Fidel Castro Obituary – by Hugo Blanco

Fidel Castro Obituary – by Hugo Blanco
Fidel is dead, the symbol of the Cuban revolution, headed by him, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and other fighters of the 26th of July Movement.
Cuba, an island 90 miles away from the most powerful capitalist country in the world was a centre for corruption, a brothel for the Yankees, a nest for the mafia. That is the Cuba that many of those who have fled to Yankeeland yearn for.

In the era of the dictator Batista and before, workers were crushed. In the country, by landowners. In the city, by capital, like in the rest of Latin America. The abuse was aided by the governments, the courts, the police, the army and the media. Misery and analphabetism were widespread.
Like Carlos Puebla sings: ‘And then came Fidel’ ‘El Comandante came to make it stop’.
He expropriated the foreign sugar and petrol companies, as well as the businesses and lands of other capitalists and landowners. The empire organised the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was crushed by the Cuban people. 

Amongst other things, Cuba is a role model for its healthcare and the generous and unselfish way in which it supports those in the world who need that healthcare. This was exemplified during the Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa. One Cuban doctor got the illness himself, but returned to the field to continue the struggle as soon as he was cured. 

The Cuban revolution inspired revolutionaries across the world, particularly in Latin America. It is not their fault that others who were inspired mechanically copied the idea of the foco guerrillero, a vanguard group to act as an inspiration for a general insurrection, which failed in many countries. Revolutions are not copied. With that experience, the Zapatista revolutionaries in Mexico say: ‘Please, don’t copy us’. Each one in their respective time and place will have to see how to do it.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to have socialism in one country. Cuba was forced to connect to the Soviet Bloc, which demanded the exit of Che Guevara, as well as leading to the appearance and development of bureaucratic tendencies that deformed the revolution.

The Russian revolution headed by Lenin was deformed by Stalin and later returned to capitalism.
That Cuba does not return to capitalism is not only down to the Cubans, but to all of us.
To continue the work and the struggle of Fidel Castro, across the world we ought to struggle to topple the capitalist government and replace it with a government for all of society. The name we put on that revolution is not important. We can call it socialist, communist, anarchist, libertarian or whatever.

Działacz Partii Zielonych (Green Party of England and Wales) pochodzenia polskiego potępia ataki na obywateli UE po Brexicie.

Działacz Partii Zielonych (Green Party of England and Wales) pochodzenia polskiego potępia ataki na obywateli UE po Brexicie.

Michał Chantkowski, obywatel UK pochodzenia polskiego oraz Koordynator Programu Politycznego Partii Zielonych w Sunderland (Sunderland Green Party), potępił wzrost ataków, które wystąpiły od momentu ogłoszenia wyników referendum, na obywatelach UE urodzonych poza UK.

Partia Zielonych uruchomila wlasnie nowy program członkowski dla imigrantów oraz obywateli UE, którzy nie posiadają brytyjskiego obywatelstwa a chcieliby zostać członkami partii, Michał wydał oświadczenie.

 „Wzywamy wszystkie demokratyczne siły w naszym kraju aby jasno i głośno wyraziły swoje potępienie dla rasizmu, dyskryminacji oraz ksenofobii.

Ostatnie wydarzenia mają swoje korzenie w ciągłym nakręcaniu spirali strachu, uprzedzeń oraz dezinformacji, rozpowszechnianym przez niektóre siły polityczne w tym kraju.

Partia Zielonych Anglii i Walii nigdy nie była, oraz nigdy nie będzie, częścią tego festiwalu winy.

Nasze wartości to otwartość, akceptacja innych kultur i tolerancja.

Cenimy wielki wkład kulturalny oraz ekonomiczny jaki migranci włożyli w nasze społeczeńswo.

Chcielibyśmy zapewnić obywateli UE mieszkających w naszym kraju, że wybrani przez nas przedstawiciele oraz lokalne Partie Zielonych zrobią wszystko aby zapewnić migrantom bezpieczeństwo i szacunek.

Motion to Green Party conference Expressing Solidarity with Rojava.

Cβ 23. Expressing Solidarity with Rojava.


Proposed by Derek Wall*, Dee Searle, Kieron Merrett, Jack Mcglen, Emily Blyth. Synopsis This motion calls for Turkish government to end military assault on Kurdish communities in South East Turkey, advocates peace talks and calls for unbanning of PKK and freedom for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. This motion promotes solidarity with the Kurds in Rojava where they are promoting a selfgoverning ecological society,

Motion Add into RoPS

Oppose Turkish war against Kurds, solidarity with Rojava.

