Opinion &mdash; Fight Back! News https://fightbacknews.org/tag:Opinion News and Views from the People's Struggle Fri, 28 Mar 2025 09:58:52 +0000 https://i.snap.as/RZCOEKyz.png Opinion &mdash; Fight Back! News https://fightbacknews.org/tag:Opinion Commentary: Vectors of capitalism and the commodification of the people’s voice https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-vectors-of-capitalism-and-the-commodification-of-the-peoples-voice?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[A man with glasses sits speaking with a group of people. As the struggle for national liberation continues, we experience attacks and opposition from various angles in our society. The state weaponizes law enforcement and the justice system in order to threaten, subdue and eradicate those in our movements. The mainstream media sits at the opposite arm of this imperial body, disseminating propaganda to dull and warp the minds of millions through half-truths and obfuscation. To effect the reinforcing chauvinist fervor and trust in the system of capitalistic exploitation, we are constantly bombarded with stories and roundtable discussions syndicated by media conglomerates. These figures are financially incentivized to keep the masses from adopting any semblance of class consciousness. !--more-- Perhaps one of the more observable forms of this process is the constant stream of lies and false narratives reported around the Palestinian genocide by politicians and political pundits. However, I’ve observed a less obvious form of media programming that has been significantly more effective in its goals of reproducing individualistic ideals and enforcing systems of oppression that collectively harm our communities. I’m talking about rap music. More specifically, I’m speaking about the productions by artists financed by industrial powerhouses to create vapid and heavily corporatized messaging. Media that contains materialistic glamorization provides one side of the myth of Black capitalism to a catchy 808. A genre that at one point featured a plethora of young Black artists creating art that called upon criticisms of the various mechanisms of this society built on white hegemony, has largely been replaced them by those who will, at best, make shallow references to Black radical political ideas while eschewing any calls for changing our society to better meet our material conditions. A Brand Nubian or Public Enemy of the early 90s, two groups who followed the Black radical tradition of utilizing media to raise political consciousness, simply could not and do not exist with any mainstream presence in the present day. That isn’t to say that these artists no longer exist, but they are not at the forefront of the media circuit. This has not stopped the rap industry from becoming a global enterprise, with artists selling out millions in stadium venues across the world and headlining major sports events to crowds that would otherwise have disapproved of their preponderance. Rap is bigger than it’s ever been in the history of the genre, and along with it the media programming is at an all-time high. As a person who has been a fan of the genre for over two decades, I’ve watched an industry become more and more co-opted into vectors of mass compliance for capitalist exploitation - from brand deals and corporate sponsorships to globalization through every major social media platform on the internet. Rap is everywhere, and as much love I have for the genre it is primarily not positioned for the betterment of our communities. Concretely, what we have today is an ever expanding list of artists who serve the interests of those who most profit off the U.S. propaganda machine. Take Kendrick Lamar, who is widely regarded in both numerical and cultural values (ticket sales, music awards and pop cultural relevance) as one of the most highly successful rap artists of the last few decades. His discography includes a mix of upbeat and party music to more introspective and culturally relatable works exploring themes of financial exploitation and interpersonal relationship struggles (To Pimp a Butterfly, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers). What his artistry lacks, however, is any attempt at providing a sober analysis of the systems that churn profit off of our oppression and raise the question of the legitimacy of capitalism. When he says, “But remember, you ain't pass economics in school. And everything you buy, taxes will deny. I'll Wesley Snipe your ass before thirty-five,” he speaks to one of the ways that the tax system works in tandem with scholastic institutions to produce talented Black artists ignorant of financial exploitation. At the same time, there is no call to divorce young Black artists from engaging in this industry in the first place. An exploitative practice in the system is pointed out, but the legitimacy of the system and those benefiting from it remain relatively untouched. In fact, in this same song he features media mogul and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment Dr. Dre, who not only mentored Kendrick in his rise to success but is directly responsible for signing him onto the record label which produced most of his albums. Aftermath Entertainment is but one of many subsidiaries of the media powerhouse Universal Music Group, which has managed the albums of some of the most commercially successful pop artists of the last few decades, from Justin Beiber to Taylor Swift. It’s also worth noting that the CEO of this company, Lucian Grainge, is a staunch Zionist who has maintained an imperialist stance on the genocide of Palestinians for years. Music produced under such a global conglomerate simply cannot be allowed to question monopoly capitalism in any substantive form, and yet it is this music that is widely distributed through all manner of media outlets. Clearly it represents no threat to any wing of the establishment, and the artists who are absorbed into the system are used to expand the profits of the CEOs and their constituents through brand endorsements and commercial advertising. Seeing an artist heralded by the masses appear in a TV commercial for a multinational financial corporation like American Express, which Kendrick did alongside Shaq in 2016, only one year after To Pimp a Butterfly, sends a dangerous message to those communities - a message exacerbated by the fact that Kendrick was put on tour by that same financial corporation in the same year. And, to bring it to recent events, was the featured artist for one of the most televised sporting events in the world. This message is antithetical to the movement we are trying to build, and one that we cannot allow to foster amongst the people unabated. Growing up in the Black Belt South, I’ve experienced the effects that rap and hip-hop cultures largely have had on myself and my peers. There was a time when I would have championed a Kendrick Lamar Superbowl show, without considering the implications of showcasing dozens of corporations before, during and after the performance. The same performance had one of the backup dancers, Zul-Qarnain Nantambu, arrested for independently showing international solidarity for those suffering imperial-backed genocide in Palestine. But I wasn’t a communist who believed in the science of Marxism-Leninism then, and now that I am I see another great need in our working class struggles against the state. As we move forward in our struggles of liberation against the forces committed to our repression, we simply cannot understate the significance of mass media and the celebrity class in manufacturing consent for this system of greed and exploitation. When Malcolm X said, “The media is the most powerful entity on earth.” he was speaking to the power of the media to fool the working-class into believing in false narratives and to keep from correctly identifying and mobilizing against those in power. In all our organizing grounds, we seek to correct these ideas through political education of the people. However, we need to go a step further and cultivate a culture of media analysis that identifies the vectors of these pacifying ideas and address their sources of influence. When internationally recognized artists such as Meg the Stallion and Will.i.am are brought onto Kamala Harris’ campaign trail, we must be able to recognize the role they are playing in the imperial core and treat them as such. It’s the same position that Malcolm X correctly identified in 1963, and that role has only intensified in the digital age. Furthermore, our struggle against this arm of monopoly capitalism must be waged within and amongst ourselves. Our media consumption and engagement should be filtered through a materialist analysis of the artists and the messaging they are distributing amongst the masses. That means being expressly critical of the music and supporting industries we engage in, even more so given where we situate ourselves in these national liberation struggles. This is not a call to destroy your copy of Late Registration because of Kanye West’ most recent trend towards nazi apologia and his professed allegiance to the most reactionary elements of the U.S. political landscape. Rather, it is a reminder of the many forces we are up against as we continue to advance the struggle towards collective liberation from imperialism. We wish to transform society into one that is free from class exploitation, and we must be ready and willing to engage in that struggle in every aspect it manifests in. Even if that manifestation is set to a dope bass line. #Culture #Opinion #Commentary #AfricanAmerican #Rap div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> A man with glasses sits speaking with a group of people.

As the struggle for national liberation continues, we experience attacks and opposition from various angles in our society. The state weaponizes law enforcement and the justice system in order to threaten, subdue and eradicate those in our movements. The mainstream media sits at the opposite arm of this imperial body, disseminating propaganda to dull and warp the minds of millions through half-truths and obfuscation. To effect the reinforcing chauvinist fervor and trust in the system of capitalistic exploitation, we are constantly bombarded with stories and roundtable discussions syndicated by media conglomerates. These figures are financially incentivized to keep the masses from adopting any semblance of class consciousness.

Perhaps one of the more observable forms of this process is the constant stream of lies and false narratives reported around the Palestinian genocide by politicians and political pundits.

However, I’ve observed a less obvious form of media programming that has been significantly more effective in its goals of reproducing individualistic ideals and enforcing systems of oppression that collectively harm our communities. I’m talking about rap music. More specifically, I’m speaking about the productions by artists financed by industrial powerhouses to create vapid and heavily corporatized messaging.

Media that contains materialistic glamorization provides one side of the myth of Black capitalism to a catchy 808. A genre that at one point featured a plethora of young Black artists creating art that called upon criticisms of the various mechanisms of this society built on white hegemony, has largely been replaced them by those who will, at best, make shallow references to Black radical political ideas while eschewing any calls for changing our society to better meet our material conditions.

A Brand Nubian or Public Enemy of the early 90s, two groups who followed the Black radical tradition of utilizing media to raise political consciousness, simply could not and do not exist with any mainstream presence in the present day. That isn’t to say that these artists no longer exist, but they are not at the forefront of the media circuit. This has not stopped the rap industry from becoming a global enterprise, with artists selling out millions in stadium venues across the world and headlining major sports events to crowds that would otherwise have disapproved of their preponderance. Rap is bigger than it’s ever been in the history of the genre, and along with it the media programming is at an all-time high.

As a person who has been a fan of the genre for over two decades, I’ve watched an industry become more and more co-opted into vectors of mass compliance for capitalist exploitation – from brand deals and corporate sponsorships to globalization through every major social media platform on the internet. Rap is everywhere, and as much love I have for the genre it is primarily not positioned for the betterment of our communities.

Concretely, what we have today is an ever expanding list of artists who serve the interests of those who most profit off the U.S. propaganda machine. Take Kendrick Lamar, who is widely regarded in both numerical and cultural values (ticket sales, music awards and pop cultural relevance) as one of the most highly successful rap artists of the last few decades. His discography includes a mix of upbeat and party music to more introspective and culturally relatable works exploring themes of financial exploitation and interpersonal relationship struggles (To Pimp a Butterfly, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers). What his artistry lacks, however, is any attempt at providing a sober analysis of the systems that churn profit off of our oppression and raise the question of the legitimacy of capitalism.

When he says, “But remember, you ain't pass economics in school. And everything you buy, taxes will deny. I'll Wesley Snipe your ass before thirty-five,” he speaks to one of the ways that the tax system works in tandem with scholastic institutions to produce talented Black artists ignorant of financial exploitation. At the same time, there is no call to divorce young Black artists from engaging in this industry in the first place. An exploitative practice in the system is pointed out, but the legitimacy of the system and those benefiting from it remain relatively untouched. In fact, in this same song he features media mogul and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment Dr. Dre, who not only mentored Kendrick in his rise to success but is directly responsible for signing him onto the record label which produced most of his albums.

Aftermath Entertainment is but one of many subsidiaries of the media powerhouse Universal Music Group, which has managed the albums of some of the most commercially successful pop artists of the last few decades, from Justin Beiber to Taylor Swift. It’s also worth noting that the CEO of this company, Lucian Grainge, is a staunch Zionist who has maintained an imperialist stance on the genocide of Palestinians for years. Music produced under such a global conglomerate simply cannot be allowed to question monopoly capitalism in any substantive form, and yet it is this music that is widely distributed through all manner of media outlets. Clearly it represents no threat to any wing of the establishment, and the artists who are absorbed into the system are used to expand the profits of the CEOs and their constituents through brand endorsements and commercial advertising.

Seeing an artist heralded by the masses appear in a TV commercial for a multinational financial corporation like American Express, which Kendrick did alongside Shaq in 2016, only one year after To Pimp a Butterfly, sends a dangerous message to those communities – a message exacerbated by the fact that Kendrick was put on tour by that same financial corporation in the same year. And, to bring it to recent events, was the featured artist for one of the most televised sporting events in the world. This message is antithetical to the movement we are trying to build, and one that we cannot allow to foster amongst the people unabated.

Growing up in the Black Belt South, I’ve experienced the effects that rap and hip-hop cultures largely have had on myself and my peers. There was a time when I would have championed a Kendrick Lamar Superbowl show, without considering the implications of showcasing dozens of corporations before, during and after the performance. The same performance had one of the backup dancers, Zul-Qarnain Nantambu, arrested for independently showing international solidarity for those suffering imperial-backed genocide in Palestine. But I wasn’t a communist who believed in the science of Marxism-Leninism then, and now that I am I see another great need in our working class struggles against the state.

As we move forward in our struggles of liberation against the forces committed to our repression, we simply cannot understate the significance of mass media and the celebrity class in manufacturing consent for this system of greed and exploitation. When Malcolm X said, “The media is the most powerful entity on earth.” he was speaking to the power of the media to fool the working-class into believing in false narratives and to keep from correctly identifying and mobilizing against those in power.

In all our organizing grounds, we seek to correct these ideas through political education of the people. However, we need to go a step further and cultivate a culture of media analysis that identifies the vectors of these pacifying ideas and address their sources of influence. When internationally recognized artists such as Meg the Stallion and Will.i.am are brought onto Kamala Harris’ campaign trail, we must be able to recognize the role they are playing in the imperial core and treat them as such. It’s the same position that Malcolm X correctly identified in 1963, and that role has only intensified in the digital age.

Furthermore, our struggle against this arm of monopoly capitalism must be waged within and amongst ourselves. Our media consumption and engagement should be filtered through a materialist analysis of the artists and the messaging they are distributing amongst the masses. That means being expressly critical of the music and supporting industries we engage in, even more so given where we situate ourselves in these national liberation struggles. This is not a call to destroy your copy of Late Registration because of Kanye West’ most recent trend towards nazi apologia and his professed allegiance to the most reactionary elements of the U.S. political landscape. Rather, it is a reminder of the many forces we are up against as we continue to advance the struggle towards collective liberation from imperialism. We wish to transform society into one that is free from class exploitation, and we must be ready and willing to engage in that struggle in every aspect it manifests in. Even if that manifestation is set to a dope bass line.

#Culture #Opinion #Commentary #AfricanAmerican #Rap

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-vectors-of-capitalism-and-the-commodification-of-the-peoples-voice Mon, 24 Feb 2025 22:31:13 +0000 Trump halt to penny production will hurt low-income folks https://fightbacknews.org/trump-halt-to-penny-production-will-hurt-low-income-folks?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[San José, CA - On Sunday, February 9, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to stop producing pennies. Can he legally do this? Probably not, but Trump has shown a disregard for the law and even the Constitution that he swore to uphold. After all, he is a convicted criminal. It is Congress, not the president, nor the Federal Reserve Bank that determines the production of coins. !--more-- With fewer pennies in circulation, businesses will round off their prices. In Canada, they phased out their penny ten years ago, and required businesses to round off, both up and down, to the nearest five cents for the total cost, plus sales taxes. Without any regulation, businesses here in the United States would tend to round up, raising prices and giving a bump to inflation. Some of the greediest businesses could even round up the price of each item, and then round up the sales tax, to squeeze even more from the consumer. This would fall hardest on lower-income consumers who use cash. Now it is true, as Trump said, that the penny cost more than one cent to produce and distribute, so that the government loses money on this; this has been going on for years. But I have to ask, if the goal is purely about saving money, why stop production of the penny and not the nickel? While it cost two cents more to produce a penny than its face value, it costs the U.S. Mint five cents more to produce a nickel. Perhaps a difference is who is portrayed on each coin. The penny has the face of President Lincoln, who led the country in a war against the slave South. On the other hand, the nickel shows President Jefferson, who was a slave owner. Normally I wouldn’t think of this, but with Elon Musk and his Nazi salute, his support for neo-Nazis in Germany, and his band of racist and eugenicist interns in the DOGE, and Trump’s own bigotry, it is hard to argue that this had no role. #Opinion #Commentary #CapitalismAndEconomy #Trump div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> San José, CA – On Sunday, February 9, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to stop producing pennies.

Can he legally do this? Probably not, but Trump has shown a disregard for the law and even the Constitution that he swore to uphold. After all, he is a convicted criminal. It is Congress, not the president, nor the Federal Reserve Bank that determines the production of coins.

With fewer pennies in circulation, businesses will round off their prices. In Canada, they phased out their penny ten years ago, and required businesses to round off, both up and down, to the nearest five cents for the total cost, plus sales taxes. Without any regulation, businesses here in the United States would tend to round up, raising prices and giving a bump to inflation. Some of the greediest businesses could even round up the price of each item, and then round up the sales tax, to squeeze even more from the consumer. This would fall hardest on lower-income consumers who use cash.

Now it is true, as Trump said, that the penny cost more than one cent to produce and distribute, so that the government loses money on this; this has been going on for years. But I have to ask, if the goal is purely about saving money, why stop production of the penny and not the nickel? While it cost two cents more to produce a penny than its face value, it costs the U.S. Mint five cents more to produce a nickel.

Perhaps a difference is who is portrayed on each coin. The penny has the face of President Lincoln, who led the country in a war against the slave South. On the other hand, the nickel shows President Jefferson, who was a slave owner. Normally I wouldn’t think of this, but with Elon Musk and his Nazi salute, his support for neo-Nazis in Germany, and his band of racist and eugenicist interns in the DOGE, and Trump’s own bigotry, it is hard to argue that this had no role.

#Opinion #Commentary #CapitalismAndEconomy #Trump

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/trump-halt-to-penny-production-will-hurt-low-income-folks Mon, 10 Feb 2025 21:37:15 +0000 Comentario: La candidata a Fiscal General es una sirviente de Trump empeñada en reprimir a los manifestantes. https://fightbacknews.org/comentario-la-candidata-a-fiscal-general-es-una-sirviente-de-trump-empenada-en?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Pam Bondi. El 25 de noviembre, el presidente electo Donald Trump anunció su nominación de Pam Bondi para fiscal general de los Estados Unidos. Bondi, de Tampa, es la antigua fiscal general para el estado de Florida. Si es confirmada, ella dirigiría el Departamento de Justicia (DOJ), que supervisa agencias como el Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) y la (Administración de Control de Drogas) DEA. !--more-- “El cargo más importante después del presidente de los Estados Unidos en la próxima administración, no soy yo. Es a quién seleccionemos como fiscal general,” dijo el vicepresidente electo JD Vance, en una entrevista con la National Public Radio. Esta candidatura marca dos cambios importantes. Primero, el gobierno estadounidense está tan polarizado que un DOJ de Trump no hará ningún intento de parecer justicia ciega, por encima de políticas partidarias. Segundo, Trump quiere aprovechar los poderes federales para pisotear el derecho a reunirse. Bondi: Una títere corrupta Él anunció su decisión pocas horas después de que su anterior candidato, el representante federal Matt Gaetz, renunciara. Trump escogió a Gaetz por su lealtad política, pero tuvo que abandonarlo porque el congresista enfrentaba una investigación federal por tráfico sexual. Bondi claramente estaba en la lista corta de Trump. Ya se predice que ella tendrá un camino más fácil para ser confirmada, considerando su experiencia en la fiscalía. Esta administración entrante tiene a los antiguos fiscales generales Jeff Sessions y William Barr en el retrovisor. Ambos cayeron en desgracia con Trump por romper filas cuando él estuvo bajo investigación. Bondi, por otro lado, tiene una historia comprobada de dedicación. Su lealtad data de 2013, cuando su oficina de repente dio marcha atrás a investigar la Universidad Trump. A los pocos días de este cambio de postura, un comité de acción política apoyando la campaña de reelección de Bondi recibió una contribución de $25,000 de la Fundación Donald J. Trump. En 2016, Bondi apareció en una manifestación por Trump. En 2020, sirvió en su equipo legal durante su primer juicio político. Ella se unió a los gritos de “detener el robo" cuando Trump perdió la elección de ese año. En mayo de 2023, ella apareció en su juicio criminal. Como fiscal general de Florida, Bondi se opuso al matrimonio gay y se unió a una demanda contra la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio. Su tiempo en el sector privado incluyó hacer cabildeo para Amazon y Uber. Actualmente preside los brazos legales del America First Policy Institute, un centro de estudios pro-Trump. En un artículo reciente del Daily Caller, los antiguos empleados de Bondi insinúan que su DOJ exoneraría a Trump y enjuiciaría a oponentes en el Partido Demócrata. Lista para criminalizar las protestas Bondi llego a los titulares después de su entrevista con Newsmax en octubre 2023 sobre los activistas estudiantiles. “Francamente, necesitan ser sacados de nuestro país, o el FBI debería entrevistarlos de inmediato cuando dicen ‘Apoyo a Hamas. Soy Hamas,’” dijo. Eso es peligroso, porque las cortes del DOJ son responsables de escuchar casos de deportación. Las condenas por “delitos que impliquen depravación moral” son motivo para la deportación bajo la Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad, incluso para residentes permanentes y los titulares de visas. Estos pueden incluir delitos menores, como crímenes de odio (a menudo interpretados para incluir el anti-sionismo), acoso, y otros cargos injustamente usados contra manifestantes. Hay defensas legales potenciales, dependiendo del caso. Además de esto, Bondi declaró que el FBI debería investigar manifestantes. Esto va más allá de cualquier cosa que Trump ha dicho en público. También representaría una clara violación de los derechos de la Primera Enmienda. Más allá de estas declaraciones sobre la solidaridad con Palestina, ella ha elaborado planes para reprimir el Movimiento por la Liberación Negra. Menos de una semana después de que Trump ganara la elección de este año, el ala de Bondi del America First Policy Institute publicó un reporte sobre protestas en Portland, Oregón durante la rebelión por George Floyd y Breonna Taylor. El informe promete un “enfoque de América primero a la violencia liberal.” El momento no podría enviar una señal más clara de que la candidata a fiscal general está espumando en la boca por la represión racista y política. La elección de la ciudad para el reporte también es significativa. Portland es donde agentes federales sin identificación se llevaron a personas de las calles en 2020. Por ahora, una ley de 2021 exige que oficiales federales lleven una identificación visible mientras realizan control de multitudes. Las organizaciones del movimiento ganaron esto después del levantamiento en Portland. El reporte también culpa a los “fiscales progresistas renegados” por retirar los cargos contra “más del 90%” de los manifestantes de Portland, indicando la voluntad de Bondi de maximizar las acusaciones contra activistas. Dicho esto, Bondi comparte su ciudad de origen con las 5 de Tampa. Estas cinco mujeres enfrentaron cargos de delito mayor inventados por protestar ataques contra la diversidad en la educación, pero vencieron todos los cargos. Como ellas, los manifestantes en solidaridad con Palestina de costa a costa han resistido en la corte y varias veces han ganado. Las estrategias más exitosas para luchar en contra se basan en abogados defensores agresivos y campañas de apoyo público. Entre más intensa sea la batalla contra la injusticia, más mostrará este sistema su putrefacción. #PeoplesStruggles #Trump #Bondi #Opinion #Commentary div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Pam Bondi.

