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- Published on 15 September 2013
- Written by Super User
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
India - Arundhati Roy on attacks on GN Saibaba
Galicia - solidaridad con los cuatro acusados de pertenecer a Resistencia Galega (ESI taldea)
Desde ESI taldea nos solidarizamos con los cuatro militantes
independentistas galegos (Eduardo Vigo, Roberto Rodríguez, Antón Santos y
María Osorio) condenados la semana pasada por "integración en
organización terrorista".
Esta actuación represiva y condena desproporcionada (siendo condenados a
penas de entre 10 y 18 años) la enmarcamos en la fascistización
galopante que acomete el Estado español, junto con la que está dándose
de igual manera en todos los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea.
De sobra saben lo que se les viene encima, y ahí hay que inscribir las
reformas del código penal para que los manifestantes sean condenados por
"terrorismo de baja intensidad", el castigo máximo a todo lo que se
mueva, la criminalización de los movimientos sociales, de las
plataformas de afectad@s por los desahucios...
No tenemos más que ver el cómo han sido condenados estos cuatro activistas: "integración en banda armada", cuando a lo largo de la sentencia no son capaces de describir qué es "Resistencia Galega", ni de fijar su dirección o estructuras, así como tampoco su funcionamiento, y tampoco son capaces de imputarles ninguna acción en concreto.
Incluso, alguno de los detalles reflejados en la sentencia moverían a risa, si no fueran reales y tan graves las condenas: catalogan de reunión orgánica de Resistencia Galega una reunión de tres amigos en un bar, aun reconociendo los policías que no pudieron oír la conversación.
De manera que nos encontramos ante algo inédito: se puede ser condenado en el Estado español por pertenecer a una "organización terrorista", sin que prueben que formas parte de la misma ni que hayas cometido acción alguna.
Esta forma de actuar, aunque pueda pretender reflejar fortaleza
política, nosotros creemos que es más bien lo contrario. Saben que la
gente es cada vez más consciente del carácter reaccionario de este
Estado, que por eso se va a empezar a mover, y de ahí las reformas antes
señaladas.
Hacemos un llamamiento a la clase trabajadora vasca y a las demás clases populares, y también a la juventud combativa, a que expresen su solidaridad con los acusados.
HERRI GALIZARRAREKIN ELKARTASUNA!
GORA INTERNAZIONALISMOA!
En Euskal Herria, septiembre de 2013,
ESI taldea
Euskadi - 11 presos políticos vascos prisioneros en Sevilla, inician huelga de hambre
Los presos políticos vascos que se encuentran en la cárcel de Sevilla
han comenzado una protesta para denunciar las condiciones de vida que
tienen en esta prisión. De los trece presos políticos que se encuentran
allí, once (Iker Agirre, Gurutz Agirresarobe, Koldo Aparicio, Asier
Arzalluz, Juan Mari Etxebarri, Garikoitz Etxeberria, Jesus Goikoetxea,
Manuel Gonzalez, Juan Lorenzo, Roberto Lebrero y Urtzi Paul) han
iniciado una huelga de hambre indefinida, mientras que otros dos (Javi
Agirre eta Iñaki Arakama) no han empezado la huelga de hambre por varias
razones, pero también se han unido a la protesta.
En la cárcel de Sevilla hace tiempo que viven una situación de gran
tensión, con duras condiciones de vida: siempre les mantienen en el
módulo de aislamiento; no les dejan realizar actividades; cuando salen
al patio primero pasan por un detector de metales, y después les hacen
un cacheo de palpación por todo el cuerpo, incluso llegando muchas veces
a rozar los testículos o el pene, creando momentos de gran tensión; el
preso Arkaitz Bellon sufrió una agresión; después de los vis a vises les
han solido realizar cacheos integrales (desnudandoles por completo); a
los familiares también les han solido cachear antes de entrar al vis a
vis o incluso para entrar al locutorio, y por consecuencia han perdido
visitas; etcétera.
Ante esta vulneración de derechos que sufren todos los días, se han
reunido con el director de la cárcel, pero, no ha cambiado nada. Incluso
han dirigido quejas y denuncias tanto a jueces como a instituciones
penitenciarias, pero, no ha tenido resultados. Por todo ello han
decidido emprender esta protesta, con el objetivo de conseguir tener una
vida digna y garantizar una adecuada asistencia médica.
Turquía: presos políticos del TKP/ML y del MKP han iniciado una huelga de hambre
En la foto la cárcel de Malatya
Prisioneros comunistas del TKP/ML y del MKP en la cárcel de Malatya, en las salas C -2 y C- 3, han iniciado una huelga de hambre contra las imposiciones arbitrarias, la tortura psicológica y para demandar sus derechos de conversaciones telefónicas entre otras cuestiones.
http://www.kaypakkayahaber.com/haber/mkp-ve-tkpml-dava-tutsaklarindan-aclik-grevi
Canada - Appuyons la lutte des Mi’kmaq pour défendre leurs territoires
Partisan №45
Comme on pouvait s’y attendre, le premier ministre du Nouveau-Brunswick, David Alward, a défendu l’incursion de l’État sur le territoire Mi’kmaq – en soi, cela n’a rien de surprenant qu’un politicien conservateur cautionne les mesures les plus brutales pour protéger les «droits» d’une compagnie privée.
Les porte-parole du NPD et du Parti libéral, cependant, ont prouvé une fois de plus qu’ils savent eux aussi se porter à la défense du capitalisme colonialiste. Jean Crowder, une député néo-démocrate, a ainsi dit souhaiter que «les esprits se refroidissent» des deux côtés; selon elle, la solution réside dans l’intégration des nations autochtones au processus de consultation avec le grand capital canadien. Carolyn Bennett, du Parti libéral, a fait écho à l’argument du NPD en demandant elle qu’une «vraie négociation» soit entreprise. Aucun de ces partis, supposément critiques des politiques conservatrices, n’est capable de reconnaître que toute solution à cette situation, comme dans tous les cas d’affrontements avec les communautés autochtones, passe obligatoirement par la décolonisation et l’autodétermination nationale.
Comme cela s’est produit à Kanehsatake en 1990 et dans bien d’autres mouvements de résistance autochtone, ce qui a commencé comme une protestation pacifique s’est lentement transformé en une résistance armée. Plutôt que de se laisser écraser, les Warriors Mi’Kmaq ont réagi avec le seul langage que les colonialistes comprennent. Six véhicules de la GRC ont ainsi été incendiés, tandis que les tirs de gaz lacrymogènes ont été repoussés par des pierres et des cocktails Molotov.
C’est précisément de cette manière que les luttes pour l’autodétermination nationale et la décolonisation ont été historiquement victorieuses; elles ne l’ont jamais été à la suite de négociations de paix avec les oppresseurs, qui ne négocient jamais honnêtement en l’absence d’une résistance armée.
