Fight Back! interviewed Cristiano Mayta, a trade unionist in Peru on January 3 to learn more about the situation in Perú after the overthrow of democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo by an oligarchy-dominated Congress. There is a national strike called for January 4 amid violent repression. Fight Back!: What is your organization?

Cristiano Mayta: I am the international secretary of the union SINATREL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. I am also a member of an organization called Socialist Left of Peru (Izquierda Socialista Perú).

Fight Back!: From your perspective, what happened with President Castillo? Was it a pure overthrow or something more complicated?

Mayta: It was an overthrow of President Castillo by the Congress after he tried to dissolve the Congress who were going to vote for a third time for his removal. Castillo had consulted with the Ministers of Defense and Interior and was told the armed forces supported his constitutional right to dissolve a Congress that was clearly not acting in the best interests of the people. But the armed forces abandoned him, sold him out, and lied to him. No more than 20 minutes after President Castillo addressed the nation of his decision, the armed forces publicly stated they did not support the president’s decision. Then they moved to arrest him. So, despite what the media is saying about Castillo, it was clearly the Congress overthrowing the President.

Fight Back!: What has been the level of resistance since the overthrow? And who are the main groups involved?

Mayta: Since December 7, the people have risen up and there has been continued mobilizations all over the country but more highly concentrated in the south of the country. After violent repression from the military and police – some called it a massacre – that resulted in over two dozen dead and hundreds injured, something of a truce was called for the holidays. But not all agreed to this truce; in Puno, on the southern border with Bolivia, they remained firm with their protests, they continued blocking streets and the bridge for the international border.

Fight Back!: What are the demands of the groups involved in the national strike?

Mayta: On December 28, in our city of Arequipa, various social sectors and groups from ten or eleven regions nearby gathered to meet and agreed to retake the streets and continue mobilizations on January 4. This is something of our own congress of peoples gathered to agree to our demands and initiate an indefinite national strike. Here in the south of Perú, we are more active and militant because we don’t believe what is being said in the media, and in Lima.

Our demands are: first, renounce the usurper, Dina Boluarte from the presidency. Second, shut down the Congress and call for immediate elections as soon as possible. Third, a popular referendum to create a constitutional assembly, to elect a new popular assembly that will create a new constitution. Four, immediate release of President Castillo who was unjustly arrested and this is a grave abuse. We renounce the false accusations and usurpations of the constitution.

#Peru #Interviews #Coup

Frank Chapman, a longtime leader in the Black liberation movement and Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, talks about the upsurge against police crimes and the need for community control of the police.

Fight Back!: What are your observations about the rebellions and upsurge in the fight against police crimes?

Frank Chapman: The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression initiated this campaign against police crimes back in 1973 – over 46 years ago. We have never seen an uprising like this, that confirms in the dirt and blood of battle that what we need is community control of the police.

The rebellion is not necessarily raising that demand, but that’s ok. They are raising issues around it, like defund the police, putting regulation on police behavior, such as outlawing choke holds, and more generally prohibiting brutality. Community control of the police is the vehicle for achieving all of this.

Once we have passed legislation that empowers our people to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed then we can defund the police, we can demilitarize the police, and we can regulate the police. That’s what community control of the police does. And that’s what we can bring to this rebellion – it puts power into the hands of the people. A very important and very democratic demand, and this rebellion is bringing that demand forward like nothing that has happened in our history.

Fight Back!: What has the NAARPR been doing in the context of the upsurge?

Chapman: The main thing we’ve been doing is being in it, and I think that is so important. In fact, we called for a national day of protest before the rebellion really got underway. We called a national day of protest around the question of depopulating the prisons, the detention camps and the jails. Then when the rebellion got underway, we added demands for Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others who had been murdered by the police or vigilante groups.

Shortly after we put out that call for a national day of protest these murders became the headlines throughout the country and the world. On May 30, our national day of protest, with less than a week of organizing, we were able to bring into the streets in Chicago over 20,000 people, and over 100,000 nationally in 23 cities [Washington DC; Los Angeles; Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Pensacola, Florida; Chicago, Louisville, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Saint Louis, New York, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Dallas, Austin and Houston, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Milwaukee]. It was phenomenal. In Chicago, we had 4000 cars in a caravan.

We were paid back in great advances: on May 30, over 700 people joined our national organization, and with over $30,000 in contributions, and now we have over $60,000 for the National Alliance. And in this spontaneous protest movement, we have been bringing forward the demands for community control of the police.

Fight Back!: Some are calling for “defunding the police.” Why is the fight for community control of the police so important?

Chapman: As I said earlier, once we have community control of the police, we can defund them. It’s important who controls the process here. Defunding, controlled by the powers that be – the city councils and the mayors – is going to work the way that they work it, and the way that they have been working the whole question of police accountability. We don’t trust them. We want the people to be in charge of the process, and that’s what community control of the police does – it puts the people in charge so that the people are controlling the defunding of the police.

We’re not against defunding the police, but this is a slogan without a program right now. Once we bring it into conformity with community control of the police, then it becomes a slogan with a program. In Chicago we call it CPAC – an all elected, all Civilian Police Accountability Council. In other areas it may go by another name. What it all comes down to is giving the community the power to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.

#UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #FrankChapman #NAARPR

Fight Back! interviewed Andy Brooks, General Secretary of the New Communist Party of Britain, on the impact of the pandemic in Britain. Fight Back!: How are the working people of Britain being impacted by the pandemic?

Brooks: Well the pandemic is something no one in living memory has ever experienced. Thousands of workers, including many pensioners, have died due to the coronavirus. The emergency measures that were eventually taken in late March have now reduced the mortality rate. But many of those deaths could have been avoided if the Johnson government had taken emergency action when COVID-19 first spread to Britain at the beginning of the year.

Most schools and all “non-essential” shops have been closed for over two months, along with all sporting and social events under a lockdown regime not seen since the Second World War.

The government’s emergency measures to stave off social unrest were taken in consultation with the unions as well as Labour and the other opposition parties in Parliament. These included the suspension of business rates for small firms, extending sick pay and increased NHS [National Health Service] funding and providing subsidies for furloughed workers and the self-employed. But they only went part of the way to tackling the escalating threat of a devastating epidemic that has stretched the health service to its limits and seriously undermined the economy at the same time.

Workers have responded cautiously to the easing of some of the restrictions in June. Boris Johnson’s decision to shelve the plan to get primary school pupils back into the classroom before the summer break was welcomed by parents and teachers fearful of a premature return that could trigger off a second wave of the coronavirus plague, particularly given the government’s failure to get an adequate track and test system running and still no sign of a COVID-19 vaccine in sight.

Fight Back!: Are the big factories and large workplaces still functioning? If so, how are workers resisting?

Brooks: Manufacturers were exempted from the UK coronavirus clampdown on “non-essential” work, travel and gatherings. Staff were encouraged to work from home in large parts of the financial sector but in other areas the imposition of social distancing has led to massive cuts in their services.

The social restrictions, which banned all meetings of more than two people, has paralyzed the unions at the grassroots level. Many national union elections have been deferred for a year and all union conferences have been postponed until September at the earliest. The union bureaucracies, of course, continue to function and at a national level; they continue to negotiate with employers while lobbying the Labour Party leadership and the government in the usual way. But the rank and file have not been completely side-lined. While health service workers’ demands for personal protective equipment have still to be adequately met, transport and postal workers have had more success by threatening or taking wildcat action to enforce health and safety demands.

The actions of some Royal Mail depot managers, [which were] indifferent to the government’s emergency health and safety regulations, led to worker walkouts in a number of sorting offices in April that forced management to deep clean the sites and enforce the two metre spacing guidelines.

In London at least 33 London bus drivers have died from COVID-19 and a further ten underground and railway staff have also fallen to the deadly infection. In the absence of any serious response from management, many drivers began taping off the front of their buses to avoid close contact with passengers. This forced Transport for London to suspend all bus fares on April 20 when passengers were banned from using the front door in a bid to shield drivers because the emergency measure meant the card reader next to the driver's cab was out of bounds.

Now we’re seeing workers, particularly young workers, taking to the street in support of the new Black Lives Matter campaign that erupted over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. When they pulled down the statue of the Bristol slave dealer Edward Colston and dumped it in the river last week they sent a message to the ruling class that goes far beyond the issue of the trans-Atlantic slave trade which built the British Empire in the first place.

Fight Back!: How does your organization view the government's response to the pandemic?

Brooks: The Tory government’s response has been evasive and ambiguous. It’s led by Boris Johnson, a vain man clearly unfit to hold public office even by the low standards of the Tory Party he leads. Initially Boris Johnson’s plan for dealing with the coronavirus plague was to let the infection sweep through the population to keep people working to protect the capitalist economy, while accepting that tens of thousands of vulnerable elderly people would die prematurely as a consequence. But Johnson was forced to abandon the “herd immunity” ideas of his Rasputin, Dominic Cummings, which would have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable pensioners, through public pressure that included doctors and pensioners’ groups.

Government figures say that some 41,000 people have died, so far, from coronavirus. Others say the real death toll, when all the deaths in care homes are factored in, is much, much higher. What is certain is that Britain has the highest death rate in the whole of Europe. The easing of the lockdown has led to a surge in the numbers returning to work in central London. Trains and buses are, once again, packed in the rush hours, firing fears that a new round of infection will spread like wildfire across the capital.

Fight Back!: What is the New Communist Party doing in response to this crisis?

Brooks: Our regular fund-raising events have been cancelled. We cannot hold public meetings. Our bookshop outlets are closed and our street sales have been suspended. This has produced a cash-flow problem, but our supporters have responded to the call and our weekly paper continues to come out, as it always has since 1977, for regular subscribers who receive it in the post.

As soon as we can, we will return to campaigning on the street. In the meantime, we fight to put the communist answer to the capitalist crisis back on the working-class agenda in the columns of our paper and in the social media. We stand for Marxism-Leninism. We fight for peace and socialism, solidarity with Venezuela and national liberation movements all around the world and the people’s democracies of China, Cuba, Democratic Korea, Laos and Vietnam. We’ve got plenty to say and everything we’ve said in the past has been proved right.

Our paper represents the voice of struggle in all its forms. It gives a clear communist line on the issues of the day, a Marxist-Leninist analysis of the problems facing the working class and it provides a window to the world communist movement and the national liberation movement; the bigger the readership, the greater our influence. This is our paramount task.

#Britain #International #CapitalismAndEconomy #Opinion #Europe #Healthcare #Interviews #Socialism #COVID19 #NewCommunistPartyOfBritain #UnitedKingdom

Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that all of our readers to support this important effort.

Fight Back!: How has the pandemic impacted Palestinian political prisoners?

Charlotte Kates: One of the major concerns has been the fact that Palestinian prisoners are essentially cut off from the outside world. Israel claims that its ban on family visits and legal visits are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they are also doing everything possible to avoid providing alternative options for the prisoners, including the over 180 Palestinian child prisoners, such as phone calls.

There are strict conditions over which prisoners can have a video or phone call with a lawyer and there is no protection for the privacy of such calls. These isolation protocols are also not being applied for Israeli guards, jailers and interrogators. Palestinians are still being arrested on a daily basis in violent night raids and even once imprisoned, they are continuing to face repressive units ransacking their rooms. After weeks of protest, including returning meals, Israeli guards are finally counting prisoners outside the cells and wearing masks on at least some occasions, but these are insufficient protection for the prisoners.

