Issue 52 of
Red Banner: a magazine of socialist ideas
is out now, €2 / £1.50 from bookshops or the address above. ... read full story / add a comment

Interesting and thought provoking post from the excellent zero hedge site making some interesting points about what being poor in the US entails and how the poor are hit disproportionately hard by the way our capitalist blood sucking institutions operate in today's society. Although the article is US centric, much of it also applies here in our society which has been largely colonised and diseased by american society and its "values" or lack therof ... read full story / add a comment

This year's bilderberg attendee list is now available. I see Michael Noonan is not attending this year. I guess he's served his purpose! ... read full story / add a comment

Now the US mercenaries try to silence rt.com. Full text at link.

RT.com was temporarily disabled Monday for just under five hours by a DDoS attack. It coincided with RT's reporting on the trial of Bradley Manning and massive anti-government protests in Turkey, with coverage continuing uninterrupted on Twitter. The attack, claimed by anti-WikiLeaks hacker group AntiLeaks, also came as RT celebrated its status as the first international news agency to reach one billion views on YouTube. ... read full story / add a comment

A seemingly minor issue to the Turkish government at least has sparked huge protests in Istanbul and in other cities in Turkey where plans to remove a city public park and replace it with a shopping mall has triggered in the space of 24 hours has triggered the protests. It seems everywhere people are fed up with the arrogance of politicians and their corrupt moneyed backers.

The Erdoğan government’s dictatorial approach to town planning has awakened a sleeping giant. In the space of 24 hours a simple protest over a park’s future has become a nationwide rebellion against authoritarian government, violent police and creeping Islamisation of a famously secular society. rabble’s men on the ground ... read full story / add a comment

Full text at link.

The following is an interview with Adel Omar, from the foreign bureau of the Syrian Communist Party-Bakdash. The interview was conducted following an international peace conference held in Istanbul and Antakya, Turkey, April 25-28 and was published in the May issue of the Communist Party of Turkey’s monthly publication. The translation from Turkish is by Liberation News.

Can you describe the position of the Syrian Communist Party toward the imperialist aggression against Syria?

First and foremost, as the Syrian Communist Party, we believe that the course of events in Syria is neither a revolution nor a civil war. It is very clear that what has been taking place in Syria has been in accordance with the imperialist plans. It is not possible for us to define a process where NATO has been involved as a revolution. Besides, it is not the case that different sectors of the people of Syria are fighting one another. On the contrary, our people are resisting the imperialist forces together.

It is true that the people of Syria have demands and needs that need to be met, but the way to achieve this is not through destroying everything that belongs to the state of Syria. At the moment, our country is under attack, and achieving unity among the people to defend our homeland is what needs to be done first. At this point, we think it is especially crucial for the government to respond to the demands and the needs of the people. In order to be able to establish a solid resistance front against the imperialist attack, we believe a top priority for the government is to provide for the basic needs of the people, including food and medicine. Only then can the struggle of the people against imperialism be unrelenting. ... read full story / add a comment

Well respected activist and contributor to indymedia was shot and injured by the Israeli military while filming a protest in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank in Palestine on good Friday. He is ok but sustained a nasty injury to his arm. ... read full story / add a comment

REINHART AND ROGOFF: " 'Full Stop,' We Made A Microsoft Excel Blunder In Our Debt Study, And It Makes A Difference." The oft quoted rationale for austerity measures by such people as Ollie Rehn and Tim Geitner turns out to be the result of an excel blunder by the authors ... read full story / add a comment

LASC, in partnership with the Colombian lawyers collective Equipo Juridico de los Pueblos, are launching a solidarity campaign with the internally displaced campesino community of Pitalito in Cesar, Colombia. ... read full story / add a comment

A lot of hype in the MSM lately about North Korea. These two clips from the RT show "breaking the set" with commentators from answercoalition.org give some much needed context and background from which to interpret the current media spin. Instead of a seemingly irrational belligerent nihilism, the North Korean statements in context, become more like a rational defensive response to a systematic aggressor bent on harming and undermining their country and it's tendency to socialism. You may find some of the facts that emerge about North Korea rather surprising. ... read full story / add a comment

Revisionists given a hammering by John Borgonovo . They are searching for an ouija board to contact Peter Hart for advice. Full text at link.

UCC historian John Borgonovo casts doubt on some claims made in the TV3 series ‘In The Name Of The Republic’
TV3’s TWO-PART documentary series, In the Name of the Republic has created a stir among historians, though perhaps not in the way the filmmakers intended. The programme illustrates the danger of accepting local folklore as historical fact, especially during this much-heralded “decade of centenaries”.

In the first episode, viewers met an aged Co Laois man who related his boyhood encounter with a neighbouring farmer, who claimed he had dug up a body while ploughing his field, one of three corpses supposedly buried there by the IRA. Series host Prof Eunan O’Halpin (of Trinity College Dublin) told the audience hisresearch had uncovered two civilians abducted by the Tipperary IRA and “never seen again”. The rest of the episode attempted to prove his theory that they were interred in this Laois field. The episode concluded with O’Halpin opening the sealed files, only to learn that both had survived the conflict. They were never killed by the IRA, much less secretly buried in Laois. The obvious lesson here is: Finish your research before you rent the JCB.