* * *
L’artiste muraliste et grafitteuse Fanny Aishaa a réalisé cette toile
(voir plus haut) qui illustre une scène saisissante de la descente de
la GRC à Elsipogtog. Des reproductions couleur signées par l’artiste
sont en vente au coût de 50$, dont 20$ sont versés au fonds de défense
de la Société des Warriors Mi’kmaq. Pour en réserver une, écrivez à lacanar (at) @riseup.netFrance - Manifs antifasciste et affrontements à Clermont Ferrand
18h30,
le rassemblement organisé par l'OCFR contre l'ouverture d'un local FN à
Clermont débute. Nous étions une grosse vingtaine à nous réunir place
Dellile. Les drapeaux et banderoles déployés, nous apprenons que la
mairie de Clermont est envahie par des militants pour réclamer un
logement pour de nombreuses familles de demandeurs d'asiles misent une
fois de plus à la rue. Nous décidons de partir quand même en manif
sauvage jusqu'au local du FN. Les quelques membres des JC présents ont
refusé de participer à cette action. Arrivé-e-s devant le local, lumière
éteinte, planches en bois sur les vitres, nous sommes accueillis par la
BAC et les RG. Les slogans fusent : « Derrière le fascisme, ce cache le
Capital, la lutte antifasciste est internationale ! » Après quelques
minutes, nous nous mettons en routes pour partir à la mairie soutenir
les camarades présent-e-s là-bas car ils et elles étaient enfermé-e-s
par les flics. Ce sont donc une cinquantaine de militant-e-s qui se
rassemblent devant les grilles de la mairie, cherchant à forcer la porte
pour rentrer prêter main forte aux militant-e-s et familles à
l'intérieur. Nous avons réussi à rentrer mais de suite la répression fut
féroce : gazeuses à bout portants, coups de poings et pieds de la part
des flics, et autodéfense de notre part. Une fois repoussé-e-s à
l'extérieur, le ton monte encore d'un cran et nous essayons de forcer le
passage à un autre endroit. Ce sont alors les CRS qui sont intervenus.
S'en suit une heure d'affrontements dans les rues, barricades et jets de
bouteilles contre matraques et lacrymos...
Finalement, nous finissons par nous rassembler une fois de plus devant la mairie pour maintenir la pression sur la municipalité en pleine négociations avec les militant-e-s associatifs.
Après des heures d'affrontements et de négociations, toutes les familles et personnes à la rue ont été relogées... pour la nuit dans des hôtels, ce qui les disperse et affaiblit leurs capacités de mobilisations.
Nous appelons à les soutenir aujourd’hui dans leur lutte.
La
mairie socialiste n'a pas hésité à envoyer une fois de plus les flics
contre des gens qui réclamaient simplement un logement décent... A
Montreuil ce matin, une trentaine de personne qui, expulsées la semaine
dernière, avec leurs bébés dans les bras, étaient réfugiées dans un
gymnase de la municipalité en ont été chassé-e-s par les CRS.
A la misère que crée le capitalisme, la bourgeoisie répond par des matraquages. Cependant, cette expérience nous montre une fois de plus que seule la lutte paie et que quand les masses populaires décident de reprendre leurs affaires en mains par des méthodes de lutte légitimes, elles peuvent faire bouger les choses.
Le PS, que ce soit au niveau de l'Etat ou d'une municipalité, représente avant tout les intérêts de la bourgeoisie et il n'hésite pas à user de ses chiens de gardes en uniformes pour faire respecter «l'ordre républicain». Que ce soit pour protéger un local fasciste, pour repousser les sans-logis et leurs soutiens, le gouvernement actuel sait répondre présent. Georges Dimitrov, grand communiste bulgare, dirigeant de l'Internationale Communiste et héros de la lutte antifasciste expliquait déjà dans les années 40 que la social-démocratie et le fascisme sont les deux faces d'une même pièce, celle de la dictature du Capital ! Son analyse n'a pas pris une ride et aujourd'hui encore le PS, qui mène une politique d’offensive contre la classe ouvrière, tente de saper notre camp en y alimentant des contradictions racistes, nous fait subir la répression policière, les attaques de nervis fascistes. L’année dernière, le PS a laissé délibérément les réactionnaires se déchaîner dans la rue et dans les médias : le PS renforce le camp des réactionnaires et tente d’écraser le nôtre. Si demain la bourgeoisie n'arrive plus à contenir la légitime colère des masses ouvrière par la kermesse démocratique, elle tentera de se transformer et de passer à une dictature ouverte des éléments les plus réactionnaires du capital financier (le fascisme) !
Ne
nous trompons pas d'ennemis, ni de moyens pour notre lutte vers
l'émancipation de la classe ouvrière. C'est la bourgeoisie qui est la
source de nos problèmes, c'est elle qui en classe parasite maintient un
système capitaliste qui, pour assurer les profits d'une infime minorité,
maintient là l'immense majorité sous le coup de l'exploitation, de la
misère et des horreurs engendrées par les guerres impérialistes. Pour
lutter contre cela, rien ne sert de se rendre aux urnes. Le peuple n'a
pas à choisir quel ordure ira fouler aux pieds les intérêts de la classe
ouvrière. Si nous voulons lutter efficacement contre le capitalisme et
les chiens fascistes qui servent ses intérêts, nous devons nous
organiser, former de véritables fronts antifascistes et populaires, des
organisations de masses regroupées autour d'un parti
marxiste-léniniste-maoïste, qui seul est capable de servir les
véritables intérêts des classes populaires. Le processus d'unification
des maoïstes mis en place par l'OCFR et le PCmF va en ce sens. Certes,
il n'est pas à lui seul suffisant, mais c'est un pas en avant vers la
création du Parti dont notre classe a besoin !
OC-Futur Rouge ; PC maoïste de France
THE NEPALESE ELECTION – NOVEMBER 2013 an inform for debate
THE NEPALESE ELECTION –
NOVEMBER 2013
That the political and financial
circumstances which led to this election process are politically circumspect and
financially unsavory will be argued in the following.
To begin; this not a general election but one for a second Constitutional Assembly – an unheard of and ludicrous situation as it being called for and organized by the same forces that rendered the first one ineffective. Marx’s off-quoted epigram was never more apposite; with the first as tragedy and the second as farce.
Because they intend to use the election as a mandate to write their own constitution is why the Maoists are not getting caught in this particular snare. They have said they will tear-up any such constitution which will have been written in New Delhi anyway and, as Kiran said, make one: “in the streets”.
Many are aware, not just the Maoists, that the proceedings were therefore triggered as a stratagem of Prachanda’s to exclude them and their allies and so clear the way for such an outcome.
That is why the High Level Political Committee was set up earlier this year, which under the conniving of Prachanda was a carve-up between the four parties. Similarly Chief Justice Regmi is Prachanda’s placeman appointed as Prime Minister to give an apolitical gloss to these electoral machinations and, if necessary, carry the responsibility for employment of force majeure.
To begin; this not a general election but one for a second Constitutional Assembly – an unheard of and ludicrous situation as it being called for and organized by the same forces that rendered the first one ineffective. Marx’s off-quoted epigram was never more apposite; with the first as tragedy and the second as farce.
Because they intend to use the election as a mandate to write their own constitution is why the Maoists are not getting caught in this particular snare. They have said they will tear-up any such constitution which will have been written in New Delhi anyway and, as Kiran said, make one: “in the streets”.
Many are aware, not just the Maoists, that the proceedings were therefore triggered as a stratagem of Prachanda’s to exclude them and their allies and so clear the way for such an outcome.
That is why the High Level Political Committee was set up earlier this year, which under the conniving of Prachanda was a carve-up between the four parties. Similarly Chief Justice Regmi is Prachanda’s placeman appointed as Prime Minister to give an apolitical gloss to these electoral machinations and, if necessary, carry the responsibility for employment of force majeure.
Against declining socio-economic
conditions these political games have intensified a palpable general cynicism
covering a wide spectrum of Nepali society. (But not precisely measurable as
opinion polls are banned in run-ups to elections). One commentator summed it up:
“This has thrown the country into
a marsh of four-party dictatorship. Because of the four parties’ bullying, 33
political parties say they have to boycott the forthcoming
elections.”
(Bhagirath Basnet, Republica.
October 9th.)
It is accepted therefore that the
new CA will be no different in composition and that people are not being offered
a real choice as the four-party syndicate has rigged the system to ensure they
come out on top. The party leaders in this respect have ensured their survival
by standing in multiple constituencies and putting forward nonentities in each
other’s electoral areas.
