Anti-Jewish racism and attacks are on the rise across the U.S. Most recently Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Kyrie Irving threw fuel on the fire by launching anti-Jewish racist attacks on Twitter. Both Ye and Irving are spewing a particular toxic ideology of the Black Hebrew Israelites that reflects a reactionary, nationalist, and anti-class outlook. The Black Hebrew Israelites are a group of sects that espouse that Black people are the original Hebrews and were supplanted by modern day Jewish people. Many, if not all, of the groups push anti-Jewish racism in a twist on the replacement theory of the Trump racists by claiming they have been replaced from their rightful place by modern Jewish people.

The Black Israelites continue a long history of the bosses’ anti-Jewish racism being used to divide the working class. From Hitler to now, anti-Jewish racism has particularly been used to divert the working class’s anger away from the bosses and point it towards an imaginary Jewish cabal that is blamed for everything. The anti-Jewish racism of Ye and Irving gains a toe hold because of the righteous anger that Black workers share under capitalism. But with celebrities and anti-intellectual media moguls leading the charge, it leads to the pacification of Black workers who are diverted away from the true enemy that is capitalism and plays into the bosses’ hands by dividing and disarming the working class.

Attack racism from all sides
We must take on racism in all its forms. This particular attack by Ye and Irving, which was then amplified by Dave Chapelle on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, is particularly dangerous because it is being used to divert the anger of Black workers away from capitalism and the ruling class, but back toward a general Jewish body. Meanwhile, many Jewish workers have an antiracist history and do not benefit from the racism inflicted by ruling class bosses.

While the Black Israelites pose as a group that is against the system, the racism they espouse is repackaged from the bosses’ ideologies. Henry Ford and Hitler are prominent in their sources. Many are fooled by this anti-Jewish racism posing as being for Black workers. A big reason for the acceptance of anti-Jewish racism from Black superstars is the racist history of Israel. The U.S. and Israeli ruling classes have defended Israeli racist apartheid and attacks on workers in Palestine by calling anyone who opposes the Israeli bosses anti-Jewish.

Workers unite in anti-racist rebellion
The bosses have encouraged the spread of Black nationalist anti-Jewish racism. Young Black workers have rebelled in recent years in Ferguson, Baltimore and across the country after the murder of George Floyd. These antiracist rebellions inspired millions of people in multi-racial fight back to take to the streets. This mass action against the bosses’ cops terrified the ruling class. No wonder the bosses encourage the spread of anti-Jewish racism.

Many people are also taken in by seeing corporations and media who do nothing in the face of massive racist attacks on Black workers come out and attack Ye and Irving. But that doesn’t excuse or justify anti-Jewish attacks. Also, make no mistake: Ye and Irving don’t share the same class politics that Black workers, or any worker, do.

Any potential win that Ye or Irving could receive from Adidas or the NBA would never extend to our class. But this public debacle does intensify racist divisions among workers. As communist leaders, it is our role to use these moments as an opportunity to call out to smash these divisions and build working-class unity.

One thing the U.S., Israel and Black Israelites have in common is a fear of the powerful history of Black and Jewish workers joining together to fight racism. From the movement to free the Scottsboro Boys to the sit-ins across the south and the fight to integrate, Black and Jewish workers have marched together, fought together and been beaten together in the fight against racism. The bosses can try to bury the true antiracist history of the working class but they will never stop us.

Turkey demands Sweden and Finland sell out Kurds as price for joining NATO
France24, 11/4–Turkey will not formally approve Finland and Sweden's membership of NATO until the two countries take the necessary "steps" Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg Friday. Ankara has accused the two Nordic nations of providing a safe haven for outlawed Kurdish militants it deems "terrorists" and held back on ratifying their NATO membership despite an agreement in June.

Finland and Sweden dropped decades of military non-alignment and scrambled to become NATO members in May, after Russia invaded Ukraine. But Erdogan threatened to block their bids and sought concessions, leading to a deal in June between Turkey, Finland and Sweden that included provisions on extraditions and sharing information. All 30 NATO member states except Turkey and Hungary have ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland. New members to the alliance require unanimous approval.

