Shifting imperialist alliances in Asian Pacific
France24, 8/28–Pacific Island leaders endorsed a landmark regional policing plan Wednesday at a summit in Tonga, a contentious move seen as trying to limit China's security role in the region. Leaders unveiled a plan to create up to four regional police training centres and a multinational crisis reaction force, backed by $271 million in initial funding from Australia. Under the plan, a corps of about 200 officers drawn from different Pacific Island nations could be dispatched to regional hot spots and disaster zones when needed and invited. "This demonstrates how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, hailing the agreement.
The Australian leader made the announcement while flanked by leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga -- a symbolic show of unity in a region riven by competition between China and the United States…Wednesday's announcement was a diplomatic victory for Australia and for the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional bloc which had appeared deeply divided on the topic. China's Pacific allies -- most notably Vanuatu and Solomon Islands -- had voiced concern that the policing plan represented a "geo-strategic denial security doctrine", designed to box out Beijing.
Israeli military expands war into West Bank
Al Jazeera, 8/31–The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli airstrikes near the al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Baptist Hospital) have killed two Palestinians and wounded others. Citing local sources, it reported that Israeli fighter jets had targeted the perimeter of the hospital, and emergency and rescue teams were still working to retrieve the fatalities and casualties…Israeli settlers mounted a large-scale opening fire on the villagers…
The Jenin Government Hospital announced it had suspended its daily dialysis services due to ongoing disruptions in essential supplies caused by the Israeli military siege of the city, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency. The hospital has been under Israeli military siege for the past four days, leading to severe operational challenges, Wafa reported…Israeli forces had damaged the electricity supply line to the hospital, and the backup generators have been running continuously for four days.
War in Gaza tracks with rising anti-Muslim racism
Brookings, 8/27–After years of improvement, American public attitudes toward Muslims and Islam have declined in the past few months, and expressed public prejudice toward Muslims remains higher than toward any other religious, ethnic, or racial group studied. These are two of the key findings in our latest University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll (UMDCIP)...after years of improvement, favorable views of Muslims and Islam have declined in the two polls we have carried out in 2024. Favorable views of Muslims dropped to 64% from 78% in 2022, returning to 2016 levels; favorable attitudes toward Islam dropped to 48%...The drop in favorable views of Muslims occurred among both Democrats and Republicans, but it is notable that the drop in favorable views of Islam was more pronounced among Democrats.
Russia and China combine military forces to challenge U.S.
New York Times, 8/13–China and Russia have pressed an informal political and economic alliance against the West. Now they are stepping up the cooperation between their militaries with increasingly provocative joint war games. Chinese and Russian long-range bombers patrolled together near Alaska for the first time last month. Days earlier, the countries held live-fire naval drills in the hotly contested South China Sea for the first time in eight years. And they have more frequently buzzed the skies and sailed the waters together near Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, where America has strategic interests.
The military exercises are, in some ways, the most vivid expression of an alignment between China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as they have sought to challenge their chief geopolitical rival, the United States…To Washington, the exercises sow doubts about whether the United States could prevail in a war in Asia against the combined forces of China and Russia. While American war planners have long considered scenarios with China and Russia individually, they have paid less attention to the prospect of the two nuclear-armed states fighting together because it had long seemed so unlikely.
On August 10, after assassinating a top Hamas leader in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, the genocidal Israel regime targeted a Gaza school-turned-shelter during morning prayers, killing more than 90 people. Nazi Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep bombarding Gaza until Hamas is obliterated—which translates into the nonstop slaughter of women, men, and children with no place to turn. Israel’s reckless assassination spree is pushing the Middle East toward a regional war and, given the crisis of capitalism and intensified imperialist competition, toward World War III.
Over the last 10 months, based on conservative estimates, nearly 40,000 workers have been killed in Gaza. According to the medical journal The Lancet, the true death toll from Israel’s ethnic cleansing—including bodies buried under rubble and “indirect” deaths from the collapse of health and food distribution infrastructure—exceeds 186,000, or more than 8 percent of Gaza’s prewar population (Al Jazeera, 8/7). The missile strike on the Gaza City shelter struck a prayer hall filled with 200 workers and children, strewing the scene with bodies and body parts. “The dead are all in pieces,” one worker said (New York Times, 8/10).
Progressive Labor Party calls for internationalism and multiracial unity to smash the U.S.-backed Zionist baby-killers and the murderous capitalist system behind these racist atrocities. Only communist revolution by the international working class can end capitalist genocide for all time!