One prisoner, Noureddine Sarsour, was discovered to have COVID-19 after his release. The Israel Prison Service is not providing testing nor even appropriate quarantine protocols. People are being ‘quarantined’ in filthy isolation cells. In the meantime, sanitary products and other items have been removed from the canteen, or prison store, where Palestinian prisoners are forced to purchase basic items. Again after prisoners' organized protest, some of the main halls are being cleaned, but still insufficiently, and prisoners are continuing to organize and protest. All of this is amid a context of clear Israeli medical negligence that has taken the lives of at least 67 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the knowledge-lockdown for the families of the prisoners.

If COVID-19 spreads within the prison from Israeli guards and jailers who continue to interact with society, the prisoners will be most at risk of swift transmission. They are held eight to a room, and many are elderly or have other serious medical conditions. This is why it is once again incredibly important to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, especially the elderly, children, sick prisoners, women prisoners and those held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Fight Back!: The Israelis are holding a number of high-profile political prisoners, such Ahmad Sa’adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). What can you say about their condition?

Kates: In many ways, these high-profile political prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat share the tribulations of their fellow 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are also denied family visits, legal communication and access to basic protective measures and appropriate health care. It is important to note that the repressive mechanisms being justified here as an attempt to prevent the entry of COVID-19 into the prison system are also the sort of repressive measures that have been recommended and developed by the racist, colonial Israeli political structure as well.

The so-called ‘Erdan commission,’ headed by Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, recommended doing everything possible to make prisoners' lives worse in an attempt to roll back basic rights that were won only through struggle by the prisoners, such as hunger strikes. Family visits are continually used as a weapon against the prisoners, and the prison administration has dragged its feet relentlessly on installing the public phones it agreed to install in order to end the 2019 mass hunger strike.

Gilad Erdan is, of course, not just one right-wing politician but reflective of the entire Zionist mechanism of racist repression and control. It is worthwhile to note, however, that he simultaneously holds another position in Netanyahu's government. He is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the so-called ‘anti-BDS ministry’ that is attempting to smear, criminalize and harass Palestinian human rights defenders and organizations as well as Palestine solidarity groups around the world, especially those that work on the prisoners. He and the Israeli state he represents are attempting to impose the ‘terror’ label on support for Palestine and Palestinian liberation in the United States and Europe. This is another attempt to isolate the prisoners, especially those like Ahmad Sa'adat, who continue to play a leading political role and reminds us of how important it is to keep up the advocacy for Palestinian prisoners around the world.

Fight Back!: Would you comment on the case of Georges Abdallah and the fight to free him?

Kates: Palestinian prisoners are not only found in Israeli occupation prisons. Much like imperialist powers like the U.S. and France are fully complicit in the oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people as a whole, this also extends to the imprisonment of Palestinians and strugglers for Palestine. In the U.S., we see the case of the Holy Land Five, Palestinian charity workers sentenced up to 65 years for their work.

In France, there is the case of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine who has been held in French prisons for 35 years. He has been eligible for release since 1999 after being convicted of involvement in an armed action conducted by Lebanese resistance groups against U.S. and Israeli officials. His entire trial was marked by severe irregularities, and his lawyer was actually a spy for French intelligence. Even the French judiciary has agreed to release him to Lebanon on several occasions, and the U.S. has played a key role in keeping him behind bars. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's released emails showed her contacting the French government to pressure them to override the judiciary and keep Georges imprisoned.

There is a growing movement in France and in Lebanon to demand his immediate release, but it is also important to publicize his case in the United States, given its role in depriving him of his freedom. Further, Georges is also a leader behind bars and actively participates as part of the Palestinian prisoners' movement. He returns food along with Palestinian collective hunger strikes and has organized Basque and Arab fellow prisoners to do the same, and Palestinian prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat have expressed their commitment that Georges' freedom is also critical to them.

Fight Back!: Can you say a few words on the importance of the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners and how our readers can participate in this fight?

Kates: The Palestinian prisoners are locked up because Israel wants to isolate them from their communities, their people, the international and Arab movements and the world. They are true leaders of the Palestinian people and represent ongoing Palestinian resistance; this is why they face such severe attacks by Zionist colonialism. They have been violently ripped away from their people because they offer a vision and a commitment to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. And, of course, the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners is an internationalist one. The fight to free the Palestinian prisoners comes hand in hand with that against the racist U.S. prison system, with fights for justice for the political prisoners of Egypt, the Philippines, Colombia, Turkey, India and elsewhere.

There are amazing organizations in Palestine and internationally working to free the prisoners. For example, Addameer provides legal support to Palestinian prisoners and their families inside occupied Palestine. Many Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity groups are working together on initiatives that recognize the connection between struggles against racism in the U.S. and in Palestine, including resisting the systems of mass incarceration targeting peoples and communities.

As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we are an international network of activists and organizers working to build the movement to free the prisoners and to free Palestine from the river to the sea by building internationalist solidarity, organizing demonstrations, call-ins and other actions, amplifying the voices of the Palestinian prisoners' movement and working to expand boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns to isolate Israel at an international level. We invite people to get involved and work together with us; you can find out more at our website, samidoun.net.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #Opinion #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #COVID19

Fight Back! interviewed Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Organizational Secretary Tom Burke, who led the FRSO labor delegation to Venezuela on March 8.

Francisco Torrealba, president of the Venezuelan Transport Workers Federation, elected Venezuelan National Assembly member, and important leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) invited Burke and four Teamsters to see for themselves the changes happening in Venezuela.

Fight Back!: Why did President Trump order U.S. Navy ships to patrol near Venezuela?

Tom Burke: It is a military provocation by the U.S., and it is dangerous. President Trump is growing desperate because the U.S. dirty tricks against Venezuela are failing. I was in Caracas a year ago on April 30 when Trump and Bolton tried a military coup against President Maduro. It failed miserably. We saw a group of rich women waving flags on a corner that morning, and later we saw bullet holes and chunks of concrete on the bridge near La Carlota airport where the coup fizzled.

The next day, on May 1 we witnessed over one million people, workers and unions, community groups, youth and women marching in support of President Maduro on International Workers Day. It was incredible to see. President Maduro is hugely popular, and people clearly admire his tenacity and courage. Maduro and the PSUV are leading the masses of people in building a new society.

Fight Back!: So why send the U.S. Navy during the coronavirus crisis?

Burke: Because it is criminal! There is a worldwide health crisis, people are living in fear, and Trump is making war threats. In sharp contrast, China sends medical supplies and reportedly discusses new loans. Cuba has 30,000 doctors, nurses and health professionals working side by side with Venezuelan colleagues, going door-to-door checking on people for the virus. The thousands of new clinics run with Cuban aid provide free and ongoing health care in a systematic way. For millions of Venezuelan people this type of health care never existed before. I have to say, solidarity will always defeat war and empire.

Fight Back!: Do you think the U.S. will go to war or perhaps launch military attacks?

Burke: Secretary of State Pompeo seems stupid enough to trigger a war that nobody wants, but the U.S. would be foolish to invade Venezuela. For 20 years now the National Armed Forces of Venezuela have supported the Bolivarian Revolution and its pro-people policies. The National Armed Forces are loyal and patriotic, respect democracy and the will of the people. Their generals down to their privates have a real spirit of serving the people. For the most part, those who are traitors exposed themselves already during the U.S.-backed coup attempts or in other ways, and have fled to Miami or Spain, or live in shame in Colombia.

Let me say, from what we saw on March 10 at a mass march in Caracas with over 600,000 people, I hope the U.S. does not try to invade Venezuela. There is a huge National Bolivarian Militia with over one million members trained to defend their country. They are like the Minutemen of the American Revolution; only lots of them are women. Venezuelans have taken their country back. They are ready to fight.

Venezuela is already under attack in many ways. The U.S. is hostile towards Venezuela’s leaders because they are independent and building a society where meeting people’s needs come first. Already a drone attack attempted to assassinate President Maduro and it injured seven Venezuelan soldiers on parade. It would be foolish to think the U.S. had no role in that. The U.S. threats are non-stop, the most recent being a $15 million bounty on President Maduro on fake charges.

I worry the U.S. could target Venezuela leaders with missile and drone attacks like they do to leaders in Middle East and African countries. These violent acts by the U.S. make solidarity trips all the more important.

Fight Back!: What about U.S. sanctions on Venezuela?

Burke: There is tremendous resistance to the U.S. sanctions in Venezuela. People understand who their friends and who their enemies are. Most people hate Trump and love Maduro, the same way they loved Chavez before. In my experience, even the wealthier people who want to oust Maduro, they despise Trump.

On March 9 we met with human rights lawyers and officials from SURES who explained how sanctions harm the people and the economy. Everywhere we went during the week, people welcomed us, but also told us how the sanctions make life difficult. Doctors described not obtaining drugs for diabetes or asthma, and postal union members could not get replacement parts for their delivery trucks.

We also visited two factories; one called Canaima making laptops, and the other factory printing notebooks, journals and maps for schools. We toured the assembly and production lines and watched workers fulfill the dreams of 6 million children who receive their products free of charge. In factories, the workers and management work closely together to overcome, or work around the problems created by sanctions.

Fight Back!: What can we do as anti-war and international solidarity activists here at home?

Burke: Well given the COVID-19 crisis, we can educate people about the benefits of the Bolivarian Revolution. For example, over 3 million new apartments and houses are complete, replacing shantytowns. We saw construction cranes operating all over the city of Caracas.

In terms of education, all children now attend public grade school and high school, with millions learning to play instruments in a unique orchestra program. There are 13 new universities and many young people are the first in their families to attend.

The CLAP food program delivers staples and necessities to the vast majority of homes, so hunger no longer haunts poor people as it did for generations. You can fill your gas tank for less than 50 cents. Rent, water, cooking oil, gas and public transport are so affordable, or free, that people rarely speak about it. For the vast majority, for the working people, life is good with the Bolivarian Revolution.

We need to oppose the U.S sanctions, started by President Obama and expanded by President Trump. We need the U.S. Navy to return to port and to focus our country on fighting the coronavirus. We also need to oppose the ridiculous $15 million bounty the U.S. placed on President Maduro. It is outrageous!

The Venezuelan people are our friends and the Bolivarian Revolution is something for us to learn from and support. One day perhaps the U.S. can have a “Worker President” like President Maduro.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #Antifascism #DonaldTrump

In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from Venezuela and from several other countries. In this interview, Ender Sabalsa, a leader of the youth sector and the Afro-descendent sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), gives his message to the people of the United States. Ender Sabalsa: Revolutionary greetings to everyone reading this and to all the peoples of the world. My name is Ender Sabalsa. I’m a member of the youth sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). I’m also in the Afro-descendent sector and the social movements that are supporting the progressive governments here in Latin America and especially the elected government of our constitutional president Nicolas Maduro Moros.

I’d like to remind people in the U.S. that we are not against the people there, we are against the U.S. government – President Trump and the Trump administration – which has done so much damage in Latin America and in the world in general, which doesn’t recognize our governments’ policies, our self-determination, our international rights, and above all doesn’t recognize what great damage capitalism does to nature and to life on our planet.

I’d like to send a fraternal greeting to all the peoples of the world and especially the people of North America asking for you to support the liberation of the peoples of the world, to support democracy, to support social justice, to support a state based on laws. To all revolutionaries in the United States and in all fraternal countries, we ask you to support the government of our president, Nicolas Maduro Moros, and above all the Bolivarian revolution.

Fight Back!: Do young people and Afro-descendants play an important role in the Bolivarian revolution?

