As President Donald  Trump convenes his “Board of Peace” to consolidate Israeli and U.S. exploitation and seizure of Gaza, death and suffering continue to stalk the population. Estimates are that 3-15 times as many Gazans have died since October, 2023 as the official toll of over 72,000 - not only from conflict, but from malnutrition and disease. At least 56% of the dead are women, children and the elderly (Reuters, 2/19). Since the so-called ceasefire, Israel has occupied 53% of the territory, relief supplies remain severely restricted, and almost no one has been allowed egress for life-saving medical treatment. The long-standing Israeli dream of ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians is continuing apace in Gaza, as it also accelerates in the West Bank. 

Meanwhile Trump envisions a luxurious territory under his control, not only as a beachfront resort, but as an anchor of U.S. control of the fossil fuel resources in and around Gaza, indeed in the entire Middle East (BBC, 1/26).

Reshifting of U.S. bosses’ world order

The Board of Peace invitation to over 50 countries does not even mention Gaza per se, but purports to be an engine for solving widespread international conflicts. It is an effort to rework the NATO/U.S. domination of the world after World War II into a new structure of U.S. domination, this time with non-European autocratic nations as allies. 

Among the 26 countries that have so far accepted Board membership are Argentina, El Salvador, Hungary, Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, and Israel. Although EU countries have declined to join, Russia, China and India are still considering it. The Executive Board consists of Chairman Trump (for life), as well as Steven Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Mark Rubio, the president of the World Bank and the Chairman of Apollo International. No Palestinians are included of course, except a technical board seat for the collaborationist Palestinian Authority that administers the West Bank. Security is proposed to be enforced by thousands of international soldiers housed at a huge new military base to be constructed on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza [The Guardian, 2/19]. Armed Israeli-supported Palestinian gangs that have opposed Hamas and are thought to have seized much of what relief has entered the Strip will be empowered as police.

More suffering for Palestinian workers

For those in Gaza, the plan offers no hope of resuming a stable life - no goal of their wellbeing or say in their future. We do not know how many Gazans support Hamas, but we do know that many are firmly nationalist and do not wish to leave. Hamas, although greatly weakened, is refusing to surrender its remaining weapons. 

As communists, we recognize that the weakness of the anti-imperialist movement of Palestinians, from the time of the Ottoman Empire to British colonialism to U.S. sponsored Zionism, has been the lack of a class-conscious resistance and continued loyalty to a Palestinian ruling class. Whether in the West Bank or Gaza, governance has always been controlled by a small elite, in league with international capitalists. Palestinian workers have no hope of achieving a society in their interests unless they become part of an international working-class alliance, be they Arab or Jew or from all nations of the world. As declining U.S. capitalists become more desperate and competition with China accelerates, all workers of the world face the risk of devastating war and deprivation. It is urgent that we build an international communist movement to overthrow capitalism and imperialism everywhere - our survival is at stake.

Students and workers from the Philippines, together with supporters in the United States — including members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP)— have organized over the past several weeks around several individual cases, winning important victories, including distributing CHALLENGE to raise awareness of the Party’s politics. 

The first campaign took place in Washington State to stop the deportation of Kuya G (“kuya” meaning brother). Despite suffering from serious medical conditions, including ulcerative colitis, and after months in a detention facility, he was scheduled to be deported to the Philippines. A broad protest effort emerged: medical professionals, including a PLP doctor, submitted letters documenting the danger to his health. Rallies were held at the detention center and the airport, and demonstrations took place at the Philippine Embassy and at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C.

As authorities prepared to place him on the deportation flight, protesters — aided by local union members — were able to move through the airport and reach the tarmac. Faced with mounting pressure and clear medical evidence, officials were forced to acknowledge that he was too ill to travel. He was removed from the plane, later released from detention, and is now receiving medical treatment. The victory demonstrated the power of collective action when workers and students act together.

A second case involved the arrest of a young worker from the U.S. supporting Indigenous agricultural workers in Mindoro. On January 1, the Armed Forces of the Philippines bombed the area, killing children and another student and displacing hundreds. The young worker was detained by the military for a month. Sustained pressure followed: protests were organized at the U.S. State Department, the Senate office buildings, and the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., alongside actions nationwide. After weeks of mobilization, she was released and returned to the United States. Again, organized pressure proved decisive.