Thus greasy pacts and greased palms are the reality behind the espousal of ‘democratic’ values and practices and the grandiose, but empty manifestos.
Thus greasy pacts and greased palms are the reality behind the espousal of ‘democratic’ values and practices and the grandiose, but empty manifestos.
It signifies the continuation of
the status quo as it keeps control of the major parties in the hands of the
upper castes, and the hegemony of Brahmanism over all political and
administrative institutions. Hence Dalits – who make up 20% of the civil
population – Muslims – who make up 10% and the Janajatis’ – who add a further
37%; along with other, smaller marginalized groups are excluded from the
corridors of power and influence by this ongoing fix. For the Dalits
particularly, because despite the repeal of the Rana’s 1854 muliki
ain – which codified discrimination against them – by King Mahendra
in 1963, like the noble Ambedkar’s similar attempt in the 1949 Indian
Constitution, have proved only words on paper and in reality discrimination
against them is still rife in Indian and Nepalese society. The occasional token
Dalit or Muslim candidate/delegate might be touted by the parties but the
predominant power elites remain Brahmins and Chetris, who combined comprise just
over 25% of the population, and whose monopoly of power over the majority
marginalized; politically, culturally and economically, continue the unresolved
tensions that produced the People’s War. It is one important reason why the CPN
– Maoists have retained overwhelming support among these historically
marginalised groups.
It is pretty clear that the
present political cartel is pushing this electoral extravaganza as a means of
political self-preservation and monetary aggrandizement; as the weekly magazine,
Nepali Times put it in an editorial:
“If this was a truly fair and
independent election and if the (pre-election) surveys are the true pulse of the
people, most of the disgraced leaders of the past four years should be voted
out.”
(NepaliTimes, 11-17 October, 2013)
THE BIG
STEAL
So much for political chicanery
but it is also in the allocated costs of the so-called election that reveals the
rotten heart and open pockets of the system’s carpet-bagging politicos and their
numerous hangers-on. The Rs.14 billion plus for employing the state’s security
apparatus has been mentioned; this includes the Nepal Police receiving Rs.5
billion, the para-military APF a further Rs.4 billion and the army Rs.3.14
billion. The rest of this budget being allocated principally for employing the
50,000 temporary police personnel deemed necessary to beef-up an already swollen
military/para-military/police establishment.
On top of these costs the Election Committee is funded to the
tune of over Rs.8 billion which
with other incidental provisions will bring the total expenditure in excess of
Rs.30 billion.
This is nearly twice the Rs.16 billion allocated in this year’s budget announced as recently as July. '
There are two staggering comparisons in this colossal sum; firstly it is more than ten times the amount spent on the 2008 election, which took place in the middle of an economic crisis and came in at only Rs. 2.81 billion.
Even allowing for rampant inflation, running between 8% and 10%, which would allow for an increase of around 60/70%, it does not justify an increase of over 1000%. Neither do the requirements justify it; as one commentator, honing in on security expenditure, has pointed out that police and military personnel only required extra travel and daily allowances with expenditure.
In relation to equipment the Army has in fact used to situation to get monies expedited making the excuse that there is limited time available and therefore costs are a secondary consideration.
There are also questions as to what happened to all the ballot boxes, vehicles and communication tools left over and supposedly stored from the last election. But instead huge new contracts have been handed out to favored business cronies.
This is nearly twice the Rs.16 billion allocated in this year’s budget announced as recently as July. '
There are two staggering comparisons in this colossal sum; firstly it is more than ten times the amount spent on the 2008 election, which took place in the middle of an economic crisis and came in at only Rs. 2.81 billion.
Even allowing for rampant inflation, running between 8% and 10%, which would allow for an increase of around 60/70%, it does not justify an increase of over 1000%. Neither do the requirements justify it; as one commentator, honing in on security expenditure, has pointed out that police and military personnel only required extra travel and daily allowances with expenditure.
In relation to equipment the Army has in fact used to situation to get monies expedited making the excuse that there is limited time available and therefore costs are a secondary consideration.
There are also questions as to what happened to all the ballot boxes, vehicles and communication tools left over and supposedly stored from the last election. But instead huge new contracts have been handed out to favored business cronies.
The Electoral Commission itself
stands accused of favoritism having handed the contract for partially printing
voter ID cards to the A-Roll Printing Company which, contrary to the commitments
to ‘honest and open competition’, was the second lowest bidder. SIMCO Business
Systems Pvt Ltd., the lowest bidder’s proprietor, Ashok Simkhada, bitterly
complained that the EC had reneged on an earlier assurance that the job would go
to the lowest tender saying:
“This decision is unfair and against all the norms of fair play.”
(Himalayan, October
24th, 2013)
It is hard not to feel a twinge of
sympathy for Mr. Simkahada,however naïve, as he gives expression to the utopian, Smithian ideal
of ‘free and fair competition’ which, if it ever really was dominant, in the
modern world is crushed between corruption on the one hand and
monopoly-cartelisation on the other. The
former flourishes in Nepal and is generally rife in the developing world,
whereas the latter is what defines the present multi-national globalisation,
following the tendency noted by Marx, and Smith indirectly before him, of
Capital to concentrate into fewer and fewer hands.
But it is not just a windfall for crony
business, huge sums are also provided for NGOs to conduct workshops, seminars,
conferences and ‘electoral education’. Given that there are approximately 48,000
foreign and domestic NGOs in Nepal, one for every 850 Nepalese citizens, many of
whom will jump with alacrity at this chance to promote ‘democratic’ modalities
and ideology in return for wedges of money. The Five-Star hotels are
consequently doing a roaring trade. One election insider has already complained
to a former Foreign Secretary, B Basnet, that money is being spent like “looted
booty”.
CORRUPTION
INC.
“Corrupt politicians make the
other ten per cent look bad.”
(Henry
Kissinger)
This financial bonanza is an
egregious example of a useless, corrupt and, the Maoists argue, irreparable
system. Often the term ‘corrupt’ is bandied about as populist suspicion but in
the case of Nepal modern polling methods support the rhetoric. The 2013 report
of Transparency International (TI) states that Nepal’s political parties are the
most corrupt according to a survey conducted by Nepal Division at 1,000 houses
in 58 different municipalities, based on experience and perception of 70% of
interviewees. The index also covers access to information, kickbacks on public
contracts, bribery of officials and enforcement of anti-corruption laws.
One of the additional weightings relate to, appropriately enough ‘transparency’; i.e. how open are processes of government in terms of procurement, appointment of officials, existence of public’s ‘Right to Know’, anti-corruption legislation and enforcement thereof.
One of the additional weightings relate to, appropriately enough ‘transparency’; i.e. how open are processes of government in terms of procurement, appointment of officials, existence of public’s ‘Right to Know’, anti-corruption legislation and enforcement thereof.
Here a caveat needs to be entered
relating to the ranking system which the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
places Nepal at 139th out 174 countries. This gives you the least
corrupt as Denmark, Finland, e.g. with scores of 90 – 100 being perfection and
the most corrupt with; e.g. as North Korea, Somalia with scores of 8. Nepal in
this context scored 27. It is believable because it used sophisticated polling
techniques based upon personal interviews and questionnaires allocated through
random selection.
I myself worked for the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) for a short period and saw how refined these methods have become in measuring the subjective and anecdotal and extracting valid data that is trusted by governments, international organisations and private companies in the planning of policies or investment decisions. The face-to-face technique over a large a sample as possible is the accepted basis for all present-day market research.
I myself worked for the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) for a short period and saw how refined these methods have become in measuring the subjective and anecdotal and extracting valid data that is trusted by governments, international organisations and private companies in the planning of policies or investment decisions. The face-to-face technique over a large a sample as possible is the accepted basis for all present-day market research.