El 25 de noviembre, el presidente electo Donald Trump anunció su nominación de Pam Bondi para fiscal general de los Estados Unidos. Bondi, de Tampa, es la antigua fiscal general para el estado de Florida. Si es confirmada, ella dirigiría el Departamento de Justicia (DOJ), que supervisa agencias como el Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) y la (Administración de Control de Drogas) DEA.

“El cargo más importante después del presidente de los Estados Unidos en la próxima administración, no soy yo. Es a quién seleccionemos como fiscal general,” dijo el vicepresidente electo JD Vance, en una entrevista con la National Public Radio.

Esta candidatura marca dos cambios importantes. Primero, el gobierno estadounidense está tan polarizado que un DOJ de Trump no hará ningún intento de parecer justicia ciega, por encima de políticas partidarias. Segundo, Trump quiere aprovechar los poderes federales para pisotear el derecho a reunirse.

Bondi: Una títere corrupta

Él anunció su decisión pocas horas después de que su anterior candidato, el representante federal Matt Gaetz, renunciara. Trump escogió a Gaetz por su lealtad política, pero tuvo que abandonarlo porque el congresista enfrentaba una investigación federal por tráfico sexual. Bondi claramente estaba en la lista corta de Trump. Ya se predice que ella tendrá un camino más fácil para ser confirmada, considerando su experiencia en la fiscalía.

Esta administración entrante tiene a los antiguos fiscales generales Jeff Sessions y William Barr en el retrovisor. Ambos cayeron en desgracia con Trump por romper filas cuando él estuvo bajo investigación. Bondi, por otro lado, tiene una historia comprobada de dedicación.

Su lealtad data de 2013, cuando su oficina de repente dio marcha atrás a investigar la Universidad Trump. A los pocos días de este cambio de postura, un comité de acción política apoyando la campaña de reelección de Bondi recibió una contribución de $25,000 de la Fundación Donald J. Trump. En 2016, Bondi apareció en una manifestación por Trump. En 2020, sirvió en su equipo legal durante su primer juicio político. Ella se unió a los gritos de “detener el robo” cuando Trump perdió la elección de ese año. En mayo de 2023, ella apareció en su juicio criminal.

Como fiscal general de Florida, Bondi se opuso al matrimonio gay y se unió a una demanda contra la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio. Su tiempo en el sector privado incluyó hacer cabildeo para Amazon y Uber. Actualmente preside los brazos legales del America First Policy Institute, un centro de estudios pro-Trump.

En un artículo reciente del Daily Caller, los antiguos empleados de Bondi insinúan que su DOJ exoneraría a Trump y enjuiciaría a oponentes en el Partido Demócrata.

Lista para criminalizar las protestas

Bondi llego a los titulares después de su entrevista con Newsmax en octubre 2023 sobre los activistas estudiantiles. “Francamente, necesitan ser sacados de nuestro país, o el FBI debería entrevistarlos de inmediato cuando dicen ‘Apoyo a Hamas. Soy Hamas,’” dijo.

Eso es peligroso, porque las cortes del DOJ son responsables de escuchar casos de deportación. Las condenas por “delitos que impliquen depravación moral” son motivo para la deportación bajo la Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad, incluso para residentes permanentes y los titulares de visas. Estos pueden incluir delitos menores, como crímenes de odio (a menudo interpretados para incluir el anti-sionismo), acoso, y otros cargos injustamente usados contra manifestantes. Hay defensas legales potenciales, dependiendo del caso.

Además de esto, Bondi declaró que el FBI debería investigar manifestantes. Esto va más allá de cualquier cosa que Trump ha dicho en público. También representaría una clara violación de los derechos de la Primera Enmienda.

Más allá de estas declaraciones sobre la solidaridad con Palestina, ella ha elaborado planes para reprimir el Movimiento por la Liberación Negra.

Menos de una semana después de que Trump ganara la elección de este año, el ala de Bondi del America First Policy Institute publicó un reporte sobre protestas en Portland, Oregón durante la rebelión por George Floyd y Breonna Taylor. El informe promete un “enfoque de América primero a la violencia liberal.”

El momento no podría enviar una señal más clara de que la candidata a fiscal general está espumando en la boca por la represión racista y política. La elección de la ciudad para el reporte también es significativa. Portland es donde agentes federales sin identificación se llevaron a personas de las calles en 2020.

Por ahora, una ley de 2021 exige que oficiales federales lleven una identificación visible mientras realizan control de multitudes. Las organizaciones del movimiento ganaron esto después del levantamiento en Portland.

El reporte también culpa a los “fiscales progresistas renegados” por retirar los cargos contra “más del 90%” de los manifestantes de Portland, indicando la voluntad de Bondi de maximizar las acusaciones contra activistas.

Dicho esto, Bondi comparte su ciudad de origen con las 5 de Tampa. Estas cinco mujeres enfrentaron cargos de delito mayor inventados por protestar ataques contra la diversidad en la educación, pero vencieron todos los cargos. Como ellas, los manifestantes en solidaridad con Palestina de costa a costa han resistido en la corte y varias veces han ganado. Las estrategias más exitosas para luchar en contra se basan en abogados defensores agresivos y campañas de apoyo público. Entre más intensa sea la batalla contra la injusticia, más mostrará este sistema su putrefacción.

#PeoplesStruggles #Trump #Bondi #Opinion #Commentary

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/comentario-la-candidata-a-fiscal-general-es-una-sirviente-de-trump-empenada-en Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:01:30 +0000 Commentary: Ruling class media paints Luigi Mangione as a villain, but we are not here for it https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-ruling-class-media-paints-luigi-mangione-as-a-villain-but-we-are?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[By Regina Joseph, Tiffani Mendez and Thomas Speirs On December 4, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in broad daylight, right in front of the hotel where a UHC investors meeting was set to begin. What followed was a multi-million dollar manhunt that culminated in the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. Since then, the ruling class media have worked overtime to paint Mangione as a villain, although he represents people’s righteous anger at a health “care” system that is killing us. !--more-- In one breath, Fox News hosts derided those who applaud Mangione as “nutbags” and claimed they had a “sickness.” Then, in the same segment, Laura Ingram said subway killer Daniel Penny was a hero. She supports individuals such as Daniel Penny because of a deeply rooted racism and white chauvinism. In Ingram’s world, the actions of Daniel Penny, the white ex-Marine found not guilty of the murder of Jordan Neely, a homeless Black person and street performer, meet with her approval precisely because she embraces keeping the oppressed oppressed. The hypocrisy is blatant and unsurprising. Fox News is silently shouting that the life of a Black homeless man is worth less than the life of a high-powered white health insurance executive. Right-wingers love vigilantism as long as it doesn’t target the rich and powerful. They celebrate racist killers like George Zimmerman, Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny but condemn Luigi Mangione. It’s not just the right-wing media that is trying to persuade Americans against Mangione; liberal publications like The Daily Beast have published headlines like “Luigi Mangione Destroyed His Grandfather’s Rags-to-Riches Legacy.” The media is attempting to frame the focus away from the systemic failures Mangione’s actions highlighted and redirect it toward character assassination. The media tries to turn the public eye towards the privileged upbringing of Mangione and attempts to bury the man’s chronic suffering, which was much like the suffering of many Americans. This isn't an issue of “left-wing lunatics” celebrating the death of a CEO. The events of the last week shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of Americans drowning in medical debt and grieving loved ones who were killed by the profit-driven healthcare industry. Sky-high premiums, along with benefits that are cut more steeply each year, are taking a toll on the people. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation found that in 2022, the average American spent significantly more on healthcare than other countries, at $13,493 per person or $4.5 trillion nationwide. Additionally, Statista reports, “As of 2023, around 19 percent of U.S. adults were satisfied with the total healthcare cost in the United States.” According to Value Penguin, UnitedHealthcare’s claim denial rate is the highest in the industry, at 32%. Physicians for a National Health Program also found that 44,789 Americans die every year due to a lack of healthcare. The United States of America is touted as the wealthiest country in the world. Yet, it is the only developed nation that does not provide free universal healthcare to its citizens. The American people are aware of the growing social inequality. They are aware of the ways that the wealthy 1% uses power and money to disenfranchise the masses. Therefore, the ruling class must contend with what will undoubtedly be increased hostility as the people grapple with the hypocrisies of our present society. Luigi Mangione is not the villain - the healthcare industry is. Ultimately, Brian Thompson's death does not undo this for-profit industry's systemic failures. Individual actions like this are not the answer. Organizing is. Donald Trump will be sworn in as president soon, and he has already promised to undo the Affordable Care Act. What the killing of Brian Thompson has shown is that the masses of the American people want something better, sooner rather than later. Now is the time to demand single-payer healthcare. The current system, which places the profits of the wealthy before the needs of the people, needs to go. #Opinion #Commentary #Healthcare #LuigiMangione #HealthInsurance div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> By Regina Joseph, Tiffani Mendez and Thomas Speirs

On December 4, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in broad daylight, right in front of the hotel where a UHC investors meeting was set to begin. What followed was a multi-million dollar manhunt that culminated in the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione.

Since then, the ruling class media have worked overtime to paint Mangione as a villain, although he represents people’s righteous anger at a health “care” system that is killing us.

In one breath, Fox News hosts derided those who applaud Mangione as “nutbags” and claimed they had a “sickness.” Then, in the same segment, Laura Ingram said subway killer Daniel Penny was a hero. She supports individuals such as Daniel Penny because of a deeply rooted racism and white chauvinism. In Ingram’s world, the actions of Daniel Penny, the white ex-Marine found not guilty of the murder of Jordan Neely, a homeless Black person and street performer, meet with her approval precisely because she embraces keeping the oppressed oppressed.

The hypocrisy is blatant and unsurprising. Fox News is silently shouting that the life of a Black homeless man is worth less than the life of a high-powered white health insurance executive.

Right-wingers love vigilantism as long as it doesn’t target the rich and powerful. They celebrate racist killers like George Zimmerman, Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny but condemn Luigi Mangione.

It’s not just the right-wing media that is trying to persuade Americans against Mangione; liberal publications like The Daily Beast have published headlines like “Luigi Mangione Destroyed His Grandfather’s Rags-to-Riches Legacy.” The media is attempting to frame the focus away from the systemic failures Mangione’s actions highlighted and redirect it toward character assassination. The media tries to turn the public eye towards the privileged upbringing of Mangione and attempts to bury the man’s chronic suffering, which was much like the suffering of many Americans.

This isn't an issue of “left-wing lunatics” celebrating the death of a CEO. The events of the last week shine a light on the hundreds of thousands of Americans drowning in medical debt and grieving loved ones who were killed by the profit-driven healthcare industry. Sky-high premiums, along with benefits that are cut more steeply each year, are taking a toll on the people. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation found that in 2022, the average American spent significantly more on healthcare than other countries, at $13,493 per person or $4.5 trillion nationwide.

Additionally, Statista reports, “As of 2023, around 19 percent of U.S. adults were satisfied with the total healthcare cost in the United States.” According to Value Penguin, UnitedHealthcare’s claim denial rate is the highest in the industry, at 32%. Physicians for a National Health Program also found that 44,789 Americans die every year due to a lack of healthcare. The United States of America is touted as the wealthiest country in the world. Yet, it is the only developed nation that does not provide free universal healthcare to its citizens.

The American people are aware of the growing social inequality. They are aware of the ways that the wealthy 1% uses power and money to disenfranchise the masses. Therefore, the ruling class must contend with what will undoubtedly be increased hostility as the people grapple with the hypocrisies of our present society.

Luigi Mangione is not the villain – the healthcare industry is. Ultimately, Brian Thompson's death does not undo this for-profit industry's systemic failures. Individual actions like this are not the answer. Organizing is.

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president soon, and he has already promised to undo the Affordable Care Act. What the killing of Brian Thompson has shown is that the masses of the American people want something better, sooner rather than later. Now is the time to demand single-payer healthcare. The current system, which places the profits of the wealthy before the needs of the people, needs to go.

#Opinion #Commentary #Healthcare #LuigiMangione #HealthInsurance

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-ruling-class-media-paints-luigi-mangione-as-a-villain-but-we-are Fri, 20 Dec 2024 20:49:20 +0000 Commentary: AG nominee is a Trump flunky bent on repressing protesters https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-ag-nominee-is-a-trump-flunky-bent-on-repressing-protesters?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[A photographic portrait of a blonde woman. On November 25, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Pam Bondi for U.S. Attorney General. Bondi, from Tampa, is the former AG for the state of Florida. If confirmed, she would head the Department of Justice, which oversees agencies like the FBI and the DEA. “The most important job after president of the United States in the next administration, it's not me. It's who we select as attorney general,” said Vice President-elect JD Vance, in an interview with National Public Radio. !--more-- This nomination marks two important shifts. First, the U.S. government is so polarized that a Trump DOJ will make no attempt to appear like blind justice, above partisan politics. Second, Trump wants to leverage federal powers to trample on the right to assemble. Bondi: A corrupt stooge He announced his decision within hours of his prior nomination, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, stepping down. Trump chose Gaetz for his political loyalty but had to abandon him because the congressman faced a federal investigation for sex trafficking. Bondi was clearly on Trump’s short list. She’s already predicted to have a smoother ride getting confirmed, considering her background in prosecution. This incoming administration has former AGs Jeff Sessions and William Barr in the rearview mirror. Both fell out of Trump’s favor for breaking ranks when he came under investigation. Bondi, on the other hand, has a tried-and-true history of dedication. Her allegiance dates to 2013, when her office suddenly went back on investigating Trump University. Within days of this reversal, a political action committee supporting Bondi’s re-election campaign received a $25,000 contribution from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. In 2016, Bondi showed up at a rally for Trump. In 2020, she served on his legal team during his first impeachment trial. She joined the cries to “stop the steal” when Trump lost that year’s election. In May 2023, she showed up for his criminal trial. As Florida’s attorney general, Bondi opposed gay marriage and joined a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. Her time in the private sector included lobbying for Amazon and Uber. She currently chairs the legal arms of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank. In a recent Daily Caller article, Bondi’s former employees hint that her DOJ would exonerate Trump and prosecute opponents in the Democratic Party. Ready to criminalize protest Bondi made headlines after her October 2023 Newsmax interview on student activists. “Frankly, they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away when they’re saying, ‘I support Hamas. I am Hamas,’” she said. That is dangerous, because DOJ courts are responsible for hearing deportation cases. Convictions for “crimes involving moral turpitude” are grounds for deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act, even for legal permanent residents and visa holders. These can include misdemeanors, such as hate crime (often interpreted to include anti-Zionism), harassment, and other charges unjustly leveraged against protesters. There are potential legal defenses, depending on the case. On top of this, Bondi declared that the FBI should investigate protesters. This goes farther than anything Trump has said in public. It would also represent a clear violation of First Amendment rights. Beyond these statements on Palestine solidarity, she’s drafted plans to crack down on the Black Liberation Movement. Less than a week after Trump won this year’s election, Bondi’s wing of the America First Policy Institute released a report on Portland, Oregon protests during the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rebellion. It promises an “America First approach to liberal violence.” The timing could not send a clearer signal that the AG nominee is foaming at the mouth for racist and political repression. The report’s choice of city is also significant. Portland is where unmarked federal agents picked people off the streets in 2020. For now, a 2021 law requires federal officers to wear visible identification while conducting crowd control. Movement organizations won this after Portland’s uprising. The report also blames “rogue progressive prosecutors” for dropping charges against “over 90%” of Portland protesters, indicating Bondi’s willingness to maximize prosecutions against activists. All this said, Bondi shares a home city with the Tampa 5. These five women faced trumped-up felony charges for protesting attacks on diversity in education, but they defeated all counts. Like them, Palestine solidarity protesters from coast to coast have stood up in court and have often won. The most successful fightback strategies rely on aggressive defense attorneys and public support campaigns. The more pitched the battle with injustice, the more this system will show its rot. #Opinion #InJusticeSystem #Trump #Feature div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> A photographic portrait of a blonde woman.

On November 25, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Pam Bondi for U.S. Attorney General. Bondi, from Tampa, is the former AG for the state of Florida. If confirmed, she would head the Department of Justice, which oversees agencies like the FBI and the DEA.

“The most important job after president of the United States in the next administration, it's not me. It's who we select as attorney general,” said Vice President-elect JD Vance, in an interview with National Public Radio.

This nomination marks two important shifts. First, the U.S. government is so polarized that a Trump DOJ will make no attempt to appear like blind justice, above partisan politics. Second, Trump wants to leverage federal powers to trample on the right to assemble.

Bondi: A corrupt stooge

He announced his decision within hours of his prior nomination, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, stepping down. Trump chose Gaetz for his political loyalty but had to abandon him because the congressman faced a federal investigation for sex trafficking. Bondi was clearly on Trump’s short list. She’s already predicted to have a smoother ride getting confirmed, considering her background in prosecution.

This incoming administration has former AGs Jeff Sessions and William Barr in the rearview mirror. Both fell out of Trump’s favor for breaking ranks when he came under investigation. Bondi, on the other hand, has a tried-and-true history of dedication.

Her allegiance dates to 2013, when her office suddenly went back on investigating Trump University. Within days of this reversal, a political action committee supporting Bondi’s re-election campaign received a $25,000 contribution from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. In 2016, Bondi showed up at a rally for Trump. In 2020, she served on his legal team during his first impeachment trial. She joined the cries to “stop the steal” when Trump lost that year’s election. In May 2023, she showed up for his criminal trial.

As Florida’s attorney general, Bondi opposed gay marriage and joined a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. Her time in the private sector included lobbying for Amazon and Uber. She currently chairs the legal arms of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.

In a recent Daily Caller article, Bondi’s former employees hint that her DOJ would exonerate Trump and prosecute opponents in the Democratic Party.

Ready to criminalize protest

Bondi made headlines after her October 2023 Newsmax interview on student activists. “Frankly, they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away when they’re saying, ‘I support Hamas. I am Hamas,’” she said.

That is dangerous, because DOJ courts are responsible for hearing deportation cases. Convictions for “crimes involving moral turpitude” are grounds for deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act, even for legal permanent residents and visa holders. These can include misdemeanors, such as hate crime (often interpreted to include anti-Zionism), harassment, and other charges unjustly leveraged against protesters. There are potential legal defenses, depending on the case.

On top of this, Bondi declared that the FBI should investigate protesters. This goes farther than anything Trump has said in public. It would also represent a clear violation of First Amendment rights.

Beyond these statements on Palestine solidarity, she’s drafted plans to crack down on the Black Liberation Movement.

Less than a week after Trump won this year’s election, Bondi’s wing of the America First Policy Institute released a report on Portland, Oregon protests during the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rebellion. It promises an “America First approach to liberal violence.”

The timing could not send a clearer signal that the AG nominee is foaming at the mouth for racist and political repression. The report’s choice of city is also significant. Portland is where unmarked federal agents picked people off the streets in 2020.

For now, a 2021 law requires federal officers to wear visible identification while conducting crowd control. Movement organizations won this after Portland’s uprising.

The report also blames “rogue progressive prosecutors” for dropping charges against “over 90%” of Portland protesters, indicating Bondi’s willingness to maximize prosecutions against activists.

All this said, Bondi shares a home city with the Tampa 5. These five women faced trumped-up felony charges for protesting attacks on diversity in education, but they defeated all counts. Like them, Palestine solidarity protesters from coast to coast have stood up in court and have often won. The most successful fightback strategies rely on aggressive defense attorneys and public support campaigns. The more pitched the battle with injustice, the more this system will show its rot.

