International Communist and workers' parties rally against rightist persecution in Poland and Europe

Screenshot from rally in the Netherlands

Communist and workers' parties held rallies and issued statements internationally this week in support of their comrades in the Polish Communist Party. The increasingly reactionary Polish PiS government is attempting to criminalize communist and anti-capitalist speech and thought in conjunction with pushing a revisionist historical view of the Holocaust.

As part of a broader offensive by governments across Europe -- but most especially in Eastern Europe -- the Polish government has adopted an ultra-nationalist line that tries to minimize and deny any Polish collaboration with the Holocaust and that, by equating Nazism and communism, seeks to erase the central role played by the USSR and the Red Army in the liberation of Poland and other countries.

This is tied to a dangerous resurgence of racism, antisemitism and ultra-nationalism with WWII Nazi collaborators being celebrated as national heroes in countries like Latvia and Ukraine.

Along with Ukraine and others, the Polish government is trying to ban communist symbols and parties. Now the Polish government is attempting to retry communist journalists for the party newspaper Brzask on what amount to sedition charges despite these journalists having been acquitted in their first trial.

With the trial of the journalists having started again on March 3, Monday, March 2 saw solidarity actions in their defense and support.

The Netherlands:

Members of the New Communist Party of the Netherlands and the Communist Youth Movement of the Netherlands rallied at the Polish embassy in The Hague.

A statement they released noted the role the European Union had played in facilitating far right narratives with its passage of a disgraceful "anti-totalitarian" resolution in 2019 that framed Communism and Nazism as somehow flip sides of the same coin.

...the EU whitewashes far-right and fascist forces with this policy. In this resolution we find a whole lot of antifascist and antiracist rhetoric, racism and xenophobia are supposedly condemned. But that is pure rhetoric and hypocrisy, as amongst the supporters and even initiators of this resolution we find many extreme right-wing parties who glorify Nazi collaborators. Think for example of the ruling parties in many eastern European countries, including Poland, where the persecution of communists is paired with the glorification of Nazi collaborators. The Resolution is also supported by just about every far-right party in the EU, that spread racism and more or less openly take fascist positions. For example the resolution was supported by the Dutch Forum voor Democratie, but also the French ‘Rassemblement National’, the Italian ‘Lega Nord’, the ‘Freedomsparty of Austria’, the ‘Danish People’s party’, ‘Freedom and Direct Democracy’ (Czech), ‘Greek Solution’ and a number of other reactionary parties. For those far-right parties it is not a problem to sign a resolution in which Nazism is condemned, as they now spread their racist and other far-right views under other symbols than the swastika. Fascism is only condemned formally and not substantively, in the appearance it had in the time around the second world war. Current appearances of fascism are given free rein.
For us it is not odd that the EU acts in this way. It is after all an imperialist alliance of capitalist countries, which means that it serves the interests of the monopolies. The EU-legislation advances the destruction of all social achievements, demolition and privatisation of the social security system, healthcare; the promotion of flex work; education is hollowed out with EU-guidelines and made more and more expensive. People have to work more and harder for less, whilst big business makes massive profits over the backs of the working class. The underlying goal, in Poland and the entire EU, is the stopping of a real resistance, to stop the people from fighting for a true alternative. That’s why they try to hinder every attempt to rebuild the workers movement and try to ban communist parties. 

Belgium:

At a rally in front of the Polish embassy Julien Hannotte Morais, political secretary of the Communist Party of Belgium said:

This new trial in Poland aims to rewrite and erase from collective consciousness the history of popular Poland. By attacking the editors of Brzask in this way, the prosecutor attacks not only the Polish comrades but the entire world's workers and the communist movement.

Serbia:

After a rally in Belgrade the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia released a statement that noted of the anti-communist laws in Poland:

Similar anti-communist persecution, convictions and bans against CPs have also been imposed in other EU member states, with the open support of the EU which has elevated anticommunism into being its official ideology, something that goes hand in hand with the intensification of the anti-people onslaught. Now there is enough evidence so that everyone can understand what the EU's declarations about the "values of freedom and democracy" really mean.

Austria:

In a speech in front of the Polish embassy Tibor Zenker, Chairman of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA) said:

The defamation of socialism, the communist movement and the Soviet Union are the real goal of the rulers, no matter which bourgeois party is the government. The despicable totalitarianism doctrine, which wants to equate fascism and socialism, has taken a crude form: the liberation of Poland by the Red Army of the USSR was a continuation of foreign rule and the creation of the People's Republic of Poland was a crime against the Polish people. According to the Polish government, anyone who claims otherwise belongs before the courts and in prison. Of course, this primarily affects the Polish Communist Party (KPP)  and its activities, which is why some of its newspaper editors are now to be tried again. But more: it is now about the criminalizing of socialist ideas, the Marxist worldview and the revolutionary labor movement. Capitalism, chauvinistic nationalism and radical Catholicism, which form a holy trinity in Poland, are to be perpetuated, making any progressive, emancipatory, or even anti-capitalist movement impossible. That is why the KPP must disappear from the scene before it can achieve decisive educational success among the population. It is being prosecuted by criminal means that show the hypocrisy of bourgeois rule of law, freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and last year’s anti-communist law amendment serves simply to ban the KPP as an organization, the Marxist worldview and the revolutionary labor movement.
But the truth cannot be forbidden. The struggle for peace, international friendship, women's rights and social progress cannot be forbidden. Scientific socialism cannot be forbidden. To be sure, the Communist movement can be forced into illegality - it would not be the first time in history - and that is why we extend unreservedly our internationalist solidarity to our Polish comrades. But we have no doubt that the truth, the revolutionary working class and socialism will win in Poland too.

Spain:

In a statement after their solidarity rally in Madrid the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain noted:

The ideology that seeks the liberation of the working class cannot be equated to the ideology which clearly defends the system of capitalist exploitation the most. 

