And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to…

The internet erupted with outrage at the announcement of the winner of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. A prize that is supposed to be given to those who have advocated for peace, and helped bring about a more peaceful world. Of course as you most likely know, this year’s prize went to the European Union. After having given the prize to other capitalist imperialists such as Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger, this only helps solidify the meaninglessness of the prize and its control by those who wish to advance, not human rights or democracy, but capitalist control over everyone and everything. Their rationale for awarding the peace prize to the EU was that it had solidified unity on a continent that used to be torn by war. This may sound reasonable to some, but if you dig just below the surface you’ll see that this is a farce, and that giving the peace prize to the EU is like giving a prize for outstanding human rights to the keepers of Guantanamo bay. Now I’m going to tell you why.

Peace and Human Rights my Ass

While it’s true that Europe has managed not to kill off the entire globe yet, that is hardly cause for a Nobel Peace Prize. Hell, I’d qualify for that shit if that was the case. What is the EU’s stance on human rights? Have they actually produced a more peaceful world? The answer to both, unfortunately, is a negative one. Let’s start with the first question, human rights. Is Europe upholding human rights? The answer is an unequivocal NO. Let’s start with the support of many EU countries for and complicity in illegal CIA renditions. No less than 14 EU member countries have been explicit in helping the US with their illegal kidnapping and imprisonment structure in Europe. Countries like the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Greece, Sweden among others. Want to read more about this? Glad you asked, because here is a link for you from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/world/europe/07iht-prisons.1915898.html

And that’s not all. Amnesty International reported that migrants to Greece, many of them minors were being unfairly and illegally imprisoned in detention centers. Here’s the story here:  http://www.amnesty.eu/en/press-releases/security-and-human-rights/detention-of-minors-in-greece-shows-failings-of-eus-immigration-policy-0463/

Migrants left to die: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/28/left-to-die-migrants-boat-inquiry

These problems are important egregious violations, and I could talk about support by the EU member nations and participation in the US’s illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that has killed upwards of a million people, but there is something closer to home that I want to focus on.

The EU financial crises is years old now, and the struggle continues as Brussels, Germany and France try to squeeze the poorer member nations for all they have. Greece, Italy and Spain among others are floundering in ridiculously high unemployment, sagging economies and corrupt governance. Hundreds and hundreds of people in countries like Spain and Greece have taken their own lives because of austerity programs that took away from them what they had worked hard their whole lives to build. Men who had worked for a lifetime found that their guaranteed pensions were being stripped away from them, leaving them with nothing to live on. The disabled and sick are left hanging as the government cuts and cuts and cuts social programs that helped these people live with a modicum of decency. Surely it was because all those social programs had bankrupted those countries, right? (this is what the right likes to bray every time you bring up the trouble in Europe) NO. It is the fault of none other than the EU itself. It brought poorer countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal under the common currency when they were not ready to do so, and created a tidal wave of economic excess. Banks borrowed at ridiculously low rates and bet on bad debt over and over again, and the whole economy was managed very very badly. A mountain of debt piled up and the banks were about to go under so the governments bailed out the bad decision making bankers and put themselves deeply into debt. The bankers, the governments made out like bandits, and the working people were thrown under the bus. Higher taxes, for less government services. That’s not fiscal responsibility, that is straight up theft from the working classes. That is reprehensible. Mothers in Greece are abandoning babies they can’t feed, homeless numbers are growing, riots in the streets and anger abounds. The EU is in the throws of a social movement that could possibly bring down the whole damn apparatus. The police hit, shoot, beat and gas protesters for expressing their anger against this travesty, and pictures of bloodied and beaten protesters abounds. Speak out against this sickening fleecing of Europe and you’re thrown in jail, kill millions of jobs and steal pensions, you’re a hero. It is down right sickening. Here’s some pictures from “peaceful” Europe:

This is all going on RIGHT NOW. People are suffering and dying thanks to the economic terrorism wafting out of Brussels, Berlin and Paris, and there are loads of riots and talks of war, separatist groups and economic collapse. And it is to this region, that they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Seems legit.

Dear Europe, you don’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. You don’t deserve it because there is no justice in Europe, only class warfare. And as you may have heard before, no justice, NO PEACE.

FUCK the EU and its capitalist tyranny. End the EU and build socialism in your countries.

Also, give up on ever respecting the Nobel Peace Prize, it’s a joke and has been for some time.

It is important enough to say again:

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE.

Free Speech in the UK

Countries in the West like to hold themselves up as the paragon of democracy, civil liberties and human rights. This week there were three news stories that showed that this facade of freedom and democracy in the West is just that, fake, a facade and a lie. Let’s look at these stories, and what people in the UK are facing under their oppressive hypocritical government.

Clothes Make the Man

This first story is a man from Radcliffe, UK who made a t-shirt expressing his opinion about a gun and grenade attack that killed two Manchester police officers only hours earlier. The t-shirt read on the front “One Less pig, perfect justice” and on the back “killacopforfun(.)com ha, haaa?” Now, you may guess that some people were not amused by this, and that some understood the sentiment being from the bad reputation that cops have as oppressors of the working class. However, apparently this was such an egregious crime that it warranted a sentence of 8 MONTHS IN PRISON. EIGHT. Two thirds of a year in prison for making a t-shirt expressing an opinion? Welcome to the United Kingdom, where you have freedom of speech unless you say something someone doesn’t like.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/914746-man-jailed-over-offensive-t-shirt-worn-hours-after-deaths-of-female-officers

Bad Taste Notwithstanding

A 19 year old Matthew Woods from Lancashire UK has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for making jokes about two young girls who have been missing since 2007. He posted the unsavory jokes to twitter and was then subsequently arrested. Were those jokes in bad taste? To be sure. Was he breaking any law or really hurting anyone? No. Welcome to the United Kingdom, where you have freedom of speech unless you say something someone doesn’t like.