#Opinion #InJusticeSystem #Trump #Feature

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-ag-nominee-is-a-trump-flunky-bent-on-repressing-protesters Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:55:03 +0000 Commentary: A dangerous escalation - Biden authorizes long-range missiles to Ukraine https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-a-dangerous-escalation-biden-authorizes-long-range-missiles-to?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[On November 18, news media reported the Biden administration authorized sending long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine to be used in the U.S. proxy war against Russia. This is an especially dangerous escalation by the Biden administration, because it simultaneously authorizes U.S.-sponsored missile strikes into pre-2014 Russian territory. This is something the Biden administration had stated was a red line for Russia. !--more-- This conflict began not on February 24, 2022, with Russia invading Ukraine, but in February 2014 during the U.S.-backed Euromaidan coup. That coup ousted the democratically elected, and geopolitically neutral Victor Yanukovych. The U.S. repeatedly escalates the conflict with Russia. Up until recently, the Biden administration did what they could to escalate while maintaining a “gloves on” approach — the US has provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, but never allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory, attempting to position Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as fighting a purely defensive, honorable war for its territorial integrity. The ATACMS, which stands for Army Tactical Missile System, are tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300 to 400 kilometers, or 200 to 300 miles, and can be modified to fit a nuclear payload. These missiles cannot reach Moscow, but they can reach the Kursk region, a place where Russia has supposedly stationed 40,000 to 50,000 troops in response to the Ukrainian Kursk offensive which began in August 2024. These missiles are also capable of reaching a number of civilian targets. Ukraine has shown little restraint when it comes to targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure such as the Crimean Bridge, bridges in Kursk, downtown shopping centers inside Russia, and the bombing of the Nord Stream II pipeline. However, the most dangerous possibility is that Ukraine could target the nuclear reactor in Kursk, a civilian infrastructure target which generates power for the area. This would be deadly for the civilians in Kursk and devastating for the entire region. According to the New York Times, the U.S. has a low-volume surplus of these missiles currently, and military analysts have commented that U.S. production is not capable of manufacturing said missiles in any high capacity. While the exact number of missiles has not yet been confirmed, it should be understood that such a low number of missiles would be unlikely, if not impossible, to accomplish any military objective, leading to some kind of military victory. If that is true, then what is the overall U.S. objective in sending these missiles at all, so late in the conflict after two years of saying that doing so would be too dangerous an escalation? If the objective is not military, then it is most likely purely political in nature. Many countries in NATO and the EU have concluded that the possibility of a Ukrainian victory at this point is non-existent. The conflict could continue for months or possibly even years, but the likelihood of Ukraine reconsolidating the four Russian-controlled oblasts — Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — is a logistical impossibility, let alone Kyiv’s objective of regime change in Moscow, which is a delusional fever dream. Roughly one month ago President Zelensky offered a “peace plan,” which involved a request to President Biden for Tomahawk missiles. Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2400 kilometers, or 1500 miles, and have the capacity to be fitted with a nuclear payload — these could reach Moscow. Russia has stated that the delivery of these missiles would necessitate a major Russian response, as this would threaten the national survival of the country. Knowing this, Biden told Zelensky this was a non-starter. Ukraine has already used the ATACMS, which demonstrates that this conflict was never “defensive” to begin with, but rather, as many analysts have stated, has always been a proxy war being waged by NATO and the U.S. against Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder in their geopolitical games. The point was never to “defeat” Russia, but to hurt Russia and set them back militarily and economically, as evidenced by the massive sanctions campaign imposed on Russia beginning in 2022. The most likely reason for Biden to authorize the shipment of ATACMS to Ukraine is to create a situation where it is difficult if not impossible for incoming President Trump to de-escalate the conflict. Why is this such a dangerous escalation? Up until this point, while it was well known that this is a U.S./ NATO proxy war against Russia, the U.S. was able to maintain a hands-off approach, allowing only Ukrainians and international volunteers to die for the U.S.’s geopolitical aspirations. Officially, this conflict was only between two parties, Ukraine and Russia. But Russian President Vladimir Putin stated shortly after the decision that now that the U.S. is authorizing missile strikes into pre-2014 Russian territory, that all parties involved are now considered to be parties to the conflict. Meaning Russia now officially recognizes the U.S. and NATO to be directly involved in the conflict. This is because successfully using the ATACMS requires U.S. satellite geo-tracking intelligence data, and U.S. personnel to operate the missile system. The US has over 800 military bases across the world, including in Eastern Europe. Many former Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe are now NATO countries, including those on Russia’s border like Latvia, Estonia and Turkey. Finland was also recently accepted into NATO. All these U.S. military assets, and all NATO countries, are now officially fair game for Russian attacks on NATO military assets. Russia President Putin also stated that Russia would be updating its nuclear doctrine to include the possibility of a nuclear attack against any country waging an attack on Russia that was backed by a nuclear superpower; this means Ukraine. In conclusion, this is a very dangerous and reckless escalation by Biden that serves no military purpose. It is intended entirely only to serve petty domestic politics and throw a wrench in the spokes of peace for incoming President Trump. Rather than attempt de-escalation or peace negotiations of any kind, President Biden has decided instead to bring the world to the brink of total nuclear war and World War III. #Opinion #AntiWarMovement #International #Russia #Ukraine div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> On November 18, news media reported the Biden administration authorized sending long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine to be used in the U.S. proxy war against Russia. This is an especially dangerous escalation by the Biden administration, because it simultaneously authorizes U.S.-sponsored missile strikes into pre-2014 Russian territory. This is something the Biden administration had stated was a red line for Russia.

This conflict began not on February 24, 2022, with Russia invading Ukraine, but in February 2014 during the U.S.-backed Euromaidan coup. That coup ousted the democratically elected, and geopolitically neutral Victor Yanukovych. The U.S. repeatedly escalates the conflict with Russia.

Up until recently, the Biden administration did what they could to escalate while maintaining a “gloves on” approach — the US has provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, but never allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory, attempting to position Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as fighting a purely defensive, honorable war for its territorial integrity.

The ATACMS, which stands for Army Tactical Missile System, are tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 300 to 400 kilometers, or 200 to 300 miles, and can be modified to fit a nuclear payload. These missiles cannot reach Moscow, but they can reach the Kursk region, a place where Russia has supposedly stationed 40,000 to 50,000 troops in response to the Ukrainian Kursk offensive which began in August 2024.

These missiles are also capable of reaching a number of civilian targets. Ukraine has shown little restraint when it comes to targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure such as the Crimean Bridge, bridges in Kursk, downtown shopping centers inside Russia, and the bombing of the Nord Stream II pipeline. However, the most dangerous possibility is that Ukraine could target the nuclear reactor in Kursk, a civilian infrastructure target which generates power for the area. This would be deadly for the civilians in Kursk and devastating for the entire region.

According to the New York Times, the U.S. has a low-volume surplus of these missiles currently, and military analysts have commented that U.S. production is not capable of manufacturing said missiles in any high capacity. While the exact number of missiles has not yet been confirmed, it should be understood that such a low number of missiles would be unlikely, if not impossible, to accomplish any military objective, leading to some kind of military victory. If that is true, then what is the overall U.S. objective in sending these missiles at all, so late in the conflict after two years of saying that doing so would be too dangerous an escalation?

If the objective is not military, then it is most likely purely political in nature. Many countries in NATO and the EU have concluded that the possibility of a Ukrainian victory at this point is non-existent. The conflict could continue for months or possibly even years, but the likelihood of Ukraine reconsolidating the four Russian-controlled oblasts — Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — is a logistical impossibility, let alone Kyiv’s objective of regime change in Moscow, which is a delusional fever dream.

Roughly one month ago President Zelensky offered a “peace plan,” which involved a request to President Biden for Tomahawk missiles. Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2400 kilometers, or 1500 miles, and have the capacity to be fitted with a nuclear payload — these could reach Moscow. Russia has stated that the delivery of these missiles would necessitate a major Russian response, as this would threaten the national survival of the country. Knowing this, Biden told Zelensky this was a non-starter.

Ukraine has already used the ATACMS, which demonstrates that this conflict was never “defensive” to begin with, but rather, as many analysts have stated, has always been a proxy war being waged by NATO and the U.S. against Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder in their geopolitical games. The point was never to “defeat” Russia, but to hurt Russia and set them back militarily and economically, as evidenced by the massive sanctions campaign imposed on Russia beginning in 2022. The most likely reason for Biden to authorize the shipment of ATACMS to Ukraine is to create a situation where it is difficult if not impossible for incoming President Trump to de-escalate the conflict.

Why is this such a dangerous escalation? Up until this point, while it was well known that this is a U.S./ NATO proxy war against Russia, the U.S. was able to maintain a hands-off approach, allowing only Ukrainians and international volunteers to die for the U.S.’s geopolitical aspirations. Officially, this conflict was only between two parties, Ukraine and Russia. But Russian President Vladimir Putin stated shortly after the decision that now that the U.S. is authorizing missile strikes into pre-2014 Russian territory, that all parties involved are now considered to be parties to the conflict. Meaning Russia now officially recognizes the U.S. and NATO to be directly involved in the conflict. This is because successfully using the ATACMS requires U.S. satellite geo-tracking intelligence data, and U.S. personnel to operate the missile system.

The US has over 800 military bases across the world, including in Eastern Europe. Many former Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe are now NATO countries, including those on Russia’s border like Latvia, Estonia and Turkey. Finland was also recently accepted into NATO. All these U.S. military assets, and all NATO countries, are now officially fair game for Russian attacks on NATO military assets. Russia President Putin also stated that Russia would be updating its nuclear doctrine to include the possibility of a nuclear attack against any country waging an attack on Russia that was backed by a nuclear superpower; this means Ukraine.

In conclusion, this is a very dangerous and reckless escalation by Biden that serves no military purpose. It is intended entirely only to serve petty domestic politics and throw a wrench in the spokes of peace for incoming President Trump. Rather than attempt de-escalation or peace negotiations of any kind, President Biden has decided instead to bring the world to the brink of total nuclear war and World War III.

#Opinion #AntiWarMovement #International #Russia #Ukraine

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-a-dangerous-escalation-biden-authorizes-long-range-missiles-to Fri, 29 Nov 2024 20:02:54 +0000 Commentary: Far from ‘sophisticated,’ Lebanon bombings show Israel’s crude, failing strategy https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-far-from-sophisticated-lebanon-bombings-show-israels-crude?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[ Thousands of small, seemingly innocuous devices, exploding in the hands and pockets of Israel’s enemies. Tuesday and Wednesday’s bombing attacks across Lebanon have been hailed by Zionists as a crushing blow to Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, an intelligence coup that one viral tweet called "biblical" in scale and sophistication. But while the attacks certainly showed cunning, an analysis of their targets, objectives and likely effects reveals not sophistication but a crude logic of collective punishment, common to flailing colonial regimes. !--more-- Who are the victims? Contrary to its portrayal in Western media as a shadowy underground terror organization, Hezbollah is in reality a vast social movement, with mass support and an above-ground institutional network that goes far beyond guerrilla warfare. Hezbollah operates hospitals, charities, schools, agricultural development centers, garbage collection and other social services across Lebanon. It also has a political bureau, with members elected to the Lebanese Parliament and holding ministerial appointments in the official government. In other words, Hezbollah employs many thousands of people in noncombatant and civilian roles. Many—if not most—of the bombing victims appear to have been from this category, including doctors, first responders, administrative and diplomatic personnel. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was also wounded in Tuesday’s attack, as well as several people in neighboring Syria. While much has been made of the attacks supposedly breaching Hezbollah’s famed operational security measures, recognizing many of the victims to be civilian functionaries paints a different picture. Israel and/or its allies simply planted explosives in large numbers of devices bound for Hezbollah-connected institutions, then began detonating them indiscriminately. Far from a masterstroke of targeted espionage, this is just another of Israel’s grotesque mass bombing campaigns. A failing strategy Hezbollah’s frontline positions seem to have been negligibly affected. Resistance operations continue along the Zionist occupation’s northern border. So what is Israel’s strategy with the device bombings? Terrorism, plain and simple. It sought to convey to the entire population of Lebanon that it will target anyone remotely involved with the resistance, no matter how incidental or tertiary the connection—children and other family members, or even random bystanders. This is much like Israel’s strategy in Gaza. There, too, Israel has openly targeted civilian families of suspected Hamas members on a mass scale, as well as doctors and nurses, aid workers, police and other civilian functionaries deemed to be "part of" Hamas—which, like Hezbollah, operates a vast network of social and political institutions in addition to its armed wing. In Gaza, Israel’s strategy has largely failed. Despite Israel’s nearly year-long campaign of mass murder and destruction, Hamas continues to function both as an administrative and military formation, even retaining the ability to strike inside the borders of the Zionist occupation. Crucially, the genocidal scale of Israel’s terrorism has failed to crush the spirit of resistance among the Palestinian masses. Gaza remains a quagmire for Israel. High-tech atrocities Likewise, the device bombings in Lebanon are unlikely to win anything beyond a short-term morale boost in the twisted minds of Zionists, but the human toll remains horrifying to contemplate. Focusing on the death count alone obscures the scale and the truly gruesome nature of the attack. While at least three dozen people have been killed by exploding pagers and other devices, hundreds to potentially thousands more have lost hands, eyes and other organs. Let’s be clear about the historical precedents for this: from 19th-century colonial authorities in the Congo Free State chopping off plantation workers’ hands, to the mutilations of Mau Mau rebel prisoners by British occupiers in 1950s Kenya, to Israel’s own “break their bones” doctrine against Palestinian protesters during the First Intifada—not to mention the tens of thousands wounded during the ongoing Gaza genocide—mass maiming and disfigurement campaigns have long been waged by colonial regimes against indigenous resistance. Whether done by machete or by exploding pager, the sadistic brutality is the same. If there is anything new about the bombings, it’s the large-scale weaponization of civilian consumer items. It heralds an era where household tech devices might not only be spying on you but waiting for a signal to bomb you. This novel tactic will force resistance groups around the world to reevaluate their suppliers, but the greater economic fallout could affect civilian supply chains and consumer behaviors all over the world. Considering that Israel’s own economy relies heavily on its tech sector, the mass boobytrapping of tech products reeks of desperation. Regardless whether these attacks continue, and regardless whether Israel ultimately attempts a Gaza-style military invasion in Lebanon, Israel’s crude strategy of mass reprisals against resisting populations is unlikely to succeed in the long run. History shows that colonial violence tends to unite and grow national liberation movements, not silence them. People here in the United States—Israel’s main director and sponsor—have our part to play. By building international solidarity with liberation movements, we help create the conditions for the overthrow of the imperialist system altogether. Wyatt Miller is an organizer with the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. #Opinion #Commentary #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Lebanon #Feature div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]>

Thousands of small, seemingly innocuous devices, exploding in the hands and pockets of Israel’s enemies. Tuesday and Wednesday’s bombing attacks across Lebanon have been hailed by Zionists as a crushing blow to Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, an intelligence coup that one viral tweet called “biblical” in scale and sophistication.

But while the attacks certainly showed cunning, an analysis of their targets, objectives and likely effects reveals not sophistication but a crude logic of collective punishment, common to flailing colonial regimes.

Who are the victims?

Contrary to its portrayal in Western media as a shadowy underground terror organization, Hezbollah is in reality a vast social movement, with mass support and an above-ground institutional network that goes far beyond guerrilla warfare. Hezbollah operates hospitals, charities, schools, agricultural development centers, garbage collection and other social services across Lebanon. It also has a political bureau, with members elected to the Lebanese Parliament and holding ministerial appointments in the official government.

In other words, Hezbollah employs many thousands of people in noncombatant and civilian roles. Many—if not most—of the bombing victims appear to have been from this category, including doctors, first responders, administrative and diplomatic personnel. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was also wounded in Tuesday’s attack, as well as several people in neighboring Syria.

While much has been made of the attacks supposedly breaching Hezbollah’s famed operational security measures, recognizing many of the victims to be civilian functionaries paints a different picture. Israel and/or its allies simply planted explosives in large numbers of devices bound for Hezbollah-connected institutions, then began detonating them indiscriminately. Far from a masterstroke of targeted espionage, this is just another of Israel’s grotesque mass bombing campaigns.

A failing strategy

Hezbollah’s frontline positions seem to have been negligibly affected. Resistance operations continue along the Zionist occupation’s northern border.

So what is Israel’s strategy with the device bombings? Terrorism, plain and simple. It sought to convey to the entire population of Lebanon that it will target anyone remotely involved with the resistance, no matter how incidental or tertiary the connection—children and other family members, or even random bystanders.

This is much like Israel’s strategy in Gaza. There, too, Israel has openly targeted civilian families of suspected Hamas members on a mass scale, as well as doctors and nurses, aid workers, police and other civilian functionaries deemed to be “part of” Hamas—which, like Hezbollah, operates a vast network of social and political institutions in addition to its armed wing.

In Gaza, Israel’s strategy has largely failed. Despite Israel’s nearly year-long campaign of mass murder and destruction, Hamas continues to function both as an administrative and military formation, even retaining the ability to strike inside the borders of the Zionist occupation. Crucially, the genocidal scale of Israel’s terrorism has failed to crush the spirit of resistance among the Palestinian masses. Gaza remains a quagmire for Israel.

High-tech atrocities

Likewise, the device bombings in Lebanon are unlikely to win anything beyond a short-term morale boost in the twisted minds of Zionists, but the human toll remains horrifying to contemplate. Focusing on the death count alone obscures the scale and the truly gruesome nature of the attack. While at least three dozen people have been killed by exploding pagers and other devices, hundreds to potentially thousands more have lost hands, eyes and other organs.

Let’s be clear about the historical precedents for this: from 19th-century colonial authorities in the Congo Free State chopping off plantation workers’ hands, to the mutilations of Mau Mau rebel prisoners by British occupiers in 1950s Kenya, to Israel’s own “break their bones” doctrine against Palestinian protesters during the First Intifada—not to mention the tens of thousands wounded during the ongoing Gaza genocide—mass maiming and disfigurement campaigns have long been waged by colonial regimes against indigenous resistance. Whether done by machete or by exploding pager, the sadistic brutality is the same.

If there is anything new about the bombings, it’s the large-scale weaponization of civilian consumer items. It heralds an era where household tech devices might not only be spying on you but waiting for a signal to bomb you. This novel tactic will force resistance groups around the world to reevaluate their suppliers, but the greater economic fallout could affect civilian supply chains and consumer behaviors all over the world. Considering that Israel’s own economy relies heavily on its tech sector, the mass boobytrapping of tech products reeks of desperation.

Regardless whether these attacks continue, and regardless whether Israel ultimately attempts a Gaza-style military invasion in Lebanon, Israel’s crude strategy of mass reprisals against resisting populations is unlikely to succeed in the long run. History shows that colonial violence tends to unite and grow national liberation movements, not silence them.

People here in the United States—Israel’s main director and sponsor—have our part to play. By building international solidarity with liberation movements, we help create the conditions for the overthrow of the imperialist system altogether.

Wyatt Miller is an organizer with the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.

#Opinion #Commentary #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Lebanon #Feature

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/commentary-far-from-sophisticated-lebanon-bombings-show-israels-crude Fri, 20 Sep 2024 15:55:51 +0000 Celebrate the Centenary of Amilcar Cabral! https://fightbacknews.org/celebrate-the-centenary-of-amilcar-cabral?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[By Brad Sigal Amilcar Cabral. “One of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.” — Fidel Castro September 12, 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the giants of 20th century African liberation struggle and global anti-imperialist movement, Amilcar Cabral. Progressive and revolutionary people should take this occasion to celebrate the proud revolutionary legacy of Amilcar Cabral, the national liberation movement he led in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, and the worldwide anti-imperialist movement he was part of. !--more-- Cabral: Fighter for the liberation of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde Amilcar Cabral was the principal leader of the national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and the islands of Cape Verde on the west coast of Africa. The national liberation movement that he led declared independence from Portugal on September 24, 1973. The people of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde had been brutally colonized by Portugal for centuries. The first Portuguese people arrived in Guinea Bissau in the 1440s when the Portuguese monarchy began “exploring” the Atlantic coast of West Africa in pursuit of gold. The Portuguese colonizers enslaved hundreds of thousands of people from this region of Africa through the 1800s, many of whom were taken in chains across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, which was a Portuguese colony in the Americas, to work as slaves in mines and on plantations. As a result, to this day Brazil has the largest African-descendent population in the Americas. Under brutal Portuguese colonialism, by the 1950s the literacy rate was as low as 1%; the few schools were more for the Portuguese colonizers. There were barely any doctors and only 300 hospital beds in the whole country. A wave of national liberation movements gained steam in Africa in the 1940s and 50s, with powerful inspiration and support from the world’s first socialist country, the Soviet Union. Victories for national liberation movements in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959, which became socialist countries after liberation, provided further momentum and inspiration. This was part of a broader anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movement that was sweeping not just Africa, but also Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, where the majority of humanity had been subjugated by competing European empires for centuries. In reaction to this wave, and as rival colonial powers were losing their grip on their colonies, Portugal tried to exert an even tighter and more brutal grip on its African colonies. In 1951, Portugal declared Guinea Bissau a province of Portugal itself. In that context, the movement fighting for national liberation advanced in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde in the 1950s. Amílcar Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in “Portuguese Guinea” as it was called before liberation, to Cape Verdian parents. He was one of a small number of Africans from Guinea Bissau who was able to pursue higher education in Portugal. He studied agronomy, and while he was there, he participated in the student movement opposing Portugal’s right-wing dictatorship and supporting independence for Portugal’s colonies in Africa. When he returned home, he carried out a country-wide agricultural census, traveling extensively and learning in great detail about the people, the land and the problems of his country. This deep knowledge of the material reality of his people and his country allowed Cabral to make a materialist assessment of who could be united to fight for liberation, and how they needed to be organized to do so. There is an echo here of Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s deep investigation into the material realities of the oppressed peasant majority in China in the 1920s that led to strategic breakthroughs in the Chinese revolution’s path to victory. In 1956, Amilcar Cabral co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the organization that led the national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. Cabral was the PAIGC’s secretary-general. After Portuguese soldiers carried out a massacre against dockworkers in 1959, the PAIGC moved toward armed struggle to win liberation. The PAIGC began its armed struggle in earnest in 1962-63, fighting a guerrilla war until they liberated the majority of the country and then declared independence. Tragically, Amilcar Cabral was assassinated on January 20, 1973, on the eve of the PAIGC liberating Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde and declaring independence in September 1973. According to leaders of the PAIGC, agents of colonialism carried out the assassination on behalf of the government of Portugal, who had as a key objective the decapitation of the liberation movement’s leadership. But despite Cabral’s assassination, the movement still won independence. Cabral: Anti-imperialist and internationalist “Either we admit that there really is a struggle against imperialism which interests everybody, or we deny it. If, as would seem from all the evidence, imperialism exists and is trying simultaneously to dominate the working class in all the advanced countries and smother the national liberation movements in the underdeveloped countries, then there is only one enemy against whom we are fighting. If we are fighting together, then I think the main aspect of our solidarity is extremely simple; it is to fight.” - Amilcar Cabral While primarily focused on building the revolutionary movement in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Amilcar Cabral also built Pan-African and worldwide anti-imperialist unity. Starting in 1961, the PAIGC united with national liberation movements in Portugal’s other colonies in Africa, creating the Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies together with the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in and the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Cabral also built alliances with socialist countries like Cuba as well as other countries that had won liberation from imperialism. Cabral attended the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba in 1966, where he expressed strong support for Cuba’s socialist revolution and even offered to send fighters to defend socialist Cuba against imperialism if needed. Cabral was inspired by Marxism-Leninism’s anti-imperialist theory and practice. In 1970 he wrote, “Whether Marxist or not, Leninist or not, it is difficult for anyone not to recognize the validity, even the genius of Lenin’s analysis and conclusions, which prove to be of immense historical scope, illuminating with fruitful clarity the often thorny and even somber path of the peoples who are fighting for their total liberation from imperialist domination.” In his writings, Cabral talked explicitly about applying a dialectical and a materialist method, and the need for class analysis and class struggle. Along with Kwame Nkrumah and Franz Fanon, Cabral was an early theorist on the dangers of neo-colonialism after winning independence. When Cabral would come to the U.S. to speak at the United Nations to gain support for the national liberation movement in Guinea Bissau, he sought out meetings with revolutionaries in the U.S., especially African American revolutionaries. Cabral understood that anti-imperialist struggles in colonized countries and the struggle inside the imperialist countries share a common enemy, and that any blow against imperialism from within or without is mutually beneficial. In a meeting with around 120 Black revolutionaries in the U.S. in 1972, Cabral said, “We try to understand your situation in this country. You can be sure that we realize the difficulties you face, the problems you have and your feelings, your revolts, and also your hopes. We think that our fighting for Africa against colonialism and imperialism is a proof of understanding of your problems in this continent. Naturally, the inverse is also true. All the achievements here are real contributions to our own struggle.” Cabral’s understanding of the relationship between revolutionary movements in the colonies and in the imperialist countries themselves ended up being prophetic when the surging revolutionary national liberation movements in Guinea Bissau and Portugal’s other African colonies helped spark a progressive uprising of soldiers and then workers in Portugal in 1974 against the reactionary Portuguese government. Amilcar Cabral stands among the greatest heroes of 20th century fighters for liberation. He studied the concrete conditions of his country and developed a revolutionary strategy based on that. He built a revolutionary organization to lead the struggle for liberation. He built unity on an anti-imperialist basis with liberation movements around the world. He united with socialist countries. By doing these things, he was able to lead a successful national liberation movement that won independence from Portuguese colonialism. His life and contributions should be remembered and celebrated by revolutionaries the world over. #International #GuineaBissau #CapeVerde #AmilcarCabral #Socialism #NationalLiberation #RevolutionaryTheory #Opinion #Feature div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> By Brad Sigal

Amilcar Cabral.