Philippines:

In a letter addressed to the Polish government the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP-1930, the Philippine Communist Party) wrote:

Communist leadership in the anti-fascist national liberation struggles is also true in your country and region, but unfortunately, blind anti-communism in some politically-backward parts of Europe leads to senseless attempts at the revision of history. Revanchist attempts at destroying history by removing monuments, street names and symbols associated with communism and the labor movement –- and replacing them with those of the fascist period –- will have no lasting effect. Your government cannot overturn history : it was the fascists, and not the communists, who created hell in Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Brzezinka (Birkenau), Chelmno, Treblinka, Majdanek, Sorbibor and many other death camps in your country where millions of Polish, Soviet and other peoples were systematically and mercilessly exterminated.
Warsaw became the most devastated city in Europe during WW-II –- and Manila became known as the “Warsaw of the East” –- due to fascist and militarist attacks, and not because of the communists. Even a review of the western film, “Schindler's List”, would confirm that the tormentors at Krakow-Plaszow and other concentration camps in your country were nazis, and not communists. And lest we forget, it was the Soviet Red Army which liberated Poland and many other countries (including the northern parts of China and Korea) from the fascist and militarist jackboots.

United Kingdom:

The Young Communist League protested at the Polish embassy in London. Their London chair Amy Field said:

This dangerous trend in Poland and other European countries is on the rise, including in Britain where the Communist Party of Britain was labelled an extremist organisation, this is a slippery slope to criminalising legitimate opposition to a capitalist system that is taking away our livelihoods and now our hard-won democratic rights.

Chile:

The Communist Party of Chile released a statement reading in part:

An ideological element led by sectors of the Polish and European right is to try to link the ideology and actions of Nazism with communism, trying to adapt history to the interests of Polish and international capital.
However, history is stubborn. It is impossible to hide that Poland was liberated by the Soviet Army and that thousands of Soviet and Polish communists gave their lives in this fight. It was the Red Army who liberated the Auschwitz death camp 75 years ago and several others built in the territory of Poland.
The Nazi beast today is resurrected in Europe, including Poland, with the anti-communist and anti-Semitic flag on top. They would like a new Holocaust.

Stop the falsification of history and persecution in Poland!

Speech by Tibor Zenker, Chairman of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), at the rally “Solidarity with the Polish Communist Party!”, Vienna, March 2, 2020

For five years, the PiS Party in Poland, purporting to advocate for "law and justice", has had an absolute majority in the Sejm. It is well known that it stands for a right-wing reactionary policy and for an authoritarian course. This is reflected in the attacks on the Constitutional Court, on the judicial system, on public broadcasting, and in an attempt to further limit abortion rights. The Warsaw government is also looking for a conflict with Russia and is using NATO, the EU and support from the United States for this, because this is in the "national interest" in Poland today.

In addition, history is actively falsified, for example in relation to the Second World War and the Holocaust. Of course, immense numbers of victims suffered under the rule of German fascism in Poland, for whom no one else bears historical responsibility than fascist Germany. But the Polish government (and also large parts of the opposition) is concerned with something else: the mythical canonization of Poland, while concealing Polish collaboration and anti-Semitic acts of violence by locals in occupied Poland from 1939-1945. And it fits that the anti-fascist resistance of Polish Communists should also be denied.

The defamation of socialism, the communist movement and the Soviet Union are the real goal of the rulers, no matter which bourgeois party is the government. The despicable totalitarianism doctrine, which wants to equate fascism and socialism, has taken a crude form: the liberation of Poland by the Red Army of the USSR was a continuation of foreign rule and the creation of the People's Republic of Poland was a crime against the Polish people. According to the Polish government, anyone who claims otherwise belongs before the courts and in prison. Of course, this primarily affects the Polish Communist Party (KPP)  and its activities, which is why some of its newspaper editors are now to be tried again. But more: it is now about the criminalizing of socialist ideas, the Marxist worldview and the revolutionary labor movement. Capitalism, chauvinistic nationalism and radical Catholicism, which form a holy trinity in Poland, are to be perpetuated, making any progressive, emancipatory, or even anti-capitalist movement impossible. That is why the KPP must disappear from the scene before it can achieve decisive educational success among the population. It is being prosecuted by criminal means that show the hypocrisy of bourgeois rule of law, freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and last year’s anti-communist law amendment serves simply to ban the KPP as an organization, the Marxist worldview and the revolutionary labor movement.

But the truth cannot be forbidden. The struggle for peace, international friendship, women's rights and social progress cannot be forbidden. Scientific socialism cannot be forbidden. To be sure, the Communist movement can be forced into illegality - it would not be the first time in history - and that is why we extend unreservedly our internationalist solidarity to our Polish comrades. But we have no doubt that the truth, the revolutionary working class and socialism will win in Poland too.

No more falsification of history and political persecution in Poland!

Solidarity with the Polish Communist Party!

For peace, international friendship and socialism!

Translated from the German. For the original see: Schluss mit Geschichtsfälschung und Verfolgung in Polen!

Israeli Violence in Gaza, Chilean Protests, Stephen Miller & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos November 10 - 17

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.



This list covers the week of November 10 - 17.

If you are looking for this week's news, videos and updates about the ongoing imperialist backed right wing racist coup in Bolivia see: "It’s called a coup" -- News, Videos, Statements and Developments about Bolivia

1) 30 Years Ago Today in El Salvador, US-Trained Soldiers Murdered 6 Priests in Cold Blood

Hilary Goodfriend, Jacobin

Today marks thirty years since the massacre of six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter by US-trained forces. But US brutality in Latin America isn’t a thing of the past: top military officials involved in the coup against Bolivian president Evo Morales were trained by the United States, too.

2) 'That can't be my Winnipeg': Racism on the rise here, says woman born and raised in city

Reanna Khan · CBC News

'I am forced to realize we are not a diverse, inclusive city,' says 3rd-generation Winnipegger Reanna Khan

3) ‘I’m afraid of the guys with guns’: Saskatoon police vs. Indigenous people

John Murray, APTN

On the night of June 29, 2016 Dion Ladouceur ended up on his bedroom floor after being stunned by a police Taser.