... read full story / add a comment

The US House of Representatives quietly passed a last-minute addition to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill for 2013 last week - including a provision protecting genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks. ... read full story / add a comment

The top US commander in Europe told a Senate hearing Tuesday that the US military and NATO are drawing up plans for direct military intervention in Syria.

Adm. James Stavridis, head of the Pentagon’s European Command, speaking at a hearing by the Senate Armed Service Committee, said that the US military is “looking at a variety of options” and is “prepared if called upon to be engaged.” ... read full story / add a comment

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. Ten years ago, the world watched the “shock and awe” bombing campaign light up the nighttime sky of Baghdad with billowing clouds of flame and smoke.

This campaign and the bloody ten years of occupation that followed had a devastating impact on what was once among the most advanced societies in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed and millions were made homeless.

The American military’s conduct of the war produced crimes of staggering dimensions. This included the turning of Fallujah, a city of 350,000 people, into a free-fire zone, the bombarding of its occupants with white phosphorus shells, banned by international law, and the summary execution of wounded prisoners. Ten years later, the rates of child cancer and birth defects in Fallujah are similar to those in Hiroshima following the US atomic bombing. ... read full story / add a comment

An appreciation of the work and legacy of Commandante Chavez by James Petras . Full text at link.

President Hugo Chavez was unique in multiple areas of political, social and economic life. He made significant contributions to the advancement of humanity. The depth, scope and popularity of his accomplishments mark President Chavez as the ‘Renaissance President of the 21st Century’.

Many writers have noted one or another of his historic contributions highlighting his anti-poverty legislation, his success in winning popular elections with resounding majorities and his promotion of universal free public education and health coverage for all Venezuelans.

In this essay we will highlight the unique world-historic contributions that President Chavez made in the spheres of political economy, ethics and international law and in redefining relations between political leaders and citizens. We shall start with his enduring contribution to the development of civic culture in Venezuela and beyond.

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Another analysis of the dangers posed by an FSA armed with chemical weapons and a timely reminder of the monster that is the Saudi Regime. Full text at link.

While Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was questioning the former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, during his Secretary of Defense nomination hearing, she mentioned chemical weapons and Syria. I think that the good Senator should be aware that the so-called Free Syrian Army is a real threat with their chemical weapons too. They have been backed by disreputable American allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are Wahhabi states that repress women, have terrible civil liberties, and no democratic rights whatsoever for their people. They are antediluvian states that are ripe for Arab Springs, and having genuine democracy sprout up in them. Saudi Arabia has invaded neighboring Bahrain, and continually worked to repress a grassroots democratic movement/revolution there as well. [1] ... read full story / add a comment

In the recent elections in Italy the new movement M5S led by the former Italian comedian Beppo Grillo has gained 108 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies and 54 in the Senate. It is hard to get an accurate picture of who he is and what he wants from the mainstream media since they see him as a challenge to the system and will gladly misrepresent him. In this article it reports on the account given at The Automatic Earth blog where Nicole Foss met Beppo Grillo in Italy and gives her view on him, his movement and what they are trying to achieve.

"The internet is central to Grillo's ideas. Not only as a tool to reach out to people, but even more as a way to conduct direct democracy. Because that is what he seeks to create: a system where people can participate directly. Grillo wants to bring (back) democracy, the real thing, and he's long since understood that the internet is a brilliant tool with which to achieve that goal." ... read full story / add a comment

Weekly Worker issue 950 - February 21 2013

Left organisation: Not another sinister sect
The way the left organises is a nonsense, argues Nick Wrack. This is an edited version of his speech at the February 9 ‘Socialist Organisation and Democracy’ event in Manchester

The nature of this onslaught against ordinary working class people, in this country and beyond, is forcing families, individuals, groups of friends - whether it is in the pub, the kitchen or around the TV when the news is on - to consider what they can do about the avalanche of attacks that is eroding everything they had come to expect in their life. ... read full story / add a comment

Black Bloc Batter & Burn Brotherhood. Islamists Offices in Flames. More hot news at link.

A new Egyptian opposition group has risen to the forefront, as the country marks the second anniversary of the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. The ‘Black Bloc’ is threatening Islamist authorities and sparking fears of a street war.

“This mysterious group appeared around the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution when they released a statement saying they would fight the Muslim brotherhood and strive for the goals of the revolution,” Cairo-based journalist Bel Trew told RT.

It’s around that time that the group developed a Facebook page, giving advice on street fighting. The Black Bloc has also taken responsibility for a number of acts of civil disobedience, such as stopping public transport and setting fire to some Muslim Brotherhood buildings.

... read full story / add a comment

Confusion reigns in Iran. The Iranian people have suffered from Imperialist sanctions but corruption and incompetence is rife amongst the ruling elite. The governor of Iran’s Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahman has been sacked for making improper withdrawals from client accounts. Yassamine Mather analyses the situation. Full text at link.

In Iran, presidential elections are looming, the economy is in freefall, the public hanging of small-time criminals is creating an atmosphere of terror, repression is worsening and workers are protesting throughout the country. There are unconfirmed reports of an explosion at the Fordo uranium enrichment plant and the infighting between factions of the regime is shown live on state-owned TV. Meanwhile, Israel has bombed a military facility in Syria, claiming it is used by Iranian Islamic guards, and civil war is breaking out in Iraq, Iran’s main Shia ally. Finally, the country’s aerospace agency has sent a monkey into space! All in all, as far as Iranians are concerned, it has been an eventful start to 2013. ... read full story / add a comment