“One of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.” — Fidel Castro

September 12, 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the giants of 20th century African liberation struggle and global anti-imperialist movement, Amilcar Cabral.

Progressive and revolutionary people should take this occasion to celebrate the proud revolutionary legacy of Amilcar Cabral, the national liberation movement he led in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, and the worldwide anti-imperialist movement he was part of.

Cabral: Fighter for the liberation of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde

Amilcar Cabral was the principal leader of the national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and the islands of Cape Verde on the west coast of Africa. The national liberation movement that he led declared independence from Portugal on September 24, 1973.

The people of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde had been brutally colonized by Portugal for centuries. The first Portuguese people arrived in Guinea Bissau in the 1440s when the Portuguese monarchy began “exploring” the Atlantic coast of West Africa in pursuit of gold. The Portuguese colonizers enslaved hundreds of thousands of people from this region of Africa through the 1800s, many of whom were taken in chains across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, which was a Portuguese colony in the Americas, to work as slaves in mines and on plantations. As a result, to this day Brazil has the largest African-descendent population in the Americas.

Under brutal Portuguese colonialism, by the 1950s the literacy rate was as low as 1%; the few schools were more for the Portuguese colonizers. There were barely any doctors and only 300 hospital beds in the whole country.

A wave of national liberation movements gained steam in Africa in the 1940s and 50s, with powerful inspiration and support from the world’s first socialist country, the Soviet Union. Victories for national liberation movements in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959, which became socialist countries after liberation, provided further momentum and inspiration. This was part of a broader anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movement that was sweeping not just Africa, but also Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, where the majority of humanity had been subjugated by competing European empires for centuries.

In reaction to this wave, and as rival colonial powers were losing their grip on their colonies, Portugal tried to exert an even tighter and more brutal grip on its African colonies. In 1951, Portugal declared Guinea Bissau a province of Portugal itself. In that context, the movement fighting for national liberation advanced in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde in the 1950s.

Amílcar Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in “Portuguese Guinea” as it was called before liberation, to Cape Verdian parents. He was one of a small number of Africans from Guinea Bissau who was able to pursue higher education in Portugal. He studied agronomy, and while he was there, he participated in the student movement opposing Portugal’s right-wing dictatorship and supporting independence for Portugal’s colonies in Africa.

When he returned home, he carried out a country-wide agricultural census, traveling extensively and learning in great detail about the people, the land and the problems of his country. This deep knowledge of the material reality of his people and his country allowed Cabral to make a materialist assessment of who could be united to fight for liberation, and how they needed to be organized to do so. There is an echo here of Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s deep investigation into the material realities of the oppressed peasant majority in China in the 1920s that led to strategic breakthroughs in the Chinese revolution’s path to victory.

In 1956, Amilcar Cabral co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the organization that led the national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. Cabral was the PAIGC’s secretary-general. After Portuguese soldiers carried out a massacre against dockworkers in 1959, the PAIGC moved toward armed struggle to win liberation. The PAIGC began its armed struggle in earnest in 1962-63, fighting a guerrilla war until they liberated the majority of the country and then declared independence.

Tragically, Amilcar Cabral was assassinated on January 20, 1973, on the eve of the PAIGC liberating Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde and declaring independence in September 1973. According to leaders of the PAIGC, agents of colonialism carried out the assassination on behalf of the government of Portugal, who had as a key objective the decapitation of the liberation movement’s leadership. But despite Cabral’s assassination, the movement still won independence.

Cabral: Anti-imperialist and internationalist

“Either we admit that there really is a struggle against imperialism which interests everybody, or we deny it. If, as would seem from all the evidence, imperialism exists and is trying simultaneously to dominate the working class in all the advanced countries and smother the national liberation movements in the underdeveloped countries, then there is only one enemy against whom we are fighting. If we are fighting together, then I think the main aspect of our solidarity is extremely simple; it is to fight.” – Amilcar Cabral

While primarily focused on building the revolutionary movement in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Amilcar Cabral also built Pan-African and worldwide anti-imperialist unity. Starting in 1961, the PAIGC united with national liberation movements in Portugal’s other colonies in Africa, creating the Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies together with the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in and the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

Cabral also built alliances with socialist countries like Cuba as well as other countries that had won liberation from imperialism. Cabral attended the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba in 1966, where he expressed strong support for Cuba’s socialist revolution and even offered to send fighters to defend socialist Cuba against imperialism if needed.

Cabral was inspired by Marxism-Leninism’s anti-imperialist theory and practice. In 1970 he wrote, “Whether Marxist or not, Leninist or not, it is difficult for anyone not to recognize the validity, even the genius of Lenin’s analysis and conclusions, which prove to be of immense historical scope, illuminating with fruitful clarity the often thorny and even somber path of the peoples who are fighting for their total liberation from imperialist domination.”

In his writings, Cabral talked explicitly about applying a dialectical and a materialist method, and the need for class analysis and class struggle. Along with Kwame Nkrumah and Franz Fanon, Cabral was an early theorist on the dangers of neo-colonialism after winning independence.

When Cabral would come to the U.S. to speak at the United Nations to gain support for the national liberation movement in Guinea Bissau, he sought out meetings with revolutionaries in the U.S., especially African American revolutionaries. Cabral understood that anti-imperialist struggles in colonized countries and the struggle inside the imperialist countries share a common enemy, and that any blow against imperialism from within or without is mutually beneficial.

In a meeting with around 120 Black revolutionaries in the U.S. in 1972, Cabral said, “We try to understand your situation in this country. You can be sure that we realize the difficulties you face, the problems you have and your feelings, your revolts, and also your hopes. We think that our fighting for Africa against colonialism and imperialism is a proof of understanding of your problems in this continent. Naturally, the inverse is also true. All the achievements here are real contributions to our own struggle.”

Cabral’s understanding of the relationship between revolutionary movements in the colonies and in the imperialist countries themselves ended up being prophetic when the surging revolutionary national liberation movements in Guinea Bissau and Portugal’s other African colonies helped spark a progressive uprising of soldiers and then workers in Portugal in 1974 against the reactionary Portuguese government.

Amilcar Cabral stands among the greatest heroes of 20th century fighters for liberation. He studied the concrete conditions of his country and developed a revolutionary strategy based on that. He built a revolutionary organization to lead the struggle for liberation. He built unity on an anti-imperialist basis with liberation movements around the world. He united with socialist countries. By doing these things, he was able to lead a successful national liberation movement that won independence from Portuguese colonialism. His life and contributions should be remembered and celebrated by revolutionaries the world over.

#International #GuineaBissau #CapeVerde #AmilcarCabral #Socialism #NationalLiberation #RevolutionaryTheory #Opinion #Feature

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/celebrate-the-centenary-of-amilcar-cabral Thu, 12 Sep 2024 21:21:11 +0000 In remembrance of Kawana Scott Menchaca https://fightbacknews.org/in-remembrance-of-kawana-scott-menchaca?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Kawana Scott Menchaca. | Staff/Fight Back! News p style="text-align: right; width: 100%; margin-left: auto; display: block;"Note: For memorial service details, see end of article./p Dallas, TX - Kawana Scott Menchaca, a community organizer from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, passed away last weekend, having been found in the early hours of Sunday, July 14ᵗʰ. She is known to be profoundly sharp, intellectually effusive, driven by a craving for justice, and undeniably brave in fighting for a more just and humane world. She leaves behind her husband, Nicolas Menchaca, her parents Antione and Trenell, her two brothers Anderson and Langston, and a constellation of friends and community members all reeling from this news. !--more-- Born in Opelika, Alabama on November 15, 1992, Kawana departed this world before turning 32 this year. She had a passion for public health, and in the truest sense wanted everyone to receive quality healthcare, and for that to be a guaranteed human right. A graduate of Prairie View A&M University, she continued her education at the Baylor School of Public Health and worked for Tarrant County to improve equitable access to medical resources. Even as her own health suffered, she fought for the health of others. Kawana was rebellious to her core, from her defiant personal aesthetic - an inspiration to everyone who gets it - to being a community leader in the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) as well as Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). She’d held vigils for victims slain by police violence, led marches and delivered speeches, and fought for complete and democratic community control of the police across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “She would come through on a moment's notice. She always told her friends she loved us,” says Sydney Loving, chair of the Dallas branch of NAARPR, “She was a really great friend, and she was also a great comrade. She put in work when not many others would - when there was no glory to be had.” There were many sides to Kawana: She was a science fiction nerd, who loved the Lovecraft mythos (embracing the terror Lovecraft felt of people of color), anime, and space travel. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of professional wrestling. She could cook and impress with everything from Indonesian noodles to corned beef and cabbage. She had a deep love of African culture, discernible from her taste in music to the orisha tattoo she wore. Kawana was always overflowing with creativity, with knowledge, and with warmth. Her incredible wit was the kind of humor that could only come from someone as smart as she was and would endear her to anyone she revealed it to. Organizers and activists around Dallas-Fort Worth are grieving this tremendous loss but cherish all the memories they have of her. Fellow organizer and close friend Daniel Sullivan looks back, “There was no one like Kawana. She was powerful, and a leader, but she was also a caretaker, the kind who brought snacks to every meeting. Everyone loved her, and she was brimming over with love. I had so many hopes for her, and I'm crushed to see her go so young. But now there is nothing more we can do for her but to carry on her work.” Rest in Power, Comrade. ¡Kawana Scott Menchaca, Presente! --- Service Details Her memorial will be on Saturday, July 27ᵗʰ, 2024 The service starts 11:00 am (Central time) at: First Methodist Mansfield 777 North Walnut Creek Drive, Mansfield, TX 76063 Community organizers in Dallas are also holding a commemoration 6pm on Sunday, July 28ᵗʰ, 2024 at: White Rock Lake (Dreyfuss Club Point) 600 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, TX 75218 #DallasTX #TX #Opinion #Remembrances #OppressedNationalities #NAARPR #FRSO div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Kawana Scott Menchaca. | Staff/Fight Back! News

Note: For memorial service details, see end of article.

Dallas, TX – Kawana Scott Menchaca, a community organizer from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, passed away last weekend, having been found in the early hours of Sunday, July 14ᵗʰ. She is known to be profoundly sharp, intellectually effusive, driven by a craving for justice, and undeniably brave in fighting for a more just and humane world. She leaves behind her husband, Nicolas Menchaca, her parents Antione and Trenell, her two brothers Anderson and Langston, and a constellation of friends and community members all reeling from this news.

Born in Opelika, Alabama on November 15, 1992, Kawana departed this world before turning 32 this year. She had a passion for public health, and in the truest sense wanted everyone to receive quality healthcare, and for that to be a guaranteed human right. A graduate of Prairie View A&M University, she continued her education at the Baylor School of Public Health and worked for Tarrant County to improve equitable access to medical resources. Even as her own health suffered, she fought for the health of others.

Kawana was rebellious to her core, from her defiant personal aesthetic – an inspiration to everyone who gets it – to being a community leader in the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) as well as Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). She’d held vigils for victims slain by police violence, led marches and delivered speeches, and fought for complete and democratic community control of the police across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “She would come through on a moment's notice. She always told her friends she loved us,” says Sydney Loving, chair of the Dallas branch of NAARPR, “She was a really great friend, and she was also a great comrade. She put in work when not many others would – when there was no glory to be had.”

There were many sides to Kawana: She was a science fiction nerd, who loved the Lovecraft mythos (embracing the terror Lovecraft felt of people of color), anime, and space travel. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of professional wrestling. She could cook and impress with everything from Indonesian noodles to corned beef and cabbage. She had a deep love of African culture, discernible from her taste in music to the orisha tattoo she wore. Kawana was always overflowing with creativity, with knowledge, and with warmth. Her incredible wit was the kind of humor that could only come from someone as smart as she was and would endear her to anyone she revealed it to.

Organizers and activists around Dallas-Fort Worth are grieving this tremendous loss but cherish all the memories they have of her. Fellow organizer and close friend Daniel Sullivan looks back, “There was no one like Kawana. She was powerful, and a leader, but she was also a caretaker, the kind who brought snacks to every meeting. Everyone loved her, and she was brimming over with love. I had so many hopes for her, and I'm crushed to see her go so young. But now there is nothing more we can do for her but to carry on her work.”

Rest in Power, Comrade.

¡Kawana Scott Menchaca, Presente!

Service Details

Her memorial will be on Saturday, July 27ᵗʰ, 2024 The service starts 11:00 am (Central time) at:

First Methodist Mansfield 777 North Walnut Creek Drive, Mansfield, TX 76063

Community organizers in Dallas are also holding a commemoration 6pm on Sunday, July 28ᵗʰ, 2024 at:

White Rock Lake (Dreyfuss Club Point) 600 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, TX 75218

#DallasTX #TX #Opinion #Remembrances #OppressedNationalities #NAARPR #FRSO

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/in-remembrance-of-kawana-scott-menchaca Tue, 23 Jul 2024 01:24:57 +0000 Progressive forces cheer the results Jacksonville FL mayoral race https://fightbacknews.org/progressive-forces-cheer-results-jacksonville-fl-mayoral-race?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Jacksonville, FL - Progressive forces are cheering the election of Donna Deegan for Jacksonville mayor. She defeated Daniel Davis, the Republican and Governor Ron DeSantis-backed candidate, becoming the first woman mayor in Jacksonville history. !--more-- Deegan, of Lebanese ancestry, is a former newscaster, and is a known personality in the community, anchoring Channel 12 news for years. She subsequently went on to run a nonprofit, the Donna Foundation, focused around breast cancer awareness, using her own experiences with beating cancer multiple times to connect her with the broader community. Deegan ran under the banner of uniting the community. Unlike her opponent, she swore off negative ads. Her campaign was supported by progressive forces as she supported calls for more investment in neglected communities and stood against privatization of city services and the publicly-owned electric utility. Unlike her opponent, she supported calls for civilian oversight of police and supported calls for taking down Confederate monuments. She also advocates ridding city hall of corruption after eight years of Republican leadership under Mayor Lenny Curry. Backed by every major labor union in the city with the exception of police and fire unions, she ran on supporting labor and using her office to support worker’s rights. Daniel Davis, current CEO of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, ran unabashedly on a pro-cop, anti-police accountability, anti-BLM platform, parroting Fraternal Order of Police cop union talking points, using over $8 million raised (the most of any Jacksonville mayor race in history), to attack Deegan over her support of civilian review, something police and cop union forces have fought off for years. Davis claimed if Deegan was elected, “radical activists” would oversee police. He called for adding over 200 new police officers, even saying he’d support cutting other city services to make it happen. Black Republican Sheriff T.K. Waters was used as Davis pit bull, being on the face of TV ads calling Deegan a radical who wants to defund police and support policies harmful to cops. Waters, an opponent of police accountability and civilian oversight, in his first interview after Deegan’s victory spoke about why civilian review shouldn’t happen, a clear signal of their fear of what Deegan’s election could mean. Local grassroots activist Ben Frazier, president of the activist group the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, cited, “It should be acknowledged that black voters in Duval played a major role in the historic mayoral victory of Donna Deegan,” adding, “From the urban core to the northwest, Black voters propelled the trajectory of the Deegan victory.” Deegan’s election comes at a time when the state of Florida has been terrorized by a Republican state legislature that has sought to limit the power of local counties and local city mayors. Governor DeSantis, with a Republican supermajority, pushed through reactionary policy after reactionary policy in order to grease the wheels for his bid for presidency. The city council of Jacksonville still has a 14 to 5 Republican to Democrat ratio, with a few moderate Republicans. However, to grassroots activists, Deegan’s election represents a change and more room to politically maneuver. Under the previous mayor, after historic police accountability protests in 2020 where tens of thousands hit the street, Mayor Curry and former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Williams, along with current State Attorney Melissa Nelson, in response to rallies led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and their partners, met with and succumbed to activist demands around the release body camera footage. They released a new body cam policy pledging to release footage after a certain time frame in the summer of 2020. They’ve since reneged on that, only releasing body cameras when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) deems it appropriate for them to do so. In 2020 and 2021, in response to the rallies, the city council of Jacksonville created a special committee called the Safer Together Committee which proposed and supported the creation of a civilian review board. Deegan’s late cousin, Tommy Hazouri, a Democrat and former mayor, was city council president at the time. Families of police crimes used the committee meetings as a forum to air grievances with JSO and call for civilian oversight and change. JSO subsequently pressured to have that committee shut down and was eventually successful, stopping any change of police accountability reforms at that time through city council. That is why progressive forces are optimistic about Deegan’s election. She represents the possibilities of a new era in Jacksonville politics and new organizing terrain for activists. However, those same forces plan to hold her accountable to her support if she fails to pursue pro people agenda. Time will most certainly tell, but the smashing of the right-wing machinery that has held city hall in Jacksonville for almost a decade is a significant development. #JacksonvilleFL #US #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonnaDeegan #MayorOfJacksonville div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Jacksonville, FL – Progressive forces are cheering the election of Donna Deegan for Jacksonville mayor. She defeated Daniel Davis, the Republican and Governor Ron DeSantis-backed candidate, becoming the first woman mayor in Jacksonville history.

Deegan, of Lebanese ancestry, is a former newscaster, and is a known personality in the community, anchoring Channel 12 news for years. She subsequently went on to run a nonprofit, the Donna Foundation, focused around breast cancer awareness, using her own experiences with beating cancer multiple times to connect her with the broader community.

Deegan ran under the banner of uniting the community. Unlike her opponent, she swore off negative ads. Her campaign was supported by progressive forces as she supported calls for more investment in neglected communities and stood against privatization of city services and the publicly-owned electric utility. Unlike her opponent, she supported calls for civilian oversight of police and supported calls for taking down Confederate monuments. She also advocates ridding city hall of corruption after eight years of Republican leadership under Mayor Lenny Curry. Backed by every major labor union in the city with the exception of police and fire unions, she ran on supporting labor and using her office to support worker’s rights.

Daniel Davis, current CEO of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, ran unabashedly on a pro-cop, anti-police accountability, anti-BLM platform, parroting Fraternal Order of Police cop union talking points, using over $8 million raised (the most of any Jacksonville mayor race in history), to attack Deegan over her support of civilian review, something police and cop union forces have fought off for years.

Davis claimed if Deegan was elected, “radical activists” would oversee police. He called for adding over 200 new police officers, even saying he’d support cutting other city services to make it happen. Black Republican Sheriff T.K. Waters was used as Davis pit bull, being on the face of TV ads calling Deegan a radical who wants to defund police and support policies harmful to cops. Waters, an opponent of police accountability and civilian oversight, in his first interview after Deegan’s victory spoke about why civilian review shouldn’t happen, a clear signal of their fear of what Deegan’s election could mean.

Local grassroots activist Ben Frazier, president of the activist group the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, cited, “It should be acknowledged that black voters in Duval played a major role in the historic mayoral victory of Donna Deegan,” adding, “From the urban core to the northwest, Black voters propelled the trajectory of the Deegan victory.”