4) Canada is long overdue for universal dental care

Brandon Doucet, Canadian Dimension

Progressives need to do more work to organize the public on the benefits of public dental care, because there is popular support for it. A 2019 Ipsos poll found that 86% of Canadians surveyed support government funded dental care for those without insurance. Abacus found 66% of Canadians surveyed support expanding public healthcare to include prescription drugs, dental and vision care. If progressives were better organized, we could make strides in pushing for a universal dental care plan that not only covers everyone, but also saves money.

5) Brett Kavanaugh Speech Protested With Rape Whistles, Handmaid Costumes, Christine Blasey Ford Video

Lucy Diavolo, Teen Vogue

The event (which listed Facebook as a “Gold Circle” sponsor, according to The Verge) in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station garnered attention from more than just the 2,000 members of the society in attendance, though. Both outside and inside the event, protesters continued a public pressure campaign against Kavanaugh reminiscent of the mass protests last year during his confirmation hearings.

6) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted Rodney Reed an indefinite stay of execution

Innocence Project 

We just got the news that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted Rodney Reed an indefinite stay of execution, meaning he no longer has an execution date. This news came just hours after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously recommended a reprieve of Rodney’s execution.

7) MTA Will Spend $249M On New Cops to Save $200M on Fare Evasion

Dave Colon, Streetsblog NYC

Guess this is why they don’t call it the Mathematics Transportation Authority.

8) France: 1,000 Yellow Vests Sent To Prison in 1 Year of Protests

Telesur

For months, tear gas clouded the boulevards of Paris most Saturdays as protesters skirmished with riot police, whose heavy-handed response drew condemnation from rights groups.

9) Warmer world is unhealthier place for children, doctors say

The Associated Press

Children are growing up in a warmer world where they'll face more and different health problems than their parents experienced, an international report by doctors says.

10) Communist Party of Sudan: Govt must take control of Jebel Amer gold mines

Dabanga 

The Communist Party of Sudan has demanded the government take control of the Jebel Amer gold mines in North Darfur. The party asserts that the gold “is currently outside the control of the government’.

11) Sawant Says the Candidates Who Supported Homeless Sweeps "Got Swept"

 Nathalie Graham, The Stranger

Kshama Sawant made her way to the podium inside City Hall, her progress slowed by handshakes and hugs from supporters. Meanwhile, the freshly re-elected council member's staff was organizing people behind the podium. "Remember," one organizer said firmly, energizing the crowd, "Seattle voters decisively said no to Amazon." The crowd cheered. "When we fight, we win!" He shouted and the crowd echoed it back.

12) Opinion: From conception to cremation, Bill 207 could deny wide range of services

Sharon Polsky, The Calgary Herald 

Anyone who lives in a remote rural area knows the frustration and potential danger of being unable to get immediate emergency medical services. Now imagine if the only emergency physician in town refused to help because you don’t attend his church. Bill 207 gives such gatekeeping authority, with the power to affect all Albertans, from conception to cremation.

13) Don Cherry debacle highlights the whiteness of hockey

Ryan Snelgrove and Victoria Kabetu, The Conversation

Despite Canada’s claim that it’s a multicultural country, that’s not the reality of one of the country’s national sports, ice hockey.

14) Why Are Homeless People Allowed To Die In Toronto?

John Clarke

On November 7, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) held a vigil for Kevin Dickman, a homeless man in Toronto, whose body had been pulled from the Don River the previous month. We gathered outside the Peter Street referral centre that homeless people attend to try and access a shelter bed. It has always been billed as a place of last resort, where those who have no other options may go. Theoretically, people in the facility are waiting for a shelter bed but, in practice, the chairs or floor in the waiting room are often all they get. Recently, however, even this last resort has failed and a fifty person limit has been placed on those who can wait for shelter in the centre. Now, people with nowhere else to go are turned away into the night.

15) Spain's ruling socialists strike coalition deal with Podemos

Sam Jones, The Guardian 

Spain’s ruling socialist party has reached a preliminary coalition deal with the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos to try to form a government after the country’s second inconclusive election in seven months.

16) Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails

Michael Edison Hayden, SPLC

In the run-up to the 2016 election, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller promoted white nationalist literature, pushed racist immigration stories and obsessed over the loss of Confederate symbols after Dylann Roof’s murderous rampage, according to leaked emails reviewed by Hatewatch.

17) The GOP attacked Ilhan Omar for calling Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist.’ She says his leaked emails prove her right.

Allyson Chiu, The Washington Post

Shortly after 4:30 p.m. on April 8, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) fired off the 21-word tweet labeling White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller a “white nationalist,” and within hours, conservative Twitter was aflame.

18) McDonald's bosses ‘won’t keep on getting away’ with paying poverty wages, McStrikers say

Marcus Barnett, The Morning Star

WORKERS told McDonald’s bosses they “won’t keep on getting away” with handing people poverty pay, as the fast food giant was rocked by strike action across London yesterday.

19) I Was the Last Communist Premier of East Germany

Jacobin

The opening of the Berlin Wall on this day in 1989 brought the downfall of the East German regime and the appointment of reformer Hans Modrow as head of government. Thirty years on, he speaks to Jacobin about his experiences on that day and in power, and how German reunification went wrong.

20) Communist parties in State unite against capitalism

Muskan Khator, The Hindu

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the CPI (ML) Red Star on Monday addressed a joint press conference to announce their support for each other and to lash out against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.

21) Remembering November 11, 1975: Pine Gap, the CIA and the coup to remove Whitlam


Bevan Ramsden, Green Left Weekly

Labor leader Gough Whitlam rode to power in 1972 on a wave of widespread progressive sentiment and mass protests. His election ushered in a new political era in Australia, particularly in terms of foreign policy.

22) Israel violates international law with impunity, says human rights lawyer

CBC Radio

The historic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is evolving not just on the streets of Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank. The author of a new book argues it is also a war of words that is being fought and won by Israel on the international stage.

