover every region of the world � except for Africa.

NATO�s War on Libya is an Attack on African Development

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

�Africa the key to global economic growth�; this was a refreshingly honest recent headline from the Washington Post, but hardly one that qualifies as �news�. African labour and resources- as any decent economic historian will tell you � has been key to global economic growth for centuries.

Appeal of Committee of Families for Justice

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

October 6, 1976 is the anniversary of the bombing of the Cubana civilian airliner (Flight #455) off the coast of Barbados. This is the new website of the Cuban families of the victims of the sabotage to a Cuban civil airplane off the coast of Barbados, where 73 persons were killed, including a girl from Guyana and a young pregnant Cuban woman.

The Re-Colonization of Africa. Berlin, 1884 and Paris, 2011

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Last week the world was treated to the spectacle of the Paris Conference where one Western leader after the other � together with a few token Arab dictators � patted themselves on the back for liberating Libya from the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It quickly brought to mind the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884 at which Africa was sliced up among its European colonisers.

Adrift in Treacherous Waters

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The mass euphoria associated with the presidential election of Barack Obama is now a faint memory in the United States. For most US citizens the last three years are a lost opportunity for changing economic and political course. Today, the dominant mood is of fear and desperation.

Cuba Refuses to Recognize the Transitional National Council in Libya

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The Foreign Ministry of Cuba has withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Libya, where foreign intervention and NATO military aggression has exacerbated the conflict and prevented the Libyan people from advancing toward a peaceful negotiated solution, in full exercise of their self-determination.

Libya: The Worst Is Yet to Come

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Over the last days of war against Libya and even before, the corporate media have been trying to convince the people from this Arab nation and the world of the need to overthrow the regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi. Taking advantage of the massive riots that in Tunisia and Egypt ousted autocratic dictatorships which had the blessing of the United States and other European powers, the transnational media and the powers they bow down took the opportunity to present what started in Libya as a few hordes of people calling for civil war as a popular uprising with the support of the West.

The Events of August 19, 1991 in the USSR

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The events of August 19, 1991 in the USSR that capitalism�s advocates are evoking with a classic operation of ideological diversion, represented a desperate and failed attempt by the high ranking leaders of the Soviet Party and State to prevent the disintegration of the USSR, in yet another episode in the great struggle then being waged in the Soviet Union over the fate of this powerful multinational country and its socialist system.

How to Remember 9/11

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The awful words and platitudes are already being written and spoken: �Ten years later,� �ten years on,� �tenth anniversary,� �how to talk to the children,� �where were you when it happened,� etc, etc, etc. Of course I am speaking of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Vital Questions of the Party and the Class

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:09:19 +0100

This useful document from the Greek Communists deals with the demands of the developing political situation within Greece and vital questions of party and class 'The activity of the Party as the vanguard of the working class is not the same as trade union activity, nor is it simply a matter of supporting the unions. Its main mission is the political and organisational preparation of the forces of the working class for gaining power.'

More of the Same from Sam Webb

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Sam Webb's Does It Matter Which Party Wins? in Political Affairs continues in the same vein as in his 21st Century Socialism theses, where somehow he divines that there can be little doubt that Obama views himself on the side of struggling Americans.

A Society Run on Greed and Looting

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:38:14 +0100

While bankers have publicly looted the country's wealth and got away with it, it's not hard to see why those who are locked out of the gravy train might think they were entitled to help themselves to a mobile phone.

Palmera�s Jailing and FBI Raids Send Message

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In order to preserve democratic appearances, power brokers may limit repression to intimidation and creating divisions within dissident ranks. Surely, those targeted with the threat or reality of jail time, or cowed by abusive, free-wheeling investigations do remember. Yet activists who are spared or members of the general public either never knew, or may forget. The purpose here is thus to recall two recent episodes of serious repression, also to outline relevant mechanisms, particularly the use of jail time and police investigations to promote fear and divisions. These tools and objectives were features of both scenarios.