European capitalists have no choice but to turn to Gulf states for survival
Der Spiegel, 11/11–Three-and-a-half trillion dollars, an unfathomable sum, are set to flow into the coffers of the six Gulf states in the next five years should the prices for oil and gas remain as high as they are today – a gift from Vladimir Putin. Because Europe is no longer interested in importing energy from Russia, oil from Saudi Arabia and natural gas from Qatar have become the focus, no matter how high the price.

At a time when the West is suffering and China is showing economic vulnerability, the economies on the Gulf see nothing but a bright future and their optimism is boundless.

Qatar and Iran are sitting on the largest natural gas repositories on the planet, while Saudi Arabia is home to the second-largest oil reserves. And it doesn’t end with oil and gas. The energy source of the future is hydrogen, produced with solar and wind. The deserts of the Arabian Peninsula offer perfect conditions for such renewable energy sources. Ultimately, more hydrogen may be exported from the Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the future than oil is today. Germany promises to be a primary destination.

Israel moves closer to becoming an officially fascist state
New York Times, 11/13–The Jewish settlement in the city of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, where a few hundred Orthodox Jews live amid some 200,000 Palestinians, has long been seen as a bastion of the far-right settler movement — on the fringes of Israeli society. But after the Israeli election this month, an alliance of far-right parties, led by the Religious Zionism party reflecting the views of radical settlers, became the third-largest political force in Israel. The alliance, which also included the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, garnered more than 88 percent of the votes from the settlers in Hebron. The alliance is now poised to become a key pillar of the coalition being put together by the right-wing prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu… Religious Zionism’s supporters hope the alliance will use its leverage to [apply]…Jewish sovereignty in parts of the West Bank, a territory the Palestinians claim for a future state and that Religious Zionism considers to be part of Greater Israel and refers to by the biblical names of Judea and Samaria.

Religious Zionists have reached the top ranks of the security establishment and the police have made up a disproportionate number of the graduates of the military’s officers’ school…and have developed an increasingly influential voice in the Israeli news media and culture.

U.S. deploying B-52s to encircle China
Reuters, 10/31–The United States is planning to deploy up to six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to an air base in northern Australia, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, amid heightened tensions with China. Dedicated facilities for the bombers will be set up at the Royal Australian Air Force's remote Tindal base…Last year, the United States, Britain and Australia created a security deal that will provide Australia with the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, riling China…This year, the U.S. deployed four B-52s to its Andersen Air Force base in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the Western Pacific.

Profit system treats children as dispensable
Several Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades joined a coalition of housing groups on November 3 to protest child homelessness in NYC. More than 104,000 public school children in NYC are homeless, 55,000 of whom are without shelter.

As we gathered in a primary schoolyard we saw a teacher explaining to her students why we were there. Young people led the rally and one speaker reported that while she’s not homeless herself she was protesting in solidarity with her peers who are homeless. Black, Latin, Asian and white united as we marched in the community chanting, “Tenants united will never be defeated,” “Tax the rich, house the poor,” and “What do we want? Housing! If we don’t get it, shut it down!”

PL’ers connected with old and new friends distributing 18 CHALLENGEs as we emphasized the militant housing fight back in Chicago on the front page. A comrade sent a comment to the members of the housing group she’s in saying the march was good, but we need to put antiracism up front. The majority of homeless children and adults in NYC are Black and Latin. She received two thumbs up responses.

PL’ers have been involved in a community organization for many years. We raise PLP’s ideas, have recruited new members and organized an ongoing study group. Recently comrades have been distributing fight homelessness leaflets and CHALLENGE in the streets of our community of concentration.

As we stand up and fight back inside the community organization we want to continue the Party’s presence in the street. Let’s seize the opportunities to lead class struggle and boldly win the working class to revolutionary communist ideas!

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Inspired by struggle against identity politics
Though retired for a few years now, recently I’ve been helping to organize for Progressive Labor Party on college campuses. So I’ve attended the yearly college conference for the last several years. They were all very positive, but this year’s conference was amazing. I was not just encouraged; I was inspired. And it was the new, young leaders that were so very impressive. By young I mean some that were in the Party for a year or two, while others were on the verge of joining.
During the opening session a comrade raised the issue of identity politics. A veteran comrade made the case against identity politics, but the issue was really left sort of hanging in the air. But not for long. It came up in several workshops with some new members being supportive of identity politics. And these were fighters who believed in multiracial unity and had been in struggles against racism from their college campus to Haiti. These were young working class fighters and organizers trying to learn and be stronger antiracists and communists.