23) Products from Israeli settlements must be labelled, EU court rules

The Associated Press

The European Union’s top court has ruled that EU countries must identify products made in Israeli settlements on their labels, in a decision welcomed by rights groups but likely to spark anger in Israel.

24) Palestinian death toll climbs to 24 as Israel bombards Gaza for a second day

Middle East Eye 

At least 24 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza, including a father and his two sons, as the military continued its air campaign for a second day Wednesday.

25) The names of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Middle East Eye

Israel unleashed an air campaign against Gaza after it assassinated senior Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Atta and his wife on Tuesday morning.

26) Buttigieg supports Israel’s missile attacks on Gaza, but condemns Palestinians when they respond

Michael Arria, Mondoweiss

Israel’s military campaign against Gaza has entered its second day and so far it has left 24 Palestinians dead (including a 7-year-old boy) and at least 70 injured. The current round of violence began on Tuesday after Israeli strikes killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu el-Atta, his wife, and four others. The attack prompted retaliatory rocket fire from a number of Palestinian groups. Israel continues to attack the region. “They have one choice: to stop these attacks or absorb more and more blows. Their choice,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

27) Killing Islamic Jihad Leader Got Israel Nothing. So Why Do It?

Gideon Levy, Haaretz 

Once again the sacrosanct unity has come. Once again we are one people, without opposition or public debate, a parade of yes men and cheerleaders in the media, bloodshed with no regrets, as always happens in these sickening, “quiet, we’re shooting,” situations.

28) Media use of “targeted killing” whitewashes Israeli attacks

Michael F. Brown, Electronic Intifada 

The “pinpoint” strike or “targeted killing” is back. Mainstream media simply can’t resist such terms even when the wording is clearly misleading.

29) Israel kills 8 members of same family in Gaza 

Middle East Monitor 


Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed eight members of the same family, the Ministry of Health announced today.

Breaking: No One in Israel Knew They Were Committing a Massacre, and They Didn't Care

Gideon Levy, Haaretz

Reporter Yaniv Kubovich revealed the shocking truth on Friday on the Haaretz website : The target had not been re-examined for at least one year prior to the strike, the individual who was supposedly its target never existed and the intelligence was based on rumors. The bomb was dropped anyway. The result: eight bodies in colorful shrouds, some of them horrifically tiny, all in a row; members of a single extended family, the Asoarkas, five of them children — including two infants.

30) The Harvard walkout: ‘Israeli officials will eventually speak to empty venues’

Azad Essa, Middle East Eye

On Wednesday, around 100 students staged a dramatic walkout during an event at the Harvard Law School, where Dani Dayan, Israel’s consul-general in New York City, was scheduled to speak. 

31) Chile's Mapuche People Mourn the Death of Camillo Catrillanca

Telesur

November 14 will mark the first anniversary of the death of Camilo Catrillanca, an Indigenous man who was shot to dead by a Military Police (Carabinero) officer in La Araucania. Social movements and progressive parties have called for demonstrations in more than 40 cities.

‘It’s Mutilation’: The Police in Chile Are Blinding Protesters

Chile is still rising up against neoliberalism and government repression.

Despite the billionaire president of Chile giving in to protesters to re-write the constitution, millions of Indigenous, students, workers from all sectors, young and old all went on strike and shut down the entire country to protest against neoliberalism and demand a new constitution decided on by the people.



32) Chile To Vote On New Constitution But State Violence Continues

Telesur

Chile's lawmakers on early Friday agreed to hold a referendum next April on replacing the constitution drafted by Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990), ​​​​​​​bowing to demands of millions who want the country's social and economic model overhauled.​​​​​​​

33) Protesters, Iraqi Police Continue Battle on Baghdad Streets

Telesur

Protests in Iraq's capital Baghdad continued on Monday as both Iraqi forces and protesters tried to dislodge each other from an area leading to the Green Zone.

34) Iraqi troops erect barriers in Baghdad to block protesters after killing six on Saturday

The Morning Star

IRAQI security forces mounted concrete barriers in central Baghdad today as they sought to prevent protesters accessing government buildings.

35) Barricades Become the Norm in Haiti After 9 Weeks of Protests

Telesur

A large tree trunk, branches, boulders and wrought iron piled in the middle of Delmas 75 street, not far from the Canadian Embassy, is one of the barricades that have blocked traffic every day for a month and a half in the Haitian capital.

Warsaw 1972 - Vintage Streetscapes and Other Photos

East - West Road

Today we are taking a look at 18 images of some of the streets and sights of Warsaw, Poland in 1972. These vintage photographs were from a postcard folder that was aimed at Russian/Soviet visitors with the text in Russian.

There are a number of streetscape images -- which are our favourite type overall -- that include photos of the city centre, Marszałkowska Street, Krucza Street, Jerusalem Avenue, Constitution Square, overpasses and other spots.

In a number of these photos you can see the Konstal 13N trams. Based on the design of the iconic Czech Tatra tram, the Konstal trams were built in Poland in the 1960s and remained in service until 2012.

There are also photos of a variety of monuments including the famous Monument to the Heroes of Warsaw.

One of the more interesting photos in terms of subject and framing is of a staircase that led from the street to the Gdansk Bridge.

We have translated all of the image descriptions from the original Russian.

(Click on images to enlarge)

City Center

New Homes on Marszałkowska Street

Monument to the Heroes of Warsaw, 1939-1945

Grand Opera and Ballet

Monument to Brotherhood in Arms

Old Town Market Square

Monument to Soviet Soldiers who Fell for the Liberation of Warsaw

Palace of Culture and Science

Towers of the Old City Walls

Overpass on the Bank

On the Bank of the Vistula

Grave of the Unknown Soldier

Staircase of the Gdansk Bridge

Krucza Street

On Constitution Square

Monument to Frederic Chopin in Lazienki Park

Jerusalem Avenue

L.A. Teacher's Strike, Gillette, Doug Ford, Neo-Nazis in Ukraine & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos January 13 - 20

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.