Talk About Morality

And finally, a man has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service for daring to say things against the UK military. 20 year old Azhar of West Yorkshire was found guilty of “grossly offensive communication” after he posted on facebook that he thought that all soldiers should die and go to hell. The message was in a response to a page that was commemorating the deaths of six British soldiers killed by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Afghanistan in March. Mr. Ahmed was told that “with freedom of speech comes great responsibility” meaning apparently, “with freedom of speech comes no freedom of speech”. You can’t fucking uphold your country as better than others because of “freedom” when you arrest and imprison people, not for committing actual crimes, but for speaking words that you don’t like. The imperialistic UK has spent decades terrorizing the middle east, bombing and invading and killing away, but don’t you dare disrespect the troops who are committing these crimes against humanity. The UK government, like the US government and others has proved that it only cars more about supressing unpopular speech than it does in respecting the right of people to voice their opinions. The next time someone tells you that communists don’t believe in freedom of speech, send them a link to this blog and then laugh in their faces. The UK is not democratic, it is a plutocracy, it is for the rich by the rich of the rich. Tear down the monarchy, build a republican socialist nation that will respect not only the freedom of speech but the freedom to fight against imperialism, capitalism and war.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-19883828

Death in Libya

The world is still shocked. And by world I mean America. And by America I mean the ignorant people who couldn’t see something like this coming. You can already tell by the title what I’m talking about. Libyans, reportedly angry about a film that gravely insulted Islam, stormed the US embassy in Benghazi and killed several Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya, a Mr. Chris Stevens. They also seemingly dragged his corpse through the streets of the city triumphantly, as a hunter might display their captured trophy prey. That kind of behavior is barbaric, it is disgusting and it is wrong. I condemn in the strongest language possible the killing of diplomatic personnel from any country. That said, I think it’s not wrong to examine why this happened, and why the US can only expect more of this to happen.

Islam vs Christianity? A false dichotomy

There are many who want to frame all this ongoing violence from majority Muslim countries as being a cultural war between the forces of Judeo-Christian civility, and Islamic barbarism. This is a misdirection of the issue, and is completely off base. The issue is  much deeper than just religious differences, or hurt feelings. It goes to the very core of why the US is hated around the world.

There is a talking point among the talking heads of Western media, and how they love to drive it into the ground. “The Muslims are dangerous, they hold nothing but ill will towards us nice white Christian folk, we’re in danger yada yada yada”. Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Libya et al. How true is that though? How many Americans have died from Muslim terrorism? Let’s look at the numbers. 2,600 some people dead on 9-11. 4 people dead in Benghazi. 17 dead on the USS Cole. Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. OK. That’s pretty much it? Sure there’s been a couple others, but let’s not get off track here. “Now what did the US ever do to deserve that?” You may ask tilting your head quizzically to one side. Gee, let me think. Give me a moment here.

….. ummm….. ummmm…… ummm….. ummmm…..

Well, we support the genocide and blockading of the Palestinians, overthrew the rightful governments of Iran, Afghanistan, and others, bombed Libya, invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, again, propped up, still prop up brutal dictators in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran and others, purposely insult their religion “just because we can”, exploit their natural resources, abuse their governments and their people and shit all over their culture and sovereignty. “Yeah, but we didn’t kill that many people.” You may say. Oh really? The toll in Iraq and Afghanistan ALONE is in the hundreds of thousands at least. Families dead, cities destroyed, progress halted, elections thrown, protesters jailed, refugees imprisoned starved and murdered, drone attacks on civilians, Israeli settlements, US gifts of weapons to Israel that kills Palestinian civilians, bombs and missiles and warships and boots on the ground and shock and awe and torture and Gitmo and secret renditions by the CIA and more bombs and more troops and more US flag waving and more “freedom” and more capitalism and more coca-cola and more McDonalds and more ripping up the Koran, and more countries collapsing, and they are left with nothing.

Nothing but the only goddamn thing that the US and all its imperial might can’t take from them. Their religious identity. Let me note right here that I am not  Muslim, I don’t believe in that religion, but I understand. The anger. The rage. They’re people who have been shat on and walked all over for so goddamn long that religion is the only thing they have. They don’t have nice cars and houses and food. They have their belief in their god, it warms them at night, and shades them by day. It is their opium and their placebo. It is their blanket and their fortress. And the Western man sits in his nice house, bought with money drenched in the blood of the weak and powerless, watching these developments on TV. He sips his singe malt scotch on the rocks and says smugly “Those barbarians, how can they even be considered human when they do things like that.” Then he pays as little tax as possible, which will be used to rain down the brimstone of heaven on the heads of more innocent Muslims around the world.

And you wonder why they’re mad.