These struggles have prompted deeper discussion about the political trajectory of the Philippines. After mass protests forced the removal and exile of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to Hawaii, the succeeding Aquino government — representing landlord interests — was not supported by many on the left. The military, however, backed Aquino, and as many workers observed, liberal electoral change left fundamental conditions untouched. Within a relatively short period, first Rodrigo Duterte and then Marcos Jr. returned to power, continuing to serve U.S. imperial interests. Nevertheless, more work needs to be done to win workers to revolutionary communist politics. Debates continue around the characterization of the Philippines as semi-feudal, even as the central role of the urban working class is increasingly acknowledged.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post, under the ownership of Jeff Bezos, recently ran an editorial praising the military buildup in the Philippines as a necessary measure to protect trade routes — a clear example of how the ruling-class media promote imperial expansion. At the University of Maryland, the TerpCHRP group is working to build a campaign opposing military funding for research and development on campus, recognizing the university’s role in supporting war-making infrastructure.

These developments underscore both the possibilities and the challenges ahead. Victories have shown that organized workers and students can win concrete gains, but broader political clarity and sustained organizing remain essential.

Build unity door to door! 

On a recent Saturday, a couple of comrades and I joined a canvassing training for Janeese Lewis George outside the Highlands Grill in Ward 7. George is the latest D.C. mayoral candidate who uses progressive rhetoric to mislead our class. In total, about 30 volunteers came from across the city. There were high‑school students, professors, bartenders, college students, and community organizers. Most were Black. The lead organizers wore purple shirts and gave us a quick “talk‑to‑your‑neighbors” exercise so we could reach our across‑the‑river neighbors.

The event was undeniably well‑organized. The training emphasized a listening‑first approach: ask each person about what issue matters to them most, then gradually steer the conversation toward the candidate, her positions, and how to vote.

Yet, as I stood beside the volunteers, I felt a growing dissonance between the mechanics of the campaign and the material realities of our class. The promise that electing a progressive candidate will “fix” systemic oppression rests on the lie that a new face will fundamentally redistribute wealth and power. History shows that even well‑intentioned officials quickly become custodians of the same racist and sexist structures that exploit workers everywhere.

With George specifically, she proudly called for defunding the Maryland Police Department during her 2020 Ward 4 council campaign. After winning, she quickly flipped the script, pledging to raise the police budget to the maximum statutory amount. Politicians can and will do the bidding of the ruling class and try to keep us in the dark. We, the grassroots volunteers, never know what conversations are happening behind closed doors with corporate backers.

Ultimately, only a dictatorship of our class can bring the change we so desperately need. My conviction is that our collective power lies not in handing a ballot to a lying candidate who will escape accountability, but in organizing ourselves to meet our own material needs. Providing mutual aid, educating our neighbors, engaging in mass organizations, and organizing our co-workers. When we prioritize those struggles, we build a resilient community that can demand, not just hope for, real change.

That being said, the canvassing effort does offer a useful foothold. It gives a legitimate excuse to walk door‑to‑door, sit on stoops, and hear directly from neighbors (especially when confronting a media machine that wants us to stay divided based on gender, race, nationality, and sexuality!). These conversations are crucial for strategizing where Progressive Labor Party members should focus locally. So, I intend to return next week, not to sell a candidate, but to listen. I will ask my neighbors what they need today and use those answers to shape my club’s work as we take steps toward revolution. Propaganda has led workers to believe that one new face can be our savior. But the truth is simple: our power lives in solidarity, not in any individual champion. The workers, united, can never be defeated!
Building confidence to build a base

When I was preparing for the one day Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  school, one of the texts I read was the PLP “Build a Base” document from the 1960s. Many interesting points were raised in the document, but because it was clearly written for more experienced PLP members, it made me feel a bit overwhelmed. Many thoughts were going through my mind after reading it: am I cut out for basebuilding? If I were to basebuild, what would it look like in practice? Would I find a method that feels natural to who I am? 

During my discussions with my workshop group, I was able to find a lot of clarity. I became more certain of the necessity for communism—so of course I am cut out for basebuilding! We all are. We all have to be! And as I figure out how basebuilding will take shape in my life, our conversations gave me confidence that I can build off of the skills and relationships I already have, or will have in the future. I’m a student and a tutor, so that gives me lots of opportunities to connect with other young people who recognize that capitalism is destroying the world. If we were to develop a friendship, I have no doubt that would lead to more concrete conversations about PL’s work. (In fact, I’ve already experienced this)! At the root of my basebuilding trepidation, however, is a fear of rejection, something common to newer communists like myself. Overcoming this will take work, since it mostly stems from anti-communist indoctrination and my belief that others received the same conditioning.  