Deegan’s election comes at a time when the state of Florida has been terrorized by a Republican state legislature that has sought to limit the power of local counties and local city mayors. Governor DeSantis, with a Republican supermajority, pushed through reactionary policy after reactionary policy in order to grease the wheels for his bid for presidency. The city council of Jacksonville still has a 14 to 5 Republican to Democrat ratio, with a few moderate Republicans. However, to grassroots activists, Deegan’s election represents a change and more room to politically maneuver.

Under the previous mayor, after historic police accountability protests in 2020 where tens of thousands hit the street, Mayor Curry and former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Williams, along with current State Attorney Melissa Nelson, in response to rallies led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and their partners, met with and succumbed to activist demands around the release body camera footage. They released a new body cam policy pledging to release footage after a certain time frame in the summer of 2020. They’ve since reneged on that, only releasing body cameras when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) deems it appropriate for them to do so.

In 2020 and 2021, in response to the rallies, the city council of Jacksonville created a special committee called the Safer Together Committee which proposed and supported the creation of a civilian review board. Deegan’s late cousin, Tommy Hazouri, a Democrat and former mayor, was city council president at the time. Families of police crimes used the committee meetings as a forum to air grievances with JSO and call for civilian oversight and change. JSO subsequently pressured to have that committee shut down and was eventually successful, stopping any change of police accountability reforms at that time through city council.

That is why progressive forces are optimistic about Deegan’s election. She represents the possibilities of a new era in Jacksonville politics and new organizing terrain for activists. However, those same forces plan to hold her accountable to her support if she fails to pursue pro people agenda.

Time will most certainly tell, but the smashing of the right-wing machinery that has held city hall in Jacksonville for almost a decade is a significant development.

#JacksonvilleFL #US #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonnaDeegan #MayorOfJacksonville

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/progressive-forces-cheer-results-jacksonville-fl-mayoral-race Sun, 28 May 2023 21:00:05 +0000 Minneapolis referendum on policing: Vote No on Question 2 https://fightbacknews.org/minneapolis-referendum-policing-vote-no-question-2?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Not the change we need ![One of the protests that rocked Minneapolis during George Floyd rebellion](https://i.snap.as/nKAMn77d.jpg "One of the protests that rocked Minneapolis during George Floyd rebellion One of the massive protests that rocked Minneapolis during George Floyd rebellion. \(Brad Sigal\)") Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape. !--more-- Today, when Minneapolis is in the midst of its first local elections since the uprising, voters will consider dozens of candidates for local office, as well as a few ballot measures. At the top of the ballot will be the mayor’s race. As of this writing, no candidate has a clear path to beat incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, but it’s important that he not be handed an easy victory. We can vote to send a message that he does not have support for his failures to address policing, housing, the pandemic and more. Whether you write in someone else, or if you choose a candidate who stands for things you can support, we urge people of conscience to use ranked choice voting to cast three votes against Jacob Frey. There’s another chance to vote against Frey, in the form of a ballot question. Question 1 asks to take most city council powers and turn them over to mayoral control. Consolidating power into fewer hands would weaken the fight for working class and oppressed peoples. We can’t just leave Question 1 blank. To be counted against expanded mayoral power, voters need to mark No on their ballots. There is also a ballot question, Question 3, related to rent control; we support rent control. While those are easy choices. All of Minneapolis is waiting for the final tally on a measure that aims to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The new department would be under the joint control of the mayor and city council, and could still include police. The measure would also end the minimum police staffing requirement currently in the city charter. Many good people have come out to support this amendment - Question 2 - and it’s been held up as an accomplishment of our movement. We see it as something that came from outside our movement, and which threatens to hinder the fight for real change. We’ll be voting No. Proponents argue that Question 2 is a pathway to abolition, but also say it’s not that. A campaign website FAQ asks, “Does…it mean abolish or defund the police?” Then answers in bold type, “No. It does not.” Question 2 was born on a stage in Powderhorn Park, adorned with words “Defund police,” but it neither cuts the police budget nor requires the transfer of police funding to other projects or programs. We support investment in mental health resources, addiction services and youth programs, but Question 2 doesn’t mandate any of those. And while we support ending the staffing requirement in the city charter, that alone does not get us the change our communities need. First, ending the requirement does not cut the budget or the size of the police force - doing that is still a political decision. This amendment leaves that decision in the hands of the city council. The same city council that declared their “veto-proof majority” on that stage in Powderhorn Park last June and has voted at least twice since then for more money for the Minneapolis Police Department. Second, to cut the number of cops without addressing accountability is meaningless. Take the example of Derek Chauvin, before he murdered George Floyd. He was a 19-year veteran of MPD with a display case full of commendations and medals. He would not be the first cut from a downsized police force. The only way to get rid of the Derek Chauvins is to demand accountability for someone like him, who has 26 complaints on his record and has killed five people before George Floyd. The killers of Terrence Franklin, Jamar Clark, Travis Jordan and others, are all still working for MPD, and as long-term employees, would be protected from any cuts in the force. The most direct way to ensure accountability is to end the practice of police being allowed to police themselves. Currently, the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) is responsible for reviewing civilian complaints, but no complaint gets sustained by the OPCR unless a police panel agrees. The group Communities United Against Police Brutality found that only 0.36% of complaints result in discipline (compared to a national average of 7-8% for civilian review boards). Question 2 does nothing to end this practice, nor does it open past complaints or police murders for review. So long as police control the complaint process, there can be no accountability. So long as no one reviews past harms, there can be no justice. If there is no change in police conduct, cutting the size of the police force doesn’t protect us from police abuses. Currently, the mayor is the only civilian authority over Minneapolis police. Question 2 would change that, so that the mayor would share power with the city council. While the mayor has proven himself unwilling to rein in police, the city council has also showed us time and again that they are willing to pass the buck even on the things they can do. They have the power to address the complaint process, and have not done so. It is the city council that approves the contract with the Police Officers Federation, but they never press for changes that will protect community members. The city council has the power to eliminate the camping ordinances that invite police to criminalize our unhoused neighbors and carry out merciless evictions, despite the overwhelming housing crisis in our city, yet they have done nothing. These are just a few things that could change on a dime, if the city council were willing to take action. Yes, we need to take power over policing out of the hands of the mayor, but it gets us nowhere to put it into the hands of a body that has shown itself unwilling to make change. Proponents of Question 2 have invited us to reimagine public safety, but ask us to vote for a proposition that will do nothing to make concrete changes that will protect us from police violence in our communities, or address the harms already done by a violent, racist institution. Some worry that the defeat of Question 2 would be a blow against the movement to end police accountability and win Black liberation. In our view, the defeat of Question 2 will be an opportunity to get the focus back on concrete changes to address the needs our communities have right now. We will be voting No on Question 2, and throwing our weight behind the fight for community control of the police by establishing an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission. Look for it in your ballot in 2022, and join the Black-led grassroots effort to get us there. #MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisElections div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Not the change we need

One of the protests that rocked Minneapolis during George Floyd rebellion

Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape.

Today, when Minneapolis is in the midst of its first local elections since the uprising, voters will consider dozens of candidates for local office, as well as a few ballot measures.

At the top of the ballot will be the mayor’s race. As of this writing, no candidate has a clear path to beat incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, but it’s important that he not be handed an easy victory. We can vote to send a message that he does not have support for his failures to address policing, housing, the pandemic and more. Whether you write in someone else, or if you choose a candidate who stands for things you can support, we urge people of conscience to use ranked choice voting to cast three votes against Jacob Frey.

There’s another chance to vote against Frey, in the form of a ballot question. Question 1 asks to take most city council powers and turn them over to mayoral control. Consolidating power into fewer hands would weaken the fight for working class and oppressed peoples. We can’t just leave Question 1 blank. To be counted against expanded mayoral power, voters need to mark No on their ballots.

There is also a ballot question, Question 3, related to rent control; we support rent control.

While those are easy choices. All of Minneapolis is waiting for the final tally on a measure that aims to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The new department would be under the joint control of the mayor and city council, and could still include police. The measure would also end the minimum police staffing requirement currently in the city charter.

Many good people have come out to support this amendment – Question 2 – and it’s been held up as an accomplishment of our movement. We see it as something that came from outside our movement, and which threatens to hinder the fight for real change. We’ll be voting No.

Proponents argue that Question 2 is a pathway to abolition, but also say it’s not that. A campaign website FAQ asks, “Does…it mean abolish or defund the police?” Then answers in bold type, “No. It does not.” Question 2 was born on a stage in Powderhorn Park, adorned with words “Defund police,” but it neither cuts the police budget nor requires the transfer of police funding to other projects or programs. We support investment in mental health resources, addiction services and youth programs, but Question 2 doesn’t mandate any of those.

And while we support ending the staffing requirement in the city charter, that alone does not get us the change our communities need.

First, ending the requirement does not cut the budget or the size of the police force – doing that is still a political decision. This amendment leaves that decision in the hands of the city council. The same city council that declared their “veto-proof majority” on that stage in Powderhorn Park last June and has voted at least twice since then for more money for the Minneapolis Police Department.

Second, to cut the number of cops without addressing accountability is meaningless. Take the example of Derek Chauvin, before he murdered George Floyd. He was a 19-year veteran of MPD with a display case full of commendations and medals. He would not be the first cut from a downsized police force. The only way to get rid of the Derek Chauvins is to demand accountability for someone like him, who has 26 complaints on his record and has killed five people before George Floyd. The killers of Terrence Franklin, Jamar Clark, Travis Jordan and others, are all still working for MPD, and as long-term employees, would be protected from any cuts in the force. The most direct way to ensure accountability is to end the practice of police being allowed to police themselves.

Currently, the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) is responsible for reviewing civilian complaints, but no complaint gets sustained by the OPCR unless a police panel agrees. The group Communities United Against Police Brutality found that only 0.36% of complaints result in discipline (compared to a national average of 7-8% for civilian review boards). Question 2 does nothing to end this practice, nor does it open past complaints or police murders for review.

So long as police control the complaint process, there can be no accountability. So long as no one reviews past harms, there can be no justice. If there is no change in police conduct, cutting the size of the police force doesn’t protect us from police abuses.

Currently, the mayor is the only civilian authority over Minneapolis police. Question 2 would change that, so that the mayor would share power with the city council. While the mayor has proven himself unwilling to rein in police, the city council has also showed us time and again that they are willing to pass the buck even on the things they can do. They have the power to address the complaint process, and have not done so. It is the city council that approves the contract with the Police Officers Federation, but they never press for changes that will protect community members. The city council has the power to eliminate the camping ordinances that invite police to criminalize our unhoused neighbors and carry out merciless evictions, despite the overwhelming housing crisis in our city, yet they have done nothing. These are just a few things that could change on a dime, if the city council were willing to take action. Yes, we need to take power over policing out of the hands of the mayor, but it gets us nowhere to put it into the hands of a body that has shown itself unwilling to make change.

Proponents of Question 2 have invited us to reimagine public safety, but ask us to vote for a proposition that will do nothing to make concrete changes that will protect us from police violence in our communities, or address the harms already done by a violent, racist institution. Some worry that the defeat of Question 2 would be a blow against the movement to end police accountability and win Black liberation. In our view, the defeat of Question 2 will be an opportunity to get the focus back on concrete changes to address the needs our communities have right now.

We will be voting No on Question 2, and throwing our weight behind the fight for community control of the police by establishing an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission. Look for it in your ballot in 2022, and join the Black-led grassroots effort to get us there.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisElections

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/minneapolis-referendum-policing-vote-no-question-2 Tue, 21 Sep 2021 22:10:08 +0000 Leader of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression talks about mobilizing against police crimes https://fightbacknews.org/leader-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repression-talks-about-mobilizing-ag?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Interview with Frank Chapman Frank Chapman. Frank Chapman, a longtime leader in the Black liberation movement and Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, talks about the upsurge against police crimes and the need for community control of the police. !--more-- Fight Back!: What are your observations about the rebellions and upsurge in the fight against police crimes? Frank Chapman: The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression initiated this campaign against police crimes back in 1973 - over 46 years ago. We have never seen an uprising like this, that confirms in the dirt and blood of battle that what we need is community control of the police. The rebellion is not necessarily raising that demand, but that’s ok. They are raising issues around it, like defund the police, putting regulation on police behavior, such as outlawing choke holds, and more generally prohibiting brutality. Community control of the police is the vehicle for achieving all of this. Once we have passed legislation that empowers our people to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed then we can defund the police, we can demilitarize the police, and we can regulate the police. That’s what community control of the police does. And that’s what we can bring to this rebellion – it puts power into the hands of the people. A very important and very democratic demand, and this rebellion is bringing that demand forward like nothing that has happened in our history. Fight Back!: What has the NAARPR been doing in the context of the upsurge? Chapman: The main thing we’ve been doing is being in it, and I think that is so important. In fact, we called for a national day of protest before the rebellion really got underway. We called a national day of protest around the question of depopulating the prisons, the detention camps and the jails. Then when the rebellion got underway, we added demands for Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others who had been murdered by the police or vigilante groups. Shortly after we put out that call for a national day of protest these murders became the headlines throughout the country and the world. On May 30, our national day of protest, with less than a week of organizing, we were able to bring into the streets in Chicago over 20,000 people, and over 100,000 nationally in 23 cities \[Washington DC; Los Angeles; Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Pensacola, Florida; Chicago, Louisville, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Saint Louis, New York, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Dallas, Austin and Houston, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Milwaukee\]. It was phenomenal. In Chicago, we had 4000 cars in a caravan. We were paid back in great advances: on May 30, over 700 people joined our national organization, and with over $30,000 in contributions, and now we have over $60,000 for the National Alliance. And in this spontaneous protest movement, we have been bringing forward the demands for community control of the police. Fight Back!: Some are calling for “defunding the police.” Why is the fight for community control of the police so important? Chapman: As I said earlier, once we have community control of the police, we can defund them. It’s important who controls the process here. Defunding, controlled by the powers that be - the city councils and the mayors - is going to work the way that they work it, and the way that they have been working the whole question of police accountability. We don’t trust them. We want the people to be in charge of the process, and that’s what community control of the police does – it puts the people in charge so that the people are controlling the defunding of the police. We’re not against defunding the police, but this is a slogan without a program right now. Once we bring it into conformity with community control of the police, then it becomes a slogan with a program. In Chicago we call it CPAC – an all elected, all Civilian Police Accountability Council. In other areas it may go by another name. What it all comes down to is giving the community the power to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed. #UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #FrankChapman #NAARPR div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Interview with Frank Chapman

Frank Chapman.

Frank Chapman, a longtime leader in the Black liberation movement and Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, talks about the upsurge against police crimes and the need for community control of the police.

Fight Back!: What are your observations about the rebellions and upsurge in the fight against police crimes?

Frank Chapman: The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression initiated this campaign against police crimes back in 1973 – over 46 years ago. We have never seen an uprising like this, that confirms in the dirt and blood of battle that what we need is community control of the police.

The rebellion is not necessarily raising that demand, but that’s ok. They are raising issues around it, like defund the police, putting regulation on police behavior, such as outlawing choke holds, and more generally prohibiting brutality. Community control of the police is the vehicle for achieving all of this.

Once we have passed legislation that empowers our people to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed then we can defund the police, we can demilitarize the police, and we can regulate the police. That’s what community control of the police does. And that’s what we can bring to this rebellion – it puts power into the hands of the people. A very important and very democratic demand, and this rebellion is bringing that demand forward like nothing that has happened in our history.

Fight Back!: What has the NAARPR been doing in the context of the upsurge?

Chapman: The main thing we’ve been doing is being in it, and I think that is so important. In fact, we called for a national day of protest before the rebellion really got underway. We called a national day of protest around the question of depopulating the prisons, the detention camps and the jails. Then when the rebellion got underway, we added demands for Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others who had been murdered by the police or vigilante groups.

Shortly after we put out that call for a national day of protest these murders became the headlines throughout the country and the world. On May 30, our national day of protest, with less than a week of organizing, we were able to bring into the streets in Chicago over 20,000 people, and over 100,000 nationally in 23 cities [Washington DC; Los Angeles; Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Pensacola, Florida; Chicago, Louisville, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Saint Louis, New York, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Dallas, Austin and Houston, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Milwaukee]. It was phenomenal. In Chicago, we had 4000 cars in a caravan.

We were paid back in great advances: on May 30, over 700 people joined our national organization, and with over $30,000 in contributions, and now we have over $60,000 for the National Alliance. And in this spontaneous protest movement, we have been bringing forward the demands for community control of the police.

Fight Back!: Some are calling for “defunding the police.” Why is the fight for community control of the police so important?

Chapman: As I said earlier, once we have community control of the police, we can defund them. It’s important who controls the process here. Defunding, controlled by the powers that be – the city councils and the mayors – is going to work the way that they work it, and the way that they have been working the whole question of police accountability. We don’t trust them. We want the people to be in charge of the process, and that’s what community control of the police does – it puts the people in charge so that the people are controlling the defunding of the police.

We’re not against defunding the police, but this is a slogan without a program right now. Once we bring it into conformity with community control of the police, then it becomes a slogan with a program. In Chicago we call it CPAC – an all elected, all Civilian Police Accountability Council. In other areas it may go by another name. What it all comes down to is giving the community the power to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.

#UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #FrankChapman #NAARPR

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/leader-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repression-talks-about-mobilizing-ag Wed, 15 Jul 2020 17:34:43 +0000 Interview with Andy Brooks of New Communist Party of Britain on the COVID-19 pandemic https://fightbacknews.org/interview-andy-brooks-new-communist-party-britain-covid-19-pandemic?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Andy Brooks, New Communist Party of Britain addresses 20th international meeting Fight Back! interviewed Andy Brooks, General Secretary of the New Communist Party of Britain, on the impact of the pandemic in Britain. Fight Back!: How are the working people of Britain being impacted by the pandemic? !--more-- Brooks: Well the pandemic is something no one in living memory has ever experienced. Thousands of workers, including many pensioners, have died due to the coronavirus. The emergency measures that were eventually taken in late March have now reduced the mortality rate. But many of those deaths could have been avoided if the Johnson government had taken emergency action when COVID-19 first spread to Britain at the beginning of the year. Most schools and all “non-essential” shops have been closed for over two months, along with all sporting and social events under a lockdown regime not seen since the Second World War. The government’s emergency measures to stave off social unrest were taken in consultation with the unions as well as Labour and the other opposition parties in Parliament. These included the suspension of business rates for small firms, extending sick pay and increased NHS \[National Health Service\] funding and providing subsidies for furloughed workers and the self-employed. But they only went part of the way to tackling the escalating threat of a devastating epidemic that has stretched the health service to its limits and seriously undermined the economy at the same time. Workers have responded cautiously to the easing of some of the restrictions in June. Boris Johnson’s decision to shelve the plan to get primary school pupils back into the classroom before the summer break was welcomed by parents and teachers fearful of a premature return that could trigger off a second wave of the coronavirus plague, particularly given the government’s failure to get an adequate track and test system running and still no sign of a COVID-19 vaccine in sight. Fight Back!: Are the big factories and large workplaces still functioning? If so, how are workers resisting? Brooks: Manufacturers were exempted from the UK coronavirus clampdown on "non-essential" work, travel and gatherings. Staff were encouraged to work from home in large parts of the financial sector but in other areas the imposition of social distancing has led to massive cuts in their services. The social restrictions, which banned all meetings of more than two people, has paralyzed the unions at the grassroots level. Many national union elections have been deferred for a year and all union conferences have been postponed until September at the earliest. The union bureaucracies, of course, continue to function and at a national level; they continue to negotiate with employers while lobbying the Labour Party leadership and the government in the usual way. But the rank and file have not been completely side-lined. While health service workers’ demands for personal protective equipment have still to be adequately met, transport and postal workers have had more success by threatening or taking wildcat action to enforce health and safety demands. The actions of some Royal Mail depot managers, \[which were\] indifferent to the government’s emergency health and safety regulations, led to worker walkouts in a number of sorting offices in April that forced management to deep clean the sites and enforce the two metre spacing guidelines. In London at least 33 London bus drivers have died from COVID-19 and a further ten underground and railway staff have also fallen to the deadly infection. In the absence of any serious response from management, many drivers began taping off the front of their buses to avoid close contact with passengers. This forced Transport for London to suspend all bus fares on April 20 when passengers were banned from using the front door in a bid to shield drivers because the emergency measure meant the card reader next to the driver's cab was out of bounds. Now we’re seeing workers, particularly young workers, taking to the street in support of the new Black Lives Matter campaign that erupted over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. When they pulled down the statue of the Bristol slave dealer Edward Colston and dumped it in the river last week they sent a message to the ruling class that goes far beyond the issue of the trans-Atlantic slave trade which built the British Empire in the first place. Fight Back!: How does your organization view the government's response to the pandemic? Brooks: The Tory government’s response has been evasive and ambiguous. It’s led by Boris Johnson, a vain man clearly unfit to hold public office even by the low standards of the Tory Party he leads. Initially Boris Johnson’s plan for dealing with the coronavirus plague was to let the infection sweep through the population to keep people working to protect the capitalist economy, while accepting that tens of thousands of vulnerable elderly people would die prematurely as a consequence. But Johnson was forced to abandon the “herd immunity” ideas of his Rasputin, Dominic Cummings, which would have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable pensioners, through public pressure that included doctors and pensioners’ groups. Government figures say that some 41,000 people have died, so far, from coronavirus. Others say the real death toll, when all the deaths in care homes are factored in, is much, much higher. What is certain is that Britain has the highest death rate in the whole of Europe. The easing of the lockdown has led to a surge in the numbers returning to work in central London. Trains and buses are, once again, packed in the rush hours, firing fears that a new round of infection will spread like wildfire across the capital. Fight Back!: What is the New Communist Party doing in response to this crisis? Brooks: Our regular fund-raising events have been cancelled. We cannot hold public meetings. Our bookshop outlets are closed and our street sales have been suspended. This has produced a cash-flow problem, but our supporters have responded to the call and our weekly paper continues to come out, as it always has since 1977, for regular subscribers who receive it in the post. As soon as we can, we will return to campaigning on the street. In the meantime, we fight to put the communist answer to the capitalist crisis back on the working-class agenda in the columns of our paper and in the social media. We stand for Marxism-Leninism. We fight for peace and socialism, solidarity with Venezuela and national liberation movements all around the world and the people’s democracies of China, Cuba, Democratic Korea, Laos and Vietnam. We’ve got plenty to say and everything we’ve said in the past has been proved right. Our paper represents the voice of struggle in all its forms. It gives a clear communist line on the issues of the day, a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the problems facing the working class and it provides a window to the world communist movement and the national liberation movement; the bigger the readership, the greater our influence. This is our paramount task. #Britain #International #CapitalismAndEconomy #Opinion #Europe #Healthcare #Interviews #Socialism #COVID19 #NewCommunistPartyOfBritain #UnitedKingdom div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Andy Brooks, New Communist Party of Britain addresses 20th international meeting

Fight Back! interviewed Andy Brooks, General Secretary of the New Communist Party of Britain, on the impact of the pandemic in Britain. Fight Back!: How are the working people of Britain being impacted by the pandemic?