Cuban Annexationism in the US Congress

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It is notable that more than a million and a half Cubans in the United States, not all of them entitled to vote, have two Senators and four Congressmen in Washington, leaving behind Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, who should have more Representatives, the former because they far outnumber the Cubans and the latter because of their colonial status.

The Legacy of Che Guevara

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

An October 2007 article in The Wall Street Journal intended to deprecate Ernesto Che Guevara on the 40th anniversary of his assassination in Bolivia. Instead, the article was an unintentionally eloquent description of his significance in the Americas. The article, headlined Forty years after, the shadow of Che still falls over Latin America, reveals why the empire pursued Che with so much malice and assassinated him with so much hatred. Che was construed as the ideologue of communism and the armed revolution against the West in the Third World, too revolutionary even for Cuba, thus motivating Fidel Castro to send his great revolutionary collaborator abroad to promote the revolution in other countries.

Historic Labor Event in Support of the Cuban Five in Los Angeles

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On August 13 more than 200 workers, labor leaders and community activists came together at the United Service Workers West (SEIU) union hall to participate in an event in solidarity with the Cuban 5. Coincidently that same day Rene Gonzalez one of the five spent another birthday in prison far away from his love ones. As part of the event those attending were able see the travelling exhibit of Gerardo Hernandez's political cartoons entitled Humor from my Pen. During the event the participants watched a short video of Danny Glover and another video of the campaign of the British unions in support of the Cuban 5.  

Pentagon Prepares For Prospective War With China

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

This summer, despite America's continuing financial crisis, the Pentagon is effectively considering trading two military quagmires for the possibility of a third. Reducing its commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan as it refocuses on Asia, Washington is not so much withdrawing forces from the Persian Gulf as it is redeploying them for a prospective war with its largest creditor, China.

Sinking Fast

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Regrettably, there is much to write about that must take a backseat to the economy and the current panic in equity markets. For the moment, the political fiascos, imperialist misadventures and cultural crudities that cry out for commentary are driven into the background by the fears generated by the latest economic news. The loss of over 10% of equity value in one week terrorized business and economic pundits while driving investors to the exits. Making matters worse, there is an overriding, profound sense that no one in the seats of power knows what is wrong or how to fix it.

$20 Million for the Venezuelan Opposition in 2012

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Washington is preparing funds to support the opposition's campaign against President Hugo Chavez during the coming presidential elections in 2012.

Blueprint for a NATO Attack on Syria Revealed

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A strike on Syria is technically feasible, a former French general says. A Nato strike to disable the Syrian army is technically feasible according to experts, such as former French air chief Jean Rannou. But it could make the country's internal situation worse.

The Legitimacy of Socialism in Cuba

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

  How can we analyze the legitimacy of a political system?   Is it democratic to be elected by less than 20 percent of the vote?   Recently, in one of my articles for Progreso Weekly, I said that the capacity for resistance shown during half a century confirmed the popular will of the majority of Cubans in favor of socialism.  I still believe that this is the best evidence. However, for some this is not sufficient and they argue the alleged lack of legitimacy of a regime that, in their opinion, does not meet the democratic standards required in the world.

Mass Rally in Washington DC October 6

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

A large majority of the American people consistently support the following agenda: Tax the rich and corporations. End the wars, bring the troops home, and cut military spending. Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and improve Medicare by creating Medicare for All. End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests. Make a transition to a clean energy economy, and reverse environmental degradation. Protect worker rights, including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages. Get money out of politics. The government, dominated by elite economic interests, is going in the opposite direction from what the people want. The American people�s agenda is our agenda. We stand with the majority of Americans: human needs, not corporate greed.

China's Path to Socialism

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Following is the full text of the keynote speech made by Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at a grand gathering marking the 90th founding anniversary of the CPC at the Great Hall of the People Friday, July 1, 2011 Today, together with the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in China, we are holding this grand meeting here to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also to review the great course of China�s development and progress and look ahead at the bright future of development and prosperity for the country.