 Background
After a period of peace the Turkish leader Erdogen has carried out attacks against Kurdish communities in South East Turkey. This has reignited the war between the PKK and the Turkish state. We call on Turkish government to end its military assault on Kurdish community and for both Turkey and PKK to end the conflict and negotiated. The historic leader of the Kurds, Abdullah Ocalan has called for a move to purely non violent campaigns for Kurdish rights, he is currently held in solitary confinement. His release is vital on both humanitarian grounds and to promote peace with justice.


The Kurds of Syria created a self-governing territory in 2012, known as Rojava (Western Kurdistan, Syria), which includes three cantons, Kobane, Afrin and Jazire. Rojava, while predominantly Kurdish contains communities self-identifying as Syriacs, Arabs, Armenians, Christians and other groups The largest political party in Rojava, the Peoples Democratic Union (PYD), is the sister Party of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Both political parties are inspired by the ideas of the social ecologist Murray Bookchin and the writings of Abdullah Ocalan. Rojava is being governed with attention to principles shared with our Green Party including grassroots democracy, ecological economics and social justice. Rojava promotes secularism, pluralism and feminism. Described by some as the Chiapas of the Middle East it is a beacon of hope not only in the region but globally Sadly relations with neighbour Turkey are tense and Rojava has been assaulted by Islamic fundamentalists belonging to the so called Islamic State.


It is vital that the Green Party of England and Wales shows solidarity with Rojava, defends their revolution, supports its Charter and self-autonomy based on pluralism, freedom of belief, gender equality and democracy as a model for all of Syria and learns more about this rare example of an attempt to create a sustainable,self-governing and feminist society.

1 The Green Party of England and Wales calls on Turkey to recognise Kurdish aspirations for peace and self-determination, recognising Rojava and negotiating with the Kurdish communities for a full and just peace settlement.

 2 The Green Party of England and Wales supports the campaign to delist the PKK from the list of European Union and UK terrorist organisations.

3 The Green Party of England and Wales will promote greater understanding and solidarity with Rojava.

4, The Green Party of England and Wales calls for the Turkish state to end its assault on Kurdish communities in the South East of the country, for the release of Ocalan and for Turkish state, PKK and other relevant parties to agree a ceasefire and to negotiate for peace and justice."

Natalie Bennett not to stand for third term as Green Party Leader

Green Party press release

For immediate release

Natalie Bennett not to stand for third term as Green Party Leader

* Natalie has led the party through a period of phenomenal growth

Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has announced that she will not to stand for re-election in the Leadership elections, which take place this summer and culminate at the Green Party’s Autumn Conference.

During her hugely successful two-term, four-year stint as leader, Natalie has guided the Party through a period of extraordinary growth and increasing impact.

Under Natalie’s leadership, the Party has increased its number of MEPs by 50% in the 2014 European Elections, recorded its best-ever result in a General Election in 2015 (amassing over one million votes for the first time and saving 123 deposits compared to 4 in 2010) and, most recently, recorded its best-ever performance in London elections, where Greens are now the undisputed third party.

Membership of the Green Party of England and Wales has increased five-fold under Natalie’s watch, supported enormously by her efforts to engage with and inspire local and regional parties from Stroud to Solihull, Sunderland to St Ives.

The party broke in to the televised Leaders’ Debates ahead of the May 2015 General Election and Natalie used the high-profile media opportunities to share widely Green Party values and policies.

Reflecting on her successful spell at the helm, Natalie said:

“I have been proud to lead a party through a period of phenomenal expansion and increased impact. With the support of our passionate members and supporters we have been able to achieve much in a relatively short period.

“The Green Party offers a genuine alternative to the tired status quo and I am proud that Greens do politics differently.

“There’s greatly increased public understanding that when you want the honest, caring, committed view – one that isn’t guided by the views of the latest focus group or fear of a tabloid backlash but by fundamental principles and values – you should come to the Green Party.

“Looking to the future, in which I intend to remain fully engaged in Green Party politics, I’m confident the Green Party is going to become increasingly influential on the political scene. We’re the only party with a platform that recognises the essential interrelationship between economic and environmental justice – that we must have a society in which no one fears hunger or homelessness while we collectively live within the environmental limits of our one fragile planet.”