Zionist isolation and U.S. weakness
As war widens in the Middle East and the blood-soaked Israeli bosses become more and more isolated, there are clear signs of growing U.S. weakness in the region. After the latest assassinations, Iran demanded an emergency meeting of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The OIC proceeded to hold Israel, “the illegal occupying power, fully responsible for this heinous attack.” Saudi Arabia, a bitter enemy of Iran until China arranged a rapprochement in March, called the murder of Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas a “blatant violation” of Iran’s sovereignty (Al Jazeera, 8/7).
As Israel’s crimes against humanity show no sign of ebbing, the United Nations keeps telling the world that there is no longer any safe place in Gaza. Schools, shelters, and hospitals are all routinely targeted by Zionist bombs and missiles. Even with more reports of torture and rapes in Palestine by Israeli soldiers, the Biden-Harris administration continues to write a blank check for money and weapons to these war criminals.
After Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s settler Nazi finance minister, stated it “may be just and moral” to try to free Israeli hostages by exterminating 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, the Zionist regime faced a firestorm of criticism from the European Union (Financial Times, 8/9). If Iran and its proxies back up their threats of retaliation, the U.S. may soon find itself in a lonely place in taking Israel’s side.
Spiral to WWIII
U.S. complicity in the Gaza genocide has further eroded its influence over the vital, oil-rich Middle East. Both regional challenger Iran and imperialist rivals China and Russia are moving aggressively to fill the power vacuum. While U.S. Middle East “alliances” are disintegrating, Iran’s strategy of building up proxy militias and appealing to potential allies seems to be working. The imperialist rulers of Russia, Iran’s key backer, have used the horrors of Gaza to expose the U.S. rulers’ hypocritical criticism of Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine. And while the U.S. funds two wars, China continues to strengthen its economic and political ties in the Middle East and Africa, frequently at U.S. expense. As the U.S. prepares to send a dozen combat ships and a squadron of fighter jets to defend Israel from retaliation by Iran, it’s been reduced to pleading with Israel to accept a ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, both wings of the U.S. capitalist ruling class are working to squash a growing anti-genocide movement. Avril Haines, Genocide Joe Biden’s director of national intelligence, claimed that “actors tied to Iran’s government [are] posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to [anti-genocide] protesters.” This provoked 22 members of the Trump-controlled House of Representatives to demand the “investigation and criminal prosecution as well as financial ruin of Gaza war protesters, who they claim have received funding from Iran” (Ken Klippenstein, 8/9). It wasn’t enough for U.S. rulers to use their fascist KKKops to destroy overwhelmingly peaceful encampments protesting genocide in Gaza. Now they propose to criminalize the protests’ organizers.
While Top KKKop Kamala Harris agreed to meet with members of the anti-genocide Uncommitted movement, her security advisor made it clear she will never back an arms embargo against Israel: "She will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups” (Al Jazeera, 8/8). Neither Harris nor Biden has the spine to defy the Zionist lobby in the U.S., led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The group spent record amounts in recent primary elections to oust two anti-genocide Congresspeople, Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri.
Worker-soldier-student fightback can end war
For the workers of the world, Zionism and Hamas-inspired Palestinian nationalism are both dead ends. Nationalism and racism are two sides of the same coin. They are used by the capitalist rulers to divide workers and mislead them into believing they have more in common with their oppressors than with their class sisters and brothers around the world.
Workers around the world have continued to protest the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands are planning to demonstrate outside the warmakers’ Democratic National Convention this month. PLP applauds the bravery and determination of these protesters. But street actions and campus encampments are not enough to end capitalist wars for profit! The international working class needs more.
During the Vietnam War, Progressive Labor Party built a worker-student-soldier alliance that called for turning imperialist genocide into a war for workers’ power. That means organizing soldiers in all capitalist-led armies to turn the guns around for communist revolution. Only an international revolutionary communist party can lead the fight to smash imperialist wars—and to build a new world run by and for the working class. Fight back for the workers and children of Gaza! Join PLP!
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Netanyahu-Harris-Biden: We Charge You with Genocide!
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- 15 August 2024 736 hits
July 24, Washington DC —“[Benjamin] Netanyahu, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” was one of many angry chants directed at the fascist mass murderer during his trip to Washington D.C. to address Congress and seek continued financial support for his racist slaughter in Palestine.