The State and a President's Assassination

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Book Review of JFK and the Unspeakable, by James W. Douglass, (Simon and Schuster, NY, 2010) As reported by the New York Times on June 13, 2011, the FBI has given significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash, or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention. These powers are in addition to measures taken earlier, one, for example, that allows agents to look into people and organizations 'proactively' and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Socialism�s Agenda Time

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

From 1928, when the Soviet Union laid the foundations of its socialist economy, until the late 1980s, when Gorbachev began to dismantle them, the Soviet economy grew without pause, except during the period of the Nazi war machine�s scorched-earth invasion. Unemployment and later economic insecurity became ills of the past. True, growth slowed beginning in the 1970s, but the major culprits were the diversion of budgets and R D to the military to counter threats of US and NATO aggression, and growing resource extraction costs, not the alleged inefficiencies of public ownership and central planning, as is now widely believed. (1)

United against the Puerto Rican Working Class!

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, UFCW and the Central Puertorrique�a de Trabajadores Sell out Public Workers in Puerto Rico On May 19, 2011 over 40 Puerto Rican trade union leaders from AFSCME Council 95, (Servidores P�blicos Unidos/ Public Servants United's Jos� La Luz), the UAW, the United Food and Commercial Workers (Luisa Acevedo, Federaci�n Central de Trabajadores/Central Federation of Workers) and the AFL-CIO (Lole Rodr�guez B�ez) and Federico Torres Montalvo from the Central Puertorrique�a de Trabajadores (CLAT, CMT) celebrated the reinstatement of the public employee collective bargaining law by the archreactionary, anti-worker, neoliberal Tea-Party colonial governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortu�o and the president of the colonial senate, Rivera Schatz.

The PCV and the Building of Socialism in Venezuela

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:32:14 +0100

Editor's note: This article appeared in Issue #2 of the International Communist Review which was published in early June. http://www.iccr.gr/site/ Nowadays, in Bolivarian Venezuela we are living through an intense debate about the theory and practice of socialism which the Communist Party of Venezuela welcomes with satisfaction and to which it is trying to contribute. Throughout the twentieth century, the oligarchy in power and their real masters, the U.S. monopolies, strove in vain to divert our people from the socialist road.

The International Situation and the US Left

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

As we look at the economic crisis affecting the US working class, especially African American and Hispanic workers, we can also point to the fact that the US is involved in at least three armed conflicts draining the economy of trillions of dollars. Alone, the intervention in Libya is costing billions. Recently, a Cuban analyst on the Telesur TV program Mesa Redonda (Roundtable) was talking about the cost of each US missile launched into Tripoli. Each missile is estimated to cost about a million dollars. This highlights the cost of war and also who is profiting from this imperial aggression.

Our Decision to Build Socialism Will Never Waver

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Jose Machado Ventura is the First Vice President of the Republic of Cuba. His speech was delivered on behalf of the Cuban Government at the official July 26th celebration, the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks,� a commemoration which, this year, was held in Ciego de Avila. Compa�ero Raul, July 26th Combatants, Ciego de Avila compatriots, and all of Cuba: Our first thoughts today, 58 years after the heroic deeds of July 26, 1953, go to those who, on that glorious day, gave their lives, many in the hours following the attacks, as victims of the cowardly and brutal repression unleashed by the Batista dictatorship. We offer our gratitude to all of the participants in the heroic actions and to our combative people, whose unremitting determination to struggle continues to guarantee our freedom and the right to determine our own destiny conquered January 1, 1959.

Obama and the Fake Debt Ceiling Crisis

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It's taken a long while, but I'm finally coming around. I'm about ready to admit the truth. Supporters of the president have long insisted that The Man simply knows things most of us don't. After all, he's the president. He's got access to the facts, the figures. He's looking further, they say, seeing deeper, playing sixth dimensional chess while most of us can barely get our minds around checkers. You know, they just might be right. If there's one thing this phony debt ceiling crisis proves, it's that Barack Obama really is smarter than most of us, especiall smarter than the tens of millions who voted him into office.