Sabalsa: Young people have a fundamental role in all revolutionary processes. Throughout history in all revolutionary processes, young people are one of the pillars because young people have that rejuvenating spirit, a desire to advance and build the future – of course young people together with people with more experience. And throughout the American continent, Afro-descendent people are also carrying out their revolution. Here we are waking up and we’re seeing that we are part of Africa. We no longer feel like immigrants that at some point in time, like a diaspora that was born because of the trade in Black people, this diaspora born of the slave system. Now we feel like we’re part of Africa and we’re profoundly tied to our roots both in Africa and in the indigenous peoples here.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #JuventudPSUV

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de Venezuela y de varios otros países. Esta es una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa, un líder de la Juventud PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela) y del sector afrodescendiente en que él comparte un mensaje al pueblo de los Estados Unidos. Ender: Un saludo revolucionario a todos los que nos están viendo y a todos los pueblos del mundo. Mi nombre es Ender Sabalsa, milito en la juventud del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, del sector afrodescendiente y de los movimientos sociales que están apoyando a los gobiernos progresistas de acá de América Latina y especialmente del gobierno electo y nuestro presidente constitucional Nicolás Maduro Moros. Quiero recordarles al pueblo estadounidense que nosotros no estamos en contra del pueblo norteamericano, estamos en contra del gobierno de Estados Unidos, el presidente Trump, la administración Trump que ha hecho tanto daño en América Latina y en el mundo en general, que no reconoce las políticas de los gobiernos, no reconoce la autodeterminación de los pueblos, no reconoce el derecho internacional, y sobre todo no reconoce el daño tan grande que le hace el capitalismo a la naturaleza, lo que le hace el capitalismo a la vida de nuestro planeta.

Yo quiero mandarle un fraterno saludo a todos los pueblos del mundo y en especial al pueblo norteamericano que apoya la liberación de los pueblos del mundo, apoya la democracia, apoya la justicia social, apoya el estado de derecho. A todos aquellos revolucionarios en Estados Unidos y en todos los países hermanos, que apoyan el gobierno de nuestro presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros y sobre todo la revolución bolivariana. Muchas gracias.

Lucha y Resiste: La juventud y los afrodescendientes tienen un papel importante en la revolución bolivariana?

Ender: La juventud ocupa un papel primordial en todos los procesos revolucionarios. A lo largo de la historia en todos los procesos revolucionarios la juventud es uno de los pilares porque la juventud tiene ese rejuvenecimiento, esas ganas de salir adelante y de construir el futuro, claro, la juventud, juntos con la experiencia. Y acá en todo lo que es el continente americano, los pueblos afrodescendientes están también haciendo su revolución. Acá nosotros estamos despertando y estamos viendo que nosotros somos parte de África, ya no nos sentimos como los migrantes que en algún momento...esa diáspora que se dio por la trata negrera, esa diáspora que se yo por el sistema esclavista, si no que ya nos sentimos como parte de África, y estamos arraigados profundamente a nuestras raíces, las raíces tanto en África como acá en nuestros pueblos originarios.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #EncuentroMundialAntiimperialista #JuventudPSUV

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de varios países. Esta es una entrevista con una lideresa del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) y una miembro(a) de la UNEN – la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua. Este es su mensaje al pueblo trabajador y progresista de los Estados Unidos. Rosalía Bohórquez: Mi nombre es Rosalía Bohórquez, nicaragüense y miembro del Frente Sandinista para la Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Igualmente soy estudiante y miembro de la UNEN – Unión Nacional de Estudiantes de Nicaragua.

Nos encontramos acá en Venezuela en este encuentro antiimperialista. Quisiéramos hacer un llamado al pueblo estadounidense a decirles no a las mentiras, a decirles no a la 'fake news' de la manipulación mediática del poder hegemónico. Sabemos muy bien que el poder hegemónico tiene el poder económico, las transnacionales quienes manejan definitivamente las mentiras que atacan a Venezuela, que atacan a Nicaragua, que atacan a Cuba.

Mi mayor llamado al pueblo estadounidense es que se unan a esa batalla comunicacional y sobre todo a que hagan una campaña de solidaridad permanente con nosotros, los pueblos agredidos de nuestra América.

En Nicaragua hemos logrado romper ese cerco mediático muchas veces, porque hemos logrado decir la verdad. La verdad es que Nicaragua tiene progreso. Nicaragua accede los estudiantes a la educación gratuita y de cualidad. Hemos ido avanzando en senda de desarrollo y también nosotros accedemos a la salud pública y gratuita. Accedemos a bonos productivos. El protagonismo de las mujeres que hemos logrado.

Nicaragua, de ser uno de los países más pobres de Latinoamérica es ahora uno de los países que tiene la mejor economía de Centroamérica después de Panamá.

Sin embargo, a pesar de que quisieron destruir nuestra economía en el año 2018 con este intento de golpe del estado, no lo lograron. Por que nosotros los nicaragüenses estamos dispuestos a luchar y a combatir la pobreza, que es el mal que nos han aplicado los gobiernos neoliberales financiado por el imperialismo yanqui.

Nosotros como nicaragüenses iremos hacia el sol de la victoria como nos dijo Sandino.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #FrenteSandinistaDeLiberaciónNacionalFSLN #UniónNacionalDeEstudiantesDeNicaraguaUNEN

In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from several countries. Here’s an interview with a leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and a member of the National Union of Nicaraguan Students (UNEN), Rosalía Bohórquez. Bohórquez delivers a message to working people and progressive people in the United States. Rosalía Bohórquez: My name is Rosalía Bohórquez. I'm Nicaraguan and a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). I'm also a student and a member of the National Union of Nicaraguan Students (UNEN).

We're here in Venezuela at this anti-imperialist gathering, and we'd like to call on the people of the United States to say no to the lies and to say no to the fake news of the hegemonic power’s media manipulations. We know very well that the hegemonic power has the economic power – the transnationals that clearly are behind the lies that attack Venezuela, that attack Nicaragua and that attack Cuba.

The biggest thing I’d say to the people of the United States is that they join in this struggle, and above all that they engage in an ongoing solidarity campaign with us, the peoples of our America who have been victimized.

In Nicaragua we've managed to break through the media obstacles many times because we speak the truth. The truth is that Nicaragua is progressing. Nicaragua gives students free quality education. We've made advances in development and we also have free public health care. We have production surpluses. We've achieved women's empowerment.

Although Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, it more has one of the strongest economies in Central America after Panama, even though they tried to destroy our economy in 2018 with an attempted coup d’état which didn't succeed.

Because we as Nicaraguans are willing to struggle and willing to combat the poverty that neoliberal governments have imposed on us, financed by the Yankee imperialists.

As Nicaraguans, we will keep moving forward until we win, like Sandino taught us.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #Nicaragua #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #SandinistaNationalLiberationFrontFSLN #NationalUnionOfNicaraguanStudentsUNEN

There are many 50-year anniversaries being celebrated these days, including the founding of the Young Lords on September 23, 1968, and the Rainbow Coalition in April 1969.

Fight Back! interviewed the founder of the Young Lords, Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez, about the original Rainbow Coalition. The powers ruling Chicago were struck with fear when the Rainbow Coalition came together. The United States government and the FBI repressed the groups of the Rainbow Coalition with the courts and violence in the form of COINTELPRO, the counter-intelligence program. The Rainbow Coalition inspired many activists in the late 1960s and continues to hold lessons for today.

Fight Back!: How did the Rainbow Coalition come together?

Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez: In late 1968, Chairman Fred Hampton and I, the Black Panthers and Young Lords, were already working together on building Black and Brown Unity. We were working on a Black Active and Determined (B.A.D.) conference with Danny Underwood and Marion Stamps, at the Cabrini Green housing projects and the Olivet Church. The Young Lords had recently arrived back from Puerto Rico and from a trip to Denver, Colorado where we had established contact with Corky Gonzalez and other Chicano movement leaders. It was September 1968 and we were working out of the offices of the Concerned Citizens of Lincoln Park at 2512 North Lincoln, a church organization of mostly white pastors assisting the poor and opposed to urban renewal. Reverend Bruce and Eugenia Ransier Johnson, Pat Devine and Reverend James Reed were all part of this Northside Cooperative Ministry.

Around the same time, the Young Lords were also connected with the Latin American Defense Organization (LADO). It was primarily a Puerto Rican group led by Mexican national, Obed Lopez. They were forming a Wicker Park/Humboldt Park welfare rights union. It was well supported and became connected to several West Town groups like SAAC, MIO, PACA, PSP, and the West Town Concerned Citizens Coalition. Today’s Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center was also part of that grouping, centered on the Wicker Park Welfare office at North Ave. and Milwaukee.

In February of 1969 LADO asked me to bring the Young Lords to support their picket line. The Young Lords came in large numbers and we also brought along Chairman Fred Hampton and other members of the Black Panther Party.

We arrived at the picket line and were there no longer than 15 minutes when the police rounded up Chairman Fred Hampton, Obed Lopez, and I. The three of us were placed into the paddy wagon and hauled to the 13th District Police Station. We were charged with mob action. Mary Lou Porrata of the West Town Concerned Citizens Coalition and a few other Latina women were also detained and later released. The same situation occurred a couple of weeks later at the same location with Chairman Fred, Obed, and I. All three of us were arrested once again and charged with mob action in the same month of February 1969. This history is well documented in the LADO, Concerned Citizens and Young Lords newspaper collections at De Paul University and at Grand Valley State University special collections: www. gvsu.edu/younglords

Two months later in April, at the street corner of Armitage and Dayton, Chairman Fred Hampton and I were talking about police repression of our groups and the then political climate of fascism. He asked me if I or the Young Lords would object to being part of a coalition of forces for all of our protection. He said that the Black Panther Party was working with a new group on the Northside called the Young Patriots whose leader was William “Preacherman” Fesperman.

I made it clear we had no issues and agreed on the spot. Puerto Ricans had lived next to the hillbilly community at the “La Clark” neighborhood in the 1950s. There was also the Oasis Restaurant hangout at Webster and Bissell, and then a hillbilly gang called “The Rebels,” whose leader was a Puerto Rican, at a diner on Lincoln and Sheffield in Lincoln Park.

Within days all three groups were visiting each other and hanging out. Since the Rainbow Coalition became a response to Mayor Daley and the possible vehicle to stop the rioting, our first task as a coalition was to promote the announcement in a series of press conferences at various media outlets and various parts of the city. That was not a problem, as everybody wanted to be on the TV.

Fight Back!: What were the times like which brought you together?

Jimenez: The year before in 1968 was the Democratic Convention and the Black West Side, South Side and pockets of the North Side of Chicago had erupted into riots over the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Now, in April of 1969, once again there were strong signs that these same neighborhoods were going to again erupt. The Uptown neighborhood was turning into a decaying area and the new skid row. Puerto Ricans in Chicago had also rioted several times, and they now were the predominant force in the North Side’s Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods. Reporters had also been bloodied while they covered the hippies being beaten, and now a militant wing of the SDS, the Weather Underground was preparing to wear plastic helmets and use baseball bats to duel it out with the Chicago Police in the Days of Rage.

Still what Mayor Daley feared most was the united front led by Chairman Fred Hampton and the Rainbow Coalition. In fact, Hampton publicly referred to the proposed dueling of the Days of Rage as suicidal and “Custeristic” naming it after General Custer’s last stand. Hampton added that it would lead to unnecessary mass arrests. Our few attorneys would be diverted from the many Young Lords and Black Panther repressive court cases, and this would set the movement back years. Fred Hampton proposed working instead for a disciplined armed revolution and a classless society.