Students and workers from around the country gathered at 2nd and Constitution Avenues and marched on the Capitol while many others blocked streets, forcing his U.S. imperialist handlers to divert his entourage. To no surprise, butcher Netanyahu spent his visit spewing lies about Gaza's death toll and calling criticism of Israel “Hamas propaganda” (Anadolu Agency, 7/25).
Protestors at Union Station burned a large Netanyahu puppet along with the U.S. flag that represents U.S. ruling class complicity in genocide. Police responded with arrests and attacked the Capitol marchers with pepper spray.
Israel and Hamas dead ends for workers
A small Progressive Labor Party (PLP) contingent and friends joined thousands in the rally at the Capitol to demand an end to financial and military support for Israel. We also challenged the idea of a two-state solution and support for Hamas. Communists fight for multiracial, multiethnic unity and a communist world of equality, not new capitalist nations. Hamas has exploited Palestinian workers and will continue to do so if a peace agreement creates a new nation for them.
On the eve of Netanyahu’s visit hundreds of young members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) occupied the Cannon Office Building and were arrested. Jewish-Palestinian worker unity is possible!
The imperialists in the U.S. and European Union (EU) prefer to keep workers divided by race, religion, and nationality and use both mainstream and social media to lie about Zionism's blood soaked past: executing countless Palestinian workers, farmers, and students.
Building communist movement to bury this genocide system
At the rally we distributed hundreds of flyers and CHALLENGEs. We called for support for local teachers and students under attack for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. Our attack on nationalism was well received by our friends from Iran who describe their country as fascist. Many marchers were open to taking communist literature with interest and enthusiasm. We met new friends interested in communist ideas and reconnected with teachers, neighbors and public health activists that we have been organizing with since October 7.
Many of the speakers at the rally supported Hamas and called for a ceasefire and a two-state solution. Others we have worked with attacked the racist police in D.C. for their treatment of Black residents. Students from the George Washington Encampment attacked the capitalist state in a rousing speech.
Our organizing efforts must continue to reach out to workers such as the members in transit (ATU Local 689) who have passed ceasefire resolutions but rarely join in these demonstrations. Their strength could shut down the city and raise the struggle to a new level and bring us closer to state power. International communist revolution remains the only way to stop fascists like Netanyahu, widening wars, and the capitalist bloodsuckers who are behind both fascist and liberal politicians.
August 12, Washington DC—The American Public Health Association (APHA) recently blocked health workers within the association from submitting a resolution against the genocide in Gaza. Last October 2023 the APHA became the first health organization to pass an emergency ceasefire resolution about the war on Gaza, good for one year. While its governing body watered down the proposal from a statement of eight pages to one sentence, it voted overwhelmingly in favor as hundreds of supporters stood in the back of the room with signs and fliers. APHA officials looked on in horror. They showed themselves as more interested in supporting U.S. imperialism and Israeli genocide than promoting public health. The successful resolution read:
“In light of the continuing escalating of civilian casualties by Israel and the collapse of the healthcare infrastructure in Gaza, APHA calls upon President Biden and Congress to urgently demand an immediate cease-fire and call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the hostages and those detained; by restoring water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and by passing adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
This was a resolution calling for humanitarian decency. It was certainly not revolutionary yet it scared the APHA pro capitalist leaders. But out of this struggle, more members than ever came to a Progressive Labor Party (PLP) meeting, and an ongoing cadre of supporters grew within the organization and created the Palestine Health Justice Working Group (PHJWG). This year, it submitted a more comprehensive permanent resolution for a vote at its 2024 meeting that condemns the Israeli occupation of Palestine, U.S. aid for Israel, and the constant bombing of Gaza that destroys health, lives, and infrastructure. It calls for humanitarian aid, sanitation, public health interventions for workers in Palestine and the end of the war, occupation, and U.S. aid.
APHA bosses back genocide
APHA officials decided to stop it in its tracks without consulting with or notifying the Working Group. They have declared that it cannot even be considered, in violation of all their own rules! Now the most militant antiracist fighters in this association are being targeted as anti-Zionists and antisemitic. One of the accused is a PLP member, who has pushed for Palestinian and Israeli workers to unite against the capitalist rulers of Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, APHA urges members to vote for the next U.S. President, although both candidates support Israel and its genocidal war.