What It Takes to Make It Better

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On July 2, as people in the US began their Independence Day festivities, Associated Press writer, Paul Wiseman, offered a remarkable article for our fellow citizens to ponder. In The Economic Recovery Turns 2: Feel Better Yet?, Wiseman gives a summary of the meaning of recovery for ordinary folks. Wiseman observes: [ In this recovery], ...ordinary Americans are struggling with job insecurity, too much debt and pay raises that haven't kept up with prices at the grocery store and gas station. The economy's meager gains are going mostly to the wealthiest. True enough.

Libya War Lies Worse Than Iraq War Lies

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The lies used to justify the NATO war against Libya have surpassed those created to justify the invasion of Iraq. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both had honest observers on the ground for months following the rebellion in eastern Libya and both have repudiated every major charge used to justify the NATO war on Libya. According to the Amnesty observer, who is fluent in Arabic, there is not one confirmed instance of rape by the pro-Gadaffi fighters, not even a doctor who knew of one. All the Viagra mass rape stories were fabrications. Amnesty could not verify a single �African mercenary� fighting for Gaddafi story, and the highly charged international satellite television accounts of African mercenaries raping women that were used to panic much of the eastern Libyan population into fleeing their homes were fabrications.

British Communists Mark Chinese CP 90th Anniversary

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths and international secretary John Foster attended a seminar on 'Marxism in China' on July 20, hosted by the embassy of the People's Republic of China. Among the guests welcomed by Ambassador Liu Xiaoming were included CWU general secretary Billy Hayes, Labour MP Tristram Hunt, former Respect MP George Galloway, Dr Jenny Clegg, Marx Memorial Library president David McLellan and director John Callow, leading peace campaigner Carol Turner and European Transport Workers Federation president Graham Stevenson. As one of five panellists invited to deliver an opening address, Robert Griffiths said:

Of Saviors and Liquidators: V. I. Lenin, Alvaro Cunhal, Sam Webb.

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:46:59 +0100

On a �Feature� of Coping with a Political Defeat Certain Features of the Historical Development of Marxism is a work of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In it he dealt with the consequences of the defeat of the first Russian revolution of 1905.� At that time, many party members (including many recently enrolled intellectuals) left the revolutionary party in droves. Soon after that, the farewell to Marxism, which we too experienced in 1989-1991, became the fashion.

The Unravelling of the Murdoch Empire

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The apparent unraveling of the Murdoch empire is causing concern far and wide, not least among those sections of the establishment which feel that they are all a bit exposed as a result.� Max Hastings wrote in Saturday�s Daily Mail to that effect, in an article that echoed, from the other side of the chasm as it were, my own contribution on the subject, found on the site: <<http://21stcenturymanifesto.wordpress.com>> Much of the bourgeoisie is suddenly weary of looking at its reflection in the mirror and seeing Rupert Murdoch grinning back at them.

Strike the Empire Back

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Twenty-five years ago today I, along with many a Morning Star supporter, would have been preparing to head out east of Tower Hill to join the courageous sacked print workers and journalists on the Saturday night picket of fortress Wapping. Oh how the Establishment railed against us, and with them nearly every national title. The trade unions were a cancer at the heart of British society, you see. They were the bully boys, a threat to freedom of speech and opinion, an unaccountable power subverting the democratic process. And now? Well, we all know where we are � or do we?

Progressives Were Right: Obama's Health Plan Not Solving Crisis

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

New Data Show Why Simply Having Insurance Isn't Enough While the contest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination is already revolving around conservative-themed attacks on Obamacare, back when the healthcare bill was being legislated, the most important debate was within the Democratic Party, which held large majorities in both houses of Congress. On one side were the drug companies, the insurance companies and President Obama -- the latter who had not only disowned his prior support of single-payer healthcare but had also worked with his corporate allies to actively undermine a modest public insurance option. On the other side were progressives who opposed any bill which further cemented the private insurance industry as the primary mediator between doctors and patients.

Voices from the Other Side by Keith Bolender,

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

This new book is a tale of two cities. Keith Bolender�s, �From the Other Side� has terrorist victims in Cuba telling of violent, murderous assaults emanating from the United States, carried out mostly by counter revolutionary �migr�s living in Florida.� Taking that approach and not following the doings of powerbrokers is the book�s main virtue. Introducing the book, Noam Chomsky credits the author as one who �permits us to hear the voices of the victims of [U.S.] terrorism... for the first time.