However, I would like to leave you all with something wise one of my group members said: There are strategic reasons you should be upfront about being a communist, as being dishonest makes it harder to basebuild. But also, by withholding your communism from people in your life, you are pretending an important part of yourself does not exist. This has inspired me to be more honest with my friends, relying on the not-so-blind-faith that our love will challenge anti-communist rhetoric, leading to fruitful conversations and, more importantly, action!
HHHHH

Neighbor: Hey, can I get your number?

“Hey, can I get your number?” I asked my parking neighbor during August of last year when the racist slumlords of our apartment complex towed her car through no fault of her own. Building management  failed to communicate with the towing company that her parking pass was paid for, costing my neighbor hundreds of dollars in towing fees. In the face of typical parasitic behavior amongst the property owners, extracting every penny they can from the working class, forming connections was the answer. 

We exchanged numbers in order to have each other’s backs in case of future mishaps with the slumlords. This small act eventually blossomed into a beautiful connection between my parking neighbor and me. 

Months later, she reached out to me to express her frustrations with her new parking neighbor. Serendipitously, comrades and I from Progressive Labor Party were planning a game night to build a foundation for a tenant’s union around the same time she called. This granted us the opportunity to take our connection to a higher level by inviting her and her son to the game night and connecting her with other neighbors. 

This game night turned out to be a huge success, enabling us to practice our line of forming multiracial unity amongst the working class by bringing a racially diverse group of neighbors together and challenging the isolation that prevents us from fighting the bosses. 

When I invited my car neighbor to the game night, she immediately shouted, “Oh my goodness this is exactly what we’ve been wanting for such a long time! This apartment complex never organizes any community events for us!” Statements like these are a reminder of how important the Party’s leadership is in building a base in the working class by any means necessary. 
*****

Town hall: Ed workers vs failing conditions

Two days ago, while walking near the Zócalo in Oaxaca City, I came across hundreds of people gathered in the town square awaiting the return of their representatives from a meeting with the state governor. After speaking with several participants, it became clear that they were primary and secondary school teachers, along with physical education instructors.

The issues under dispute include unpaid wages dating back to January, deteriorating working conditions in the schools, and the increasingly difficult circumstances faced by students. Some teachers also raised concerns about growing violence from outside groups affecting their communities.

Each year in Oaxaca, negotiations between the government and the teachers’ union center on salaries and working conditions, reflecting ongoing structural tensions that remain unresolved. Local newspapers have begun covering the struggle in greater detail, and it would be valuable for comrades closer to the struggle to report more fully on these developments in CHALLENGE. 

This struggle is part of a broader pattern of attacks facing educators and the working class more generally. The situation bears close attention, and solidarity with these teachers is essential. The fight continues — la lucha continúa.
*****

One battle after another: bosses’ fever dream

Recently, our club and friends had a “movie afternoon” to watch the award-winning One Battle After Another film that depicts a ruling class fever dream of revolution. It was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, and Chase Infiniti. This sounds like a sterling cast and director and should have been great. But our group begged to differ. One comrade wrote the following letter to express his critique:

Under the current fascist Trump Regime, bourgeois artists and directors need a way to distract and co-opt the energy of the people into idle debate instead of organizing. The contradictions of U.S. capitalism and “democracy” have resulted in blatant fascist violence by ICE to preserve the racist divisive status quo. Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s understanding that there is no hiding from the violence that has always been present in Black and brown communities has been twisted in this movie to portray working class revolutionary energy into indiscriminate fetishism and violence.

Anderson reflects the “othering” of blackness by portraying a perverse version of Black women’s supposed insatiable sexuality. Throughout history, the bodies of the marginalized have been trivialized in the pursuit of resources for the capitalist class.  From the bombardment of Venezuela for oil to the rape of Congo for rubber, Black and brown people have always been objects to viciously attack in the eyes of the capitalist. Teyanna Taylor’s character represents the same psychopathic objectification forced on the women of marginalized communities. The female body is used as an excuse for violence of the pigs eating at the troughs of the bourgeois. It’s a disgusting use of Black actors and paints the women, usually the main contributors of the liberation movement, as distractions.