This list covers the week of January 13 - 20.


1) 'A tragic moment': thousands gather across Poland to mourn Gdańsk mayor

Christian Davies, The Guardian

Thousands of people have gathered in cities across Poland after the fatal stabbing of Gdańsk mayor PawełAdamowicz in protest at what some say is a creeping pervasiveness of hate speech in Poland’s national discourse.

2) Taverner dined with interview panelist, Ford before OPP appointment

Greg McArthur and Colin Freeze, The Globe and Mail

Toronto police Superintendent Ron Taverner, the Ontario government’s choice as the next commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, met with Premier Doug Ford multiple times in the months leading up to his appointment, including a dinner with the hiring official who vetted Supt. Taverner for the high-profile position.

3) Ford calls OPP top job a ‘political appointment,’ says he can choose whoever he wants

Colin Freeze, The Globe and Mail

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he has the unilateral power to pick whoever he wants as the province’s next police commissioner because it is a “political appointment.”

4) Ford flirts with private health care at his peril

Natalie Mehra, The Toronto Star 

Although it was not once mentioned in last spring’s provincial election, reasons to be concerned about the privatization plans of the Ford government are mounting.

5) Resist Doug Ford: defend public education and the student movement

Central Executive Committee, Young Communist League 

The YCL-LJC condemns Doug Ford’s January 17th announcement on post-secondary education and calls for all progressive organisations, including student unions, labour and all kind of on-campus groups to mobilise against this attack aimed at weakening the student fightback and at going one step further in the direction of privatisation and commodification of our education.

6) Doug Ford is reviewing Endangered Species Act to find 'efficiencies for businesses'

Fatima Syed, The National Observer 

Canada's most populous province has launched a sweeping review of a law protecting endangered species in order to find "efficiencies for businesses."

7) Halt the capitalist crisis gripping the world

​Vashna Jagarnath, Mail & Guardian 

In this period of crisis, in which more and more countries are turning to deeply authoritarian and reactionary forms of politics, the crystalline clarity of Lenin’s words, written in the midst of another crisis almost a century ago, offers moral and political clarity: “I must argue, not from the point of view of ‘my’ country (for that is the argument of a wretched, stupid, petit-bourgeois nationalist who does not realise that he is only a plaything in the hands of the imperialist bourgeoisie), but from the point of view of my share in the preparation, in the propaganda, and in the acceleration of the world proletarian revolution.”

8) 'A Reckless Advocate of Military Force': Demands for John Bolton's Dismissal After Reports He Asked Pentagon for Options to Strike Iran

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams

Reminding the world that he is, as one critic put it, "a reckless advocate of military force," the Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday that President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton "asked the Pentagon to provide the White House with military options to strike Iran last year, generating concern at the Pentagon and State Department."

9) Who Will Be the American Justin Trudeau?

Luke Savage, Jacobin 

With a restless Democratic base leaning left, party centrists are looking for their Justin Trudeau — a candidate who will seem progressive while preserving the status quo.

Thousands of teachers in Los Angeles went from pickets all over the city to a mass march against LAUSD for smaller classroom sizes for their students and more access to badly needed social workers, nurses, and counselors! Teachers have shared a repeated message with Liberation News reporters that they will not accept any less for their students and coworkers than the public education we all deserve. Many are pointing out that the new head of LAUSD, Austin Beutner, was put in charge of the district to drive it into the ground and privatize it. We agree that a hedge fund manager with no experience in education has no business leading one of the most populous districts in the nation! Education is a right!



10) Communist Party agrees with UTLA: “Enough is enough!”

Communist Party USA

We cannot afford to squander our children’s future, because it is our entire collective future as a nation. We call upon administrative and legislative bodies on every level—city, county, state and national—to reprioritize budgets so that working people, including teachers, are treated justly and responsibly, and so that our children are properly prepared to make their contributions to the next generation.

We fully support UTLA in its heroic struggle to make this case before the American people.

33,000 Los Angeles teachers have shut down the 2nd largest school district in the U.S.



11) Senator convicted over racist remark about Italy's first black minister

Angela Giuffrida, The Guardian 

A senator from Italy’s far-right League has been given an 18-month prison sentence for likening the country’s first black minister to an orangutan.

(Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PqAxH8B8wk&fbclid=IwAR2ND-F5dihPooYUSK_Ni9HXouPVnv8i-ZLhF1Apm5Vs9PwF2I9vnFvNTQ8)

12) Advocate hopeful Indigenous newborn taken by authorities to be returned to family this week

Nancy MacDonald, The Globe and Mail 

An Indigenous newborn taken from her mother just hours after birth in an apprehension broadcast live on Facebook is expected to be back home with her family later this week, an advocate for the family says.

13) Gillette #MeToo razors ad on 'toxic masculinity' gets praise – and abuse

Alexandra Topping, Kate Lyons and Matthew Weaver, The Guardian 

Shaving company Gillette has been bombarded with both praise and abuse after launching an advertising campaign promoting a new kind of positive masculinity.

14) Men Angry at Razors 

Hannah Gold, Jezebel 

Is it possible for a men’s shaving company to court controversy? We now know the answer is: yes, but only if it’s implied that men could perhaps, sometimes, maybe in a contemplative moment such as while grooming their facescapes, work on being better.

15) Gillette ad fallout suggests many men harbour disdain for #MeToo movement

Emma Teitel, The Toronto Star

I watched the Gillette ad yesterday and I was not, like many of you, moved. I was indifferent, because no matter how noble or necessary its message, an ad is an ad is an ad.

16) May suffers heaviest parliamentary defeat of a British PM in the democratic era

Heather Stewart, The Guardian 

Theresa May has sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era after MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230.

17) Theresa May wins Parliamentary no confidence vote 325-306

Chloe Chaplain, i News 

Theresa May has narrowly won a motion of no confidence in her Government which could have triggered another general election and the end of her premiership.