Richard Mallender, Chair of the Green Party Executive, commented:

“On behalf of everyone in the Green Party I thank Natalie for her outstanding leadership over the past four years. Without Natalie we would not have been able to achieve all that we have achieved. I am delighted that Natalie will remain active in the party - her support will be invaluable to the new Leadership team as we continue to grow.”

Nominations for the Green Party Leadership elections open on 1 June 2016 and close on 30 June. A campaign period will run from 1 July until 24 July, at which point the one-month balloting period begins. The new Leadership team will be unveiled at the Green Party’s Autumn Conference in early September.

ends

Hugo Blanco on THE CRISIS OF THE NEOLIBERAL SYSTEM

Hugo Blanco is the historic leader of the Peruvian left, at the age of 81, he is still active as editor of Lucha Indigena (Indigenous struggle), here is a recent editorial, you can read Lucha Indigena here http://www.luchaindigena.com/

Editorial 

THE CRISIS OF THE NEOLIBERAL SYSTEM 

The UN's Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 symbolizes the birth of the imperialist neoliberal system that governs today's world.  Capitalist competition has not disappeared, but the multinational or transnational corporations formed from the agglomeration of capital from many countries is flourishing. 

Wealth is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, while poverty spreads among the majority.  The world's richest 1% owns more than the remaining 99% of us. 

Globalization and the privatization of public services are features of this system.  Globalization means that it is not the particular needs of the states but those of the global system that take precedence.  We are in full agreement with Argentinian jurist and academic Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni, who says : 

"Global power today is in the hands of big corporations and transnational conglomerates.  Anyone who doesn't understand this cannot make sense of what is going on in the world or what is happening to us in this region and this country. 

"Political power has been taken out of the hands of the democratically elected governments.  This has happened as capital has increasingly been concentrated in immense corporations.  As these 'establishments' grew, they had less and less need for the politicians, who were increasingly displaced from the corridors of power.  Decades ago, this was seen by the smartest observers, including two military men who were more than mere warriors.  In his presidential farewell speech, Eisenhower deplored in the strongest terms the replacement of his country's strategic interests by those of the 'military-industrial complex'.  And DeGaulle warmed that Europe was on a bad course for much the same reason. 

"World leaders today serve as administrators and spokespersons on television, yet they are in the same hands are ordinary politicians.  They are no more than prisoners in their own land countries, which form the new metropolises in the framework of contemporary colonialism. 

"Throughout our region's history there have been well-known variations on this theme, all with a single substance, which is the struggle between colonialism ad emancipation.  We are living in a higher or advanced stage of colonialism in which the big corporations have world hegemony." 

The neoliberal world is in economic, political, environmental and ethical crisis.  How are the people responding to this situation?  In more than one way. 

-- Those at the bottom of the society are in collective rebellion against the oppressors. 

-- There are others, somewhat better off, who blame those on the bottom and rise against them. 

-- And there people who engage in terrorism in either or both of these other groups. 

The best examples of the rebellion against the 1% and the beginnings of building another world are the native Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico and the Kurdish fighters who liberated Kobane and are making a truly democratic society.  In Britain, Jeremy Corbyn has won the leadership of the Labour Party.  He is demanding a raise in wages, the reception of more refugees, and a decrease in military spending and war. 

As half-measures rebellions, consider South America's "progressive" governments.  In Europe the people who put the blame on those at the bottom are seen in France's National Front, Greece's Golden Dawn and other neo-fascist organizations.  These are also the Europeans who want to deny asylum to refugees. 

In France the ultra-right National Front is gaining in strength.  And France's islamophobia is spreading through Europe and the United States.  Europe's great problem today is the refugee crisis, brought on by imperialism's push to keep its former colonies in economic chains and the USA's wars against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.  Some 80,000 immigrants and refugees arrived in Europe in the first six weeks of the year.  Many more perished in the attempt. 

In Syria 11.5% of the population has been wounded or killed, 3.5 million have lost their livelihood, half the population is displaced, and 85% are in poverty.  Russia warns that the war in Syria could turn into another world war. 

Terrorism from above and state terrorism feed on each other, the one giving strength to the other.  And the innocent are the main victims of both.  The United States and Turkey protect the terrorist Islamic State from ultimate destruction.  In this issue of Lucha Indígena we examine some aspects of the crisis and the reactions to it.