So before all you self righteous assholes go condemning all Muslims, try something a little bit different for once. Start advocating the end of imperialism. Start advocating the end of interventionism and war. Start advocating for socialism, start advocating for progress. And reach out to the Muslims in your neighborhood. They’re people just like you. Accept them, understand them, love them.

End the cycle of violence, move beyond imperialism. We can make a better world. Join me.

9/11: A Day for Tears

I saw the second tower hit on national television. I remember the shock, the utter horror at what I was seeing. I cried that day. Many people died, and that is tragic. That day was a step toward my political awakening though, and here I am 11 years later, a bit older and wiser. Instead of talking to you today about my memories of that day, and how it affected me however, I want to talk about something just a bit different.

I want to talk about tears. Do you cry? Can you look at the destruction and pain and suffering in this world, and not be moved? I cry. I don’t hide the fact that I cry. Crying is not weakness, no more weak than laughing. So let’s talk.

Who Cries for Them?

Today in the US there will be memorials. People will hold cherished photographs of loved ones passed on, and they’ll cry. The country, maybe even the world will cry with them. We’re all human. We know loss. Thousands of people lost their lives that day. But put that aside for just one little moment and answer these questions for me:

Who cries for the starving children in the US? The ones with the tattered shoes and the snotty nose?

Who cries for the Palestinian mother, as she clutches her dead baby against her chest, another victim of Israeli missiles.

Who cries for the children blown up by unaccountable unmanned US drones? The houses gone, the dreams buried.

Who cries for the 3 million dead Vietnamese, the victims of unprovoked US aggression? Their forests burned and decimated, their children maimed and killed.

Who cries for the thousands of US military dead? Their children missing fathers and mothers, their sisters and brothers bereaved.

Who cries for the tens of thousands of Chileans who perished at the hands of US backed Pinochet, after they overthrew the legitimate government?

Who cries for the thousands of victims of the so called war on drugs? The ruined lives, the shattered families.

Who cries for the Afghans, their country destroyed for a crime they never knew happened? Their villages ripped apart by foreign invaders.

Who cries for the millions of the homeless on the streets of America, as they shiver in the cold and rock back and forth humming to forget the crushing hunger?

Who cries for all the many endless victims of US aggression, war, imperialism, hubris, hegemony, and self righteousness? Who cries for all the victims, the millions and millions of victims of capitalism?

Where is their day of remembrance? Their monuments, statues and poems? Their hopes and their dreams and their lives? Forgotten, as forgotten as stock market price of sugar the day before the stock market crash. They’ve covered up their cries with commercials and Olympics and flashy parades.

Today, instead of watching the fake-patriot bullshit on TV, the meaningless speeches and the sound of bag pipes, I implore you to take just an hour to sit quietly in a library, or in your home, and read about one of the imperialist aggressions of the US against the people of the world.

Who knows, if you still have a heart, it might make you cry.

Romney and Israel

Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is in Israel today to polish his (non-existent) foreign policy credentials. The former governor of Massachusetts is trying valiantly to capitalize on what the GOP sees as a crack in Obama’s defense, his apparent rocky relationship with the state of Israel. What’s interesting is that the Democrat and Republican position on the much disliked terrorist government of Israel are almost identical. Both parties are fully invested in continued support for their illegal puppet state, as it has continued for many years to be the foothold of US imperialism in the region. Romney and Obama are both outdoing themselves to suck up to the state of Israel, or more accurately, the evangelical rabid right wing in the US. Obama recently signed an agreement to send more civilian and military aid to Israel, but it may not be enough for Israel and it’s ignorant supporters in the US. Romney is touting a plan wherein he puts on the table more offensive tactics to show his support for the apartheid state. He said that Iran poses a huge threat to the state of Israel, and that he is willing to, not only support an offensive attack against Iran by Israel, but would put on the table the possibility of a US military strike on Iran. This all stems from a nuclear program in Iran that the government claims is merely for peaceful power purposes. (That’s some alliteration eh?) Even though Iran has not attacked Israel, these military industrial complex loving hawks in the US and Israeli governments are threatening to attack Iran. Let’s think about that logically. The US, which is responsible for the sole two times that nuclear weapons have EVER been deployed on a civilian populace, and Israel, which has been responsible for countless acts of aggression against its neighbors and its inhumane and evil treatment of the Palestinians, considers IRAN a threat. Both of those countries, responsible for brutal amounts of human rights abuses are threatening to attack a country that never attacked them. Religion doesn’t make this OK. Geopolitics doesn’t make this OK. This is hypocrisy, and a hypocrisy that will end up killing untold thousands of people.

It gets worse though. This would be like throwing a match into a pile of kerosene soaked hay. The world is not a vacuum, and when one act is taken by a country or two for their own selfish benefit, it could have lasting repercussions on people around the globe, especially with how interconnected the world is right now. Neither Russia or China, two large powers with growing economies would stand by ad let this kind of action go unanswered. Both rely heavily on Iranian oil for their industrial and power needs, and this action would likely end in a multi-front war. You can’t just invade or attack any country you like and pretend there wouldn’t be any consequences. This foreign policy line by both the democrats and republicans is just yet another example of their utter incompetence in the job of governing the largest economy in the world. They act with reckless abandon, destroying millions of lives while padding their own pockets. You can only roll that dice so many times before you get the snake eyes. The US has for the last century, built up a foreign policy based on bad ideas and worse execution, and it is one that will ultimately destroy this government, and by proxy the Israeli one as well. The US will not be top dog forever. Indeed, we are already seeing a changing of the guard in terms of power in both hard and soft power. The People’s Republic of China has a growing economy, the fastest in the world, and second only in size to that of the US. It is also developing a modern military, one to rival the US in numbers and technology. In spite of this, the government of the US is ignoring the writing on the wall. The oppressed nationalities of the world will not forever put up with this bullshit. They will only be walked over so many times. From the financial crises in Europe, to the fights over disputed territory in the South China sea, the world right now is a kindling box waiting for a spark. The US government is on its last match, and is threatening to throw it.