18) Spanish NGO Says Rescue Boat Blocked From Operating in Mediterranean

US News & World Report

A Spanish charity boat which rescues migrants at sea has been blocked by authorities from operating in the Mediterranean, the non-governmental organization said on Monday.

19) Alberta Has Spent $23 Million Calling BC an Enemy of Canada

Bryan Carney, The Tyee 

The Alberta government has spent more than $23 million — twice as much as previously revealed — in a campaign designed to turn the rest of Canada against B.C., The Tyee has learned.

20) YELLOW VESTS ATTRACT CANADA’S FAR RIGHT

James Chumsa-Jones, People's Voice

During the last couple of months in 2018, images of vast numbers of French protesters taking to the streets in reflective safety vests spread rapidly on social media. Many Canadians have taken inspiration from this. and started their own movement at home. But while the “gilet jaunes” or yellow vests in France are generally against neoliberal austerity, the Canadian yellow vests movement has been seized by reactionary forces – Islamophobic, white-nationalist, and climate change deniers.

21) Toronto homeless told to leave tent cities despite fact shelters operating at or over capacity

Mira Miller, The Globe and Mail

Toronto city officials are handing out notices to all those living in tent cities and other makeshift structures stating they must vacate them within 14 days, despite the fact that shelters and 24-hour respite centres across the city are already at capacity.

22) Thousands of women march across Spain against far-right party Vox

Isabel Valdes & Antonio Mora, El Pais

People protested in more than 100 municipalities, a day before the Andalusian parliament is due to vote in a new conservative government.

23) Bring U.S. troops home from Syria

National Board CPUSA

The CPUSA opposed the stationing of troops in Syria and their removal is an important development.  There is no prospect of a military solution to the Syria civil war, a situation aggravated by the presence of U.S. forces.

24) RCMP concerned Indigenous rights advocates will gain public support: new study

Justin Brake, The Narwhal

New research shows Canada’s police force assesses the risk Indigenous activists and protesters pose to the nation — not based on factors of criminality — but based on their ability to summon sympathy from the broader populace.

25) PMs Statement: Atrocious & Condemnable

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The Prime Minister has stated in a public meeting at Kollam in Kerala that the stand of the LDF Government on the Sabarimala issue is “shameful”. This statement is atrocious and highly condemnable. He is admonishing an elected Government for implementing the judgement of the Supreme Court.

26) Storied Jewish publication The Forward ending 121-year print run

Keith Kelly, New York Post 

The storied Jewish-American publication is suspending its print operations and plans to lay off about 40 percent of its editorial staff — including editor-in-chief Jane Eisner — while moving to digital-only.

27) Vast majority of Canadian food waste takes place within the food industry - and not at the household level, study finds

An Hui, The Globe and Mail

More than half of all food produced in Canada is wasted, with the food industry putting the vast majority of it into landfills, according to a new study.

28) Seminars on sexual consent now mandatory for UBC fraternities

Cathy Kearney · CBC News

Fraternity members at the University of British Columbia are now required to take workshops on sexual consent, bystander intervention and healthy masculinity.

29) Inside the GM plant where nooses and 'whites-only' signs intimidated workers

Mallory Simon and Sara Sidner, CNN

It took 14 months for the noose to show up.

30) WE Wants To Sue CANADALAND In Manitoba

Canadaland 

The WE organization has announced its intention to sue CANADALAND for defamation in the province of Manitoba — a jurisdiction that, unlike Ontario, does not possess “anti-SLAPP” legislation.

31) Why Does No One Care That Neo-Nazis Are Gaining Power In Ukraine?

Michael Colborne, Socialist Project Bullet 

Ukraine’s far-right is like a hydra, with ugly heads that pop-up far too frequently. Just within the last few weeks, an American-born cabinet minister thanked a group of violent neo-Nazi “activists” for their services, a soldier was photographed wearing a Nazi death’s head patch right behind President Petro Poroshenko and almost 1,500 neo-Nazis and friends threw a two-day Hitler-salute-fest.

32) ‘Will choose next PM together’: At Mamata Banerjee rally in Kolkata, Opposition vows to oust Modi govt

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri and Smriti Kak Ramchandran, Hindustan Times

More than two dozen leaders from 14 states converged at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade grounds on Saturday to resolve that they will put up a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overriding differences that characterised them.

33) Bread and Roses socialist party certified in Maryland

Rachel Chason, The Washington Post 

The Maryland Board of Elections has certified the socialist Bread and Roses party after its founder — who sought the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat last year — submitted the required 10,000 signatures.

34) Capitalist looters gaining foothold in DRC – Musumali

Chambwa Moonga, The Mast

THE Socialist Party in Zambia says capitalist looters who killed Patrice Lumumba in 1961 and presently profiteering from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s abundant natural resources are not ready to leave that strategic country’s suffering working class alone.

35) Podemos founders go their separate ways ahead of Madrid elections

El Pais

Pablo Iglesias confirms party split and says he is saddened by the surprise news that his colleague Iñigo Errejón will run with the Madrid mayor in May.

36) Teenagers in MAGA Hats Mocked an Omaha Elder and Vietnam Vet at the Indigenous Peoples March

Emily Alford, Jezebel 

On January 18, Washington D.C. hosted both the March for Life and the Indigenous Peoples March. A viral video shows dozens of teenagers from the March for Life, many wearing MAGA hats, taunting and mocking a Native American drummer.

37) The Challenge of Socialism: Cuba and the new Constitution

Eric Tweel, Rebel Youth 

On December 24, 2018, we sat down with Yamil Marero to discuss Cuba’s ongoing process of writing a new Constitution. Yamil is a Senior Officer with the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP. Created in December 1960, this public organization promotes and cultivates friendship among nations. It is a place where friends of different cultures come to discuss and reflect on the situation in Cuba and the rest of the world. Yamil spoke to us about how the new Constitution is being drafted and its main implications for Cuba’s future.Why is Cuba updating its Constitution?

38) Arizona: Four women convicted after leaving food and water in desert for migrants

Associated Press

A federal judge has found four women guilty of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit as they sought to place food and water in the Arizona desert for migrants.