Brooks: Well the pandemic is something no one in living memory has ever experienced. Thousands of workers, including many pensioners, have died due to the coronavirus. The emergency measures that were eventually taken in late March have now reduced the mortality rate. But many of those deaths could have been avoided if the Johnson government had taken emergency action when COVID-19 first spread to Britain at the beginning of the year.

Most schools and all “non-essential” shops have been closed for over two months, along with all sporting and social events under a lockdown regime not seen since the Second World War.

The government’s emergency measures to stave off social unrest were taken in consultation with the unions as well as Labour and the other opposition parties in Parliament. These included the suspension of business rates for small firms, extending sick pay and increased NHS [National Health Service] funding and providing subsidies for furloughed workers and the self-employed. But they only went part of the way to tackling the escalating threat of a devastating epidemic that has stretched the health service to its limits and seriously undermined the economy at the same time.

Workers have responded cautiously to the easing of some of the restrictions in June. Boris Johnson’s decision to shelve the plan to get primary school pupils back into the classroom before the summer break was welcomed by parents and teachers fearful of a premature return that could trigger off a second wave of the coronavirus plague, particularly given the government’s failure to get an adequate track and test system running and still no sign of a COVID-19 vaccine in sight.

Fight Back!: Are the big factories and large workplaces still functioning? If so, how are workers resisting?

Brooks: Manufacturers were exempted from the UK coronavirus clampdown on “non-essential” work, travel and gatherings. Staff were encouraged to work from home in large parts of the financial sector but in other areas the imposition of social distancing has led to massive cuts in their services.

The social restrictions, which banned all meetings of more than two people, has paralyzed the unions at the grassroots level. Many national union elections have been deferred for a year and all union conferences have been postponed until September at the earliest. The union bureaucracies, of course, continue to function and at a national level; they continue to negotiate with employers while lobbying the Labour Party leadership and the government in the usual way. But the rank and file have not been completely side-lined. While health service workers’ demands for personal protective equipment have still to be adequately met, transport and postal workers have had more success by threatening or taking wildcat action to enforce health and safety demands.

The actions of some Royal Mail depot managers, [which were] indifferent to the government’s emergency health and safety regulations, led to worker walkouts in a number of sorting offices in April that forced management to deep clean the sites and enforce the two metre spacing guidelines.

In London at least 33 London bus drivers have died from COVID-19 and a further ten underground and railway staff have also fallen to the deadly infection. In the absence of any serious response from management, many drivers began taping off the front of their buses to avoid close contact with passengers. This forced Transport for London to suspend all bus fares on April 20 when passengers were banned from using the front door in a bid to shield drivers because the emergency measure meant the card reader next to the driver's cab was out of bounds.

Now we’re seeing workers, particularly young workers, taking to the street in support of the new Black Lives Matter campaign that erupted over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. When they pulled down the statue of the Bristol slave dealer Edward Colston and dumped it in the river last week they sent a message to the ruling class that goes far beyond the issue of the trans-Atlantic slave trade which built the British Empire in the first place.

Fight Back!: How does your organization view the government's response to the pandemic?

Brooks: The Tory government’s response has been evasive and ambiguous. It’s led by Boris Johnson, a vain man clearly unfit to hold public office even by the low standards of the Tory Party he leads. Initially Boris Johnson’s plan for dealing with the coronavirus plague was to let the infection sweep through the population to keep people working to protect the capitalist economy, while accepting that tens of thousands of vulnerable elderly people would die prematurely as a consequence. But Johnson was forced to abandon the “herd immunity” ideas of his Rasputin, Dominic Cummings, which would have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable pensioners, through public pressure that included doctors and pensioners’ groups.

Government figures say that some 41,000 people have died, so far, from coronavirus. Others say the real death toll, when all the deaths in care homes are factored in, is much, much higher. What is certain is that Britain has the highest death rate in the whole of Europe. The easing of the lockdown has led to a surge in the numbers returning to work in central London. Trains and buses are, once again, packed in the rush hours, firing fears that a new round of infection will spread like wildfire across the capital.

Fight Back!: What is the New Communist Party doing in response to this crisis?

Brooks: Our regular fund-raising events have been cancelled. We cannot hold public meetings. Our bookshop outlets are closed and our street sales have been suspended. This has produced a cash-flow problem, but our supporters have responded to the call and our weekly paper continues to come out, as it always has since 1977, for regular subscribers who receive it in the post.

As soon as we can, we will return to campaigning on the street. In the meantime, we fight to put the communist answer to the capitalist crisis back on the working-class agenda in the columns of our paper and in the social media. We stand for Marxism-Leninism. We fight for peace and socialism, solidarity with Venezuela and national liberation movements all around the world and the people’s democracies of China, Cuba, Democratic Korea, Laos and Vietnam. We’ve got plenty to say and everything we’ve said in the past has been proved right.

Our paper represents the voice of struggle in all its forms. It gives a clear communist line on the issues of the day, a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the problems facing the working class and it provides a window to the world communist movement and the national liberation movement; the bigger the readership, the greater our influence. This is our paramount task.

#Britain #International #CapitalismAndEconomy #Opinion #Europe #Healthcare #Interviews #Socialism #COVID19 #NewCommunistPartyOfBritain #UnitedKingdom

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/interview-andy-brooks-new-communist-party-britain-covid-19-pandemic Tue, 16 Jun 2020 19:29:41 +0000 A school’s unique response to COVID-19 https://fightbacknews.org/school-s-unique-response-covid-19?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA) response to COVID-19 Chicago Chicago, IL - Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA) is a small two-floor building that rests on the corner of Western and Blue Island Avenues in Pilsen, Chicago. At first glance you would notice the mural that decorates the wall - women of color with fists in the air, “La Lucha Sigue.” You might ask yourself, “Is this a school?” and the first answer is: yes. Though, the more accurate answer is: “It’s a home, a safe haven.” !--more-- First, some vital context. IJLA (more commonly referred to by its original name, Rudy, after the socialist Rudy Lozano) is an options school. This means that our students are 16 to 21 years old and typically are pushed out of the traditional school system, whether that be because of home responsibilities, mental health that impacts attendance, pregnancy, gang affiliation, or ‘behavior.’ We are a small school - our enrollment is currently at about 108 students though that is ever growing as we have accumulated a waitlist and have several students who refer their friends to enroll. However, what’s arguably most notable about IJLA is that we are a Restorative Justice school. Restorative Justice is the philosophy that believes that in order to repair and heal, all parties affected need to come together to discuss the harm that was caused and a way to resolve it. In other words, believing in Restorative Justice means genuinely believing that people are capable of changing, but at the same time understanding that change takes time, patience, love and accountability - the difference is that under restorative justice, accountability is never, ever punitive. At IJLA this Restorative Justice looks like a united staff that prioritizes the health and safety of students. This means building relationships with students to the point that we consider each other family (yes, they call us all by our first names). It means student circles, community circles, and staff circles (what we ask our students to do, we need to do ourselves). It means understanding and accepting that there are times when a student, community or staff will need multiple circles for the same behavior. It’s going back to the drawing board to see what happened and what we can do moving forward. This emphasizes the fact that we are equals. There is no “because I’m the teacher” at IJLA. That phrase will not survive here and that’s good. Everything we do at IJLA needs to have a purpose, and that purpose should focus on dismantling the systems of oppression that are embedded in our country. If we feel challenged as teachers, we need to ask ourselves why and admit that students are right to question us, and at IJLA, we try our best to provide the tools for students to question effectively beyond our walls. Even during a global pandemic that has pushed us to remote learning, we are embodying these beliefs. Remote learning is inherently inequitable, but if we are left with no other choice, the only thing we could do was try to find the least inequitable solutions. So, we got to working. And we found a way to communicate with each and every one of our students. We distributed laptops and hotspots to each student who needed one along with any other supplies students might need (masks, hygiene products, food, baby products, gift cards, nearly anything that could be necessary) almost immediately. Academically, we’ve established cross-curriculum classes that are relevant (especially during COVID-19) that make it significantly less stressful for students and staff to function during this time. That means collaboration between the subjects of history and science, and the subjects of English and math to create a total of two classes that include each subject’s core competencies. This not only reduces the amount of time students are expected to log in, but it creates a unique opportunity to conduct a truly interdisciplinary project that asks students to research a different aspect of COVID-19 and create or re-write a current policy that exists. The topics can vary, from researching the lack of testing sites in communities of color to researching the stimulus check and who it really benefits - it’s all up to the students and their interests. Nonetheless, at IJLA, we understand that because of our size, we have the opportunity to establish these practices without the barriers of a traditional school. But the traditional school system is failing our youth, especially our youth of color. This pandemic and remote learning are bringing these injustices out of the woodwork and making themselves obvious to those who have had the privilege of being blind to them. Students at IJLA have not had the privilege of ignoring these inequities; in fact, they are the exact people the school system has failed. It is because of this that the staff of IJLA has worked passionately to create a space where our students are allowed to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel respected. It is a space that prioritizes their voices and their needs, whether that be through practicing restorative justice or reworking curriculum in the face of a global pandemic; students will always be put first - a foundational and essential right that should be given to all students at all schools. #ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Opinion #Healthcare #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PuertoRico #education #COVID19 #InstitutoJusticeAndLeadershipAcademyIJLA div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA) response to COVID-19 Chicago

Chicago, IL – Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy (IJLA) is a small two-floor building that rests on the corner of Western and Blue Island Avenues in Pilsen, Chicago. At first glance you would notice the mural that decorates the wall – women of color with fists in the air, “La Lucha Sigue.” You might ask yourself, “Is this a school?” and the first answer is: yes. Though, the more accurate answer is: “It’s a home, a safe haven.”

First, some vital context. IJLA (more commonly referred to by its original name, Rudy, after the socialist Rudy Lozano) is an options school. This means that our students are 16 to 21 years old and typically are pushed out of the traditional school system, whether that be because of home responsibilities, mental health that impacts attendance, pregnancy, gang affiliation, or ‘behavior.’ We are a small school – our enrollment is currently at about 108 students though that is ever growing as we have accumulated a waitlist and have several students who refer their friends to enroll. However, what’s arguably most notable about IJLA is that we are a Restorative Justice school.

Restorative Justice is the philosophy that believes that in order to repair and heal, all parties affected need to come together to discuss the harm that was caused and a way to resolve it. In other words, believing in Restorative Justice means genuinely believing that people are capable of changing, but at the same time understanding that change takes time, patience, love and accountability – the difference is that under restorative justice, accountability is never, ever punitive.

At IJLA this Restorative Justice looks like a united staff that prioritizes the health and safety of students. This means building relationships with students to the point that we consider each other family (yes, they call us all by our first names). It means student circles, community circles, and staff circles (what we ask our students to do, we need to do ourselves). It means understanding and accepting that there are times when a student, community or staff will need multiple circles for the same behavior. It’s going back to the drawing board to see what happened and what we can do moving forward.

This emphasizes the fact that we are equals. There is no “because I’m the teacher” at IJLA. That phrase will not survive here and that’s good. Everything we do at IJLA needs to have a purpose, and that purpose should focus on dismantling the systems of oppression that are embedded in our country. If we feel challenged as teachers, we need to ask ourselves why and admit that students are right to question us, and at IJLA, we try our best to provide the tools for students to question effectively beyond our walls.

Even during a global pandemic that has pushed us to remote learning, we are embodying these beliefs. Remote learning is inherently inequitable, but if we are left with no other choice, the only thing we could do was try to find the least inequitable solutions. So, we got to working. And we found a way to communicate with each and every one of our students. We distributed laptops and hotspots to each student who needed one along with any other supplies students might need (masks, hygiene products, food, baby products, gift cards, nearly anything that could be necessary) almost immediately.

Academically, we’ve established cross-curriculum classes that are relevant (especially during COVID-19) that make it significantly less stressful for students and staff to function during this time. That means collaboration between the subjects of history and science, and the subjects of English and math to create a total of two classes that include each subject’s core competencies. This not only reduces the amount of time students are expected to log in, but it creates a unique opportunity to conduct a truly interdisciplinary project that asks students to research a different aspect of COVID-19 and create or re-write a current policy that exists. The topics can vary, from researching the lack of testing sites in communities of color to researching the stimulus check and who it really benefits – it’s all up to the students and their interests.

Nonetheless, at IJLA, we understand that because of our size, we have the opportunity to establish these practices without the barriers of a traditional school. But the traditional school system is failing our youth, especially our youth of color. This pandemic and remote learning are bringing these injustices out of the woodwork and making themselves obvious to those who have had the privilege of being blind to them. Students at IJLA have not had the privilege of ignoring these inequities; in fact, they are the exact people the school system has failed.

It is because of this that the staff of IJLA has worked passionately to create a space where our students are allowed to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel respected. It is a space that prioritizes their voices and their needs, whether that be through practicing restorative justice or reworking curriculum in the face of a global pandemic; students will always be put first – a foundational and essential right that should be given to all students at all schools.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Opinion #Healthcare #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PuertoRico #education #COVID19 #InstitutoJusticeAndLeadershipAcademyIJLA

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/school-s-unique-response-covid-19 Mon, 25 May 2020 22:23:09 +0000 Venezuela: Solidarity vs. COVID-19 (and Capital) https://fightbacknews.org/venezuela-solidarity-vs-covid-19-and-capital?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Venezuela: Solidarity vs. COVID-19 (and Capital) Chicago, IL - These are hard days for people the world over. The COVID-19 virus has forced billions of people to stay at home, bringing the global economy to a near standstill. At the moment of writing, nearly 3 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 across the world, and over 200,000 people have died. !--more-- It is in a crisis like this that society is tested, that the strength of human organization must prove itself. And if there is one thing that every American can see, it is that our society has failed this test. “American exceptionalism” means that our economy and our way of life is superior, that it can withstand any test and overcome any obstacle. This is reflected in our history books, in the worldview of our political leaders and in the mindset of our ruling class. You can even see it in our culture - the only ‘plausible’ storylines that post-apocalyptic movies seem to be able to lean on are either an alien invasion, a nuclear holocaust or complete environmental collapse. We are mighty, so only something utterly beyond human capabilities can bring us down. In fact, all it took to make the United States crumble was a new strain of a common virus. Uncontrolled capital does not build stability, it does not build community, it does not build society. In fact, everywhere it goes it shatters community. Solidarity, the most human of acts, is incompatible with capitalism, and in a country like ours, where capital rules without a single check, human beings are left atomized and defenseless. And in a society where capital rules, human life is as expendable as any natural resource. Every person in this country saw this as the crisis began. As people lay dying in hospital beds across the country, our elected government gave trillions of dollars to the gamblers on Wall Street without batting an eye, trillions that could have built hospitals and kept us going but instead disappeared forever into bank accounts and bad bets. As countless millions of workers lost their jobs and small businesses closed their doors forever, Democrats and Republicans debated whether the one-time check to make sure people survived should be $250 or $1200, if it should be taxed or not, if it should be means-tested or not. Human beings do not deserve anything but survival, after all, and that of course must come with some kind of guarantees and restrictions. We do not need to ask what restrictions were put on the trillions of dollars given to monopolies like Boeing; there were none. Capital must thrive, while human beings, some at least, can survive. This is unacceptable. Venezuela reminds us why we organize Working people have never been able to rely on anything other than their own organization, the formations and institutions that we build through our solidarity and our desire, our right, to thrive and live a dignified life. Without organization, we are defenseless victims of the anti-democratic, anti-human desires of capitalist profit. With organization, we can transform the world. In Venezuela, capitalism finds itself frustrated and on the defensive. In this Caribbean nation, there is a movement of millions of ordinary people, the Bolivarian movement, extraordinarily well-organized and well-armed with the knowledge of 20 years of struggle. The strength of their organization has ended illiteracy, raised living standards and created new forms of production, like worker-run industries and communes. It has also stopped coup d’états, foiled acts of sabotage and withstood the horrendous blockade of the U.S. government, commanded by capital, to starve the Venezuelan people into submission. Now, facing down a global pandemic, another attack on human flourishing, the Bolivarian movement responds again with organization and determination. After the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the country the elected government of Nicolás Maduro, itself an extension of the people's movement, ordered all people not working in an essential service to stay at home. Not a single business was allowed to fire anyone, and the government has guaranteed everyone's weekly earnings until the crisis is over. Meanwhile in Venezuela, organizations that already existed among the people to meet their needs and wage their war against capitalism have simply extended their efforts to respond to this crisis. Grassroots committees known as the CLAP have delivered food for free to families in need for years; now their work is expanded so that more people stay at home. Tens of thousands of Venezuelan and Cuban doctors have served the nation's people for years in free community clinics, forming bonds of friendship and solidarity with people while improving their lives and treating their illnesses. Now these doctors are going door-to-door in their communities, distributing face masks, educating people about the virus and testing people for symptoms. Even amid this crisis, the Bolivarian movement and its exceptional levels of organization is taking on capital, an enemy with which they have been in permanent struggle for over 20 years. Private companies, like the mega-monopoly Polar Foods, are doing what they have done for years in Venezuela - engaging in rampant price speculation, trying to squeeze some profit out of people's desperation. Anyone who has seen N95 masks for $10 apiece at their local gas station has experienced this reflex of capitalism, a reflex that ignores suffering and solidarity and seeks only to accumulate profit. In the United States, we can only look on; in Venezuela, workers can, and are, fighting back. At the Portuguesa Oilseed Consortium (Coposa), a large privately-owned company that produces cooking oils, workers - through their own organization, the Productive Worker Council (CPT) - occupied the production facilities in an effort to stop the company's price speculation. The Maduro government stepped in to support the workers, and now the workers and the government are saying that the occupation will continue for at least 180 days to ensure the people's needs for cooking oil supersede the desire for profit from the owner. At the same time, Maduro announced that price controls - once-relaxed as a concession to capital during the economic war - will return for 27 essential goods for the duration of this crisis. To ensure that the price controls are obeyed, Maduro called on the working class - through their trade unions, worker councils and supportive government agencies - to supervise the sales and distributions of goods at three major food producers, including Polar Foods. Any business owner caught engaging in price speculation will be punished to the extent of the law. Lorenzo Mendoza, the owner of Polar, complained to the press that "there is no reason or justification for this arbitrary measure." Diosdado Cabello, the vice president of the governing United Socialist Party, had this to say to Mendoza and his class compatriots: "Don't come crying to us. I warn you that this people knows what has to be done." We do not have to live like this It has been a month and a half since Venezuela, a nation of 30 million people, had its first confirmed COVID-19 case. To date, they have had 325 confirmed cases and ten deaths. The United States, to date, has over 987,000 cases and over 55,000 deaths. In Venezuela, not a single worker has lost their job. In the United States, over 26 million workers have filed for unemployment in five weeks, the fastest rate in history (a rate that would be even faster if millions more who have tried to apply actually got through). In Venezuela food is provided, free of charge, to anyone who needs it. In the United States, billionaires like Bezos are making untold profits by forcing desperate people into low-wage, part-time gig jobs with minimal protections to deliver groceries to anyone that can pay for it. In Venezuela, the people's organizations from their clinics to their communal councils have mapped out their entire communities. They know who is sick, who still needs face masks, who has health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus, and who still needs to be contacted. In the United States, we don't even know how many people are sick. There has not been a single attempt by our government to trace the spread of the virus, to contact people on a door-by-door basis, or to ensure that everyone has face masks. We are left defenseless, rudderless and confused. We do not have to suffer like this. We cannot continue to suffer like this. Through our organization, through our solidarity and our love for humanity, we can not only overcome this virus - we can change the world. It is not impossible, and it is not something that is consigned to happen in the future. It can happen now, because it is happening now, in places like Venezuela and Cuba and Vietnam, where human life matters more than capitalist profit, and where the people's organization will always defeat the maneuvers of the rich. A new world can come out of this crisis - will we commit ourselves to it? #ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Socialism #US #Opinion #Healthcare #DonaldTrump #COVID19 div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Venezuela: Solidarity vs. COVID-19 (and Capital)

Chicago, IL – These are hard days for people the world over. The COVID-19 virus has forced billions of people to stay at home, bringing the global economy to a near standstill. At the moment of writing, nearly 3 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 across the world, and over 200,000 people have died.