We need a new kind of foreign policy in the US. End the wars, bring all the troops home. Invest in education and infrastructure. Most of all, before that can really happen, the US is in dire need of a complete and total overhaul of its political system. We need to get the entrenched bourgeoisie out of government, and throw some of them in prison for their crimes against humanity. End the religious control of the US, end the reign of the robber baron banksters, and bring a new era to the USA. We need more than reform, we need a revolution. Not only of government, but in how we see the world. I hope that the people of the USA will see the light of day, and realize that their quaint vision of the world is myopic and wrong. Stop protesting for the banks to be nicer. Burn the banks. Stop protesting for an end to the Citizens United ruling; overthrow the government. Stop pretending anyone gives a shit about the constitution and write new one already. Stop worshiping the founders, and start taking hold of the present that you have. It’s time for the world to move into the future, it’s time for a better world. It’s time for socialism.

What Next?

On a recent blog post here on the Communist Daily, a reader keeps insisting that I don’t have a plan for an economy, and that the best way to win battles for the working class is through electing Democrats. Here, I will show why he’s wrong about socialism, and dead wrong about the democrats.

Elections in the US of A

America’s form of government is technically a “Federal Republic.” What does that mean? Well, it means that we’re a union, or federation of states under a central government, and that we elect officials to represent us. It sounds nice. It sounds democratic. It’s not very accurate. What we have in the US is a dictatorship of the capitalist class. What does that mean? It means that the capitalist class controls and owns every aspect of political life in this country. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s look at the facts.

Interesting Facts about the American Political System

Less than 1% of the American population are millionaires. About 47% of congress members are millionaires. The median net worth of congressional members was an average of  $2.56 MILLION.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/47-of-congress-members-millionaires-a-status-shared-by-only-1-of-americans/

Women make up about 50% of our population. How are they represented in congress? As of 2011, in the 112th congress, they represented just 16.8 % of the seats in the House of Representatives, and only 17% of the seats in the Senate.

Source: http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/Congress-CurrentFacts.php

Who is controlling government? Do we the people really have the power? Not according to the facts we don’t. Throughout our government are members who have close ties to companies like Goldman Sachs, and politicians have received millions of dollars in financial contributions from them. Here’s a good source where you can see just how pervasive this corruption is:

Source: http://littlesis.org/list/39/Government_Officials_with_Ties_to_Goldman_Sachs#members

Spending in Elections: In 2010 both parties broke records for amount of money raised and spent on getting themselves elected. Hundreds of millions of dollars wasted to win a popularity contest.

Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/10/election-2010-to-shatter-spending-r.html

The solution

I could go on and on with these kinds of facts, that show that both parties are complicit in the corruption that controls our government. I could go on about how the same corporations support and defend both the Democratic, and the Republican parties, because they’re both the same, and the results are the same. I could go on about the minutiae of political interworkings, but instead, I’m going to lay out the way forward. We know that our political system is broken. Let’s not kid ourselves. Congress at last check had an approval rating of just 9%. We’re not happy with our government. The problem is that we’ve been told for so long that we’re powerless to change it. We’re told to just shut up and vote, ignoring the limited nature of our choices. Shut up and vote, ignoring the war, economic trouble and corruption that both parties represent. We’re told to shut up and vote, ignoring that our voting doesn’t really matter in a rigged system. It’s time to reject that line of reasoning. We do have a voice, we do have a choice, and it’s time we exercised our prerogative.

 

 Step One:

Demand a new government. Yes, I know that this scares some people. I know that it’s frightening to abandon the old and reach for the new. However, we must. Our current government is broken beyond repair, yet we hang on to it like it was a priceless heirloom. Let go America. Demand a government that truly represents you. Demand a government that is not controlled by money, not controlled by the capitalist class. Demand a government where you really do have a voice; one where we all really have the opportunity to pursue democracy. Before we can do anything else, the US needs a new government. Stat.

Some Plans for a New Country:

Now I am going to talk about issues. First, bring every last troop home . Every last one. Close EVERY base in foreign countries. Yes, that means close our bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba etc. EVERY LAST ONE. Close them down immediately. Cut the military down to bare bones. Close hundreds of bases in the US, as much as possible.

Seize the wealth of the capitalist class. This means outlawing the stock market. Freeze all assets above $200,000. To build a new society, we will need to use the money that has been stolen from us for so long. The US has a GDP of around 14 trillion (with a T) dollars. Yet we cannot provide the most basic services to our citizens. This is unacceptable, it needs to end NOW.

Reform the education system. Abolish all for profit schools and seize their assets. Make education free and open to all citizens through at least the masters degree level. Education is a human right. Forgive all student loan debt.