See also: Wet'suwet'en, 200 Million Strike in India, Angela Davis, Nicolas Maduro & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos January 6 - 13

California Wildfires and Extreme Climate Change, UK and Ontario Austerity, Abortion Rights & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos November 11 - 18

This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of November 11 - 18.

1) Ten lies we’re told to justify the slaughter of 20 million in the First World War

Dominic Alexander, Counterfire 

Dominic Alexander debunks the myths used by politicians and historians to rebrand ‘the war to end all wars’ in the centenary of Armistice Day.

Via Counterfire on Facebook

2) Poland's president addresses far right at independence march

Christian Davies, The Guardian

Nationalists burning flares and carrying fascist flags marched at same time as politicians.

3) Hero’s welcome in Poland awaits hitman who killed Mandela’s ally

Christian Davies, The Guardian

Janusz Waluś, who shot dead South African communist leader Chris Hani, could soon return home.

4) South Korea's nascent feminist movement turns to abortion ban

Benjamin Haas, The Guardian

Kim Soo-jin will never forget the disgusting taste of the pulpy green-brown traditional Korean brew she drank in the hopes of ending her pregnancy, or the night she spent in pain, curled into a ball and unable to move.

5) Woman who bore rapist’s baby faces 20 years in El Salvador jail

Nina Lakhani, The Guardian

A rape victim is facing 20 years in jail charged with attempted murder, after she gave birth to her abuser’s baby in a latrine in El Salvador.

6) Ontario Basic Income Cancellation Births A Movement In Thunder Bay

Emma Paling, HuffPost

They call themselves Disrupt, and they’re ready for change.

7) California's Camp Fire Becomes The Deadliest Wildfire In State History

Richard Gonzales & Bill Chappell, NPR

Fire investigators in Northern California say they found the human remains of 6 more individuals, bringing the death toll to at least 48 people who have died in the wildfire that burned through the town of Paradise with shocking speed, making the Camp Fire the deadliest wildfire in state history.

8) AS WILDFIRE SMOKE FILLS THE AIR, FARMWORKERS CONTINUE TO LABOR IN THE FIELDS

Jack Herrera, Pacific Standard 

As fires clogged the air in Southern California, farmworkers continued to work, even as public-school students and others were told to stay home and indoors.

9) California Firefighters Union president to Trump: ‘You’re an idiot’

Sky Palma, Dead State

In response to the raging brush fires ravaging Southern California, President Trump on Friday approved an emergency measure to provide federal funds to help combat the blazes. But in a tweet fired off the following day, Trump threatened to withdraw the aid, blaming the state’s alleged poor “forest management” for the destruction.

10) Indigenous women coerced into sterilizations across Canada: Senator

Kristy Kirkup, Global News

When she was 17 years old, Liz was coerced by a Children’s Aid worker into having an abortion and being sterilized at a northwestern Ontario hospital, she says it’s an experience she’s carried for 40 years.

11) Colombian Soldiers Implicated in Social Leader's Murder

Telesur

Communal leader and human rights defender Alvaro Gomez Garzon was reportedly murdered by members of the Colombian Army Monday night in the Cauca department.

12) After 17 years, many Afghans blame US for unending war

Kathy Gannon, AP News

When U.S. forces and their Afghan allies rode into Kabul in November 2001 they were greeted as liberators. But after 17 years of war, the Taliban have retaken half the country, security is worse than it’s ever been, and many Afghans place the blame squarely on the Americans.

13) Muslim Trailblazer Ilhan Omar Admits She Backs BDS — Now That Election Is Over

Aiden Pink, Forward

Tuesday marked the start of “freshman orientation” in Washington, D.C., where new members of Congress arrived to meet their colleagues and learn how the House and Senate actually work.


14) When it comes to Saudi LAV sales, lobbyists will likely rule

Yves Engler

Will they cancel the contract or won’t they? In order to understand Ottawa’s decision making process regarding General Dynamics’ massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia one must look closely at industry lobbyists.

15) Canada stands pat on Saudi arms sales, even after hearing Khashoggi tape

Andy Blatchford, The Globe and Mail

The Canadian government is showing no signs of toughening its stance on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, even after Canada’s spy chief heard a recording of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

16) Alberta UCP’s John Carpay Sorry For Comparing Pride Flag to Swastikas

Liz Haq, HuffPost

Alberta's United Conservative Party Leader has acknowledged party member John Carpay's apology for comparing rainbow flags to swastikas in a speech over the weekend.

17) The Earth is in a death spiral. It will take radical action to save us

George Monbiot, The Guardian

Climate breakdown could be rapid and unpredictable. We can no longer tinker around the edges and hope minor changes will avert collapse

18) Death of an English major

Gary Taylor, Tampa Bay Times

I did not anticipate this death. No one warned me that being chair of an English Department meant that I would have to “manage” the grief, despair and rage caused by the political murder of one of our students.

19) Brazil: Bolsonaro's Son to Legislate Against Opposition Groups

Telesur

Listing the bills he will submit as a lawmaker, the son of Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, Eduardo, said he will not hesitate to criminalize social movements like the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) and ban opposition political parties “if necessary.”

20) Cuba Withdraws from More Doctors Program in Brazil

Telesur

The decision comes after Brazil's far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro criticized the program and the Cuban government.

21) U.S. HAS SPENT SIX TRILLION DOLLARS ON WARS THAT KILLED HALF A MILLION PEOPLE SINCE 9/11, REPORT SAYS

Tom O'Connor, Newsweek

The United States has spent nearly $6 trillion on wars that directly contributed to the deaths of around 500,000 people since the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

22) Prostitution or Sex Work? Language Matters

Red Resurgence 

The term ‘sex work’ has come to replace the word ‘prostitution’ in contemporary discussions on the subject. This is not accidental. The phrase ‘sex work’ has been adopted by liberal feminists and powerful lobbyists in a deliberate attempt to steer the narrative on prostitution.