It is in a crisis like this that society is tested, that the strength of human organization must prove itself. And if there is one thing that every American can see, it is that our society has failed this test. “American exceptionalism” means that our economy and our way of life is superior, that it can withstand any test and overcome any obstacle. This is reflected in our history books, in the worldview of our political leaders and in the mindset of our ruling class. You can even see it in our culture – the only ‘plausible’ storylines that post-apocalyptic movies seem to be able to lean on are either an alien invasion, a nuclear holocaust or complete environmental collapse. We are mighty, so only something utterly beyond human capabilities can bring us down. In fact, all it took to make the United States crumble was a new strain of a common virus.

Uncontrolled capital does not build stability, it does not build community, it does not build society. In fact, everywhere it goes it shatters community. Solidarity, the most human of acts, is incompatible with capitalism, and in a country like ours, where capital rules without a single check, human beings are left atomized and defenseless. And in a society where capital rules, human life is as expendable as any natural resource.

Every person in this country saw this as the crisis began. As people lay dying in hospital beds across the country, our elected government gave trillions of dollars to the gamblers on Wall Street without batting an eye, trillions that could have built hospitals and kept us going but instead disappeared forever into bank accounts and bad bets. As countless millions of workers lost their jobs and small businesses closed their doors forever, Democrats and Republicans debated whether the one-time check to make sure people survived should be $250 or $1200, if it should be taxed or not, if it should be means-tested or not. Human beings do not deserve anything but survival, after all, and that of course must come with some kind of guarantees and restrictions. We do not need to ask what restrictions were put on the trillions of dollars given to monopolies like Boeing; there were none. Capital must thrive, while human beings, some at least, can survive. This is unacceptable.

Venezuela reminds us why we organize

Working people have never been able to rely on anything other than their own organization, the formations and institutions that we build through our solidarity and our desire, our right, to thrive and live a dignified life. Without organization, we are defenseless victims of the anti-democratic, anti-human desires of capitalist profit. With organization, we can transform the world.

In Venezuela, capitalism finds itself frustrated and on the defensive. In this Caribbean nation, there is a movement of millions of ordinary people, the Bolivarian movement, extraordinarily well-organized and well-armed with the knowledge of 20 years of struggle. The strength of their organization has ended illiteracy, raised living standards and created new forms of production, like worker-run industries and communes. It has also stopped coup d’états, foiled acts of sabotage and withstood the horrendous blockade of the U.S. government, commanded by capital, to starve the Venezuelan people into submission.

Now, facing down a global pandemic, another attack on human flourishing, the Bolivarian movement responds again with organization and determination. After the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the country the elected government of Nicolás Maduro, itself an extension of the people's movement, ordered all people not working in an essential service to stay at home. Not a single business was allowed to fire anyone, and the government has guaranteed everyone's weekly earnings until the crisis is over.

Meanwhile in Venezuela, organizations that already existed among the people to meet their needs and wage their war against capitalism have simply extended their efforts to respond to this crisis. Grassroots committees known as the CLAP have delivered food for free to families in need for years; now their work is expanded so that more people stay at home. Tens of thousands of Venezuelan and Cuban doctors have served the nation's people for years in free community clinics, forming bonds of friendship and solidarity with people while improving their lives and treating their illnesses. Now these doctors are going door-to-door in their communities, distributing face masks, educating people about the virus and testing people for symptoms.

Even amid this crisis, the Bolivarian movement and its exceptional levels of organization is taking on capital, an enemy with which they have been in permanent struggle for over 20 years. Private companies, like the mega-monopoly Polar Foods, are doing what they have done for years in Venezuela – engaging in rampant price speculation, trying to squeeze some profit out of people's desperation. Anyone who has seen N95 masks for $10 apiece at their local gas station has experienced this reflex of capitalism, a reflex that ignores suffering and solidarity and seeks only to accumulate profit.

In the United States, we can only look on; in Venezuela, workers can, and are, fighting back.

At the Portuguesa Oilseed Consortium (Coposa), a large privately-owned company that produces cooking oils, workers – through their own organization, the Productive Worker Council (CPT) – occupied the production facilities in an effort to stop the company's price speculation. The Maduro government stepped in to support the workers, and now the workers and the government are saying that the occupation will continue for at least 180 days to ensure the people's needs for cooking oil supersede the desire for profit from the owner. At the same time, Maduro announced that price controls – once-relaxed as a concession to capital during the economic war – will return for 27 essential goods for the duration of this crisis.

To ensure that the price controls are obeyed, Maduro called on the working class – through their trade unions, worker councils and supportive government agencies – to supervise the sales and distributions of goods at three major food producers, including Polar Foods. Any business owner caught engaging in price speculation will be punished to the extent of the law. Lorenzo Mendoza, the owner of Polar, complained to the press that “there is no reason or justification for this arbitrary measure.” Diosdado Cabello, the vice president of the governing United Socialist Party, had this to say to Mendoza and his class compatriots: “Don't come crying to us. I warn you that this people knows what has to be done.”

We do not have to live like this

It has been a month and a half since Venezuela, a nation of 30 million people, had its first confirmed COVID-19 case. To date, they have had 325 confirmed cases and ten deaths. The United States, to date, has over 987,000 cases and over 55,000 deaths.

In Venezuela, not a single worker has lost their job. In the United States, over 26 million workers have filed for unemployment in five weeks, the fastest rate in history (a rate that would be even faster if millions more who have tried to apply actually got through).

In Venezuela food is provided, free of charge, to anyone who needs it. In the United States, billionaires like Bezos are making untold profits by forcing desperate people into low-wage, part-time gig jobs with minimal protections to deliver groceries to anyone that can pay for it.

In Venezuela, the people's organizations from their clinics to their communal councils have mapped out their entire communities. They know who is sick, who still needs face masks, who has health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus, and who still needs to be contacted. In the United States, we don't even know how many people are sick. There has not been a single attempt by our government to trace the spread of the virus, to contact people on a door-by-door basis, or to ensure that everyone has face masks. We are left defenseless, rudderless and confused.

We do not have to suffer like this. We cannot continue to suffer like this. Through our organization, through our solidarity and our love for humanity, we can not only overcome this virus – we can change the world. It is not impossible, and it is not something that is consigned to happen in the future. It can happen now, because it is happening now, in places like Venezuela and Cuba and Vietnam, where human life matters more than capitalist profit, and where the people's organization will always defeat the maneuvers of the rich.

A new world can come out of this crisis – will we commit ourselves to it?

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Socialism #US #Opinion #Healthcare #DonaldTrump #COVID19

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/venezuela-solidarity-vs-covid-19-and-capital Tue, 28 Apr 2020 17:45:03 +0000 Interview with Charlotte Kates on COVID-19 threat in Israeli jails, fight to free Palestinian political prisoners https://fightbacknews.org/interview-charlotte-kates-covid-19-threat-israeli-jails-fight-free-palestinian-political-p?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Charlotte Kate. Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that all of our readers to support this important effort. !--more-- Fight Back!: How has the pandemic impacted Palestinian political prisoners? Charlotte Kates: One of the major concerns has been the fact that Palestinian prisoners are essentially cut off from the outside world. Israel claims that its ban on family visits and legal visits are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they are also doing everything possible to avoid providing alternative options for the prisoners, including the over 180 Palestinian child prisoners, such as phone calls. There are strict conditions over which prisoners can have a video or phone call with a lawyer and there is no protection for the privacy of such calls. These isolation protocols are also not being applied for Israeli guards, jailers and interrogators. Palestinians are still being arrested on a daily basis in violent night raids and even once imprisoned, they are continuing to face repressive units ransacking their rooms. After weeks of protest, including returning meals, Israeli guards are finally counting prisoners outside the cells and wearing masks on at least some occasions, but these are insufficient protection for the prisoners. One prisoner, Noureddine Sarsour, was discovered to have COVID-19 after his release. The Israel Prison Service is not providing testing nor even appropriate quarantine protocols. People are being ‘quarantined’ in filthy isolation cells. In the meantime, sanitary products and other items have been removed from the canteen, or prison store, where Palestinian prisoners are forced to purchase basic items. Again after prisoners' organized protest, some of the main halls are being cleaned, but still insufficiently, and prisoners are continuing to organize and protest. All of this is amid a context of clear Israeli medical negligence that has taken the lives of at least 67 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the knowledge-lockdown for the families of the prisoners. If COVID-19 spreads within the prison from Israeli guards and jailers who continue to interact with society, the prisoners will be most at risk of swift transmission. They are held eight to a room, and many are elderly or have other serious medical conditions. This is why it is once again incredibly important to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, especially the elderly, children, sick prisoners, women prisoners and those held in administrative detention without charge or trial. Fight Back!: The Israelis are holding a number of high-profile political prisoners, such Ahmad Sa’adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). What can you say about their condition? Kates: In many ways, these high-profile political prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat share the tribulations of their fellow 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are also denied family visits, legal communication and access to basic protective measures and appropriate health care. It is important to note that the repressive mechanisms being justified here as an attempt to prevent the entry of COVID-19 into the prison system are also the sort of repressive measures that have been recommended and developed by the racist, colonial Israeli political structure as well. The so-called ‘Erdan commission,’ headed by Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, recommended doing everything possible to make prisoners' lives worse in an attempt to roll back basic rights that were won only through struggle by the prisoners, such as hunger strikes. Family visits are continually used as a weapon against the prisoners, and the prison administration has dragged its feet relentlessly on installing the public phones it agreed to install in order to end the 2019 mass hunger strike. Gilad Erdan is, of course, not just one right-wing politician but reflective of the entire Zionist mechanism of racist repression and control. It is worthwhile to note, however, that he simultaneously holds another position in Netanyahu's government. He is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the so-called ‘anti-BDS ministry’ that is attempting to smear, criminalize and harass Palestinian human rights defenders and organizations as well as Palestine solidarity groups around the world, especially those that work on the prisoners. He and the Israeli state he represents are attempting to impose the ‘terror’ label on support for Palestine and Palestinian liberation in the United States and Europe. This is another attempt to isolate the prisoners, especially those like Ahmad Sa'adat, who continue to play a leading political role and reminds us of how important it is to keep up the advocacy for Palestinian prisoners around the world. Fight Back!: Would you comment on the case of Georges Abdallah and the fight to free him? Kates: Palestinian prisoners are not only found in Israeli occupation prisons. Much like imperialist powers like the U.S. and France are fully complicit in the oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people as a whole, this also extends to the imprisonment of Palestinians and strugglers for Palestine. In the U.S., we see the case of the Holy Land Five, Palestinian charity workers sentenced up to 65 years for their work. In France, there is the case of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine who has been held in French prisons for 35 years. He has been eligible for release since 1999 after being convicted of involvement in an armed action conducted by Lebanese resistance groups against U.S. and Israeli officials. His entire trial was marked by severe irregularities, and his lawyer was actually a spy for French intelligence. Even the French judiciary has agreed to release him to Lebanon on several occasions, and the U.S. has played a key role in keeping him behind bars. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's released emails showed her contacting the French government to pressure them to override the judiciary and keep Georges imprisoned. There is a growing movement in France and in Lebanon to demand his immediate release, but it is also important to publicize his case in the United States, given its role in depriving him of his freedom. Further, Georges is also a leader behind bars and actively participates as part of the Palestinian prisoners' movement. He returns food along with Palestinian collective hunger strikes and has organized Basque and Arab fellow prisoners to do the same, and Palestinian prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat have expressed their commitment that Georges' freedom is also critical to them. Fight Back!: Can you say a few words on the importance of the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners and how our readers can participate in this fight? Kates: The Palestinian prisoners are locked up because Israel wants to isolate them from their communities, their people, the international and Arab movements and the world. They are true leaders of the Palestinian people and represent ongoing Palestinian resistance; this is why they face such severe attacks by Zionist colonialism. They have been violently ripped away from their people because they offer a vision and a commitment to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. And, of course, the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners is an internationalist one. The fight to free the Palestinian prisoners comes hand in hand with that against the racist U.S. prison system, with fights for justice for the political prisoners of Egypt, the Philippines, Colombia, Turkey, India and elsewhere. There are amazing organizations in Palestine and internationally working to free the prisoners. For example, Addameer provides legal support to Palestinian prisoners and their families inside occupied Palestine. Many Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity groups are working together on initiatives that recognize the connection between struggles against racism in the U.S. and in Palestine, including resisting the systems of mass incarceration targeting peoples and communities. As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we are an international network of activists and organizers working to build the movement to free the prisoners and to free Palestine from the river to the sea by building internationalist solidarity, organizing demonstrations, call-ins and other actions, amplifying the voices of the Palestinian prisoners' movement and working to expand boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns to isolate Israel at an international level. We invite people to get involved and work together with us; you can find out more at our website, samidoun.net. #UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #Opinion #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #COVID19 div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Charlotte Kate.

Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that all of our readers to support this important effort.

Fight Back!: How has the pandemic impacted Palestinian political prisoners?

Charlotte Kates: One of the major concerns has been the fact that Palestinian prisoners are essentially cut off from the outside world. Israel claims that its ban on family visits and legal visits are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they are also doing everything possible to avoid providing alternative options for the prisoners, including the over 180 Palestinian child prisoners, such as phone calls.

There are strict conditions over which prisoners can have a video or phone call with a lawyer and there is no protection for the privacy of such calls. These isolation protocols are also not being applied for Israeli guards, jailers and interrogators. Palestinians are still being arrested on a daily basis in violent night raids and even once imprisoned, they are continuing to face repressive units ransacking their rooms. After weeks of protest, including returning meals, Israeli guards are finally counting prisoners outside the cells and wearing masks on at least some occasions, but these are insufficient protection for the prisoners.

One prisoner, Noureddine Sarsour, was discovered to have COVID-19 after his release. The Israel Prison Service is not providing testing nor even appropriate quarantine protocols. People are being ‘quarantined’ in filthy isolation cells. In the meantime, sanitary products and other items have been removed from the canteen, or prison store, where Palestinian prisoners are forced to purchase basic items. Again after prisoners' organized protest, some of the main halls are being cleaned, but still insufficiently, and prisoners are continuing to organize and protest. All of this is amid a context of clear Israeli medical negligence that has taken the lives of at least 67 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the knowledge-lockdown for the families of the prisoners.

If COVID-19 spreads within the prison from Israeli guards and jailers who continue to interact with society, the prisoners will be most at risk of swift transmission. They are held eight to a room, and many are elderly or have other serious medical conditions. This is why it is once again incredibly important to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, especially the elderly, children, sick prisoners, women prisoners and those held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Fight Back!: The Israelis are holding a number of high-profile political prisoners, such Ahmad Sa’adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). What can you say about their condition?

Kates: In many ways, these high-profile political prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat share the tribulations of their fellow 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are also denied family visits, legal communication and access to basic protective measures and appropriate health care. It is important to note that the repressive mechanisms being justified here as an attempt to prevent the entry of COVID-19 into the prison system are also the sort of repressive measures that have been recommended and developed by the racist, colonial Israeli political structure as well.

The so-called ‘Erdan commission,’ headed by Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, recommended doing everything possible to make prisoners' lives worse in an attempt to roll back basic rights that were won only through struggle by the prisoners, such as hunger strikes. Family visits are continually used as a weapon against the prisoners, and the prison administration has dragged its feet relentlessly on installing the public phones it agreed to install in order to end the 2019 mass hunger strike.

Gilad Erdan is, of course, not just one right-wing politician but reflective of the entire Zionist mechanism of racist repression and control. It is worthwhile to note, however, that he simultaneously holds another position in Netanyahu's government. He is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the so-called ‘anti-BDS ministry’ that is attempting to smear, criminalize and harass Palestinian human rights defenders and organizations as well as Palestine solidarity groups around the world, especially those that work on the prisoners. He and the Israeli state he represents are attempting to impose the ‘terror’ label on support for Palestine and Palestinian liberation in the United States and Europe. This is another attempt to isolate the prisoners, especially those like Ahmad Sa'adat, who continue to play a leading political role and reminds us of how important it is to keep up the advocacy for Palestinian prisoners around the world.

Fight Back!: Would you comment on the case of Georges Abdallah and the fight to free him?

Kates: Palestinian prisoners are not only found in Israeli occupation prisons. Much like imperialist powers like the U.S. and France are fully complicit in the oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people as a whole, this also extends to the imprisonment of Palestinians and strugglers for Palestine. In the U.S., we see the case of the Holy Land Five, Palestinian charity workers sentenced up to 65 years for their work.

In France, there is the case of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine who has been held in French prisons for 35 years. He has been eligible for release since 1999 after being convicted of involvement in an armed action conducted by Lebanese resistance groups against U.S. and Israeli officials. His entire trial was marked by severe irregularities, and his lawyer was actually a spy for French intelligence. Even the French judiciary has agreed to release him to Lebanon on several occasions, and the U.S. has played a key role in keeping him behind bars. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's released emails showed her contacting the French government to pressure them to override the judiciary and keep Georges imprisoned.

There is a growing movement in France and in Lebanon to demand his immediate release, but it is also important to publicize his case in the United States, given its role in depriving him of his freedom. Further, Georges is also a leader behind bars and actively participates as part of the Palestinian prisoners' movement. He returns food along with Palestinian collective hunger strikes and has organized Basque and Arab fellow prisoners to do the same, and Palestinian prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat have expressed their commitment that Georges' freedom is also critical to them.

Fight Back!: Can you say a few words on the importance of the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners and how our readers can participate in this fight?

Kates: The Palestinian prisoners are locked up because Israel wants to isolate them from their communities, their people, the international and Arab movements and the world. They are true leaders of the Palestinian people and represent ongoing Palestinian resistance; this is why they face such severe attacks by Zionist colonialism. They have been violently ripped away from their people because they offer a vision and a commitment to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. And, of course, the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners is an internationalist one. The fight to free the Palestinian prisoners comes hand in hand with that against the racist U.S. prison system, with fights for justice for the political prisoners of Egypt, the Philippines, Colombia, Turkey, India and elsewhere.

There are amazing organizations in Palestine and internationally working to free the prisoners. For example, Addameer provides legal support to Palestinian prisoners and their families inside occupied Palestine. Many Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity groups are working together on initiatives that recognize the connection between struggles against racism in the U.S. and in Palestine, including resisting the systems of mass incarceration targeting peoples and communities.

As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we are an international network of activists and organizers working to build the movement to free the prisoners and to free Palestine from the river to the sea by building internationalist solidarity, organizing demonstrations, call-ins and other actions, amplifying the voices of the Palestinian prisoners' movement and working to expand boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns to isolate Israel at an international level. We invite people to get involved and work together with us; you can find out more at our website, samidoun.net.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #Opinion #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #COVID19

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/interview-charlotte-kates-covid-19-threat-israeli-jails-fight-free-palestinian-political-p Sun, 19 Apr 2020 17:01:51 +0000 Interview with Tom Burke of FRSO on Trump’s war moves against Venezuela https://fightbacknews.org/interview-tom-burke-frso-trump-s-war-moves-against-venezuela?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Tom Burke (left, front) in Venezuela. in Venezuela.") Fight Back! interviewed Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Organizational Secretary Tom Burke, who led the FRSO labor delegation to Venezuela on March 8. !--more-- Francisco Torrealba, president of the Venezuelan Transport Workers Federation, elected Venezuelan National Assembly member, and important leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) invited Burke and four Teamsters to see for themselves the changes happening in Venezuela. Fight Back!: Why did President Trump order U.S. Navy ships to patrol near Venezuela? Tom Burke: It is a military provocation by the U.S., and it is dangerous. President Trump is growing desperate because the U.S. dirty tricks against Venezuela are failing. I was in Caracas a year ago on April 30 when Trump and Bolton tried a military coup against President Maduro. It failed miserably. We saw a group of rich women waving flags on a corner that morning, and later we saw bullet holes and chunks of concrete on the bridge near La Carlota airport where the coup fizzled. The next day, on May 1 we witnessed over one million people, workers and unions, community groups, youth and women marching in support of President Maduro on International Workers Day. It was incredible to see. President Maduro is hugely popular, and people clearly admire his tenacity and courage. Maduro and the PSUV are leading the masses of people in building a new society. Fight Back!: So why send the U.S. Navy during the coronavirus crisis? Burke: Because it is criminal! There is a worldwide health crisis, people are living in fear, and Trump is making war threats. In sharp contrast, China sends medical supplies and reportedly discusses new loans. Cuba has 30,000 doctors, nurses and health professionals working side by side with Venezuelan colleagues, going door-to-door checking on people for the virus. The thousands of new clinics run with Cuban aid provide free and ongoing health care in a systematic way. For millions of Venezuelan people this type of health care never existed before. I have to say, solidarity will always defeat war and empire. Fight Back!: Do you think the U.S. will go to war or perhaps launch military attacks? Burke: Secretary of State Pompeo seems stupid enough to trigger a war that nobody wants, but the U.S. would be foolish to invade Venezuela. For 20 years now the National Armed Forces of Venezuela have supported the Bolivarian Revolution and its pro-people policies. The National Armed Forces are loyal and patriotic, respect democracy and the will of the people. Their generals down to their privates have a real spirit of serving the people. For the most part, those who are traitors exposed themselves already during the U.S.-backed coup attempts or in other ways, and have fled to Miami or Spain, or live in shame in Colombia. Let me say, from what we saw on March 10 at a mass march in Caracas with over 600,000 people, I hope the U.S. does not try to invade Venezuela. There is a huge National Bolivarian Militia with over one million members trained to defend their country. They are like the Minutemen of the American Revolution; only lots of them are women. Venezuelans have taken their country back. They are ready to fight. Venezuela is already under attack in many ways. The U.S. is hostile towards Venezuela’s leaders because they are independent and building a society where meeting people’s needs come first. Already a drone attack attempted to assassinate President Maduro and it injured seven Venezuelan soldiers on parade. It would be foolish to think the U.S. had no role in that. The U.S. threats are non-stop, the most recent being a $15 million bounty on President Maduro on fake charges. I worry the U.S. could target Venezuela leaders with missile and drone attacks like they do to leaders in Middle East and African countries. These violent acts by the U.S. make solidarity trips all the more important. Fight Back!: What about U.S. sanctions on Venezuela? Burke: There is tremendous resistance to the U.S. sanctions in Venezuela. People understand who their friends and who their enemies are. Most people hate Trump and love Maduro, the same way they loved Chavez before. In my experience, even the wealthier people who want to oust Maduro, they despise Trump. On March 9 we met with human rights lawyers and officials from SURES who explained how sanctions harm the people and the economy. Everywhere we went during the week, people welcomed us, but also told us how the sanctions make life difficult. Doctors described not obtaining drugs for diabetes or asthma, and postal union members could not get replacement parts for their delivery trucks. We also visited two factories; one called Canaima making laptops, and the other factory printing notebooks, journals and maps for schools. We toured the assembly and production lines and watched workers fulfill the dreams of 6 million children who receive their products free of charge. In factories, the workers and management work closely together to overcome, or work around the problems created by sanctions. Fight Back!: What can we do as anti-war and international solidarity activists here at home? Burke: Well given the COVID-19 crisis, we can educate people about the benefits of the Bolivarian Revolution. For example, over 3 million new apartments and houses are complete, replacing shantytowns. We saw construction cranes operating all over the city of Caracas. In terms of education, all children now attend public grade school and high school, with millions learning to play instruments in a unique orchestra program. There are 13 new universities and many young people are the first in their families to attend. The CLAP food program delivers staples and necessities to the vast majority of homes, so hunger no longer haunts poor people as it did for generations. You can fill your gas tank for less than 50 cents. Rent, water, cooking oil, gas and public transport are so affordable, or free, that people rarely speak about it. For the vast majority, for the working people, life is good with the Bolivarian Revolution. We need to oppose the U.S sanctions, started by President Obama and expanded by President Trump. We need the U.S. Navy to return to port and to focus our country on fighting the coronavirus. We also need to oppose the ridiculous $15 million bounty the U.S. placed on President Maduro. It is outrageous! The Venezuelan people are our friends and the Bolivarian Revolution is something for us to learn from and support. One day perhaps the U.S. can have a “Worker President” like President Maduro. Enter a descriptive sentence about the photo here. #UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #Antifascism #DonaldTrump div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Tom Burke (left, front) in Venezuela.