The difficulty arises for TI is
that it to be wholly dependable it must be internally consistent; i.e. that the
modalities used to establish ranking must be uniformly applied to all those in
the measure. In the case of North Korea there would have been no access to its
citizens and therefore no information collected as elsewhere. This ergo places
all the weighting and subsequent score on lack of ‘transparency’, placing the
DPRK, and similar ‘closed’ regimes like it, under the rubric of:
“institutionalised state corruption”. This is more a political/ideological bias
and renders TI’s judgment in these examples worthless given its self-proclaimed
remit.
It is quite difficult to establish
how they apply these weightings as, although I may have missed something, they
are not very forthcoming (transparent even) as to their precise methodology in
my trawl through their websites. It is almost as though they’ve been prodded, or
indeed ‘grant-aided’ to arrive at a prognostification that most reasonable
people would see as counter-intuitive; whatever else they may think about that
state, good, bad or indifferent, corruption would not figure largely, if at all,
in their thinking.
It is even more suspect where it
claims that this austere, embattled command economy is more corrupt than India,
which is not so much a functioning state as much as a organized Brahminical
kleptocracy and where the criminalisation of electoral politics accordingly is
that unfortunate failed state’s most salient feature. The economist Arun Kumar
in A Study of Corruption in India estimated that its ‘black economy’ accounts
for as much as 50% of GDP. That would make it approximately $500 billion per
annum. For Nepal it was calculated in 2006 as being over 50% and worth $4
billion from a GDP of $7 billion.
However,
despite these reservations as to the modalities of precise ranking it would be
safe to say that in the case of Nepal and its homologues where the bedrock of
the survey rests on data from personal interaction, the TI report does highlight
and quantify a glaring anomaly that has only worsened over the last twenty years
with the advent of bourgeois ‘democracy’.
As the
report indicates the politicos’ are the worst of a bad bunch; from the
‘Prada/Pajero’ years of the post-first Andolan nineties, where parliamentarians
awarded themselves a choice of either four x fours, and where leading members of
the short-lived Adikhari’s 1996 first ‘communist’ government enriched themselves
from bribes taken from Indian interests over the Mahakali River Project. (So
outrageous it was opined that they had given away more in one treaty than in all
the others since Sugali in 1816.)
To the
present where many of the leaders of the four parties, like the UML’s Oli and
MJN’s Gachhadar are part politician, part don. In fact each party has its own
underworld connections and in return for enforcement and similar ‘dirty work’
often rewards the gang bosses with safe seats; in this way known criminal dons
like Ganesh Lama (just out of prison and cheerfully described by the Kathmandu
Post, October 23rd. 2013, in the libel-free atmosphere of Nepal as a
“gangster”, ) and Dinesh Chari will
become lawmakers in the new CA.
Even the UCPN (M) rump leadership although late to jump on this gravy train have quickly enriched themselves. Prachanda is the most outstanding example, coming from a lower income background to being a multi-millionaire today, complete with mansion, helicopter, owner of a radio station, part-owner of Republica and Nagarik, respectively English and Nepali language daily papers, are among some of his interests.
He even has his own ‘enforcer/fixer’ – Kali Bahadur Kham (Bibidh). (Bhatterai though can affect honesty as he became a millionaire through urban planning for Arab oil oligarchs and used his wealth to fund a life-style choice of entering politics to ‘save his country’.
He even kept his hands clean during the PW by concentrating on United Front work, unlike Dahal who was Supreme Commander of the PLA and party chairman and for whom the UN International Criminal Court has already set the wheels in motion to ensnare and indict him for ‘crimes against humanity’) Dahal then has joined an active rogues gallery, along with the previously mentioned, including; MK Nepal and JN Khanal (UML), SB Deuba (jailed by Gyanandra’s Royal Commission for Corruption Control – RCCC) and RB Yadav (NC) and Mahanta Thakur (MJN), to name a few of the godfathers.
Even the UCPN (M) rump leadership although late to jump on this gravy train have quickly enriched themselves. Prachanda is the most outstanding example, coming from a lower income background to being a multi-millionaire today, complete with mansion, helicopter, owner of a radio station, part-owner of Republica and Nagarik, respectively English and Nepali language daily papers, are among some of his interests.
He even has his own ‘enforcer/fixer’ – Kali Bahadur Kham (Bibidh). (Bhatterai though can affect honesty as he became a millionaire through urban planning for Arab oil oligarchs and used his wealth to fund a life-style choice of entering politics to ‘save his country’.
He even kept his hands clean during the PW by concentrating on United Front work, unlike Dahal who was Supreme Commander of the PLA and party chairman and for whom the UN International Criminal Court has already set the wheels in motion to ensnare and indict him for ‘crimes against humanity’) Dahal then has joined an active rogues gallery, along with the previously mentioned, including; MK Nepal and JN Khanal (UML), SB Deuba (jailed by Gyanandra’s Royal Commission for Corruption Control – RCCC) and RB Yadav (NC) and Mahanta Thakur (MJN), to name a few of the godfathers.
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However,
if you need to understand the pervasive nature of corruption in Nepal there is
no better example than that of Khum Bahadur Khadka. He was a high-flying NC
leader and a former Minister of the Interior during the 1990s. He was convicted
in 2012 of several counts of corruption when in that position and other
high-ranking posts such as Home Minister and local development Minister and was
sentenced to 18 months prison and given a large fine for huge levels of
malfeasance. The picture above shows his release amidst huge fanfare where he
was festooned with a 110 kg garland ordered especially from Kolkata and greeted
by thousands who marched from Dillibazar via Ratna Park to his home in Sanepa,
all wearing t-shirts bearing his image and chanting:
“Long
live Khumbahadur Dai! Long live Nepali Congress!”
As one
critic put it: “One could easily mistake Khadka for a national hero, a freedom
fighter, or people’s saviour.”
(M Paudyal, Republica, 21st
October, 2013)
The
reason for his popularity is that, like many of the leaders/dons, he spread his
proceeds around, providing many jobs and lavish treats for supporters. Along
with rigging their seats, figures like Khadka, Dahal, Gadachhaar et al invest
wisely in their potential voters. What this indicates is a fragmented class only
conscious of sectional or caste location and incapable of recognising that its
general interest depends on good governance and observance of the rule of law. A
ruling-class requires unity of purpose to ensure political, economic and
ideological hegemony. Where crony capitalism flourishes in a ‘black economy’
this cannot happen. At the political level it equates the leading players of the
parties as no different from gangland bosses, who sometimes squabble, sometimes
cooperate over the carve-up of territory and spoils. Elections become under
their aegis; a chance to further raid the public purse, to provide bread and
circuses for the apparatchiks and validation of a status quo, anything but a
desire to serve the people and strengthen the nation. The mask of democracy
waved uncertainly trying to hide the face of a peculating oligarchy. This
specific election as set out represents political and financial larceny on a
grand scale - Biplev put it that in more ways than one:
“It is a
criminal conspiracy against the Nepalese working class.”
An astute
commentator has described the evolution of corruption in Nepal from the Ranas
where it was primarily extractive, draining the state’s exchequer in order to
enrich the clan. (The Ranas, who ruled from 1846 to 1951, were like the Boyars
but more successful. The talkative Chief of Staff, SJB Rana, alluded to
previously, is therefore continuing a family tradition in squeezing over Rs.3
billion for hiring out the army for the election.). Under the monarchy from 1951
to 1990, especially under Mahenedra’s Panchayat regime from 1990, it was
distributive and the state’s revenues were used to spread largesse among
supporters and for buying off opponents. From 1990 to the present day corruption
was democratised and increasingly institutionalised to the extent that it is
difficult to demarcate between malfeasance and politics, as Kadkha’s case
illustrates so tellingly. He goes on to say:
“The
problem with corruption is not that of picking one or two rotten eggs to prevent
the lot from spoiling. The problem is the entire crate of eggs is rotten…and
that corruption is institutionalised and deeply entrenched in our
systems.”