Nationalize the health care industry. All medical care shall be free and open to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay. This is a human right as well, non-negotiable.

Redistribute the seized wealth, pay reparations to the countries we’ve invaded.

Start building an economy that works for the working class. Invest in research and development, medicine, public transport, green technology, alternative fuels.

End energy production using fossil fuels.

Destroy all nuclear weapons and make the US a nuclear free country.

Mandate that women make up half of the new government, with proportional representation and autonomy for the oppressed nations within the US. Give full unabridged autonomy to the Native Americans.

Conclusion:

These are some ideas for a new America. One free of capitalist corruption, imperialism, racism, sexism and the threat of nuclear war. A country that is truly democratic, socialist and free. I know that many Americans agree with me. They are sick and tired of the old status quo, sick of the lies and hubris of a political and financial class that walks all over them, and sick and tired of being sick and tired. We can build a new, better society, free from capitalism. The first step is to wake everyone up to the fact that we can, and must demand a new government. We are beholden to nothing but our consciences, our morals and our dreams. The planet is dying. Human beings are suffering because of this system. We can turn this around, but not until we achieve STEP ONE: A new government.

Some, like the commenter I mentioned above, think that we should settle for scraps from the table. They think that we can achieve our goals by begging the democrats pretty please. Surely they’ll listen to us. They ignore that it has been Democrats that have sent the police after activists, shot protesters in the face with tear gas canisters; Democrats were those like Obama and Rahm Emanuel that helped suppress the occupy movement. Democrats like the mayor of Seattle who has battled to protect the racist and brutal Seattle Police Dept. against Justice dept. inquiries. Democrats like Obama who have not only NOT stopped our imperialism, but have accelerated it. Democrats like the ones whose money grubbing hands are stained with the blood of innocent Iraqis, Afghans, and Palestinians. Democrats are JUST as guilty as the Republicans. Don’t be fooled. Don’t be swayed. The only way to get real change is to change the corrupt and evil system that has allowed all of these horrible things to happen, that has allowed criminals to go free while innocent Americans sit in prison by the millions. If you really believe in the courage of your conviction leftists, then stand up and demand what we have needed for so long; a new government, one that is truly of, by, and for the people.

Until we have the courage to do that, our demands will fall on deaf ears. They know that we are powerless because we make ourselves powerless. We refuse to have the courage to demand a new government, that we have no way to really pressure them.

Change that. Bring this government down.

 

 

The people stand against the NATO Summit in Chicago

The people stand against the NATO Summit in Chicago.

The people stand against the NATO Summit in Chicago

Report and photos from the demonstration

MAY 21, 2012

 

 

 

The ANSWER Coalition published the report below.

 

“NATO: Shut it Down! Wall Street: Shut it Down! Homeland Security: Shut it Down!” That forceful chant rang out as protesters, many thousands strong, marched on the NATO Summit on May 20 in Chicago.

 

Responding with determination in the face of an organized campaign of government threats and intimidation aimed at anti-NATO protesters, an impressive number of young people, union members, antiwar organizations and community members filled the streets to demand “U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan Now!” during the opening day of the NATO Summit.

 

The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANG8) estimates the crowd size as about 15,000.

 

In the week leading up to the NATO Summit, thousands of people marched and rallied in Chicago. The actions included a large rally of nurses demanding higher taxes on the rich and a march on Mayor Emanuel’s house, 1,000 people strong, which demanded “Health Care not Warfare!”

 

People came in buses, by train and by car caravan from all over the country to take a stand in Chicago against imperialist war and capitalist austerity.

 

In a moving display of solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and the Middle East at the end of the march, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans took off their medals and hurled them toward the NATO Summit grounds. One of those who returned his medals, Marine Vince Emmanuelli, said: “Our enemies are right here and we look at them every day. … They are the millionaires and billionaires who control this planet and we’ve had enough of it.” (WBEZ Chicago)

 

Months-long campaign against protesters

 

Though the military machines of NATO are the greatest purveyors of violence in the world, local and federal law enforcement agencies and the media engaged in a months-long attack campaign against protesters and protest groups.

 

The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild set up a 24-hour hotline to provide support for people who were arrested before and during the NATO protest.

 

Prior to the May demonstration, the NLG Chicago chapter reported:

 

“More than two-dozen people had been arrested so far in the lead up to the NATO summit. At least 7 arrestees in addition to the ones with terrorism-related charges are currently in custody.

 

“During a Wednesday night house raid, police broke down the doors of multiple apartment units with guns drawn and searched residences without a warrant or consent. In addition to 9 arrests made that night, NLG attorneys believe that two undercover police or confidential informants were arrested with the others and were later released. Of the 9 activists arrested, 6 were released without any charges despite being shackled for at least 18 hours in solitary confinement and denied access to attorneys.”

 

At the May 20 mass march, a police mob surrounded and brutally attacked the demonstration as it was winding down, swinging their clubs at people’s heads and injuring many dozens. At least 45 people were arrested. Among those injured were ministers, community activists, journalists and others who tried to rescue people from police.

