“Reform vs. Revolution” Among the “Post-Mao” Maoists in China

Mao More than Ever (for details on the symbolism of this artwork see the bottom of this article, below the source attribution)

By Zhun Xu. She is a member of the Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

This year saw an unprecedented rise in political fights among the Chinese leftists. An outside observer might surprisingly discover such big differences on the “left” when all of the major leftist online forums began publishing harsh political polemics from opposing camps. Various issues are discussed, but the practical political stake is whether the left should be a political ally of the current CCP leadership or not, i.e. political program of a united leftist camp. One group, which mostly posts on one of the largest online leftist forum in China (Utopia, or wu you zhi xiang), has been a long supporter of the government and tries to consolidate the leftists under its pro-CCP flag and advocate reforms under current regime to “restore socialism”; while other groups, mostly publishing on relatively smaller online forums, take a different stance and argue that socialism cannot be built under the current capitalist state. The pro-CCP people accused other groups as “extremists”, and their opponents also called them “reactionary and opportunist”.

Unión del Barrio Celebrates Three Decades of Accomplishments

On August 26th, Unión del Barrio, its membership, allies, supporters, and families, came together to celebrate three decades of Organized Liberation Struggle for Raza self-determination, the re-unification of México and the socialist integration of Nuestra América.

The celebration took place at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego. The event began with a welcome by the MC’s, Eduardo “Kiki” Ochoa and Belinda Zamacona, followed by dinner. During dinner, there was a video presentation which covered the length of the 30 year history of Unión del Barrio thru the present. There was a particular presentation on the last 5 years of struggle, 2006-2011.

Harpal Brar on Cuba and Korea

Harpal Brar, Chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) speaks at the international BBQ held in Saklatvala Hall, Southall, on 30 July 2011.

Famine in Somalia Caused by Imperialism!

Written by Libanga Tika-kongo.

The crisis in the Horn of Africa is an imperialist-imposed crisis that began long before the current drought we experience.

Whilst it is true that there has been a three year drought in the Horn of Africa, It is also true that the U.S. has been bombing Somalia since 2006. The bombing and the invasion of Somalia by U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops has made it impossible for any government to organize its people to deal with the current drought.

The U.S. has been waging war against Somalia since the 1960s, but now with the discovery of more oil and the emergence of China as the third biggest trading nation to Africa — or more accurately, third biggest exploiter — the U.S. is adopting more desperate means to maintain its dominant grip in Africa.

U.S. / NATO Attempt to Occupy Tripoli, Libyans Fight to Maintain Independence

The following editorial is from Fight Back! News, the organ of Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Fight Back!

As the US/NATO-led rebel forces assault the Libyan capital of Tripoli, it is important for antiwar and progressive forces to recognize a few key points. The development of events since the popular North African revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt led to some divisions among progressive forces as the imperialist countries maneuvered to take control of the situation and develop contradictions in North Africa in their favor. In Libya the U.S., France, the U.K., and Italy joined together to take advantage of the discontent among certain sections of the Libyan people, and thereby develop an armed rebel movement to topple the Gaddafi government. This criminal action taken by US and NATO forces should be condemned by all people of conscience. The success of the NATO-led rebels would certainly mean an end to an independent Libya.

The Truth About the Situation in Libya: Cutting Through the Government Propaganda and Media Lies

By Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition.

Libya is a small country of just over 6 million people but it possesses the largest oil reserves in all of Africa. The oil produced there is especially coveted because of its particularly high quality.

The Air Force of the United States along with Britain and France has carried out 7,459 bombing attacks since March 19. Britain, France and the United States sent special operation ground forces and commando units to direct the military operations of the so-called rebel fighters – it is a NATO- led army in the field.

Layton’s Death Means Less Than The Weight of a Feather

Mao once said that "to die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai." How did Layton live and go out?

I was thinking of writing something myself regarding the news this morning that Jack Layton, the leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, had passed away. Under him the NDP, in an effort to become finally get power at the Federal level, lurched to the right (even as far as social democratic parties around the world go) and became essentially nothing more than an emulation of the Trudeau-era Liberal Party. With the abandonment of social democracy, Layton and the NDP finally got within spitting distance of their goal of power this past May when, riding the electoral obliteration of the Bloc Quebecois and the total collapse of the Liberal Party, they became by far the second largest party in Parliament and become the Conservatives official opposition.

Anyway, like I said, I was going to write something of my own, by comrade JMP of the ever great M-L-M Mayhem wrote something quite eloquent, and he says everything I would have had to say. So I have re-posted his piece below.