Fight Back! interviewed Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Organizational Secretary Tom Burke, who led the FRSO labor delegation to Venezuela on March 8.

Francisco Torrealba, president of the Venezuelan Transport Workers Federation, elected Venezuelan National Assembly member, and important leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) invited Burke and four Teamsters to see for themselves the changes happening in Venezuela.

Fight Back!: Why did President Trump order U.S. Navy ships to patrol near Venezuela?

Tom Burke: It is a military provocation by the U.S., and it is dangerous. President Trump is growing desperate because the U.S. dirty tricks against Venezuela are failing. I was in Caracas a year ago on April 30 when Trump and Bolton tried a military coup against President Maduro. It failed miserably. We saw a group of rich women waving flags on a corner that morning, and later we saw bullet holes and chunks of concrete on the bridge near La Carlota airport where the coup fizzled.

The next day, on May 1 we witnessed over one million people, workers and unions, community groups, youth and women marching in support of President Maduro on International Workers Day. It was incredible to see. President Maduro is hugely popular, and people clearly admire his tenacity and courage. Maduro and the PSUV are leading the masses of people in building a new society.

Fight Back!: So why send the U.S. Navy during the coronavirus crisis?

Burke: Because it is criminal! There is a worldwide health crisis, people are living in fear, and Trump is making war threats. In sharp contrast, China sends medical supplies and reportedly discusses new loans. Cuba has 30,000 doctors, nurses and health professionals working side by side with Venezuelan colleagues, going door-to-door checking on people for the virus. The thousands of new clinics run with Cuban aid provide free and ongoing health care in a systematic way. For millions of Venezuelan people this type of health care never existed before. I have to say, solidarity will always defeat war and empire.

Fight Back!: Do you think the U.S. will go to war or perhaps launch military attacks?

Burke: Secretary of State Pompeo seems stupid enough to trigger a war that nobody wants, but the U.S. would be foolish to invade Venezuela. For 20 years now the National Armed Forces of Venezuela have supported the Bolivarian Revolution and its pro-people policies. The National Armed Forces are loyal and patriotic, respect democracy and the will of the people. Their generals down to their privates have a real spirit of serving the people. For the most part, those who are traitors exposed themselves already during the U.S.-backed coup attempts or in other ways, and have fled to Miami or Spain, or live in shame in Colombia.

Let me say, from what we saw on March 10 at a mass march in Caracas with over 600,000 people, I hope the U.S. does not try to invade Venezuela. There is a huge National Bolivarian Militia with over one million members trained to defend their country. They are like the Minutemen of the American Revolution; only lots of them are women. Venezuelans have taken their country back. They are ready to fight.

Venezuela is already under attack in many ways. The U.S. is hostile towards Venezuela’s leaders because they are independent and building a society where meeting people’s needs come first. Already a drone attack attempted to assassinate President Maduro and it injured seven Venezuelan soldiers on parade. It would be foolish to think the U.S. had no role in that. The U.S. threats are non-stop, the most recent being a $15 million bounty on President Maduro on fake charges.

I worry the U.S. could target Venezuela leaders with missile and drone attacks like they do to leaders in Middle East and African countries. These violent acts by the U.S. make solidarity trips all the more important.

Fight Back!: What about U.S. sanctions on Venezuela?

Burke: There is tremendous resistance to the U.S. sanctions in Venezuela. People understand who their friends and who their enemies are. Most people hate Trump and love Maduro, the same way they loved Chavez before. In my experience, even the wealthier people who want to oust Maduro, they despise Trump.

On March 9 we met with human rights lawyers and officials from SURES who explained how sanctions harm the people and the economy. Everywhere we went during the week, people welcomed us, but also told us how the sanctions make life difficult. Doctors described not obtaining drugs for diabetes or asthma, and postal union members could not get replacement parts for their delivery trucks.

We also visited two factories; one called Canaima making laptops, and the other factory printing notebooks, journals and maps for schools. We toured the assembly and production lines and watched workers fulfill the dreams of 6 million children who receive their products free of charge. In factories, the workers and management work closely together to overcome, or work around the problems created by sanctions.

Fight Back!: What can we do as anti-war and international solidarity activists here at home?

Burke: Well given the COVID-19 crisis, we can educate people about the benefits of the Bolivarian Revolution. For example, over 3 million new apartments and houses are complete, replacing shantytowns. We saw construction cranes operating all over the city of Caracas.

In terms of education, all children now attend public grade school and high school, with millions learning to play instruments in a unique orchestra program. There are 13 new universities and many young people are the first in their families to attend.

The CLAP food program delivers staples and necessities to the vast majority of homes, so hunger no longer haunts poor people as it did for generations. You can fill your gas tank for less than 50 cents. Rent, water, cooking oil, gas and public transport are so affordable, or free, that people rarely speak about it. For the vast majority, for the working people, life is good with the Bolivarian Revolution.

We need to oppose the U.S sanctions, started by President Obama and expanded by President Trump. We need the U.S. Navy to return to port and to focus our country on fighting the coronavirus. We also need to oppose the ridiculous $15 million bounty the U.S. placed on President Maduro. It is outrageous!

The Venezuelan people are our friends and the Bolivarian Revolution is something for us to learn from and support. One day perhaps the U.S. can have a “Worker President” like President Maduro.

Enter a descriptive sentence about the photo here.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #Antifascism #DonaldTrump

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/interview-tom-burke-frso-trump-s-war-moves-against-venezuela Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:49:45 +0000 Afro-Venezuelan socialist youth leader’s message to the people of the U.S. https://fightbacknews.org/afro-venezuelan-socialist-youth-leader-s-message-people-us?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[An Interview with Ender Sabalsa Ender Sabalsa. In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from Venezuela and from several other countries. In this interview, Ender Sabalsa, a leader of the youth sector and the Afro-descendent sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), gives his message to the people of the United States. Ender Sabalsa: Revolutionary greetings to everyone reading this and to all the peoples of the world. My name is Ender Sabalsa. I’m a member of the youth sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). I’m also in the Afro-descendent sector and the social movements that are supporting the progressive governments here in Latin America and especially the elected government of our constitutional president Nicolas Maduro Moros. !--more-- I’d like to remind people in the U.S. that we are not against the people there, we are against the U.S. government - President Trump and the Trump administration - which has done so much damage in Latin America and in the world in general, which doesn’t recognize our governments’ policies, our self-determination, our international rights, and above all doesn’t recognize what great damage capitalism does to nature and to life on our planet. I’d like to send a fraternal greeting to all the peoples of the world and especially the people of North America asking for you to support the liberation of the peoples of the world, to support democracy, to support social justice, to support a state based on laws. To all revolutionaries in the United States and in all fraternal countries, we ask you to support the government of our president, Nicolas Maduro Moros, and above all the Bolivarian revolution. Fight Back!: Do young people and Afro-descendants play an important role in the Bolivarian revolution? Sabalsa: Young people have a fundamental role in all revolutionary processes. Throughout history in all revolutionary processes, young people are one of the pillars because young people have that rejuvenating spirit, a desire to advance and build the future - of course young people together with people with more experience. And throughout the American continent, Afro-descendent people are also carrying out their revolution. Here we are waking up and we’re seeing that we are part of Africa. We no longer feel like immigrants that at some point in time, like a diaspora that was born because of the trade in Black people, this diaspora born of the slave system. Now we feel like we’re part of Africa and we’re profoundly tied to our roots both in Africa and in the indigenous peoples here. #CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #JuventudPSUV div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> An Interview with Ender Sabalsa

Ender Sabalsa.

In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from Venezuela and from several other countries. In this interview, Ender Sabalsa, a leader of the youth sector and the Afro-descendent sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), gives his message to the people of the United States. Ender Sabalsa: Revolutionary greetings to everyone reading this and to all the peoples of the world. My name is Ender Sabalsa. I’m a member of the youth sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). I’m also in the Afro-descendent sector and the social movements that are supporting the progressive governments here in Latin America and especially the elected government of our constitutional president Nicolas Maduro Moros.

I’d like to remind people in the U.S. that we are not against the people there, we are against the U.S. government – President Trump and the Trump administration – which has done so much damage in Latin America and in the world in general, which doesn’t recognize our governments’ policies, our self-determination, our international rights, and above all doesn’t recognize what great damage capitalism does to nature and to life on our planet.

I’d like to send a fraternal greeting to all the peoples of the world and especially the people of North America asking for you to support the liberation of the peoples of the world, to support democracy, to support social justice, to support a state based on laws. To all revolutionaries in the United States and in all fraternal countries, we ask you to support the government of our president, Nicolas Maduro Moros, and above all the Bolivarian revolution.

Fight Back!: Do young people and Afro-descendants play an important role in the Bolivarian revolution?

Sabalsa: Young people have a fundamental role in all revolutionary processes. Throughout history in all revolutionary processes, young people are one of the pillars because young people have that rejuvenating spirit, a desire to advance and build the future – of course young people together with people with more experience. And throughout the American continent, Afro-descendent people are also carrying out their revolution. Here we are waking up and we’re seeing that we are part of Africa. We no longer feel like immigrants that at some point in time, like a diaspora that was born because of the trade in Black people, this diaspora born of the slave system. Now we feel like we’re part of Africa and we’re profoundly tied to our roots both in Africa and in the indigenous peoples here.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #JuventudPSUV

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/afro-venezuelan-socialist-youth-leader-s-message-people-us Tue, 18 Feb 2020 00:21:57 +0000 Un mensaje al pueblo estadounidense de un joven venezolano afrodescendiente socialista https://fightbacknews.org/un-mensaje-al-pueblo-estadounidense-de-un-joven-venezolano-afrodescendiente-socialista?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa Ender Sabalsa. En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de Venezuela y de varios otros países. Esta es una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa, un líder de la Juventud PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela) y del sector afrodescendiente en que él comparte un mensaje al pueblo de los Estados Unidos. Ender: Un saludo revolucionario a todos los que nos están viendo y a todos los pueblos del mundo. Mi nombre es Ender Sabalsa, milito en la juventud del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, del sector afrodescendiente y de los movimientos sociales que están apoyando a los gobiernos progresistas de acá de América Latina y especialmente del gobierno electo y nuestro presidente constitucional Nicolás Maduro Moros. Quiero recordarles al pueblo estadounidense que nosotros no estamos en contra del pueblo norteamericano, estamos en contra del gobierno de Estados Unidos, el presidente Trump, la administración Trump que ha hecho tanto daño en América Latina y en el mundo en general, que no reconoce las políticas de los gobiernos, no reconoce la autodeterminación de los pueblos, no reconoce el derecho internacional, y sobre todo no reconoce el daño tan grande que le hace el capitalismo a la naturaleza, lo que le hace el capitalismo a la vida de nuestro planeta. !--more-- Yo quiero mandarle un fraterno saludo a todos los pueblos del mundo y en especial al pueblo norteamericano que apoya la liberación de los pueblos del mundo, apoya la democracia, apoya la justicia social, apoya el estado de derecho. A todos aquellos revolucionarios en Estados Unidos y en todos los países hermanos, que apoyan el gobierno de nuestro presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros y sobre todo la revolución bolivariana. Muchas gracias. Lucha y Resiste: La juventud y los afrodescendientes tienen un papel importante en la revolución bolivariana? Ender: La juventud ocupa un papel primordial en todos los procesos revolucionarios. A lo largo de la historia en todos los procesos revolucionarios la juventud es uno de los pilares porque la juventud tiene ese rejuvenecimiento, esas ganas de salir adelante y de construir el futuro, claro, la juventud, juntos con la experiencia. Y acá en todo lo que es el continente americano, los pueblos afrodescendientes están también haciendo su revolución. Acá nosotros estamos despertando y estamos viendo que nosotros somos parte de África, ya no nos sentimos como los migrantes que en algún momento...esa diáspora que se dio por la trata negrera, esa diáspora que se yo por el sistema esclavista, si no que ya nos sentimos como parte de África, y estamos arraigados profundamente a nuestras raíces, las raíces tanto en África como acá en nuestros pueblos originarios. #CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #EncuentroMundialAntiimperialista #JuventudPSUV div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa

Ender Sabalsa.

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de Venezuela y de varios otros países. Esta es una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa, un líder de la Juventud PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela) y del sector afrodescendiente en que él comparte un mensaje al pueblo de los Estados Unidos. Ender: Un saludo revolucionario a todos los que nos están viendo y a todos los pueblos del mundo. Mi nombre es Ender Sabalsa, milito en la juventud del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, del sector afrodescendiente y de los movimientos sociales que están apoyando a los gobiernos progresistas de acá de América Latina y especialmente del gobierno electo y nuestro presidente constitucional Nicolás Maduro Moros. Quiero recordarles al pueblo estadounidense que nosotros no estamos en contra del pueblo norteamericano, estamos en contra del gobierno de Estados Unidos, el presidente Trump, la administración Trump que ha hecho tanto daño en América Latina y en el mundo en general, que no reconoce las políticas de los gobiernos, no reconoce la autodeterminación de los pueblos, no reconoce el derecho internacional, y sobre todo no reconoce el daño tan grande que le hace el capitalismo a la naturaleza, lo que le hace el capitalismo a la vida de nuestro planeta.

Yo quiero mandarle un fraterno saludo a todos los pueblos del mundo y en especial al pueblo norteamericano que apoya la liberación de los pueblos del mundo, apoya la democracia, apoya la justicia social, apoya el estado de derecho. A todos aquellos revolucionarios en Estados Unidos y en todos los países hermanos, que apoyan el gobierno de nuestro presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros y sobre todo la revolución bolivariana. Muchas gracias.

Lucha y Resiste: La juventud y los afrodescendientes tienen un papel importante en la revolución bolivariana?

Ender: La juventud ocupa un papel primordial en todos los procesos revolucionarios. A lo largo de la historia en todos los procesos revolucionarios la juventud es uno de los pilares porque la juventud tiene ese rejuvenecimiento, esas ganas de salir adelante y de construir el futuro, claro, la juventud, juntos con la experiencia. Y acá en todo lo que es el continente americano, los pueblos afrodescendientes están también haciendo su revolución. Acá nosotros estamos despertando y estamos viendo que nosotros somos parte de África, ya no nos sentimos como los migrantes que en algún momento...esa diáspora que se dio por la trata negrera, esa diáspora que se yo por el sistema esclavista, si no que ya nos sentimos como parte de África, y estamos arraigados profundamente a nuestras raíces, las raíces tanto en África como acá en nuestros pueblos originarios.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #EncuentroMundialAntiimperialista #JuventudPSUV

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/un-mensaje-al-pueblo-estadounidense-de-un-joven-venezolano-afrodescendiente-socialista Mon, 17 Feb 2020 15:42:33 +0000 Entrevista con lideresa estudiantil Sandinista Rosalía Bohórquez https://fightbacknews.org/entrevista-con-lideresa-estudiantil-sandinista-rosal-boh-rquez?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Rosalía Borges.") En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de varios países. Esta es una entrevista con una lideresa del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) y una miembro(a) de la UNEN - la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua. Este es su mensaje al pueblo trabajador y progresista de los Estados Unidos. Rosalía Bohórquez: Mi nombre es Rosalía Bohórquez, nicaragüense y miembro del Frente Sandinista para la Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Igualmente soy estudiante y miembro de la UNEN - Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua. !--more-- Nos encontramos acá en Venezuela en este encuentro antiimperialista. Quisiéramos hacer un llamado al pueblo estadounidense a decirles no a las mentiras, a decirles no a la 'fake news' de la manipulación mediática del poder hegemónico. Sabemos muy bien que el poder hegemónico tiene el poder económico, las transnacionales quienes manejan definitivamente las mentiras que atacan a Venezuela, que atacan a Nicaragua, que atacan a Cuba. Mi mayor llamado al pueblo estadounidense es que se unan a esa batalla comunicacional y sobre todo a que hagan una campaña de solidaridad permanente con nosotros, los pueblos agredidos de nuestra América. En Nicaragua hemos logrado romper ese cerco mediático muchas veces, porque hemos logrado decir la verdad. La verdad es que Nicaragua tiene progreso. Nicaragua accede los estudiantes a la educación gratuita y de cualidad. Hemos ido avanzando en senda de desarrollo y también nosotros accedemos a la salud pública y gratuita. Accedemos a bonos productivos. El protagonismo de las mujeres que hemos logrado. Nicaragua, de ser uno de los países más pobres de Latinoamérica es ahora uno de los países que tiene la mejor economía de Centroamérica después de Panamá. Sin embargo, a pesar de que quisieron destruir nuestra economía en el año 2018 con este intento de golpe del estado, no lo lograron. Por que nosotros los nicaragüenses estamos dispuestos a luchar y a combatir la pobreza, que es el mal que nos han aplicado los gobiernos neoliberales financiado por el imperialismo yanqui. Nosotros como nicaragüenses iremos hacia el sol de la victoria como nos dijo Sandino. #CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #FrenteSandinistaDeLiberaciónNacionalFSLN #UniónNacionalDeEstudiantesDeNicaraguaUNEN div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Rosalía Borges.

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de varios países. Esta es una entrevista con una lideresa del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) y una miembro(a) de la UNEN – la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua. Este es su mensaje al pueblo trabajador y progresista de los Estados Unidos. Rosalía Bohórquez: Mi nombre es Rosalía Bohórquez, nicaragüense y miembro del Frente Sandinista para la Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Igualmente soy estudiante y miembro de la UNEN – Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua.

Nos encontramos acá en Venezuela en este encuentro antiimperialista. Quisiéramos hacer un llamado al pueblo estadounidense a decirles no a las mentiras, a decirles no a la 'fake news' de la manipulación mediática del poder hegemónico. Sabemos muy bien que el poder hegemónico tiene el poder económico, las transnacionales quienes manejan definitivamente las mentiras que atacan a Venezuela, que atacan a Nicaragua, que atacan a Cuba.

Mi mayor llamado al pueblo estadounidense es que se unan a esa batalla comunicacional y sobre todo a que hagan una campaña de solidaridad permanente con nosotros, los pueblos agredidos de nuestra América.

En Nicaragua hemos logrado romper ese cerco mediático muchas veces, porque hemos logrado decir la verdad. La verdad es que Nicaragua tiene progreso. Nicaragua accede los estudiantes a la educación gratuita y de cualidad. Hemos ido avanzando en senda de desarrollo y también nosotros accedemos a la salud pública y gratuita. Accedemos a bonos productivos. El protagonismo de las mujeres que hemos logrado.

Nicaragua, de ser uno de los países más pobres de Latinoamérica es ahora uno de los países que tiene la mejor economía de Centroamérica después de Panamá.

Sin embargo, a pesar de que quisieron destruir nuestra economía en el año 2018 con este intento de golpe del estado, no lo lograron. Por que nosotros los nicaragüenses estamos dispuestos a luchar y a combatir la pobreza, que es el mal que nos han aplicado los gobiernos neoliberales financiado por el imperialismo yanqui.

Nosotros como nicaragüenses iremos hacia el sol de la victoria como nos dijo Sandino.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #FrenteSandinistaDeLiberaciónNacionalFSLN #UniónNacionalDeEstudiantesDeNicaraguaUNEN

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/entrevista-con-lideresa-estudiantil-sandinista-rosal-boh-rquez Wed, 12 Feb 2020 23:50:54 +0000