(N.
Manandhar, Kathmandu Post, October 23rd. 2013)
COSTS IN
PERSPECTIVE
The colossal sum of Rs.30 billion
is even more startling when you consider that it represents approximately 6% of
the government’s 2013 budget of Rs.517.24 billion. If you consider the UK’s 2013
budget of an estimated 720 billion pounds it would require a comparable amount
for an election spend of a 43 billion plus! If that is unimaginable in a rich
country like Britain why should it be accepted with such equanimity for a poor
country like Nepal? And Nepal is poor, ranked the world’s 166 poorest out of 183
countries measured by the International Monetary Fund Economic Outlook Database
for 2013. In fact many observers have noted the disparity; in a country where
many go to bed hungry, millions of children suffer from malnutrition and are
deprived of primary education (with the corollary – child labour), where a
quarter of the population of just under 30 million exist below the poverty
level, where 60% have no electricity and 53% no access to clean tap
water.
It’s not even as if the last 20
years of bourgeois ‘democracy’ has been a period of economic improvement; to the
contrary the conditions of the poorest have worsened while the rich have got
richer. Again the statistics bear this out; according to the Gini-coefficient,
which measures the gap between the rich and poor (vertical economic inequality)
in all countries, showing the devastation brought about by the imposition of
neo-liberal, laissez faire policies,
through such mechanisms as the Structural Adjustment Programmes, privatisation
and general economic deregulation promoted by the IMF, WTO and World Bank.
Taking the decile data first shows that in 1985 the poorest 10% garnered 4.04%
of the national income whereas in 2010/11 this had plummeted to 1.5%. While the
richest, at the other end, which shared 25% of national income in 1985 saw this
share increase to 39.5 in 2011. Similarly with the poorest 20% who shared 9.1%
in 1985 saw that fall to 4.1% in 2011, while the richest 20% saw a rise in same
period from 39.5% to 56.2%. The inequality is measured by how close a country is
to 100, in 1985 the Gini coefficient showed Nepal at 29.55% but by 2011 it had
marched towards 49.54% and has accelerated within the last ten years according
to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report
2011. Along with many other mechanisms, such a Kuznet’s ratio and the Human
Poverty Index, the figures incontrovertibly show that only 20% of the population
have profited from neo-liberal economics with the remaining 80% suffering even
greater levels of immiseration and deprivation.
That this has happened in every
country of the world subject to western neo-liberal economics is gainsaid,
working peoples everywhere are being hammered whether in the UK or Nepal, but in
the former and all developing third world countries poverty and exploitation are
more naked and absolute. Far from being the answer – the once progressive and
dynamic wealth-creating capitalist system, as described by Marx in the Communist
Manifesto is now the problem and why Maoists in Nepal argue that there is no
alternative but revolution.
The facts support this contention and where Lenin once said that the capitalist will sell you the rope you hang him with; similarly the global institutions of capitalism provide the empirical data that make the case for revolution. Rhetoric is superfluous.
In the last analysis this
so-called election will not address these systemic problems, only further
illustrating the uselessness of imported western models of governance. The
‘democratic’ modalities form only a thin carapace over the edifice of a system
driven by and striven for a corrupted, compromised and comprador ruling
class/caste. The lofty ideals touted do not represent ‘universal and eternal
human values’ but are historical contingencies whereby one class – the
bourgeoisie – during the course of an epoch established it supremacy – in modes of production, ideology and polity –
over its feudal predecessor. The peoples of Nepal, SE Asia and all the third
world have made and will make their own forms of democracy and government in
their struggle for freedom and class supremacy over the bourgeoisie in their
turn.
Monday, October 28, 2013
USA - October 22, 2013: National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation
Oakland
O22 was marked by car caravans, a rally of over 120 people and a spirited march through the Fruitvale District, ending with a speech at the Fruitvale BART station by Oscar Grant's uncle, Cephus Johnson.After a short rally in East Oakland a car caravan took residents from this hood to the rally in the Fruitvale District, going through neighborhoods where police had killed Alan Blueford and Brownie Polk and many others, and where countless numbers of youth are being criminalized and brutalized every day.
At Fruitvale Plaza 120 people had gathered for a rally, over half young and of all nationalities. There were 15-20 college students from Diablo Valley College, Laney and Merritt College and UC Berkeley, as well as youth from different high schools in Oakland and San Francisco, folks from Occupy Oakland, Food Not Bombs, church groups, several immigrant rights groups, family of victims of police murder and abuse, anarchists, and people from the Revolution Club of the Bay Area as well as members of Stop Mass Incarceration Network who had announced the demonstration in a widely distributed leaflet. The rally was also announced on KPFA radio by Davey D as well as social media including #Occupyoakland.
Oakland, CA, October 22, 2013
Glide Church members came with their banner from San Francisco, and Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto took the stage. In July, she had given a sermon from her pulpit inside a mock SHU isolation unit in support of the recent California prisoners' hunger strike against the conditions of solitary confinement. She was passionate as she spoke about the need to act now against the criminalization of the youth, especially because of Trayvon Martin. A Stop Mass Incarceration Network speaker also spoke to this as well as linking it up with the fight to stop torture of massive numbers of people who are locked up.
Oakland, CA, October 22, 2013
2013 Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, Obasi D. Davis, ended the rally with a fiery poem, "Hunting Day"—one of the lines says "Oscar Grant is dead, but I'm still alive!"... and this became the call to begin the march.
About 60-70 people in the crowd took off up Fruitvale Avenue with a lot of fanfare. A couple of people from the East Oakland hood took the bullhorn up with passion, assisting the agitators with chanting, "We are all Trayvon Martin, hoodies up/hoodies up"; "If you don't like Stop and Frisk, let me see you raise your fist"; "OPD what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?"; "NO MORE ... mass incarceration....criminalization"; "Being Black is not a crime, but the pigs still fuck with you all the time"; and several others.
There was a notable increase in police presence at this point as well with a copter in the air and 13 cop cars in a nearby parking lot.
As the march returned to the plaza, a crowd of local residents raised their fists in solidarity. The march continued to the train station itself where Uncle Bobby, Cephus Johnson, spoke beneath the platform where his nephew Oscar Grant was killed by the police in 2009. Uncle Bobby spoke of the importance of acting on the spot when people see police abuse and not just letting it go. He mentioned the arrest and conviction of Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who killed Oscar Grant, as being "not a victory, but historic"... and he mentioned the importance of people stepping up and taking pictures as being very important. He said we cannot just step aside and let it go, but we must ACT to stop these criminal actions of the police.
Sacramento
A powerful demonstration 400-500 strong was held at the California State Capitol—organized by "A California Campaign to Stop Police Brutality," a state-wide network including over 50 families of victims of police murder. The demands included stopping the ICE immigration raids, abolishing the SHU, and ending mass incarceration. The protest enunciated not only the heavy toll of this epidemic but the fighting, defiant spirit of the families who organized with each other, speaking out, sharing materials, demanding justice for their loved ones and an end to police brutality, repression and the criminalization of a generation.
Sacramento, CA, October 22, 2013
Latino, Black, Asian and white family members expressed their outrage and determination throughout the day, over the mic, and talking with others.
"They tased him and beat him to death!" "They shot my brother Mario Romero 30 times!" "Ernest was unarmed." "We won't be intimidated." "We were looking for medical assistance for Robert, and my son received death." "We won't stop until there is justice." "We're letting them know that we will not be silenced." "Micah...killed in Reno, Nevada on Christmas Day. Tased 26 times." "I thank all of you for making me strong because I know you are gone through horrible things, cause your pain is as bad as mine."
