Decriminalizing Bashar al Assad: Towards a more effective anti-war movement (tags)
Building a phoney case for imperialist regime change is, of course, not unusual. What is really curious is that the leadership of the anti-war movement in the west – the people whose clear responsibility is to build the widest possible opposition to war on Syria – has been actively participating in the propaganda and demonisation campaign. Whilst opposing direct military strikes, they have nonetheless given consistent support to the regime change operation that such strikes are meant to consummate.
Haiti Earthquake: Capitalism, Occupation and Revolution (tags)
The earthquake that wrecked the capital of Haiti and surrounding areas on January 12 produced human tragedy of almost unfathomable proportions. It has been termed “the most destructive natural disaster in modern times.” Five months later, Haiti is no longer in the headlines or on the nightly TV news, but for the hard-hit Haitian population the scene has hardly changed. Now a new disaster is in the making as the hurricane season begins. This was a calamity made by capitalism: the earthquake was predictable and was predicted; the inferior construction methods are the result of Haiti’s poverty, and the swollen slums were the result of U.S. policies that have destroyed Haitian agriculture, forcing peasants off the land. On top of everything, Haiti is under imperialist occupation: Washington makes sure it has ultimate control of the strategically placed island, as it has throughout the Cold War and since. Haiti's devastation is not the result of “natural” causes or even “neo-liberal” policies – it is the product of the oppression of this semi-colonial country by the imperial masters ever since black slaves rose up to abolish slavery and throw out the colonialists two centuries ago. No new “economic model” can resolve this: what’s required is a new Haitian Revolution, a workers revolution overthrowing capitalism throughout the Caribbean and extending into the heart of imperialism.
Mass Protests Rock Iran: No to All Wings of the Mullah Regime! (tags)
For more than a week, Iran has been convulsed by mass demonstrations denouncing election fraud. Hundreds of thousands have repeatedly taken to the streets to denounce the government, which is now threatening, and beginning to carry out, a bloody crackdown. This time around, imperialist intervention is veiled: the White House feigns neutrality, the Western media go all out for the opposition, while in the background various agencies provide vital technical aid. In reality, all candidates in the presidential vote swear allegiance to the Islamic Republic, and the supposed moderate reformers are no less butchers and enemies of poor and working people than the conservative "populist" government. The situation cries out for revolutionary leadership independent of all factions of the theocracy, to wage a struggle for workers revolution against imperialism and clerical reaction.
Y seguía hablando Chávez.. (tags)
º Luego del reciente resultado electoral en Venezuela, con el triunfo de la propuesta que autoriza la reelección indefinida del actual gobernante, he aquí una opinión sobre el tema desde el anarquismo latinoamericano.
Leftist Union Leaders Assassinated in Venezuela (tags)
On November 27, three leftist union leaders in the Venezuelan state of Aragua – Richard Gallardo, Luis Hernández and Carlos Requena – were gunned down by an assassin. The murder came hours after the unionists had led a workers occupation of a Colombian-owned milk plant which had been brutally broken up by state police. All three were leaders of the UNT (National Workers Union) and of the USI (Socialist Left Unity), a party which has opposed attempts by the government of Hugo Chávez to impose state control of labor, and has fought the rightist opposition backed by imperialism. They may have been murdered by assassins hired by the Colombian company, by elements connected to the police of outgoing state governor, a former Chávez ally, or by supporters of a current official of the governing United Socialist Party. In any case, despite Chávez’ socialist rhetoric, the reality of the bourgeois Bolivarian “revolution” in Venezuela today is that leftist unionists are murdered while the forces of capitalist state repression back up the bosses. While many leftists have called on the Chávez government to investigate, Trotskyists call for organizing workers defense guards and imposing workers control of production. Venezuela today is stuck at a crossroads. Building a Bolshevik-type workers party based on Trotsky’s program of permanent revolution is key.
Narcogobierno colombiano perpetra siniestra masacre en Ecuador (tags)
En la madrugada del 1° de marzo, aviones de guerra de la Fuerza Aérea colombiana lanzaron un ataque contra un campamento de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) ubicado dentro de territorio ecuatoriano. El propósito: asesinar al principal portavoz de las FARC para el exterior, Raúl Reyes. Las huellas digitales del imperialismo norteamericano se ven claramente en este macabro incidente. Ante semejante crimen, la respuesta debe consistir en movilizar a los trabajadores en una lucha de clase contra el imperialismo y a sus aliados criollos. En lugar de esto, el grueso de la izquierda latinoamericana se pone a la cola de los estados burgueses de Ecuador y Venezuela, buscando presionarles para que inicien una guerra contra Colombia. No obstante las muchas diferencias políticas que tenemos con las fuerzas guerrilleras de Colombia, que luchan por una “reconciliación” con sectores de la clase dominante, los trotskistas estamos de su lado en la guerra civil contra el estado capitalista. Pero insistimos que la guerrilla no es el camino a la revolución socialista que debe ser dirigida por la clase obrera a la cabeza de las empobrecidas masas rurales y urbanas.