This October there will be mass actions at the national convention in Minneapolis, to protest the war and APHA actions. The PHJWG will attend pre-convention resolution hearings on Zoom, demonstrate with fellow workers, and loudly bring our concerns to the massive rank and file members of the union and the governing body. We have made t-shirts and buttons and leaflets that will be widely distributed. As we have done previously, PLP will prepare a special APHA Convention CHALLENGE issue and hold a meeting to put forward a revolutionary perspective.
Fighting back against genocide
Since the current war on Palestinians began, tens of thousands of students, young people, socialists, communists, and anti-Zionists around the world have risen in opposition. In the U.S., thousands have taken over streets, organized sit-ins from Grand Central to the U.S. Capitol and built over 50 encampments at universities. This has resulted in a militant movement against war, imperialism and racism. Despite many retributions, organizers continue to plan for local actions and days of rebellion at the Democratic Party Convention in Minneapolis, August 19 to August 23. Many have become more interested in communist ideas.
The Progressive Labor Party applauds this commitment and militancy. We have joined demonstrations distributing thousands of CHALLENGE newspapers and conducting educational sessions about the war. Our line, “From the river to the sea, communism will set us free,” rejects a nationalist solution that divides Israelis and Palestinians into two (unequal) lands. We reject the policies of nationalism around the world, from those who support the fascist leaders of Israel to those who support the current leaders of Palestine, both the corrupt collaborators of Fatah and the Islamic fundamentalists of Hamas. No workers will be free until there is an international anti-capitalist movement that fights for a communist system that discards the profit motive and is run by the working class in order to maximize the quality of life of all workers. If we organize ourselves around the world, involving ourselves in many mass struggles, we can do it.
Members of our Progressive Labor Party (PLP) club in Kentucky recently hosted a trip to the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan to learn about one of the biggest labor uprisings in history known as the Battle of Blair Mountain. Among the key lessons we learned was the central role of multiracial unity in labor struggles, the need for militancy and even armed struggle in the battle against the bosses, and the danger of betrayal by union leaders. We held a cadre school after the visit and another friend showed interest in joining the ranks of the PLP.
PLP members and friends from Washington D.C., Kentucky, and Tennessee toured the Mine Wars Museum in Matewan and gravesites of Sid Hatfield. The museum tour summarized the history of union organizing in West Virginia that led up to the Battle of Blair Mountain. The early United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was one of the first unions to employ Black organizers. One of them, Dan Chain (AKA “Few-clothes Johnson”), was featured in the 1980s movie “Matewan” and was a prominent organizer during key strikes leading up to Blair Mountain. He was also one of the “dirty-eleven”, a group of militants who used armed resistance against the coal companies.
Miners showed the way to workers in militancy against the bosses
We moved on to the gravesite of Sid Hatfield, the sheriff who had a shootout with anti-miner thugs, killing Baldwins-Felts agents who were trying to evict miners living within city-limits. At the gravesite, a PLP member from Kentucky gave a speech linking the global warming impacts of coal mining to the working class struggle and the broader analysis of the need for communist revolution, something the miners had missed.
The miners who fought at Blair Mountain made the naive mistake of thinking that the U.S. National Guard was not their enemy, despite the fact that they were prepared to drop bombs on the miners in the event that they did not surrender to the coal bosses. We also learned that the iconic Mother Jones misled the miners after supporting them initially. She claimed that she had a telegram from President Harding promising an end to the coal bosses’ tyranny on the condition that the miners return home, but this was a lie! The miners marched on Blair Mountain despite this confusion. What an education!
PLP members study worker-led fights to learn how to defeat the bosses
The next day Kentucky PL’ers hosted a cadre school in Williamsburg, centered around Palestine and nationalism. Members from Kentucky explained how the current genocide in Gaza will not be solved through nationalism, and how workers can only end war and imperialism and racism through internationalist class struggle against both the Israeli and Palestinian bosses.
The conversation shifted towards unions and how there is a need to bring internationalism into the workplace, and link up local struggles with the wider class struggle, creating a sense of solidarity between workers in the U.S. and Gaza. A worker at the cadre school shared her struggles with her own union and started a wider conversation about how unions can betray the rank and file and seek to make deals with the bosses, and how unless we bring revolutionary politics into the workplace we are stuck fighting for reforms that eventually get taken away over time.
The history of our class is filled with stories of militancy, multi-racial unity, betrayal by union leaders, and the prospects for revolutionary struggle. Long live the Battle of Blair Mountain!