Sacramento, CA, October 22, 2013
There was a march to the State Attorney General's office where one person from each family spoke the name of their murdered loved ones and laid a red rose on a stylized casket in front of the doors of the building.
Many of the people had been harassed by the authorities for speaking out and demanding justice—one woman had been pulled over the day before because she had a poster for the protest on her car window. Another woman said she had been stopped by police in her town 42 times, because she had written her brother's name and the cops who killed him across the back window of her car. But this harassment has backfired and hardened the resolve to fight for justice.
Los Angeles
A march of close to 200 people on Crenshaw Blvd rekindled some of the resistance and defiance that had filled the streets for several days this past summer after the verdict acquitting the killer of Trayvon Martin. The day was full of rage and joyful, celebratory defiance. People were dressed in all black, and hoodies were up.
Los Angeles, CA, October 22, 2013
People stepped off chanting, “Oink, oink, bang, bang, every day the same old thing...” behind a Stolen Lives truck covered with pictures of people killed by the police and a Trayvon banner that read, “We are all Trayvon, the whole damn system is guilty.”
The march included students, activists, family members of people killed by the police, families with loved ones locked down in prison and in solitary isolation, revolutionaries, and others deeply affected by the murder of Trayvon Martin, sick and tired of the official murder and brutality and the targeting and criminalization of Black and Latino youth. All along the march people at bus stops and stores took up stickers and flyers to spread word of the resistance.
After a few blocks, the march turned off the main street to pass by Crenshaw High School as students were coming out of school. The police, who had been hounding the youth in the area the day before (like they do EVERY day), were trying to derail and control the march and were also inside the school forcing students to leave out of the back door. But this didn't work.
As the Stolen Lives truck stopped in front of the school, people called on the students to come out and scores of students rushed into the march, grabbed bullhorns, shouted "Fuck the Police" and began dancing in the street. Some students talked about how they were against the murders by police and how they were harassed and treated like criminals. NO MORE! was the cry, and organizers spoke of how O22 was happening in dozens of cities all over the country to put an end to the crimes of this system.
Out came the sidewalk chalk.... and young kids whose relatives had been killed by the police helped get it around to others. Organizers called out the names of people who had been murdered with the crowd responding “presente!” and people started writing names on the street and sidewalk. High school students took part, some drawing pictures and names of their own friends who have been killed or brutalized by police.
Students were dancing in the streets—jumping up and down in the face of the police who racially profile and harass them ALL the time. The joy was infectious, of seeing the youth—who are targeted and usually held down or caught up in bullshit—step out and stand up. People in the march began laughing, celebrating. A woman who had seen the protest on the street and pulled over her car to join in insisted she needed the microphone and repeated what the student had said, and then went on to call out courthouses and police stations by name. A young woman from the school told a reporter how she had been part of a protest for Trayvon Martin and talked about how his murder was so unjust.
One young man said, “It’s like the cops, they come, and they kill the whole society, and people think, they put it on the news as, the kids kill each other. But it’s the cops, you know. The cops, they come, they try to get you late at night, they try to lock you up. I’ve personally been handcuffed for no reason. It’s like you just want to beat the statistics, but there’s no way possible you could beat the statistics.”
The march took off down Crenshaw Blvd, with high school students at the front. The LAPD threatened people, telling them to “stay in your lane” and then drove their cars into the lane, nearly hitting people. But this only made people more energized and defiant.
At the rally, a family member of Marcus Smith, killed by police in Inglewood, said: “He got shot in the back 22 times with his hands up.... It has been unbearable because even after that our family was harassed. The night he got killed, they left his body covered in the backyard for hours. They did not even want to call the medic or anything like that. They wrestled his brother down. They wrestled him down, beat him up, or whatever, and they beat up the mother of his three children that same night..... We got to take a stand, man, and bring this shit together, not just for him but for all of us—our children and the children of the future....”
Wayne Higgins, the attorney for the family of Terry Lafitte, said, “My client was shot in the back of his head when he was on his knees. He was executed. His life was worth something, more than just another Black man dying..... So let’s make a change.”
A poet powerfully called out the history of murders of this system, and a solo musician sang songs of freedom. There were also speakers from Stop Mass Incarceration Network, the People’s Neighborhood Patrols and from Gender Justice LA on behalf of the queer and transgender community.
Throughout the day, people openly wrestled with and discussed how to actively involve more people... how to win many more to hit the streets in a powerful movement that openly refuses to accept police brutality and the criminalization of our youth. People left determined to spread the word and organize others in this fight.
New York
Harlem, New York, October 22, 2013. Photo: Catherine Watters
During the rally there was a steady presence of people, including members of the Revolution Club, lined up alongside the speakers holding signs that said: “NO MORE! No More Stolen Lives!” People walking by were recruited on the spot to take up the signs and join in making this determined statement. At one point people listened intently as a speaker held up the Three Strikes poster with the quote from Bob Avakian and went through each of the three crimes of the system: Dred Scott, Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin. There were folks in the crowd who were old enough to remember the racist murder of Emmett Till and nodded their heads in remembrance. There were young people who were perhaps putting this all together for the first time, and were riveted by the truth of what the speaker was saying: That’s It For the System—Three Strikes, You’re Out!
Harlem, New York, October 22, 2013.
Bronx, New York, October 22, 2013
Many speakers were parents of victims of police murder, some of whom had been fighting for justice for close to 20 years. These parents exposed and denounced the many ways that the system suppresses and evades the evidence of cold-blooded murder at the hands of their police; they expressed the pain—still achingly fresh—of having a child stolen in such a brutal manner; and through all that expressed their determination to keep fighting, while challenging everyone there to step up the struggle. One of them, Nicholas Heyward, whose 13-year-old son was killed by the police in 1994, said that his experience of trying to work through the system—with elected officials, prosecutors, courts—had brought him to the truth that Carl Dix had spoken, that nothing short of revolution could bring about justice for the people.
After the rally there was a spirited march through the streets of the Bronx, stopping at the notorious 42nd police precinct along the way. The march was welcomed by many in the Bronx, including small shopkeepers and street vendors.
Throughout the march and rally people expressed markedly different views about the source of police brutality and the solution to it. Many talked about how brutality is getting worse, but also that there is clearly growing discontent among the people, though still mainly under the surface. Many thought and hoped that if that could be fully aroused, then the people on top who are responsible for what the police do would make some serious changes. Others recognized that this oppression is so deep in the DNA of the system that it would take a revolution to end it, but still had many questions about whether this was possible, what would replace it, and how to be sure a new revolutionary government wouldn’t end up being oppressive as well.
Jamaica, Queens: O22 was marked in this neighborhood at a busy pedestrian mall on 165th Street and Jamaica Avenue. Among people here, there is deep anger over the police harassment and brutality, and stop-and-frisk actions. These oppressive actions are hated features of life in this predominantly working and lower middle class African American community. This is the neighborhood—which also has sizable sections of Caribbean, South Asian and Latino immigrant families—where the unarmed Sean Bell was killed, on the evening before his wedding, by plainclothes cops in 2006; and where one of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network’s “stop stop-and-frisk” civil disobedience actions took place in 2011 at the NYPD’s 103rd Precinct. Organized by an activist clergy person known for her outspokenness against police brutality and the incarceration of Blacks and Latinos, five people gathered and distributed flyers, and along with homemade signage, called out the escalation of police violence in the predominantly middle class African American community. A local weekly community newspaper recorded their action.
Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, October 22, 2013
Some at the protest have been active around issues of police brutality and mass incarceration for years, but for most it was their first protest and they came to it with great energy. There was a joy among the youth in being at an event where the outrages they face every day were recognized and condemned—laughing, almost dancing as the march snaked through downtown. People called out the cops with the chant “Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail! The WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM is Guilty as HELL!” Letting everyone know, “WE ARE NOT SUSPECTS! WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS!” and “Being Black (Brown, young, immigrant) is not a Crime, But pigs still mess with us All the Time!” These were two very popular chants. A poster with Trayvon’s face and “the whole system is guilty” were held high at the rally and throughout the march. An office worker who commutes in from the suburb came out to the event. He said this is one of very few times where these youth have a voice.
Atlanta
About 60 people gathered in Troy Davis Park downtown for a speak-out and march to mark O22, joined for the initial speak-out by several dozen homeless people and others hanging out in the park, many of whom put on bright orange stickers for the day passed out to the crowd.At the park, the mother of Zaus Barnett, who was shot 12 times and killed by Atlanta police earlier this year, spoke movingly and made the point that this wasn’t just about her son but that everyone was affected. The co-MCs, a spokesperson for Revolution Books and a representative from the NAACP Criminal Justice Committee, read out names and stories of Stolen Lives and led the crowd in the Stolen Lives Pledge. As the march was ready to take off, Copwatch alerted the crowd that someone was being harassed by the police on the street adjacent to the park, so people went over to expose what was going on and call out the police. The spirited march then took to the streets with drums and loud chants, and made several stops through downtown. The first was in front of the Georgia State University building that houses GILEE, the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange—a joint training program between Georgia and Israeli police. A representative from the GSU Progressive Student Alliance exposed the program and pointed out that police brutality and repression are international issues, calling for solidarity with the Palestinian people living under Israeli repression. After marching past the main transit station and a shopping area where many people joined in the chants and raised fists, the march stopped in front of the ICE field office responsible for immigrant “Enforcement and Removal Operations.” A youth from Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance spoke to the crowd about the detention and deportation of immigrants, and said that President Obama could end this horror through executive order but has refused to do so. The final stop was the Atlanta Pretrial Detention Center, the main city jail.
A longer speak-out was held, which included two former prisoners, one of whom participated in the Georgia prison hunger strike in 2011, and another who spent 30 years in a Texas prison, including 12 years in solitary confinement. Other speakers included the RCP, Copwatch and the Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, as well as several people who came up to testify about experience with police brutality. The MC also pointed out a few of the nearly 1,000 video surveillance cameras on poles and buildings in the city monitored by the Atlanta Police, who have a goal of installing 10,000 cameras over the next 5 years. And as the march passed the transit station on the way back to the park, a youth came up and got on the bullhorn to let everyone know that a woman had just been beat down by the police at the station earlier in the afternoon, underscoring the pervasiveness of police brutality and the need for massive resistance.
Seattle
About 150 people rallied in Seattle, followed by a march—with no shortage of people speaking bitterness, as so many have lost loved ones to the plague of murders by the police. A younger Latino man told of losing his beloved brother to the police violence in Arizona: "You know soldiers with PTSD from Iraq? Well, I have PTSD, and it's from a war too. There is a war in Arizona. I had to escape it. The police there are conducting a war in the streets against people, they gun you down in the street. I lost my brother!"
Seattle, Washington, October 22, 2013
A comrade read the O22 statement from the Revolutionary Communist Party and the need for revolution to actually END police brutality was spoken to and fought for in different ways throughout the rally and march. This was controversial. Not everyone agreed with bringing the need for revolution to the forefront of the protest, and this was reflected in disagreements over chants and tactics during the march. The protesters divided out between those who wanted to understand and end the epidemic of police brutality, including those giving consideration to the need and possibility of communist revolution; and those who wanted the main purpose of the protest to be venting personal frustration at the cops while basically accepting that the nightmare will always continue. Throughout the controversy, there were many who stood with the revolutionaries, and had their back. In a discussion after the protest two young women said they also really appreciated how the revolutionaries had addressed patriarchy and made connections between the different horrors in the world.
The marchers refused to be intimidated by an overwhelming number of cops surrounding the march and planned to go by the East Precinct station of the notoriously brutal Seattle Police Department (SPD). In clear and criminal violation of the people's right of assembly and speech, SPD cops blocked the street and armed with clubs and deadly firearms they prevented the march from even going down the street the precinct is located on. Here people erected a sign with bloody hand prints on it, saying "Seattle Police You Have Blood on Your Hands" and shouted out, one by one, the deadly toll of the names of those murdered by the SPD.
The night was transformative for a number of people. One young student had expressed fear of marching in a protest against police brutality precisely because of the violent nature of the police—by the end of the march, she was at the very front. Two of the speakers who lost loved ones to the police were not sure if they could speak, but each found their courage after hearing the testimony and speeches of others. Two young men, one Latino and one white, during the march had together carried a very large placard listing hundreds of stolen lives nation wide.
Houston
During lunch at a major university in Houston, a revolution corner was setup in a busy plaza. The scene created quite a stir and some of the students took up the call to join with the protests on O22. A bunch of students pulled their hoodies up as they walked by, and others put on black armbands. Several students stopped to write their messages on signs. In response to the argument that it will take “Revolution, Nothing Less!” a women stopped and said, “I really like this. That’s exactly what we need”, and took her black hoodie from her bag and put it on.
Ofrenda created for National Day of Protest, Houston, Texas, October 22, 2013
The march took off through the courthouse district to the county jail—some held homemade signs, others carried the Three Strikes posters. More people had joined in by the time the march got to the jail and several people came up to the mic to tell their stories of brutality at the hands of this system and to deliver their message of NO MORE! One young woman said, “There are so many ways they control you, they got you on paper, on parole, but we can’t be afraid to speak out!” Emboldened by this outpouring, other people came up to speak. One Black man told how he was assaulted by the police when he was 19, and then spent 23 of his 44 years in jail, for something he didn’t even do. Dramatically pulling his partial dentures out of his mouth and waving them before the crowd, he described how the cops beat the shit out of him, knocking his teeth out. Another man yelled. “Fuck the Police!” pointing to the jail and said, “They beat you up in there!” He pulled up his shirt to show marks where he had been tased. At the end of the day, people were energized with what we accomplished, and several people were moved to check more into BA and the movement for revolution.
Cleveland
75 people of different nationalities, mostly youth and students, rallied and marched through downtown, spirited and bold from beginning to end. A number of youth came to the event and right away helped get banners and pictures displayed of people killed by the police and Trayvon Martin. They went all over the area getting out hundreds of flyers.Before the rally began, a banner with the quote “No more generations of our youth...” (BAsics 1:13) drew people. A young person started to call on people to sign it. Soon there was line of people waiting to sign.
Many different people spoke at the rally. An organizer for the immigrant community spoke about the attacks and killing of immigrants and massive deportations going on under Obama. Some mothers and relatives of loved ones killed by the police spoke about how the fight against police brutality and murder has to get stronger and that they are committed to being part of doing that. Members of a Black community group that has fought against and exposed police killings spoke. Others spoke about how they have experienced profiling and brutality at the hands of the police and are glad to have met up with this protest. One woman spoke on a vicious attack on her niece and how she went to jail for it. A Revolution seller read the RCP statement. As the words of the statement rang out, some people responded to the need for revolution, applauding and speaking out several times. When it said, “When people no longer have to say 'how long' and they can walk in the liberating sun of a whole new day," people smiled and clapped to hear of an alternative to this system of horrors.
The march took off, leading with a banner, “Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation,” a huge picture of Trayvon Martin, and lots of signs and pictures of those killed by the police. We marched to the Justice Center, a target people feel deeply about because of all the injustice that goes on there. Prisoners crowded to a window with fists in the air and we returned the same, chanting, “Prisoners are HUMAN BEINGS.” People marched on chanting loudly and with deep conviction, like “Killer cops by the hour/What do we say/Fight the power!” and more.