 

‘The people will not be bullied or silenced by the police and government’

 

The ANSWER Coalition in Chicago went all out to build the March on the NATO Summit, both through street outreach and social media outlets, and had a big presence at the protest with banners and placards and large amplified sound that unified large numbers of marchers with booming chants. The banners and placards read: “No War on Iran! Hands off Syria!”, “Troops Home Now! Money for Jobs and Education!”, “Unite the 99%: Fight Racism!” and “U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan Now!”

 

Asked what she thought of the protest, ANSWER organizer Ymelda Viramontes said: “Today’s protest shows that the people can and will resist the government and Wall Street’s attempts to bully and silence us. The number of people that came out into the streets of downtown today to show solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, Iran and Syria and demand no U.S. or NATO intervention—that’s a good indication that we can build a powerful movement against war and racism right here in the U.S.”

 

Content may be reprinted with credit to LiberationNews.org.

American History 101

I was born in the US, and have lived here a great majority of my life.  I was raised with the same stories most Americans are raised hearing; the old familiar tales of how the “greatest country on earth” came to be. I was taught to be patriotic, to be loyal. I was taught to love the flag and the Star Spangled Banner, and Davey Crocket and Abraham Lincoln. We threw off the weight of the tyranny of King George III and fashioned an incredible and majestic nation the likes of which the world has never known.

This would be great and all, if it wasn’t precipitated on a complete, boldfaced lie.

History, as We’d Like to Believe it

You see, pretty much everything we’re taught about American history is false. Complete and utter hogwash. Squanto helped the Pilgrims, it’s true. It’s also true that he did so because he came back to where his village was, and everyone he knew was dead and gone. In their place, in his village were the invaders.  He still helped them out. Just before the famous settlements at Jamestown and others, a plague brought by the Europeans wiped out most of the population of Natives all along the coast. What had been a thickly populated area of Natives, with a society and people no more primitive than the Europeans who came, was reduced to a shadow of its former self in record time thanks to the greatest genocide ever known to humankind.

Christopher Columbus raped, pillaged, and end enslaved the natives he met. From the very beginning this country was not founded on an idea of  freedom, but one of racism, slavery and theft. Within a few years of the settling of what is now the US, slaves from the West coast of Africa would arrive, beginning the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  It would not end for hundreds of years.

Slaves, packed into the bottom of the ships, dying as they lay chained in their own filth, not even able to move. The stifling hot cabin making them pass out. Millions died in the infamous “Middle Passage.” If they tried to refuse the gruel they were given to keep them alive, preferring death over their horrible conditions, the slave traders would force them to eat with this:

It’s called a Speculum Oris, or “mouth opener”. It was forced violently into the slave’s mouth to pry his mouth open; which would then give the opportunity for the slave trader to pour the gruel down the slave’s throat. It only cost the slave a few teeth to do this, to deny him the right to die.

These slaves built the material wealth of the US. The founders of the US owned slaves whose ancestors had been brought over from Africa, from their homes and their villages and their families. The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —” himself owned hundreds of slaves. Obviously he either didn’t consider slaves people, or he didn’t believe the words he wrote.

That’s not all. Immigrant workers, sharecroppers, oppressed and poor people of all nationalities built the country. All while the high minded plutocrats convinced the poor men and boys to die for their country. From the Trail of Tears, to the Transcontinental railroad,  America has been built on the backs of the oppressed, while those in power reap all the rewards.

Why Historical Revisionism?

The question is then, why this cult of America? Why do we speak of “Un-Americanism” as if there was some high cosmic ideal that we all were assigned to live under at our birth? Why are we shackled to the unending propaganda that somehow, the US is better, more moral, more just than any other country, when by any stretch of the imagination it’s not?

To keep you enslaved. You are enslaved. You most likely don’t own your own business. Even if you do, the bank probably owns it on paper. You work your whole life to make a living. Most people don’t think that they’ll ever get filthy rich, but they’d like a nice lifestyle. They want a decent place to live, enough food to eat, entertainment. They want to send their children to school, to college. They want to pursue their dreams. Most can’t. Most are left living vicariously through TV; seeing their favorite celebrity wear the clothes they’ll never see, let alone buy. Their idols making more money than 100 lifetimes of normal work. They go to work every day, putting in time, selling the only commodity they have. Their life.

They have the freedom to choose what job to have! You may say. They don’t have much choice though, nor can they choose how much they’re going to make. To even own a home, they must put themselves in 30 years of debt. A car for transportation is also expensive, even if you’re buying used. Food prices through the roof. After all they pay for, maybe there’s some left over for  a small amount of entertainment in your small amount of free time.

Day after day after day. Eat work sleep eat work sleep. You buy and you buy but you can’t fill the empty void inside you. You’re not living. You’re going through the motions of a robot. You’re nothing more than a commodity who makes the rich richer.

Then, the 4th of July comes. Red, white and blue are everywhere. Bunting hung on porches, flags flown from the eaves, the smell of gunpowder fills the air as we blow things up in celebration of our great country. We celebrate all the good that America is. The next day you go back to your soul crushing job. You make money for the rich capitalists, and barely make it through. Forget saving enough for your kids to get a good education, they’ll have to accumulate years worth of debt to achieve anything. Maybe they can join the military, they’ll be lauded as heroes as they try not to die for imperialist causes. Maybe if they make it out alive, they can go to college, still barely making it, to get a soul crushing job that won’t even pay for their kid’s education. Rinse, repeat, cash your little check.