But what really impressed and inspired me was the response of two young Black women leaders. In one workshop they patiently tore apart identity politics. They explained how it was a recent, higher education invention and how it divided the working class. How there was no such thing as white privilege; it was racism. How these divisive ideas originated and are being promoted on college campuses and did not have that great an influence in working class communities. I was so impressed with the quiet confidence, knowledge and sharpness of these young Black women leaders.
I briefly spoke to one of these women after the workshops and congratulated her on her leadership role. She mumbled a thank you and then added, but I think I spoke too much. That immediate self-criticism impressed me even more. The future of our Party is in good hands.

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Who should dictate: capitalists or workers?
At a Senior Center discussion group about abortion, I said communists were the first society that legalized abortion. A woman replied, “But communism is a dictatorship”, so I asked the following.

Who dictates…
      If women get life saving or needed abortions?
      If women and children suffer poverty, homelessness, poor health and starvation?
      If women suffer sexism, especially cultural oppression that promotes inequality?
      If women are forced to support and die in endless profit wars?

I replied that today it’s the worldwide capitalist class dictatorship’s greed for profits and privileges that determines and promotes sexist, divisive inequality and oppression within the working class.
Women in Iran and worldwide don’t need to just cut their hair; they need to cut their connections to their capitalist dictatorships and create their own communist society that can dictate their right to equality, abortions, education, housing, jobs and an end to sexism, racism, profits, classes, nationalism, endless capitalist wars and religious persecution.

I’ve had these discussions before with the workers thinking about it and the discussions will continue.

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Workers still fighting covid and capitalism
Capitalists have weaponized this disease against workers, using it to cull the less “productive” workers–the elderly and the ill, especially Black communities in the U.S. and Black and Brown countries worldwide.  This is genocide and marks the growing tide of fascism.  In the wake of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, Nazis rose to power in part by targeting the disabled and ill.  

Meanwhile, capitalists continue to reap obscene profits off the pandemic, creating a global wave of inflation that has wreaked havoc on low income workers.  The Big Fascists like Joe Biden and Goldman Sachs parrot concern while overseeing draconian economic measures to create mass unemployment and poverty worldwide in the name of fighting inflation. The imperialist U.S. and Russian bosses have started a war that threatens our entire planet with nuclear apocalypse when all workers want is peace to be able to recover from the pandemic.

When will we learn that capitalism can NEVER solve our problems? It only brings workers misery and death. Communism is the only practical solution at this point in human history.  Let’s never forget the genocide that these filthy capitalists have waged against the working class as we rise up and put the bosses in their graves!

*****

Amid runaway inflation and surging worker fightback, Britain's chaotic ruling-class merry-go-round has turned--for the moment--to filthy-rich Rishi Sunak, the UK's third prime minister in six weeks. Britain's instability reflects the international crisis of capitalism: a looming worldwide recession/depression, the implosion of the old U.S.-led liberal world order, the bosses' escalating attacks on the international working class, and the global volatility that will lead U.S. rulers—Democrats and Republicans alike—to full-blown fascism and world war with China and Russia.

Britain, once the reliable junior partner for U.S. imperialism from Iraq to Ukraine, is a political train wreck. Following clown-car opportunist Boris Johnson and the dead-on-arrival Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak's job is to try to discipline the hopelessly divided British bosses as he assaults workers with spending cuts. The son of Indian immigrants, Sunak will lead the Conservative Party's racist campaign to scapegoat immigrants for the profit system's failures. He’s the latest example of the deadly illusion of identity politics. Workers must not be fooled!

In Britain, hundreds of thousands of workers, led by critical railway workers, are fighting back in “one of the most significant waves of industrial unrest the United Kingdom has seen since the ‘winter of discontent’ in the late 1970s” (msn.com, 9/1). The Progressive Labor Party's task is to win these workers to the historic struggle for communist revolution, the only solution to fascism and inter-imperialist war.