The idealized use of violence in the film, paying implicit homage to the Weather Underground, also paints a sexy picture of violence rather than showing the tedious, but actually impactful, work of organizing in one’s community. The “French 75” underground in this movie is hailed as revolutionary “heroes,” but they didn’t change the material conditions for anyone ravaged by the capitalist state as they simply blew up buildings. 

Their violence only led to the movement being targeted and swiftly crushed by the state due to the romantic tactics of the organization, thus conveying depressing defeatism to the audience. 

There are no romantic heroes in the fight for a better future. Willing participants ready to fight day in and day out for a better tomorrow is what is required. A movie showing our current reality of capitalist crisis while presenting workers and community members as passive actors will not lead us to revolution. It is obvious that we need to organize together for future generations if we want to see a better world, not focus on phony ideas of revolution. May we organize for a better future, not sit around and sedate our lives, like the bumbling petit bourgeois revolutionary “Bob” played by Leonardo DiCaprio!
*****

Minnesota school adapts to a war against students

Washington Post, 2/15–First period was about to begin Tuesday…The parent of one of the middle school’s students had been detained by immigration authorities, and the family needed help finding a lawyer. It was one more in a steady stream of daily crises that had confronted Leslee Sherk, Columbia Academy’s principal…tallying the latest number of students with at least one parent detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: 16, up from 10 the week before…It was still a place of learning, even if 210 of its 700 students were now studying at home. But now it was also a food bank, a counseling hotline, a missing persons task force, an immigration resource center and a refuge.

Racist researchers given access to “protected” database by lax federal agency

New York Times, 1/24–Genetic researchers were seeking children for an ambitious, federally funded project to track brain development — a study that they told families could yield invaluable discoveries about DNA’s impact on behavior and disease. They also promised that the children’s sensitive data would be closely guarded in the decade-long study…The scientists did not keep it safe. A group of fringe researchers…gained access to data from thousands of children. The researchers have used it to produce at least 16 papers purporting to find biological evidence for differences in intelligence between races…Mainstream geneticists have rejected their work as biased and unscientific…

ICE has its roots in terrorizing people living near U.S.-Mexico border

Bloomberg, 1/26–When Mark Pettibone was swept off a Portland street into an unmarked minivan by a group of people in camouflage and tactical gear during the George Floyd protests in 2020, he had no idea who they were or where he would be taken...But many of these practices are not new in US immigration enforcement; they’ve migrated from border areas to the middle of America’s densest neighborhoods…“The Trump administration has deployed Border Patrol to places that are an enormous distance from the southern border,”…White House Border Czar Tom Homan…took another action to solidify a growing merger between two agencies that have historically operated quite differently: CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

U.S. and Israeli imperialists expand into Somaliland

Al Jazeera, 2/26–Somaliland is prepared to grant the United States access to its mineral resources and military bases, a senior minister says, as the breakaway Somali region pursues international recognition. “We are willing to give exclusive [access to our minerals] to the United States. Also, we are open to offer military bases to the United States,” Khadar Hussein Abdi, minister of the presidency, told the AFP news agency…Israel became the only country in the world to recognise Somaliland’s independence in December, something the territory has been seeking since declaring its autonomy from Somalia in 1991. The region seceded from Somalia during a civil war…

Protesters smash Brooklyn weapons maker working for Israeli fascists

New York Post, 2/21–The head of a drone-manufacturing company whose clients include the Israel Defense Forces said his business is being booted from the city-run Brooklyn Navy Yard …The company has long been the target of protests at the former Navy shipyard…a series of recent break-in attempts…led to broken windows and other damage at the industrial park…During a Feb. 11 rally, the anti-Israel protestors gained access into the lobby of the building Easy Aerial rents for six hours…Easy Aerial assists the Israel Defense Forces by supplying surveillance drones for reconnaissance missions and monitoring borders along the Gaza Strip and Lebanon…

Investors lose trust in the dollar and move to gold

Mises Institute, 1/26–Despite the consensus narrative, what we are currently experiencing globally is not “de‑dollarization,” but a broad loss of confidence in developed economies’ fiat currencies and sovereign debt as a reserve asset for central banks and institutions. This fundamental loss of confidence in the solvency of developed economies’ sovereign issuers is boosting demand for gold. However, the latest data shows no crossover or fiat alternative substitution…The real underlying driver is the deterioration in the fiscal and monetary credibility of developed economies.