Never though, do we teach our kids the truth of the horrible genocidal history of their country. We wouldn’t want them to question the country they were born into. We wouldn’t want them to think critically about their country. We wouldn’t want to progress beyond the politics of the 18th century. No, we stubbornly assert that we are the best in the world. Our cities crumble. We have trains systems from 50 plus years ago as the rest of the world moves forward. We talk about freedom while millions of our citizens are incarcerated in the horrible hell hole called the US prison system. The prison building companies get rich, the war profiteers get rich, the Wall St. gamblers get rich. The working mother struggling to feed her family falls into depression. The country moves on, continuing the centuries of exploitation and wage slavery. Those who work the hardest can barely survive, while the rich live off their trust funds. They go to Harvard and Yale, where they get set up for a life of luxury. Don’t worry, you can make it too. Just think of people like Bill Gates, he was a college dropout. OK, so his father is a rich attorney who sent him to the most prestigious school in the Seattle area, then to Harvard. Don’t worry about the fact that he had his daddy’s money to live on while he was busy stealing other’s ideas to make Microsoft. I’m sure if you “work hard enough” you can make it too.

The Way Out of Poverty

So why are so many Americans enslaved? Unable to break through the bullshit story of our past? Unable to see through the decades of propaganda? We are shackled to our propaganda, unable to think, unable to move. We believe vehemently that we are merely a step away from financial freedom. As our homes are taken, as we fail to pay our bills and they pile up, we keep telling ourselves that one day, we’ll catch a break, that all will be OK. To paraphrase the great John Steinbeck, we are convinced that we are temporarily displaced millionaires, not the oppressed proletariat. They have a hold on our minds, our labor and our very being. We are naught but cogs in the wheels of their machinery, making the money flow on the oil of the worker’s blood, sweat and tears.

It needn’t be this way. We shouldn’t have to live in a bleak world, looking to the future, not with hope, but with dread. We should be the masters of our ship, the guardians of our souls. We should realize that the very bounty of the earth is ours for the plucking. That we can live in harmony and peace. It will not be easy. It will not come through pleading and praying and begging. It will come by asserting the rights of all humanity. The right to food, the right to clothing, the right to an education and to health care. We deny the right of capitalists to hoard unlimited amounts of wealth to the detriment of the rest of society. We reject the capitalist idea of property rights, that one person or company can monopolize a portion of the means of production necessary for everyone’s livelihood.  We assert that we can build a better world through the unity, strength and work of the proletariat. We assert that all humanity is one brotherhood. We the proletariat, have no country. We are internationalists, who want the best for everyone, not just a few.

The only way forward is educating the working class. Tell them of the real history of the US. Tell them of the real nature of the material conditions. Talk to them about their problems. Help each other as much as you can. The only way that the world is going to change, is through a revolution of the mind, first and foremost. The material conditions for revolution are already here, we just need to show them to the world. The only way things are going to change, is by the forcible overthrow of all social conditions, and the end of the United States of America as we know it. Be brave. Be happy. A better future awaits.
“I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”
Harriet Tubman

 

Land of the Free

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

That song was written in 1814 by a man looking at the battle of Ft. McHenry; who famously wrote of still being able to view the flag of the land of the free after a harsh battle. The land that was wrenched from the hands of the Native Americans by invasion, sickness and gun, their villages destroyed, their families killed before their eyes by foreign invaders eager for vast profits to be had. From the first slaves arriving in the 16th century, dragged away from their homelands in chains, pulled by that illustrious profit motive, 300 plus years would pass before we would end slavery. Land of the free, like the millions of African Americans who unwillingly toiled in the hot sun for no pay, only to be whipped if they stopped. Their masters sell their families away, because they were not people you see, they were property. The land of the free, where the Cherokee people were marched hundreds of miles away from their land, to a strange place, thousands dying on the death march to Oklahoma. Land of the free!!! The land where the exalted Thomas Jefferson wrote proudly of the “unalienable rights” of human beings, like the human beings he owned. Land of the free!!! 620,000+ dead from a war in which the institution of slavery was only ended after years of war and a shattered country. Land of the free!!! The country that denied the right of self determination to the Philippine people, and in doing so murdered an estimated million and a half Filipino civilians, not counting the 20,000 dead Filipino soldiers.  Land of the free!!!  That proclaimed ourselves the possessors of liberty, even as we denied suffrage to anyone who was not white, male, or a land owner. Land of the free!!! We used Chinese labor to build our transcontinental railroad, it’s trestles resting on the bodies of their dead. Land of the free!!! We taxed the Chinese-Americans gold miners heavily, but only because they were succeeding and white people were jealous.  Fake tax collectors shot and killed Chinese-Americans, or tricked them into giving them money, since they were easy to fool because of the language barrier. Land of the free!!! For example when we made laws stating that Chinese were not allowed to testify in court against white Americans, even in heinous cases such as rape or murder. Land of the free!!! Chinese Americans denied the right to citizenship, and forced to live for generations as foreigners in their birth land because, and I quote: “ …a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior, and who are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point, as their history has shown; differing in language, opinions, color, and physical conformation; between whom and ourselves nature has placed an impassable difference” and as such had no right ” to swear away the life of a citizen” or participate” with us in administering the affairs of our Government.”-The California Supreme Court. The land of the free!!! 3 million dead Vietnamese testify to our steadfast dedication to their “freedom”, whether they wanted it or not. Land of the free!!! 50+ countries whose governments have been overthrown by the US, regardless of the nature of the government, to suit American greed. Land of the free!!!  Where millions starved in a great depression that wasn’t the fault of capitalist greed at all, oh no no no. Land of the free!!! Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and Afghans, again, freeing them whether they like it or not. Land of the free!!! Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians nuked in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, right before the US tried and hung Japanese military men for having biological weapons. Land of the free!! That busted unions, shot workers, threw dissidents in jail, restricted the rights of socialists to organize, or even be socialists and speak their minds. Land of the free!!! That has imprisoned Bradley Manning for daring to expose the truths about American war crimes. Land of the free!!! The land of the new NDAA, the Patriot act, and the very grabby TSA. Land of the free!!!