The bosses’ boss
A practicing Hindu, born to affluent immigrant parents, Sunak received an elite ruling-class education, married into one of India's richest families (Infosys), and trained at Goldman Sachs before stealing another fortune as a hedge funder and venture capitalist. He made a swift rise through Parliament by supporting his Conservative Party’s lethal principles: "free" markets, deregulation, privatization of health care and other social services, mass poverty, the shredding of the social safety net, and widening racist inequalities.

For Sunak and the finance capitalists he serves, the goal is to restore Margaret Thatcher's austerity regime of the 1980s, a brutal attack that decimated the working class. Under Thatcher, the proportion of workers below the poverty line more than tripled, from 13 percent to 43 percent. Child poverty more than doubled. Meanwhile, the rich saw their tax rates cut in half, from 83 percent to 40 percent (Guardian, 2013). With inflation now exceeding 10 percent and the British pound in free fall, Sunak's job will be to balance the books through the death and despair of our class sisters and brothers.

The austerity regimes of Sunak’s more recent Conservative predecessors, David Cameron (2010-2016) and Theresa May (2016-2019), created the massive economic pain that paved the way for Brexit, Britain’s departure from the European Union, which has only aggravated the country’s crisis. With unemployment, housing, and disability benefits gutted, millions of workers’ lives were destroyed. As an aging population required more care, the National Health System was hollowed out to the verge of collapse. Tuition at many universities tripled as tax cuts helped the rich (Harvard Business Review, August 2019).

Smash the bosses’ racist attacks
In line with a long and disgraceful British tradition, Sunak's government will rely on racism to divide workers, scapegoat immigrants, and regain lost profits with more super-exploitation. The racist British legacy of imperialism and colonialism spans over four centuries and five continents. British imperialists pillaged and plundered their way from South Asia to Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean.

In particular, Britain is notorious for its virulent anti-Asian racism. After World War II, it deported hundreds of Chinese seamen who’d been recruited for the war effort, deeming them an “undesirable element” in British society. During the COVID pandemic, vicious attacks against Asians rose by 300 percent (Al Jazeera, April 2021). For nearly two centuries, Britain’s colonial bosses said they couldn't leave India because the people there could not rule themselves. Now, out of desperation for their failing system, they have turned to the son of Indian immigrants to bail them out.

As Boris Johnson's chancellor of the exchequer, Sunak backed the racist scheme to return refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda. He has reappointed hard-right racist Home Secretary Suella Braverman, another child of South Asian immigrants, who spearheaded the Rwanda plan.  In a sick statement, Braverman declared, “I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession (thenational.scot, 10/1). This disgusting callousness shows what’s in store for the working class, and why communist internationalism is vital for smashing racism.

Like Deporter-in-Chief Barack Obama and Top Cop Kamala Harris, Sunak has only one loyalty: to the capitalist bosses. Identity politics is a fatal trap. Workers have nothing in common with bosses who happen to look like them. They have only one true identity: as members of the international working class.

Liberals are the main danger
After the latest Tory debacle, it’s only a matter of time before the so-called Labour Party returns to power–more bad news for the working class. Like the Democratic Party in the U.S., British liberal bosses are the main danger. On the surface, they may seem to care about workers. But behind their mask of compassion lies a group of bosses who are eager to sacrifice workers to protect their dirty profits. Time and again, the Labour Party has proven itself to be a disgraceful, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, war-mongering cesspool.

In 2003, former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997-2007) joined George W. Bush in fabricating the weapons of mass destruction myth to justify the U.S./UK invasion of Iraq. Under Blair’s leadership, Britain’s prison population doubled despite a decline in crime. Countless workers struggling with the diseases of capitalism, including drug and mental health issues, were funneled into prison (Independent, July 2009). Now leading in the polls by more than 30 percent, Labour has been accused of ignoring reports of sexism and anti-Muslim and anti-Black racism by senior party members (Guardian, 10/2). These hypocritical liberals are poised to intensify Britain’s attacks on immigrant workers: “Labour’s pitch is not for open borders, but to make laws smarter and police the borders better” (New York Times, 10/26).
No capitalist politicians can serve our class interests. There is no “lesser evil” among the rapacious, murderous bosses. Only one party stands with and for the international working class: the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party. Workers must unite to overthrow the profit system that enslaves us. Join PLP! We have nothing to lose but our chains!J