There was democratic discussion taking place among the New Left, which was healthy, but a clear division took place in October 1969 between the downtown Days of Rage event and the already planned Young Lords demonstration to be held within the Puerto Rican Community to honor Don Pedro Albizu Campos and the movement for self-determination of Puerto Rico.

Chairman Fred Hampton asked me if the Young Lords could accommodate the SDS revolutionary marchers from out of town as part of our Puerto Rico demonstration. Of course, I agreed since a contingent of our East Coast Young Lords were also coming and would be among them. This would also expand the march, having greater impact in the neighborhood. It became a counter event to the Days of Rage downtown, but the press focused more on the dueling between the police and the SDS and Weather Underground. During this same period, was when Chairman Fred Hampton took to the airways and expounded on the need to organize the people for a people’s revolution. Eventually we all were reunited but it showed the power of the FBI’s COINTELPRO infiltration and the U.S. government’s re-direction of the movement’s goals, along with “divide and conquer” tactics. It was not just COINTELPRO that helped to destroy the movement, it was members of our movement themselves, those who spread rumors, and put their personal opportunist interests above the people’s interests.

Fight Back!: What were the demands?

Jimenez: One of the questions, which Chairman Fred Hampton repeated and demanded that mother country radicals ask themselves, was, “How can you go all the way to Vietnam without first going through the West Side of Chicago?” Mother country radicals sought to become internationalists without doing the day-to-day work needed to win victory in our local ghettos and barrios. It is impossible to make revolutionary change without the people. Yet the New Left wanted instant gratification instead of canvassing door to door, or a step-by-step process. The New Left wanted to make change for the people, when self-determination meant making change together, with them.

Chairman Fred Hampton also said that our work was not like a theater. White activists must not just be entertained, by Black, Puerto Rican and other oppressed nationalities, but must also organize within their own communities to fight against racism. They must attack white chauvinism and stop promoting patronizing individualism. Black people should organize within the African American communities. Red, Yellow and Brown people should also organize in their own respective communities. It is not just about being inclusive and respecting each other’s diversity, but it is about making revolutionary change. This is also because each struggle is in its own point or process of development. There is no even template. We must take a look first at, “Time, place and conditions within each community” to determine how we can come together. That is why we tolerated the Young Patriots using the symbol of the Confederate flag.

Fight Back!: How did the Rainbow Coalition view Mayor Daley of Chicago? How about the U.S. President, Johnson?

Jimenez: He was the enemy. A revolution has friends and enemies, and Chairman Fred clarified this. How else can you battle and either lose or win if there are not two clear opposing sides: the red and the blue; the people and the enemy. The Rainbow Coalition officially began in April of 1969 and within 30 days, in May of 1969 Mayor Richard J. Daley, alongside his protégé States Attorney Edward Hanrahan, organized the Mayor’s political cabinet into a special committee to declare a “War on Gangs.”

President Johnson, the FBI’s COINTELPRO and Mayor Richard J. Daley were all clear on, “Who were their friends and who were their enemies?” Who were their opposing targets. To make it appear authentic, Mayor Richard J. Daley and Edward Hanrahan immediately attacked the street youth leaders of the Disciples, Black Stone Rangers and Vice Lords; arresting them and racking up multiple charges. Jeff Fort had about 19 pending felony cases. I had 18, Obed Lopez had nine, and Chairman Fred Hampton also had nine. There were others as well. This was an effort to criminalize without legal cause; to bankrupt our finances, harass us and put us away for life.

Today we know that the clear intended targets were not these street organizations but the political groups whom the political machine feared and whom Daley and Hanrahan labeled terrorist gangs: the Rainbow Coalition. It is true that by September the street youth leaders like Vice Lord Gore was behind bars, but it was also true that on September 29, 1969 UMC Pastor Bruce and Eugenia Ransier Johnson were discovered murdered, each stabbed multiple times at their parsonage home. It is true that two months later, on December 4, 1969, State’s Attorney Hanrahan took a personal police task force to assassinate Chairman Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in their home. The patronage machine and Mayor Richard J. Daley was the clear Father of Gentrification in Chicago which displaced thousands of poor from the city. Police brutality became part of the fabric of Chicago and the Rainbow Coalition was organized to build a People’s Army to fight against it.

Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata said that the basis of all revolutions is land. The Young Lords studied the modern-day land question and began to comprehend today’s city hall plan to privatize public housing and to force the poor away from downtown and the lakefront. These were prime real estate areas where all our barrios were built. So, we were not poor by choice. We were robbed.

The Rainbow Coalition was more than just a gang of activists or folks trying to gain one or two small victories. Demands are for battles. What we wanted was revolutionary change. Each of our groups were already small revolutionary armies connected to the people’s struggle and trying to create a People’s Army to win the battle. We were lumpen proletariat, peasants from the countryside, or urban and factory industrial workers. It is why Chairman Fred Hampton’s quote stands out, “I am so proletarian intoxicated that I cannot be astronomically intimidated.” Ours was never a middle class liberal revolution, but a true grassroots people’s revolution.

If you can comprehend this, you can visualize the type of loose yet disciplined alliance that dignified and respected the empowerment of each community and their cultures. Our goals were clear, simple and known to all.

Ho Chi Minh once said that the revolution was just a job like washing dishes. The survival programs were not reformist, but structures created to provide services while constructing the new world. They were not candy to be donated or given away but part of a planned attack to bring awareness and heightened contradictions. We were exposing the city for not providing food, health and other social services. We are never a non-for profit but revolutionaries.

Fight Back!: What are the big lessons from the Rainbow Coalition?

Jimenez: We must start from within and fight racism.

We must be clear on who are our enemies and who are our friends so that we can unite with the many to defeat the few.

Ours is not about individuals but a people’s struggle led by the common folk.

Ours is a protracted struggle that will take years and we must prepare ourselves for the long run via structured community programs specific to the revolution.

We stand for Puerto Rico, all Latin American nations and oppressed nations of the world, against colonialisms and for self-determination and neighborhood empowerment.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PuertoRico #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #YoungLordsParty #JoseChaChaJimenez #RainbowCoalition

Fight Back! interviewed Jose Maria Sison, the founding Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, August 18, in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The interview was conducted by Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly, who is also responsible for the international work of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

Fight Back!: What has the Duterte regime meant for the people of the Philippines?

Jose Maria Sison: Well, the Duterte regime is seen as a tyrannical, corrupt and overspending kind of government. What now outrages the people most is not so much Duterte calling God ‘stupid,’ but it's a more mundane thing, like the rising prices. The soaring prices of basic commodities and services have come about because of the increase of the tax burden at the expense of the consumers. There is tax cut-backs for the big bourgeoisie and other exploiters, but the taxes in the form of excise taxes, which is put into the price of commodities, so it's something inescapable – and this causes inflation. The inflation rate is going up.

Then of course, people are already cognizant of the fact that Duterte is simply killing the poor people in this war on drugs, in order to intimidate the people with mass murder and with impunity – and the presidential protection that the police are given, no? And then the cash rewards, too. It's now well known that Duterte's favoring his own group of drug lords. He's practically the supremo of the most dominant group of drug lords, including his son, who has been exposed as smuggling, smuggling illegal drugs in a big way.

Fight Back!: So, what's the state of the resistance?

Sison: There is a broad united front that has come about. The best-known manifestation of that broad united front is the movement against tyranny. The issue of human rights is the issue that has brought people together, and the people are concerned with the use of the Tokhang [extrajudicial killings] methods against the poor. Also, the use of practically the same methods in Oplan Kapayapaan [a counterinsurgency campaign of the government], which is directed against the revolutionary forces.

Now what are those methods? People are asked to surrender themselves, as in the case of the war on drugs, as drug addicts or pushers, so that they would be cleared, no? And they could even get rehabilitation. But the list is a death list. Because the police officers are given orders to kill a number of people from day to day.

And the same methods are used in the Oplan Kapayapaan. You know, you read from the newspapers about mass surrenders and killings and encounters, but those are fake surrenders and fake encounters. Now, a list is drawn up of people who belong to the revolutionary movement. They say, well, some of the NPA (New People’s Army) full-timers, live in the community, or they belong to the People's Militia, or they belong to the self-defense units of the mass organizations, or they are related to NPA full-timers, so they are encouraged to surrender, to have themselves listed down as NPA. They are misrepresented as surrendering. But the list is also used for killing. It's also a death list.

Fight Back!: Okay, so, there were huge demonstrations at State of the Nation Address (SONA), so there's a huge mass outpouring against Duterte, no?

Sison: Yes, the People's United SONA is a signal event. Despite the inclement weather in the stormy Philippines, 40,000 people were assembled in order to demonstrate against the SONA of Duterte, the State of the Nation address, no? All over the country, thousands also made their demonstrations, so you can say hundreds of thousands on a nationwide scale, and this is just the beginning. So, we expect in due time the mass actions will grow until such time that military and police officers would express dislike or even withdraw support from Duterte.

Fight Back!: So, will Duterte be overthrown or pushed out of office?

Sison: There is a high probability, there is a high probability within this year or next year. The important thing is to have demonstrations of hundreds of thousands in Manila. That would be enough to encourage Duterte's own military officers to withdraw support. You know, Duterte is becoming more and more notorious among military officers. He's considered a traitor for selling out Philippine sovereignty or sovereign rights over the exclusive economic zone and letting the Chinese build the artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea. Then another thing where Duterte makes a big mistake, you know, he's going crazier by the day. There are also symptoms of his possible physical illness and also mental illness. But anyway, the big mistake that he has made, which the military, his own military, don't like is encouraging the violation of their constitution. He said, Duterte said, “I wish to resign! But I do not like the vice president to take over, Robredo,” no? He would prefer someone else. Then, at first, he said, “I could be replaced by military junta, or Marcos, Bongbong Marcos, or Chiz Escudero.” You know, the military and police are always indoctrinated to follow the constitution and the law, no? [laughs]

Fight Back!: How is the people's war progressing?

Sison: The people's war is progressing. So, there is a national spread reaching the three big island groupings in the Philippine archipelago. The NPA is operating in 110 guerrilla fronts – at least 110 guerrilla fronts. They are in 73 out of 81 provinces. The enemy thinks 40% of the strength of the movement is in Mindanao. So there is a concentration of enemy forces in Mindanao. 75% are in Mindanao. That's a total of 75 maneuver battalions in Mindanao. 44 are against the NPA, and 31 are against the Bangsamoro groups.

Now, only some 25 maneuverable battalions are spread on the wider scale of Luzon and the Bisayas. They are thinly spread here. So it's easy for the NPA to launch offensives where the enemy is more dispersed and spread thinly. But even in Mindanao, there is a lot of experience for the NPA there in dealing with concentrated forces.

The encircling forces have big gaps. So points in the encirclement – can be hit, no? Or the NPA can just win, no? And if the encircling forces send into the NPA area small units, platoons, let's say, they can be ambushed. So the NPA in the Mindanao knows how to do counter-encirclement against outposts in the perimeter as well as troops, small units sent into the areas of the NPA. They have been so good – the NPA has been so good in this kind of warfare because during the last 15 years, they were able to create new guerrilla fronts outside of the area being concentrated on, no? Northeast Mindanao. So they were able to create in north, central Mindanao and in southwestern Mindanao and southern Mindanao.

By themselves, the NPA in Mindanao has been able to beat, to frustrate and beat the enemy, and they succeed in creating new guerrilla fronts. So Duterte has practically been a big help to the NPA. He's wearing out his troops in Mindanao. [laughs] First, he wore them out in Marawi. Now in Mindanao that he is trying to attack and defeat the NPA, he is wearing out the troops, so that the NPA in the Bisayas and Luzon should have a fiesta in launching offensives. [laughs]

Fight Back!: Okay. So the NPA is growing stronger, more people are living in the revolutionary areas, and basically the red political power is expanding.