23) Thousands attend funeral of murdered Turkish trade union leader

IndustriALL

Thousands of people gathered for the funeral of Turkish union leader, Abdullah Karacan, the day after he was fatally shot during a visit to meet workers at a Goodyear tyre factory in Adapazarı.

24) As Jeff Bezos Earns $191K Per Minute, Why Are NY & VA Giving Amazon $3 Billion in Corporate Welfare?

Democracy Now

Amazon has selected a pair of cities to host its new, expanded headquarters: Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City in Queens, New York. Amazon’s decision came after a 14-month search that saw cities around the U.S. promise tax breaks, taxpayer-funded infrastructure and business-friendly ordinances in an effort to win what Amazon says will be $5 billion in new investment and thousands of jobs. Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam called the Amazon headquarter “a big win for Virginia,” and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has similarly applauded Amazon’s decision. But many local politicians have openly criticized authorities in New York and Virginia for backing the deals, which will create a total of 50,000 jobs. We host a roundtable discussion about Amazon and corporate welfare. In New York, we speak with Ron Kim, member of the New York State Assembly. He recently co-wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times headlined “New York Should Say No to Amazon.” In Washington, D.C., we speak with Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a watchdog group on economic development incentives. And in Portland, Maine, we speak with Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. She is the author of “Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses.”

25) Instead of Giving Billions to Amazon, We Could Just Cancel Student Debt

Allie Conti, Vice News

On Tuesday, Amazon confirmed it would build new offices in Long Island City, Queens, and a suburb of Washington, DC, called Crystal City, ending a massive bidding war that saw the leaders of almost 250 cities prostrate themselves at the feet of the world's richest man.

26) Teenage girl’s underwear used as evidence in Irish rape trial prompting mass protests

Katie Dangerfield, Global News

Protests were held in Ireland Wednesday after a teenage girl's underwear was used as evidence against her in the trial last week of a man accused of raping her.

27) Toronto activist carded while in Vancouver to give keynote address on racial equity

Wendy Stueck, The Globe and Mail

A Toronto activist and journalist who is in Vancouver to give a keynote address on racial equity was stopped by police near Stanley Park on Tuesday in what he alleges was a racially based street check by police.

28) America Is Blaming Pregnant Women for Their Own Deaths

Kim Brooks, New York Times

What is it like to face dying during childbirth in the richest country in the world in the 21st century?

29) No safe place: When Israeli airstrikes hit, Gaza's children have nowhere to run

Charlie Hoyle, The New Arab

A sense of normalcy returned to life in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after a ceasefire agreement between Palestinian political parties and Israel ended a major escalation in violence.

30) Brazil's new foreign minister believes climate change is a Marxist plot

Jonathan Watts, The Guardian

Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has chosen a new foreign minister who believes climate change is part of a plot by “cultural Marxists” to stifle western economies and promote the growth of China.

31) Nowhere to go: Moncton homeless sleep on abandoned porches, in backyard tents

Vanessa Blanch · CBC News

Dozens of dangerous rooming houses are boarded up, but Charles LeBlanc is hoping owners will make improvements.

32) Ontario government scraps rent control and Toronto doesn't like it


Lauren O'Neil, Blog TO

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's first-ever fiscal roadmap, revealed on Thursday, could have sweeping implications across all aspects of life for almost everyone in the province.

33) Ontario government cancels plans for province’s first official Francophone university

Joe Friesen, The Globe and Mail

The Ontario government has cancelled plans to open the province’s first Francophone university despite having promised to do so during the election campaign and shortly after taking office.

34) 'We're talking about our children's lives here': Ontario cuts child and youth advocate

Rhiannon Johnson · CBC News 

The Ontario government has tabled fall economic legislation that will eliminate the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.

35) Ford's move to axe child advocate office 'a nightmare,' children's rights lawyer says

Lorenda Reddekopp · CBC News

Youth workers and lawyers are joining with the Ontario child advocate to call on the Ford government to reconsider its decision to cut the position.

(Related: Ford government disguises ugly attack on minimum wage workers as a tax cut to offset slide in polls)

36) Federal government issues permanent postal ban on hate speech publication

Peter Zimonjic · CBC News 

A Toronto-based publication widely criticized for disseminating hate speech against minorities, Jews, women and the LGBTQ community has been permanently banned from distribution through Canada Post.

37) UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN says

Robert Booth and Patrick Butler, The Guardian

The UK government has inflicted “great misery” on its people with “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” austerity policies driven by a political desire to undertake social re-engineering rather than economic necessity, the United Nations poverty envoy has found.

38) UN warns of damage to “the fabric of British society” as the state turns on its people

Jack Peat, The London Economic

Drastic cuts to social support and welfare risk damaging the very fabric of British society, a UN report has today revealed.

39) Dozens arrested after climate protest blocks five London bridges

Matthew Taylor and Damien Gayle, The Guardian

Eighty-five people have been arrested as thousands of demonstrators occupied five bridges in central London to voice their concern over the looming climate crisis.

35 Years Of EZLN

35 years ago, to defend the rights denied to Indigenous people, the EZLN was founded.




40) Inuk woman's tell-tale botulism symptoms would have been taken seriously if she'd been white, says her widower

Catou MacKinnon · CBC News

A man from Inukjuak said the failure of a nurse stationed in the northern Quebec community to recognize the signs of botulism cost his wife her life, and it was only after she died that clinic staff took his adult daughter's symptoms seriously.

Chilean Police Continue Violent Repression Against Mapuche Members

While the right-wing government announced that they will investigate the Mapuche murder, they continue violently repressing protests.





41) Ohio Legislature Considers Total Abortion Ban

Joe Ingles, WOSU

There’s been a lot of attention given to the contentious “Heartbeat Bill,” which bans abortion at the point that a fetal heartbeat can be detected, since it passed the Ohio House earlier this week. But Republican lawmakers are considering another bill during this lame-duck session that would ban abortions entirely.

See also: US Midterms, Climate Change, Mass Shootings & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos November 4 - 11