School the Youth for Revolution

How to Write Revolution

This is the third part of an important lecture series from Greg Lucero of the Revolutionary Students Union. The first and second parts cover how to “think” revolution, how to create logical arguments, provide evidence, and support and how to “speak” revolution, in other words, how to speak to people about revolution.  He welcomes feedback on both of these. This third part of the series covers how to “write” revolution.

Anti-Imperialist Demo in Montreal For 9/11 10th Anniversary

For those who are interested, the Revolutionary Student’s Movement, the student wing of the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party is organizing an anti-imperialist demo in Montreal to mark the 10th anniversary of the American 9/11. Below you can find the two posters that they have produced to promote the demo. Each file includes an English and a French version of the same poster. There are physical copies available at the RCP run Norman Bethune House.

Poster 1

Poster 2

Joining The Uhuru Movement: A Look Back Six Months On

It’s been about six months now since I took the plunge and officially joined the Uhuru Movement. I am writing this post as a retrospective of why I joined the Uhuru Movement, and my feelings on it, now having several months of experience under my belt.

Why I Joined

To begin, my joining the Uhuru Movement was the culmination of some major changes that my political thought has undergone since last summer. It was at that time that I left behind the two closely “radical” trends that I had been committed to for a number of years –  ”socialism from below” and “left regroupment/refoundation.” 

Indian Country Today: Uncle Tomahawks & Cheerleaders of the Rape of Mother Earth

Originally posted over at Censored News as Media Watch: Indian Country Today Hits a New All Time Low. However, not only is Indian County Today an Uncle Tomahawk cheerleader of the rape of sacred mother earth, with no regard for the impact that this violation of our mother has on our people, it has also been a supporter of the continuing FBI campaign against Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement, including cheerleading the government set up and lynching of John Graham for the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash – a murder which the government carried out as part of the COINTELPRO terror campaign!

So I would like to echo Censored News editor Brenda Norrell’s call to boycott Indian Country Today!

NEW TOWN, North Dakota — The newspaper Indian Country Today didn’t show up to cover the Protecting Mother Earth Gathering and now has an article cheerleading the rape of the earth and the ongoing devastation by the oil and gas industry.

Perhaps the newspaper would have been less likely to publish a press release, during the newspaper’s downward spiral, if its reporters or editors had been present at the Gathering and listened to the people here, and witnessed the carnage by the oil and gas industry.

An Islamo-Bolivarian Threat to American Imperialism?

The following article appeared on Al Jazeera, written by Belen Fernandez. Belen is an editor at PULSE Media. Her book The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work will be released by Verso on Nov. 1, 2011.

In early July, the US Congressional Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence held a hearing entitled “Hezbollah in Latin America - Implications for US Homeland Security“.

The line-up of witnesses consisted of Roger Noriega, visiting fellow at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute; Douglas Farah, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center; Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council and journal editor for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs; and Brown University professor Dr. Melani Cammett, the only testifier who bothered to provide an accurate history of Hezbollah and to refrain from referring to the Lebanese political party and resistance movement as a terrorist organisation directed by Iran.

Marcus Garvey Lives! Legacy Carried Forward by the ASI

Today, August 17, is the birthday of Marcus Garvey, one of the most important anti-imperialist leaders of the last 150 years. In celebration I am reposting the following article from the August 2006 issue of The Burning Spear Newspaper, the organ of the African People’s Socialist Party.

Each August, growing numbers of Africans around the world celebrate the birth of Marcus Mosiah Garvey who was born on August 17, 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica.

The celebration of Garvey’s birth date is due to the fact that since the attack on Africa that led to the capture, dispersal and enslavement of millions of Africans and the colonization and balkanization of Africa, no African has been more instrumental in creating the vision of a free and liberated Africa and African people. No African has been more successful in setting the example for organized resistance that would result in the liberation and unification of Africa and African people everywhere.

Direct Action to Protect the Holy San Francisco Peaks Continues

On Saturday, August 13th 2011, after a prayerful gathering on the Holy San Francisco Peaks, my friends Mary Sojourner, Rudy Preston and I were arrested by “law-enforcement” agents for standing against desecration and eco-cide caused by Arizona Snowbowl ski area.

Since June 16th, 26 arrests have been made during protests when Snowbowl started furthering desecration and eco-cide on the Holy Peaks.

As a Snowbowl hired excavator operator tore into sacred earth, plants and boulders to extend the wastewater pipeline trench further up the Holy Mountain, 40 people gathered in prayer in a meadow directly across from the excavation. At times, bulldozers and the excavator were no more than 200 feet from the gathering, so the machinery made it nearly impossible for elders to speak. The noise completely disrupted statements and prayers made by those in attendance.