Sison: Yeah, the NPA has a mass base of some millions of people. You see the NPA does not only have its auxiliary and reserve forces – like the People's Militia per village and the defense, self-defense units within mass organizations. Then you have the mass organizations enveloping those forces with some amount – at least with some amount of arms, you know? Related to the NPA, no? Then the unorganized masses, they are the targets of expansion work. So there's a people's government with several committees to make sure that there is effective governance involving mass organizing, mass education, production, finance, self-defense, health, and sanitation, environmental protection and settlements of disputes.

Fight Back!: Very good. So finally, and by way of a conclusion, what message would you have for progressive people and revolutionaries in the United States?

Sison: I would appeal to the progressive forces in the United States to continue and amplify their solidarity and support for the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation and democracy against U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. I think support from the imperialist country which props up the puppet regime in the Philippines is very important. This was demonstrated during the U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam. The U.S. was using all kinds of military force in order to beat the Vietnamese people, but they could not succeed because the self-reliant struggle of the Vietnamese people was supported and augmented by the anti-imperialist and democratic mass movement in the U.S. which opposed imperialism, as well as the wars and plunder that imperialism unleashes.

#UtrechtNetherlands #Utrecht #AntiwarMovement #Philippines #Opinion #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #JoseMariaSison #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #Socialism #Antifascism

Fight Back! interviewed Jose Maria Sison, the founding Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, August 19, in Utrecht, the Netherlands. This is the first part of the interview. See part 2 here and part 3 here.

The interview was conducted by Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly, who is also responsible for the international work of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

Fight Back!: In the Philippines, there is a people’s war taking place, for basic social change. Why? Jose Maria Sison: The Philippines is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Corresponding to that is the bourgeois democratic revolution of the new type. That is to say, it’s of the new type because it’s under working-class leadership – no longer under the bourgeois leadership, as in the old democratic revolution. One other way of phrasing what I call the ‘bourgeois democratic revolution, the new type’; they seem to call it ‘the people’s democratic revolution with a socialist perspective.’ And you know, the kind of character, as a new type of democratic revolution is determined by its class leadership – the working class – and the working class is the force that carries over the revolution from the democratic stage to the socialist stage of the revolution.

People’s war can be carried out in the Philippines any time, because Philippine society, which is semi-colonial and semi-feudal, is in chronic crisis. It’s a country that is agrarian and underdeveloped and most people are in the countryside. They are peasants. So, you have a wide countryside, as the physical terrain for building the New People’s Army and carrying out people’s war through stages, from small and weak, to bigger, to stronger.

We have three probable stages in the development of the people’s war. First stage is strategic defensive, in which we change the balance of forces by launching tactical offensives. You get the weapons from the enemy’s side and then you can get onto the strategic stalemate, where there is a parity. In other words, in so many areas, there will be a tug of war, over, let’s say, over towns – over town centers and even some small cities.

The enemy cannot hold on to any areas firmly and the NPA must maintain its mobility. When the enemy advances in bigger force, then the NPA retreats, it takes a more advantageous position, and then hits back [laughs]. Anyway, the final stage is when the force that was on the offensive, on the strategic offensive, is already placed on the defensive, and, so it’s now the force that was previously on the strategic defensive that goes on the strategic counter-offensive.

In terms of the growth of the army, when guerilla warfare is predominant in the strategic defensive, but elements of regular mobile warfare will already arise, upon the completion of that stage. And most of the fighting in the strategic offensive will be – most of the crucial fighting will be – done by the regular, by the mobile forces, so there will be bigger units, but with characteristics of mobility: The use of the tactics of concentration, dispersion, and shifting of forces, depending on the circumstances – whatever’s advantageous to the revolutionary army.

Now, in the strategic of counter-offensive, there will be instances where in crucial battles there will be some positional warfare, especially to destroy the strongholds and then of course, where certain cities can be taken over, by fighting, then the army that wins, the people’s army that wins, can leave the place: turn over the city to other types of forces – turn over the cities to the self-defense units, so that it can go – to beat the enemy as well.

So, you never throw away the mobility. But in the strategic counter-offensive you’ll see much use of positional warfare and the regular mobile warfare, depending on the situation. You don’t tie down your force, because, you know, you have already the momentum of winning, so [laughs] you don’t just keep territory, because you can transfer the matter of governance, peace and order, to the local revolutionary forces.

So that’s how we envision its probable course. And additional scheduling of each stage, the stages will appear as the people’s war develops. There can be even some zig zag – yeah it can happen – but the general course is from victory to victory.

Now, it is crucial that the working class is the lead factor that is taking up the democratic revolution from the bourgeois. Completely, surely, that with the working class in the leadership of the revolution, that puts the democratic revolution, even if it’s reliant on both peasants and workers, surely on the path, towards socialism. The one that is placed in the role of realizing the socialist cause is the working class. The working class leads the main component of proletarian dictatorship, the People’s Army. It smashes the military and bureaucratic machinery of the reactionary state. Then it will take over the enterprises that are in the commanding heights of the economy, the sources of raw materials, the main lines of communications. Those will be taken over by the proletarian state.

Democratic reform, land reform, will be carried out. You see, it’s when you seize power, all over the country, when you can really carry out, when you can complete land reform – it’s no longer here and there, as at present, in the strategic defensive. But when you have power, when the proletariat has already seized power, then the democratic reform, land reform, affecting the majority of the people can be carried out within a relatively short period of time.

But at the same time, there are stages in the development of agricultural cooperation. In the first stage, [it] can be based on certain villages, townships and districts. The third and highest level would be the communes. So, you combine social organization and the building of whatever amount of mechanization you can have.

Of course, whatever old ways of tilling, storing and processing the agricultural products will have to be pursued, pending deliveries from the industrial sector of the economy. And the working class is directly in charge of that part of the economy. Building the industries, also those industries will eventually recruit the peasants whose surplus population will be absorbed, given jobs by socialist industry.

Fight Back!: Very good…

Sison: Then we may also give concessions in the transitional processes. The small and medium entrepreneurs may be given an opportunity to participate in the national recovery, if, let us say, in the process of the revolutionary war, and because of let’s say, imperialist blockade, you have difficulties getting all the means necessary for building socialist industry. Well in Russia, you have the New Economic Policy, even then the proletariat will be in command, the proletariat will be in charge of economic planning.

And also, rather than frighten the people with [possessing] professional and technical skills, you can buy them off in a sort of way, you can give higher wages so they don’t flee [laughs] from the country.

Filipino people can also avail of the Filipinos in different countries – Filipinos who work abroad as professionals in technologies and as skilled workers – they can come back, to help in the socialist construction.

So that’s the outlook.

#UtrechtNetherlands #AntiwarMovement #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #JoseMariaSison #Asia

On Oct. 6, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald gave a talk entitled, “Prosecuting Terrorism in the Courts” to a meeting of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Chicago. While 20 people gathered outside to protest, three members of the Committee Against Political Repression went inside to question Fitzgerald directly.

Fitzgerald is in charge of the grand jury that has subpoenaed anti-war and international solidarity activists.

*Fight Back!* interviewed the three who went inside: **Bill Chambers**, **Newland Smith** and **Sarah Simmons**.

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**Fight Back!:** You went to see U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald speak this morning. What was his talk about?

**Newland Smith:** The talk focused on the much improved job that law enforcement is doing in fighting terrorism now that criminal investigators and intelligence investigators can share information. He credited the Patriot Act for taking that “wall” down between these two groups so now “it doesn't matter what's motivating an investigator to share information...we can just decide whether to use criminal case techniques or intelligence case techniques.” Of course, Fitzgerald didn't comment on how the mixing of criminal and intelligence investigations can easily lead to free speech and dissent being criminalized and treated with “intelligence” techniques as if they are connected to terrorism.

**Fight Back!:** Why did you go? What questions did you want him to address?

**Sarah Simmons:** I went because I thought it a rare opportunity to get up close and ask Fitzgerald questions to make him squirm. My question would have been “What is your office doing to safeguard civil liberties in the grand jury investigation of peace and solidarity activists, and how do you justify the taxpayers' dollars being spent in this way?” Apparently his conscience is not bothered at all by what he does. His summation of the Patriot Act: It's not really bad and he doesn't know why people get so fired up about it; it just enables law enforcement to work more efficiently. I was also struck by how in awe the group seemed to be of Fitzgerald.

**Bill Chambers:** The AJC promoted Fitzgerald as this effective prosecutor of terrorists “including Osama Bin Laden for the 1998 African Embassy bombings and the 1995 bombing of the World Trade Center.” I wanted the audience to know that he is better known for the year-long grand jury investigation of 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists.

**Fight Back!:** Were you able to ask your questions? How did he respond?

**Bill Chambers:** I was able to ask this question. “There has been criticism of you and your office by ten U.S. Representatives, including Jan Schakowsky in Chicago, that the investigation of anti-war and human rights activists is suppressing their freedom of speech and right to dissent. How do you respond to this criticism?”

His response – “I can't even comment on the existence of such a case, but I can assure you my office is doing nothing to suppress dissent. There were even people out in front today protesting when I came in and they have the right to do that. Look around, there are people protesting everywhere – if I was trying to suppress dissent I would not get anything done.”

My follow-up – “Those protesters you are talking about haven't been subpoenaed to a grand jury and had their homes invaded and property taken. So you don't agree with Jan Schakowsky and the other U.S. reps’ criticisms then?”

His response: “People make all these criticisms of me and I can't respond. It's like I have duct tape across my mouth. How do you think that makes me feel?”

**Fight Back!:** Anything else you want to add?

**Bill Chambers:** I left the presentation the same time Fitzgerald did and caught up to him as he was waiting at the elevator with several others. I referred to his duct tape comment and asked him how he would feel if he was being accused in an investigation of supporting terrorists. He said no one is being accused of supporting terrorism and I reminded him that his office has acknowledged that several people are part of an investigation into material support for terrorists.

I was able to ride down all 29 floors in the elevator with him and some folks from the AJC. I continued to question him about the impact of his investigation on people who have had their reputations damaged, their homes invaded and some their bank accounts closed – all from an investigation he says doesn't exist.

Exiting the elevator, one of the AJC event organizers made a special point of saying “We are happy you are here in Chicago.” It made me think that there are 23 activists, ten U.S. reps, 800,000 union members, and 12,000 people who have signed the defend dissent pledge that don't share that same appreciation.

#ChicagoIL #Interviews #September24FBIRaids #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #CommitteeAgainstPoliticalRepression #USAttorneyPatrickFitzgerald

*Fight Back!* interviewed Cherrene Horazuk, a U.S. delegate to the 16th Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) held April 7- 10 in Athens, Greece. Horazuk is prominent Minneapolis trade unionist and a spokesperson for the Minnesota Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

**Fight Back!:** Could you tell our readers what the congress was like?

**Cherrene Horazuk:** The congress was incredibly inspiring. There were trade unionists from around the world who were all committed to building an international labor movement that is open, democratic and unified and that challenges capitalism and builds a fighting working class. Over 800 delegates attended from more than 100 countries, and there was simultaneous translation into five different languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Greek. Speakers gave reports about the situation in their country – workers around the world are facing very similar attacks.

It was great to be part of a group of union leaders that clearly recognize that the global economic crisis isn't the fault of the working class and therefore workers shouldn't have to pay for the crisis the corporations and the rich created.