There were different sentiments among the people there. A Black man in his 20s was drawn to revolution. He marched and carried the banner. He said he thought what we were saying about revolution was right. He said he was going to a community college to take a speaking class to be able to speak to people about these things. Another Black man, maybe in his 30s, spoke with outrage about a friend who is in prison. He carried the banner and said it was an honor to do it.
Hawai`i
It would have been hard to be on the University of Hawai`i-Manoa Campus on Tuesday, October 22 and not know that it was the day to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Large banners had been hanging from a central campus building for a week.On the morning of October 22 about 30 lawn signs with facts about the prison system lined sidewalks and displays of large photos of victims of police murders were strung on clotheslines between palm trees along the central mall. A small crew passed out leaflets, armbands and chalk on the mall for three hours, and at noon a small but loud and energetic march demanding Justice for Kollin Elderts wound through campus. When the campus security police confronted a young student leading the march and told her she was disturbing classes and was facing arrest she righteously responded: “This is a protest. It should disturb students” and refused to back down. Since the march had reached the endpoint the guard backed down and she wasn’t arrested.
Kollin Elderts was a 23-year-old Hawaiian man who was murdered in cold blood by a U.S. State Department Agent at McDonald’s in Waikiki during the 2011 APEC Conference in Honolulu. The trial of the U.S. agent in July-August 2013 ended with a hung jury and has been re-scheduled for summer 2014 while the agent is back on the job at the State Department. The murder of a Hawaiian youth by a U.S. federal agent tapped into deep anger over the role of the federal government in the continued occupation and militarization of Hawai`i and the government no doubt hopes that delaying the trial for more than two and a half years after the murder will be long enough for the people to forget but a movement is coming together to continue to fight for justice for Kollin Elderts.
650 leaflets were distributed, about 50 students put on black armbands; some took chalk to write their own messages and throughout the day people stopped by the photo displays to read about the people who had been murdered by the police. Some shook their heads in disbelief; some said they just felt sad and some were angry. Some shared stories about their own experiences. Several faculty said they were talking about police brutality and the U.S. prison system in their classes, and one said he was using Revolution newspaper for coverage and facts.
For a day thousands of students, faculty and staff were forced to wake up to the reality of police brutality and the horror of U.S. prisons.
Jacksonville, Florida
100 came out at 4 pm at the Hemming Plaza. The stage had tables against the death penalty; petitions for Gov. Scott and D.A. Angela Corey demanding release of Marissa Alexander; and petitions to change the name of Nathan B. Forrest (KKK founder/leader) High School. We got rained out but then marched in singing to the City Council meeting. 20 demonstrators spoke at the podium—children, homeless, mothers of killed or jailed youth & community leaders. Then we picketed in front of City Hall.Greensboro, North Carolina:
A rally of 35 people was held at the brand-new 1,032-bed "Guilty" County (Guilford) jail. Speakers talked about the new Jim Crow, "Slow Genocide," school-to-prison pipeline. A woman spoke of how the Greensboro police murdered TWO of her family and then covered it up. Her husband was killed over 20 years ago in front of her four-year-old son and then 18 years later that same unarmed son was killed by police. She said how Black lives meant nothing in this system.50 people rallied and marched through the Smith Homes. Speakers spoke about the everyday harassment and recent murders by police—in Charlotte of Jonathan Ferrell (who had just been in a car wreck and was seeking help and was gunned down) and in Fayetteville of 16-year-old Shakur McNair who was objecting to the treatment of his mother after police were called to settle a domestic dispute. The march stepped off chanting "Shakur didn't have to die, we all know the reason why—the whole system's guilty".
At the conclusion of the march, several more spoke, including a youth and student group from the Beloved Community Center about continuing the fight against police brutality. Another speaker asked people to help with the Stolen Lives Project. A speaker from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network urged people to join in this sharp battle that has reached epidemic proportions nationwide including neighborhoods such as this. The RCP statement was read and copies were handed out all day to participants and spectators.
The day concluded, as it does every October 22, with the mother of a victim of police murder leading everyone in saying the "Stolen Lives Pledge."
Lynn, Massachusetts
About 100 people gathered outside the Lynn City Hall. Earlier in the month, about 75-100 people had attended a rally here to protest the killing of Denis Reynoso (see correspondence below: "The Killing of Denis Reynoso").The MC of the rally announced that this was part of the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. There were more youth of different nationalities, a number of whom spoke bitterness to the crowd.
A revolutionary addressed the rally. He represented himself as a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party and told the audience that what he had to say might be controversial to many but needed to be heard. He presented that the murder of Denis Reynoso and the grief his fiancé and family were going through were not isolated but part of a broader systematic assault aimed overwhelmingly at Black and Latino youth that was rooted in this system, and drew on the Ramarley Graham murder in New York City as another recent example—police barging into his home and gunning him down in front of his family.
He came back to the point that it is this system that is the source of these outrages and we cannot expect to get justice from this system. Then, in an extremely important point, he spoke about how Denis had joined the U.S. Army because that is what you are taught that you are “suppose to do” and was sent to Iraq to be part of the vicious military machine of U.S. imperialism imposing and enforcing the very same oppressive conditions on people around the world that Denis, himself became the victim of.
This was very controversial point—one of the main arguments being raised by the family and friends was that Denis didn’t deserve to die because he was a vet! The main photo of him on T-shirts and posters is in his uniform. Previous speakers included in their comments the fact that Denis didn’t deserve to die because he had “served his country.”
Revolution received the following correspondence:
The Murder of Denis Reynoso
From readers:Lynn, Massachusetts is a small working class city of 90,000 12 miles north of Boston. Over the past 25 years, it has gone from almost 100% white to very multi-national with 12% African American and over 30% Latino, mainly Caribbean. Over the same period, the major employer, General Electric, has reduced its workforce by several thousand. Unemployment in the city is three times that of Massachusetts as a whole and twice the national average. So there is an aging (and shrinking) white population and a younger and growing African-American and immigrant population.
While only a few miles north of Boston and well within the dense urban ring around the city, Lynn is geographically isolated and a world apart from the Boston/Cambridge environment that is promoted nationally—of elite universities, high tech start ups and bio-medical centers. Police brutality is a common occurrence in the Black and immigrant communities but is seldom reported in the Boston media.
On September 6, Lynn police entered the home of Denis Reynoso, a 30-year-old Dominican American, and shot and killed him in front of his 5-year-old son. The police were responding to a “disturbing the peace” report that had been filed after Denis had reportedly gotten into an argument outside his home with a passing motorist. The three police on the scene entered his home with guns drawn and claimed that Denis had lunged for one of the officer’s guns. After shooting Denis three times and while waiting for an ambulance, the police searched his home for drugs or weapons (none were found) and stripped his son’s blood stained shirt as possible evidence. Denis died in the hospital a few minutes later.
The police involved were briefly suspended and the police department launched an internal investigation which is still ongoing.
Denis’s fiancé and the extended family and friends were both stunned and angered by the official story. Denis had tried to live his life the “right way,” joining the army, doing a tour of duty in Iraq, later transferring to the National Guard. He had recently become engaged to the mother of his two children and was working as a clerk in a local post office. He was soft-spoken and well liked in his neighborhood.
Denis’s fiancé started a “Justice for Denis” Facebook page and hooked up with a couple of local activists connected with “Defend the 4th (Amendment),” a local group of activists, law students and professors who are involved in the battle against illegal search and seizure of individual’s homes.
Together, the family, friends and local activists, collected money to print “Justice for Denis” T-shirts and stickers. They called for an October 5 “Justice for Denis” rally that marched through downtown Lynn to the police department with their demand for an independent investigation.
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