Black Critics and President Obama

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:21:51 +0100

Are African Americans expected to shut up and suffer? That's just not democratic. Black America finds itself in an unusual moment. By any measure, many of our communities are suffering heavily during this economic downturn. Black unemployment is officially at 16.1 percent (some believe the real number hovers around 28 percent, making nearly one-third of black America jobless). Even those who have been fortunate to keep their jobs have seen their weekly wages decline.�

Reflections on the Cuban Five Art Exhibit

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

HOUSTON and SAN ANTONIO � Today I had the privilege of transporting the art of Antonio Guerrero from Houston to San Antonio. Antonio Guerrero is one of the Cuban 5 who are unjustly imprisoned in federal penitentiaries across the U.S. The Cuban 5 are five men who fought against terrorism perpetrated against their homeland, Cuba, and were unjustly incarcerated in this country. I drove the art to San Antonio during the incredible drought which has plagued Texas for the past couple months. It was hot, to say the least, dry and windy. Some might say this mirrors the demeanor of Texans

Two Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

WASHINGTON � President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

The Crisis and Imperialist Aggressiveness. Against French Imperialism

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Our anti-imperialist perspective cannot concentrate on only one imperialist center; it has to pay attention to the activities of all of them. We are fully aware of the redoubled military activity of the United States, for example, the opening of new bases, the reactivation of the Fourth Fleet, the troops still kept in Iraq and Afghanistan, the constant bombing operations over Pakistan, the intervention in Libya, the practice of cyber-warfare against Iran, the reinforcement of its fleet of drones, the modernization of its weaponry, the growing deployment of its navy in the Korean Peninsula and the straits of Hormuz and Aden, its overt and covert operations in Middle East, Africa and Latin America, etc.

The US Wars Against the Weak

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

When a good Canadian friend announced that he had sent me a book which he strongly recommended, I inferred from its title, War Against the Weak, that it would be about Washington's frequent aggressions against Third World countries, launched ever since the US became the only superpower in the planet after the Cold War. But when I received it, I was surprised to see that the book was about another iniquitous battle which the United States had prepared since the onset of the 20th century and which it implemented between the 1930s and 1960s, with the purpose of creating a superior dominant race.

How Libby, Montana, Got Medicare for All

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care�reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all-powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table--except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, Baucus had them arrested. As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open microphone saying, �We need more police.�

Cut the Work Week

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The economic news of the last few weeks has not been encouraging. In Europe, the various national debt crises remain unresolved, with a continued monopoly of banker-friendly austerity programs, and their predictable consequences of rising unemployment and stagnation. Debtor countries are being forced into the same financial orthodoxies that prolonged the depression of the 1920s and 30s, so we shouldn't be surprised at the failures they will bring. More recession may also be the future of the countries enforcing these once-discredited policies, as weak demand across the region represses consumer demand, investor confidence, and government spending.

After the Congress, WFTU Begins its Work

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Remarks of General Secretary George Mavrikos at WFTU Presidential Council Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, June 7,� 2011 Dear friends and comrades, We welcome you all to our meeting today. We thank you for your participation in our discussions. They aim to inform you about the initiatives and activities of the WFTU already decided by the Secretariat, to hear your suggestions.

Colombian Political Prisoners: Lessons in Solidarity and Accommodation

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Speaking in Bogota in May, UN official Christian Salazar reported that forced disappearances total 57,200 now, with 38,000 of them carried out between 2007 and 2009. The CIMEC human rights group indicates they have accelerated under the current Juan Manuel Santos Government.

Spontaneous "Indignation," or Organized Struggle?

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

On Friday the blogs which are guiding the movement of the �indignant� citizens published a statement of the �indignant� citizens in Syntagma Square [main square of Athens, Greece] that called on the left forces to leave the squares. Thus, the �anonymous� leaders of the �movement of the squares�, the �non-party aligned�, �spontaneous�, �non-politicised� citizens appear to be politicised and declaring themselves �anti-left�.