**Fight Back!:** What were the big issues the congress focused on?

**Horazuk:** The congress focused on the following points. The first is that we, the working class won't pay for the capitalists’ crisis. There was a great deal of discussion about the need to fight back against the austerity programs that are being forced on workers all over the world.

Speaker after speaker reiterated the need to go on the offensive, and not just organize defensive battles. There was also a lot of discussion about the need to involve women and younger workers in the union movement. About 30% of the participants were women and a very dynamic women's workshop happened. The other main message that people raised repeatedly was opposition to imperialist wars abroad. There was uniform condemnation of the U.S. and NATO for bombing Libya as well as strong calls for an end to military aggression in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Colombia.

**Fight Back!:** Do you have any impressions of the Greek labor movement?

**Horazuk:** PAME, the All Workers Militant Front of Greece, is one of the main forces within the WFTU, and with good reason. They are incredibly strong and energetic. They have led very successful general strikes in the past year and have built a base of members that is fired up to fight back against the economic attacks. It is clear that they are a force to be reckoned with. The opening ceremony of the WFTU Congress included a rally with at least 3000 PAME members, who were continually singing, waving flags, and chanting: “The enemy is one – imperialism! Capitalism is not our world. It's the new world, socialism! The worker's right is our law and not the capitalist's profit! Come on people, don't give up, the only way is to resist and fight!” It was incredibly motivating and inspiring.

**Fight Back!:** You raised the issue of the FBI and grand jury repressions against U.S. labor, anti-war, and international solidarity activists. What was the response?

**Horazuk:** A lot of the speeches at the Congress expressed solidarity with people's struggles around the world and people clearly recognized the need for workers around the world to act in solidarity with each other. Given that perspective, everybody I spoke to about the repression was very interested in the case. They were shocked at the attacks against the activists who have done nothing wrong and [they] were outraged that political beliefs and international solidarity are being criminalized by the U.S. government. They conveyed their solidarity with the individuals who have been subpoenaed and committed to take action to stop the repression.

#AthensGreece #AthensAT #Greece #Interviews #CherreneHorazuk #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #AllWorkersMilitantFrontOfGreecePAME

Detroit, MI – Fight Back! interviewed Rosemary Williams, an important leader in the struggle against home foreclosures, at the U.S. Social Forum on June 24.

#DetroitMI #RosemaryWilliams #Interviews #HousingStruggles #Foreclosure #Eviction #USSF #USSocialForum

As students and youth across the country prepare for the November 10 day of action for education rights, Fight Back! sat down with Josh Sykesof UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Sallie Linfrom the Bay Area in California and Stephanie Taylorfrom University of Minnesota SDSto discuss the day of action, organizing the student movement and the movement to demand education as a fundamental right, not a privilege. All three organizers have been deeply involved in building for the day of action, and led the workshop at the Oct. 3 “We Say Fight Back!” conference in Chicago that launched the initiative for the Nov. 10 day of action for education rights.

Fight Back!: Josh, could you start by giving us some background on the Oct. 3 conference and what came out of it?

Josh Sykes: The “We Say Fight Back” conference was a grassroots conference that was put together by trade unionists, housing activists, urban poor organizers, leaders from the immigrant rights movement and student organizers. The conference brought hundreds of activists and organizers from these struggles together to share experiences, draw some general lessons from those experiences, and make common plans.

The most significant thing to come out of the conference was the formation of the Network to Fight for Economic Justice (http://www.wesayfightback.com), linking these struggles together in a very important way. Additionally, one of the workshops was on building the fight for education rights. In that workshop we passed a resolution to call for a national day of student action for education rights on Nov. 10.

Fight Back!: Can you talk about why you all chose to frame the student and youth workshop in terms of education rights?

Josh Sykes: It is the next logical step for the student movement. Many of us in the student movement learned to organize in the anti-war movement and we fought tooth and nail against U.S. imperialism in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan.

Now we’re dealing with the effects of this same system as the crisis hits home. The same economic crisis that propels the U.S. to war around the world is now putting millions out of work and out of their homes. The crisis is now on the verge of throwing working, oppressed nationality and low-income students out school and barring the doors for a long time to come.

People across the country had already started fighting back and winning gains, but the walkouts in the University of California on Sept. 24 really showed the way very clearly and we have to carry this momentum forward. We have to get organized and fight to ensure that education is recognized as a human right, just as we have to fight for the right to housing, healthcare and living-wage jobs.

If the rich have their way, higher education will be consolidated as a bastion of the elite. We can’t accept education for the privileged any longer. It has to be for everyone. We have to tear down the 'ivory tower' and lead a struggle that can make education free for everyone.

Fight Back!: Sallie, at the conference you spoke about how education access is denied to many oppressed nationality youth. How do you see the struggle of oppressed nationalities for full equality linking up with the Nov. 10 education rights actions?

Sallie Lin: Firstly, for the Day of Action for Education Rights on Nov. 10, I hope to see all student forces unite, whether these are students of oppressed nationalities or students who come from relatively more privileged backgrounds but are equally concerned about the ever-shrinking access to higher education. We are all in this together and solidarity will help us win this fight.

Second, as students of oppressed nationalities, our demands would be for the University System to recognize our unique circumstances and how their continuous, unreasonable cutbacks push students from low-income families, many of whom are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, out of the educational system.

We want an end to the slashing of programs that attract students of color and women, programs that help contribute to campus diversity, and which the University takes pride in. We want a public acknowledgement from the University that our needs as students of oppressed nationalities and our needs as students in general, are more important than the paychecks of the top executives of the University. If we cannot pursue higher education anymore due to the 250% tuition increase, then their positions shouldn’t exist.

Personally I believe that, we, as students of oppressed nationalities, as people who have been historically marginalized, as well as our families and the workers of the University, deserve an apology.

Fight Back!: There have recently been huge demonstrations in California around the cuts to higher education, part of a movement that has been unfolding across the country over the past year. How do you see the education rights movement developing, and what do you think are the key demands to put forward?

Sallie Lin: I believe that as long as the public education system is being unjust, the power of the students will keep making our voices heard. The education rights movement will continue its momentum because we have invested trust in the system, and it has failed us. Our key demands would be: One, Affordable tuition; two, oversight on University spending and executive salaries; three, increase financial aid and four, an end to the slashing of programs that are crucial to campus diversity.

Fight Back! : Stephanie, you have been involved in getting the word out for the Nov. 10 day of action. Can you give us an idea of what actions will happen on that day?

Stephanie Taylor: Specifically on our campus, the University of Minnesota, the Campaign to Save Our School, a campaign initiated by SDS which has united diverse student groups throughout campus, will be calling on students to bombard the bursars office with tuition and loan bills/statements. This would essentially bring tangible attention to the fact that students can't afford their bills anymore.

From the bursar's office we will then have a disruptive rally/dance party/flash mob outside the administrative building, administrator-esque piñata in tow, to demonstrate having a sort of ‘going away’ party for accessible education. We'll be delivering our tuition bills and demanding the president take a pay cut to ameliorate our debt.

Students throughout the nation will and have been engaging in a diversity of tactics which are appropriate to the situation on their campus. Students need to ‘get out of their desks and into the streets’ to affect change on their campuses. Now is the time to fight, before education in our country is degraded even more.

Fight Back!: What is the response you have seen locally, or nationally, in response to the call for a day of action around education rights?

Stephanie Taylor: Students are really latching onto the call to action, more than I have ever seen in the years I have been organizing on campus. I think this is indicative of the fact that students really get it, that we are actually realizing how tough it is going to be for us after our college careers. When you say “cut tuition hikes” you have ten people stop to hear a little bit more.

Locally, our campus paper on a daily basis has editorials speaking to the contradictions we see on campus (layoffs and tuition increases while spending billions on construction projects). Our campus is becoming rejuvenated with more criticism of university politics than I've seen in a while.

Nationally, students seem to be extraordinarily motivated by the NYU occupation that happened last winter, along with the UC fight backs that are happening daily as we speak.

We need to pay attention to the national actions so we can learn from each other as we struggle for change. This is why the national day of action is incredibly important to rally students around...to unite our struggles separated by cities and states into one movement for education rights.

Fight Back!: Where do you see the movement for education rights heading after Nov. 10? What is next?

Stephanie Taylor: Nov. 10 will hopefully be the first critical move to uniting students at a national level. Staying connected post-Nov. 10 would be the most critical thing here. Ensuring that campuses continue to pursue not only radical actions on their campus in the name of education rights, but also the research and insight it takes to fight against the bureaucracy of our administration will make our campaigns winnable.

It is incredibly important to build this movement according to the particular situations on our campuses, while at the same time uniting as a national movement demanding that education be accessible to all, because education is a right!

#UnitedStates #EducationRights #Interviews #UniversityOfCalifornia #NetworkToFightForEconomicJustice

¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a la profesora y política colombiana Imelda Daza-Cotes, quien apenas terminó con éxito una gira en siete ciudades norteamericanas, en donde llegó a hablar con cientos de personas. La profesora Daza-Cotes es una miembro sobreviviente de la Unión Patriótica, un partido político que sufrió el asesinato de 3000 de sus líderes, un crimen por el cual nadie ha sido ni acusado ni castigado. Ella vino a los EE.UU. invitada por el Comité Nacional para Liberar a Ricardo Palmera y apoyada por grupos locales como Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática, Comités en Solidaridad con Colombia, el Comité Anti-guerra de Minneapolis y la Red de Acción por Colombia.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Nos puede decir un poco sobre su vida y como se juntó Ud. al movimiento progresista?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Soy del norte de Colombia, de la costa, una ciudad que se llama Valledupar y es de ahí Ricardo Palmera también. Estudié economía en la Universidad Internacional de Colombia en Bogotá. Estos estudios me dejaron entender los problemas de mi país, los cuales me preocupaban mucho. Fue en la universidad donde me di cuenta que tenía un interés en la política.

En Valledupar conocí a Ricardo Palmera. Éramos estudiantes y juntos organizamos una campaña para crear una nueva universidad porque no había ni uno en la región entera. Trabajamos juntos por 12 años. Palmera también es economista. Después decidimos que la ciudad debe ayudar con los gastos de la Universidad porque las finanzas venían del Ministerio de Educación. Pensábamos que era importante que la comunidad tuviera una relación con la universidad y decidimos participar en las elecciones, utilizando eso como manera de hacer que el concejo municipal colaborara con la universidad. No tuvimos éxito, pero nos gustaba el proceso político de hacer campaña.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: Usted era miembra activa en el partido político colombiano la Unión Patriótica (UP). ¿Cómo fue su experiencia y qué pasó con la Unión Patriótica?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Fui elegida al concejo municipal en la elección de 1982. Hicimos muy buen trabajo en el concejo. Tuvimos muchos debates y conversaciones por primera vez. Pero el Ministro de Justicia, Rodrigo Lara, fue asesinado. Él se opuso fuertemente a los narcotraficantes y éstos lo asesinaron. Luis Carlos Gallán se asustó y volvió al Partido Liberal en 1986. Pero aún, ser miembro del Partido Liberal no le ofrecía protección. Él seguía denunciando a los narcotraficantes y en 1989 fue asesinado. Cuando volvió Gallán al Partido Liberal, nosotros dijimos que no íbamos a volver. Fundamos un movimiento cívico. No era partido político sino un movimiento pluralista, y fue un éxito. Muchos jóvenes se involucraron en el movimiento. Manejamos la política con estilo diferente. Tuvimos actividades culturales, fiestas y música.