Don’t you worry your little head about history!! You have McDonalds, and the Gap, and SUVs, and television. We’re the Land of the free, don’tcha know?  Do what’s expected of you. Vote! You have the freedom to vote for the parties they tell you that you can vote for. Land of the free, where you can go to college, if you’re OK with amassing a huge amount of debt that will only be surpassed by your debt that you accrue when you buy a house, and god forbid a car. You see, we’re the land of the free!!! Don’t worry that gays and lesbians have been beaten to death for their sexual orientation, it probably doesn’t happen /that/ often. Don’t worry about the millions of inmates locked up for really petty crimes, their lives ruined forever because they smoked weed, you see, we’re in the land of the free! Don’t worry about high rates of teen pregnancy, or poor school districts without money. Don’t worry about the fact that that US has the highest income inequality in the developed world. Don’t worry about Trayvon Martin’s murder, you didn’t know him. Don’t worry about the rotting carcass that is American society, politics and economy.
Don’t worry.

Here’s all you have to do. Go to a ball park. See a game. Get a nice hot dog, with lots of mustard. Drink your cola.

Put all of that misery out of your head, all the rising poverty, all the inequality, all the war and the death and the destruction. It’s a million miles away from you now. Just put your hand over your heart, and as your blood stained flag raises in the air to that old familiar tune, and sing along. When it gets to the part that goes: “…O’er the laaaaaaaaaaaaand of the FREEEEEE…” just hold that thought in your mind and keep saying it over and over again until you can’t think of anything else.

Now repeat after me: ” I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free I am free. I am free .

See? There ya go. No need for rational thought. You’re free, and as the tears of patriotic fervor roll down your face, boy do you love big broth-er I mean your country.

 

A Short History of the USSR: Part 1

It seems like I’ve been having a lot of discussions lately about the Soviet Union, what it was, what was the nature of its existence, and its legacy. It seems like any time one starts talking about the successes of the USSR, some self righteous person will pop up, and tell you condescendingly how absolutely horrible the USSR really was. Sometimes it really seems that many people are incapable of taking a nuanced view of history, or to even escape the red scare propaganda they’ve had shoved down their throats their whole lives.  So, let’s take a look at some facts about the USSR, it’s place in history, and what it meant for progress and socialism.

Before the Revolution: The Czar and the Serfs

To really understand the USSR, we have to start before it existed; just as we study colonial America to understand the foundations for the establishment of the US. History as we know, is a progression. The USSR didn’t just pop up out of nowhere for no reason.  The Russian Empire was the predecessor to the USSR. The Czar ruled with a heavy hand, and much of the population lived in poverty and servitude. It was only in 1860s that serfdom was abolished, and even then not in a way that actually benefited the serfs. Conditions were absolutely horrible for the millions and millions of subjects of the autocratic Czar. Up until 1861, serfs were essentially slaves, needing permission even to marry. They made up over 80% of the population of the Russian empire, but existed as slaves without rights. When serfdom was abolished, the landlords had their debts paid for by the government, while the serfs had to pay outrageous sums, above market value for the land they had worked their whole lives. This time was characterized by extreme poverty, high suicide rates among the peasants, high disease and death rates and worse. For a huge majority of the country, life was nasty, brutish and short. Meanwhile the Czar in all his imperial hubris, fought needless wars with countries like Japan, draining valuable resources to try to feed his quest for power and imperialism. Then came the last straw, the one that broke the camel’s back. WW1 began with great fanfare for the Emperor, and ended quite badly. He poured the resources of the Russian Empire into the war on Germany. Food and fuel shortages mounted as the Germans blockaded trade routes. Inflation skyrocketed and the lives of low paid workers grew ever dimmer with each passing day. In 1917 things had reached their breaking point, the Army sided with the people, the Emperor abdicated and a people’s Soviet was established that started working with the weak provisional government. How did the empire break? Strikes by workers shut down the economy, further destroying any hope for a populace that would support the war effort. Cities came to a standstill as working people of all kinds simply refused to continue a system that exploited them for so long. These were the birth pangs of a revolution that would forever change the world, and would drastically improve the lives of the Russian people, as well as the peoples of oppressed groups and ethnicities within the Russian Empire. This, in short, was the birth of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. For the first time in their history, the Russian people would  have the reigns of power in their own country.

This is only the first part of my historical discussion of the USSR, and more will come soon. The goal here is to illuminate the historical foundations, and material conditions of the USSR, and the historical and future implications of its existence.