Fue elegido presidente un conservador, Belisario Bentancur. Este hombre decidió negociar con las FARC y se pusieron de acuerdo a un cese de fuego. Resultó entonces que la guerrilla creó un nuevo partido político – la Unión Patriótica (UP). La guerrilla ya podrían entrar a la ciudad para organizar y las fuerzas armadas no les perseguirían. Así nació la Unión Patriótica.

Escuchamos las noticias y yo recuerdo bien cuando dijo Ricardo Palmera que “Esto es lo que nos faltaba.” El movimiento cívico era algo local, sólo existía en nuestro alrededor, pero éramos muy ambiciosos y veíamos esto como una necesidad nacional. Queríamos influir en la política nacional. Desde esa fecha, nuestro trabajo político se aceleró.

La izquierda en nuestra región nunca había podido elegir a nadie. Participamos en las elecciones de 1984 como la UP. Elegimos a 67 concejales y a un representante de la asamblea departamental. Me eligieron a mí en Valledupar. De las siete personas elegidas al concejo de Valledupar, soy la única que todavía está viva. Es muy difícil hablar sobre eso. 19 personas fundamos la UP, sólo tres estamos vivas. Dos somos exiliados en Suecia y Ricardo Palmera está encarcelado aquí en los EE.UU.

Los resultados electorales de la UP llegaron a ser su destino a la muerte. Después de la victoria, los crímenes pasaban diariamente. En el país, la UP ganó 400,000 votos. La izquierda antes nunca había ganado más de 150,000 votos en ninguna elección. Era un paso adelante enorme. Después empezaron la policía y las fuerzas armadas a matar a miembros de la UP cada día. Hasta nuestro candidato presidencial fue asesinado.

Llegó un día cuando preguntamos “¿qué vamos a hacer?” y yo salí de Colombia porque mis hijos eran muy chiquitos. Otros compañeros como Ricardo Palmera dijeron que si el gobierno colombiano no nos daba ninguna aseguranza a las elecciones justas y sólo nos respondiera con el asesinato, no habría otra alternativa que tomar armas. Estos compañeros se involucraron a la insurgencia.

¿Y por qué las FARC? Había otros grupos, pero era lógico juntarse a las FARC porque ningún otro grupo había sido parte de la Unión Patriótica.

Todos nuestros compañeros quienes recibieron amenazas de muerte de hecho habían sidos asesinados, así que sabíamos que las amenazas eran reales. Nos amenazaban para avisarnos. A mi casa me mandaron flores con una carta invitándome a mi propio servicio funeral. Esto me hizo salir del país en 1989. El exilio es un castigo muy duro. Es el castigo político más duro que existe. Requiere la renuncia a todo. No importa si vas a un país desarrollado y democrático. Uno no quiere el exilio. Quise trabajar y luchar por mi país, a mejorarlo y resolver sus problemas.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: Vino a Washington DC para testificar en el caso de Ricardo Palmera. El Juez Hogan, quien presidió sobre el caso, no le dejó hablar. ¿Qué es lo que quiso decir?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Los gobiernos de Colombia y de los EE.UU. justifican la extradición de Ricardo Palmera a los Estados Unidos por acusarlo de secuestrar a tres mercenarios norteamericanos y del tráfico de drogas. Yo quise decir lo siguiente: Los tres norteamericanos en manos de las FARC son prisioneros de guerra. No fueron secuestrados. Los guerrilleros nunca vinieron aquí a los EE.UU. buscándolos para capturarlos y exigir un rescate. Ellos (los mercenarios) llegaron a Colombia, en un avión, a una zona donde había conflicto activo entre las fuerzas armadas y las FARC. La guerrilla ha vivido en conflicto con las fuerzas armadas por los últimos 40 años. Es lógico que la guerrilla confrontara a un avión en una zona de conflicto. La guerrilla bajó el avión y llevó a los mercenarios como prisioneros. No fui testigo porque estaba en Suecia cuando ocurrió. Pero recibí la información por los medios de comunicación colombianos, así que no es un secreto. Por eso lo acusan del secuestro. Además, es difícil probar quien bajó el avión y llevó a los prisioneros. Sé que en el juicio de Ricardo Palmera, él explicó que estuvo a la vez en la frontera ecuatoriana. Lo que están tratando de afirmar los gobiernos de Colombia y de los EE.UU. es que todos los miembros de las FARC tienen la culpa por un crimen que han hecho las FARC. Con esta misma lógica, podemos decir que todos los miembros de las fuerzas armadas son culpables por las masacres porque algunos de sus generales asesinaron a miembros de la UP.

La acusación del tráfico de drogas es ridícula. Éramos las primeras voces en Valledupar en contra del tráfico de drogas. Hicimos políticas con Luis Carlos Gallán y Rodrigo Lara, quienes fueron asesinados por los narcotraficantes. Desde el comienzo Ricardo Palmera era enemigo de los narcotraficantes. El gobierno colombiano siempre habla de la ‘narcoguerrilla’ para tratar de desacreditar al movimiento guerrillero. La verdad es que la guerrilla vive en la misma región donde se cultiva la coca, pero de eso no se puede concluir que cada guerrillero manda coca a los EE.UU.

Lo cierto es que se crearon estas dos acusaciones para poder extraditar a Ricardo Palmera. El resultado del juicio prueba que sí porque el jurado no lo podía condenar. La evidencia de la prosecución era débil.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué debe saber el pueblo americano sobre el caso de Ricardo Palmera?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Había 21 personas que testificaron en contra de él y no dejaron a ni uno testificar a su favor – incluyéndome a mí. El juez dijo que mi relación con Ricardo Palmera era antes de que se involucrara a las FARC, así que yo no conozco a “Simón Trinidad”. Pero yo creo que en un juicio hay que tomar en cuenta el carácter y la historia del acusado también.

Había testimonio ridículo por el otro lado. Es difícil mentir. Ellos siempre se contradecían. La decisión del jurado muestra que era ridículo su testimonio.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué significan la extradición y el juicio de Ricardo Palmera para el proceso de paz en Colombia?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Es sumamente importante, es trascendental. Si determinaran que los dos guerrilleros que fueron extraídos aquí son culpables, sería un triunfo para el gobierno colombiano. Verían eso como herramienta para presionar y castigar. Sólo prolongaría el conflicto. ¿Cuándo vamos a terminar con la guerra? Nunca, si pueden seguir extrayendo a los combatientes.

Si por el otro lado los regresan a Colombia y los llevan a juicio allá, serán dos prisioneros más en las cárceles allá y habrá posibilidad de un intercambio de prisioneros. En fin, si este juicio-cómico sea favorable al gobierno colombiano, los tres norteamericanos en Colombia no tendrán ninguna esperanza de volver a los EE.UU.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Qué podemos hacer las personas en los Estados Unidos?

Imelda Daza-Cotes: Pueden ir a protestar en los juicios de Ricardo Palmera y de Sonia. También deben presionar con cartas y peticiones al gobierno colombiano y exigir un acuerdo humanitario para un intercambio de prisioneros. Finalmente, hay otro método para presionar al gobierno colombiano. Deben presionar a sus miembros de Congreso aquí en los Estados Unidos para terminar con el Plan Colombia. El Plan Colombia no es una lucha en contra del tráfico de drogas, es una lucha en contra de la insurgencia de las FARC. La única cosa que ha logrado Plan Colombia es aumentar la violencia. Es ridículo que los impuestos de los norteamericanos paguen por una guerra en Colombia.

#AntiwarMovement #Interview #Colombia #Interviews #FARC #RicardoPalmera #aUniónPatriótica #Americas

¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a Oscar Silva, abogado colombiano de Ricardo Palmera (Simón Trinidad), el revolucionario colombiano y preso político cautivo en una cárcel en los Estados Unidos. El gobierno estadounidense tiene a Palmera en una cárcel sin acceso a su abogado, reporteros, o su familia y amigos. Palmera, nacido en una familia rica, ha dedicado su vida entera a la clase trabajadora y a los campesinos de su país. El único “crimen” de Palmera es luchar por el pueblo colombiano y por el derecho de tener control sobre su propio país. El juicio en su contra es una farsa, y es un intento de criminalizar uno de los grupos principales en la lucha para la liberación de Colombia – las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).

¡Lucha y Resiste!: El abogado de defensa pública de los Estados Unidos le llamó a usted para testificar. ¿Qué dijo?

Oscar Silva: Los abogados de la defensa del señor Trinidad me llamaron a testificar ante la Corte, debido a que agentes del F.B.I., se están inventando unas entrevistas que al parecer rindió ante estos funcionarios.

Fui llamado a la Corte, para desmentir la realización de estas entrevistas. Tan solo se aceptó una, que fue realizada el día 2 de abril de 2004 en la cárcel de combita, en donde los funcionarios del F.B.I. Alejandro Barbeito y Roy Le Blanc, solicitaron la intermediación del señor Trinidad, a efecto de entregar unos medicamentos, unas gafas y pruebas de supervivencia de los tres estadounidenses retenidos por las FARC.

Esta entrevista tuvo fines únicamente humanitarios y no era una visita oficial, pues de haber sido una visita con fines judiciales, se nos hubiera puesto de presente la LEY MIRANDA o lectura de derechos antes de la entrevista.

Al haberse ahora aducido que fue una entrevista formal, NO hubo lectura de derechos y ni tan siquiera se había iniciado un proceso formal ante la Corte y a más de quererse tomar esta entrevista como evidencia en la Corte, se han inventado otras dos entrevistas que nunca existieron.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: Como el abogado de Ricardo Palmera en Colombia, ¿puede decirnos qué piensa hacer sobre la extradición y juicio en los Estados Unidos de su cliente?

Oscar Silva: La extradición fue a todas luces ilegal y se violó la soberanía judicial de nuestros jueces. El presidente Uribe, la utilizó como mecanismo de presión para lograr un acercamiento en los diálogos de paz con las FARC.

Lo que se ha hecho en Colombia es denunciar la ilegalidad en su extradición.

La ayuda que podemos prestar es tratar de absolver interrogantes de los abogados norteamericanos, si es que ellos los tienen, y prestar toda la colaboración que ellos nos soliciten.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Puede ser posible que Ricardo Palmera reciba un juicio justo?

Oscar Silva: Un juicio justo creemos que formalmente lo puede haber, pero cómo es posible que el F.B.I. encargado de recolectar evidencia, afirme que si hubo unas entrevistas cuando el mismo señor Trinidad nunca las aceptó.

Hay muchas presiones del gobierno colombiano para que el señor Trinidad sea condenado y creemos que mientras exista esa clase de presiones un juicio justo estará en entredicho o en duda.

La única condición para creer que existe un juicio justo, es que el próximo 7 de marzo de 2006, el Juez Hogan indique que excluye las evidencias recolectadas infundadamente y que se inventaron los funcionarios del F.B.I. Si decide lo contrario, es decir, que las acepta, el señor Trinidad NO recibirá un juicio justo.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Es verdad que hay juicios contra Ricardo Palmera en Colombia en este momento, mientras el está siendo enjuiciado en los Estados Unidos? ¿Cómo puede ser un juicio justo cuando él no está presente?

Oscar Silva: Efectivamente al señor Trinidad se le están adelantando cerca de 45 procesos en Colombia, sin su presencia y más aún, a pesar de que el gobierno norteamericano lo sabe, NO se ha permitido una reunión con él para tratar de sus casos en Colombia, situación que vulnera su derecho a la defensa y a la asistencia de un abogado.

En una última ocasión que estuve en Washington, se autorizó una entrevista con él, pero ésta debía ser grabada por agentes del departamento de estado y del F.B.I., pues se cree que yo como su abogado tengo contacto permanente con los miembros del secretariado de las FARC, cuestión que es falsa, y que podría llevar razones y recibir instrucciones del señor Trinidad para que las FARC las cumplan.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Es peligroso para abogados en Colombia tomar casos de conocidos revolucionarios de las FARC?

Oscar Silva: Sí es peligroso tomar casos de miembros de las FARC en Colombia, pero total, sea yo u otro abogado defensor, se debe asumir la defensa de cualquier ciudadano capturado en nuestro país.

Una vez llegué de Washington, he estado acosado en mi seguridad y a pesar de ello no he recibido ninguna clase de protección.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Por qué usted tomó el caso de Ricardo Palmera?

Oscar Silva: Tomé el caso del señor Trinidad, ya que él recibió cerca de 7 oficinas de prestigiosos abogados, y tuve la ocasión de visitarlo, pues de Valledupar me llamó un colega abogado y me dijo que por favor le hiciera una visita para establecer si necesitaba elementos personales. Fui hasta allí, platicamos por cerca de 30 minutos y me dijo que quería que yo fuera su abogado.

Pudo haber sido otro el abogado, pero él en su sabiduría me escogió a mí como su abogado.

Me pareció del todo normal, ya que he recibido casos de personas que pertenecen a otro tipo de ideologías políticas y como abogado debo defender a la persona y no a una tendencia ideológica.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Por qué no es posible poner a un soldado u oficial de los Estados Unidos a juicio en Colombia, siendo ellos culpables de crímenes de narcotráfico y venta de armas?

Oscar Silva: No es posible por la serie de concesiones jurídicas que concede el gobierno colombiano a los Estados Unidos, vulnerando la soberanía nacional y judicial, por desconfianza con sus propios jueces y porque se polarizaría el tema político en un caso de delincuencia común.

Si los juzga Colombia, el Departamento de Estado estaría influenciando políticamente el proceso judicial. Así las cosas se pensaría que el mismo gobierno colombiano no confía en la imparcialidad de sus propios jueces de la república.

#Interview #Colombia #RicardoPalmera #Interviews #FuerzasArmadasRevolucionariasDeColombia #PoliticalPrisoners

El Plan Colombia, el paquete de ayuda militar estadounidense que se inició bajo la administración de Clinton, continúa bajo la administración de Bush como parte de “la guerra contra el terrorismo” y “la guerra contra las drogas”. EE.UU. ha gastado más de 3 billones de dólares en la ayuda militar por el Plan Colombia. Los grupos internacionales de derechos humanos están de acuerdo de que este dinero se está gastando para una guerra contra el pueblo colombiano por la financiación de los paramilitares derechistas, los cuales son patrocinados por el gobierno. Los paramilitares persiguen a cualquier activista progresista en el nombre de “la seguridad nacional” y han hecho a Colombia el lugar más peligroso del mundo de ser sindicalista.

Erika Zurawski tuvo la oportunidad de entrevistar a dos sindicalistas quienes están en los EE.UU. con la ayuda del centro de solidaridad del AFL-CIO. Jhony Meneses es un líder sindical de SINCONSTASCAR (un sindicato de taxistas en Cartagena) y un crítico fuerte de las políticas estadounidenses del libre comercio y de la economía en América Latina. Nelson Quijano es un líder sindical de la USO (Unión Sindical Obrera de la Industria del Petróleo.) La USO ha sido una fuerza social principal en Colombia. En la primavera de 2004, la USO hizo una huelga por varios meses y logró luchar contra la privatización de la compañía nacional de petróleo.

¡LyR!: ¿Qué es el Plan Colombia y como afecta a los diferentes sectores colombianos?

Meneses: Plan Colombia es un proyecto financiado por los Estados Unidos supuestamente con el fin de que Colombia enfrente la situación del narcotráfico y de la guerrilla. Realmente, es un plan que tiene como fin declararle la guerra no solamente al narcotráfico y a la guerrilla sino también al pueblo colombiano. Es un plan estratégico que tiene como base principal militarizar todas las zonas estratégicas donde se mueve la economía colombiana con intereses no sólo para el gobierno de Colombia sino también para los Estados Unidos – intereses que tienen como fin el control de las tierras, el control de la industria y del comercio por parte de los capitalistas. Plan Colombia es la base principal de tratados comerciales como el ALCA (Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas) y el TLC (Tratado de Libre Comercio.)Para que dichos tratados logren efectuarse, se requiere de garantizar una seguridad a los inversionistas y de aplicar una reforma laboral que afecta al pueblo colombiano – principalmente al campesino y al pequeño comerciante. El plan va más allá de las fronteras colombianas. Tiene como fin extenderse por toda la zona andina, pero Colombia es un punto muy estratégico para la entrada del desarrollo comercial que sólo beneficiaría a los Estados Unidos.

¡LyR!: ¿Qué es el neoliberalismo y cómo se relaciona al Plan Colombia?

Meneses: El neoliberalismo es un modelo político basado en la economía y tiene que ver con el capital privado y no con una economía del estado. Este es un modelo que ha venido tratando de tomar fuerza en América Latina pero que ha sido enfrentado por diferentes organizaciones sociales y populares porque tiene que ver con el control de presas estatales por parte del capital privado. El control de la producción está en las manos de algunos, no de los trabajadores. El mercado es controlado por el monopolio – ni los agricultores no controlan su propia producción. Se perdería la seguridad alimentaría del país – Colombia importa la gran mayoría de los alimentos que consumen.

El campesino directamente se ha visto afectado por la gran producción agrícola y tecnificada de los Estados Unidos, la cual ha inundado nuestro país con productos que aunque no tengan la misma calidad y beneficio para la salud humana, son más económicos, pues los campesinos no pueden vender sus productos. Al campesino no le da espacio para suministrar lo que produce porque todo está basado en la propiedad de los suministros de la producción.

Además, en Colombia hay una gran concentración de la riqueza. El 20% de las familias más ricas poseen el 52% de los ingresos del país mientras el 60% está por debajo de la línea de pobreza.

¡LyR!: ¿Qué es el Tratado de Libre Comercio?

Meneses: Es uno de los dos tratados comerciales que el gobierno norteamericano quiere negociar con los países andinos. Este tratado actualmente está en plan de estudio ante el congreso colombiano y en otros países como Ecuador y Perú. El gobierno colombiano quiere tener una palabra en el tratado y esta criticándolo. Ecuador y Perú han avanzado más en el proceso de negociación. Este tratado no cuenta con la participación democrática del pueblo colombiano. Se está llevando a cabo a puerta cerrada. El pueblo colombiano no sabe de la iniciativa ni en que está basada. Su nombre, como lo indica, se trata del libre comercio bilateral, pero es un libre comercio para los EE.UU. y no para los otros países que lo integran, los que no están preparados para un desarrollo comercial de tan magnitud puesto a que se va a ver enfrentado ante el poder económico y comercial de los EE.UU. Tiene como fin reestructurar la industria de los países citados para que la industria les favorezca a las empresas estadounidenses (ni siquiera al pueblo estadounidense.) A raíz de este tratado va a ver una invasión de productos estadounidenses que entraría a competir con la débil economía de los países andinos. A parte de eso, generaría el pago de mano de obra barata, consiguiendo así incrementar la miseria de los trabajadores.

Como consecuencia de este planteamiento comercial por parte del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, muchas organizaciones civiles y sindicales que conocen de este tema han hecho movilizaciones cada vez mayores de campesinos, de indígenas, y demás población civil porque son los principales afectados por el tratado comercial. Se han hecho marchas a nivel nacional para que los gobiernos no sigan empeñados en aceptar que este tratado se realice ya que generaría más pobreza en los países andinos.

¡LyR!: ¿Cómo ha reaccionado el pueblo colombiano al Plan Colombia?

Quijano: El Plan Colombia fortalece a la resistencia. Basado en las consecuencias que ha traído el Plan Colombia para el pueblo colombiano, las organizaciones campesinas, indígenas, sociales y sindicales le dicen al mundo, principalmente a los colombianos, que esto sólo agrava el conflicto armado que vivimos al interior del nuestro país. El plan Colombia no les genera ningún beneficio a las comunidades donde se está ejecutando, como las comunidades de Arauca, el Putumayo y de las distintas zonas de influencia del plan. Esta negativa hacia Plan Colombia se ve reflejada en las diferentes expresiones de protesta que se han realizado en nuestro país. Como ejemplo de ello, tenemos las manifestaciones indígenas y campesinas en el sur occidente colombiano y la constante resistencia de los pobladores de Arauca y zonas vecinas ante este plan.

¡LyR!: ¿Cómo les afecta El plan Colombia a los sindicalistas y los sindicatos?

Quijano: El Plan Colombia es básicamente un plan militar donde la población civil, de la cual es parte los sindicatos, se ve afectada por estar en medio de este conflicto. El Presidente Uribe quiere polarizar el país, porque según él, sólo existen los ciudadanos que están con el gobierno y los que están contra el gobierno. No les permite a las organizaciones sociales y sindicales una libertad de oposición civil sobre sus políticas. Con los señalamientos hechos por el presidente y su gabinete a las organizaciones sociales como organizaciones que sólo critican a las acciones de los paramilitares y del ejército, y que son actores pasivos a las actuaciones de los grupos insurgentes, el gobierno colombiano está poniendo en la mira de los grupos paramilitares a estas organizaciones. Sumándole a esto con su mandato militar de persecución a los grupos insurgentes y a cualquier persona que colabora con ellos. Dichos grupos, según Uribe y los EE.UU., son considerados como grupos terroristas, y combatirlos es uno de los objetivos de Plan Colombia. Uribe está utilizando el poder judicial, en este caso la fiscalía, para hacer montajes de procesos judiciales contra los líderes sociales y sindicales en su afán de demostrarle resultados al gobierno estadounidense.

¡LyR!: ¿Qué es la relación entre el petróleo y el Plan Colombia?

Quijano: Asegurar las reservas de petróleo en Colombia para uso exclusivo de las multinacionales, principalmente las estadounidenses, es uno de los objetivos más claros que tiene el Plan Colombia. Por esto, la mayor parte de la ayuda económica hacia Colombia se concentra en el incremento de las tropas alrededor de la infraestructura petrolera de nuestro país. Vemos una gran concentración de tropas alrededor del oleoducto Caño Limón Covenas, que es la principal vía de extracción de petróleo de las multinacionales fuera de nuestro país, sin descartar que el Plan Colombia busca el control de las reservas de petróleo de países como Venezuela, Brasil y demás países sudamericanos, aunque se tenga que utilizar la intervención militar en dichos países.

El movimiento sindical colombiano, en apoyo a los trabajadores petroleros que defienden el petróleo como un recurso de los colombianos que debe beneficiar a los colombianos, constantemente rechaza las pretensiones del Plan Colombia, principalmente porque genera graves hechos de violencia como los ocurridos en Arauca, que es una región muy importante en materia petrolera. Una muestra de esta degradación del conflicto armado que se vive en Colombia y que es alimentado militarmente por los Estados Unidos es el asesinato de los tres compañeros dirigentes sindicales y sociales a manos del ejército colombiano el día cinco de agosto del presente año en la ciudad Arauca, con el pretexto de que tuvieron investigaciones abiertas por el presunto delito de rebelión. Los testimonios por los habitantes de Arauca se han podido comprobar que fue un ajusticiamiento extrajudicial, lo cual demuestra el grado de persecución del gobierno colombiano hacia los movimientos sociales y sindicales.

#Interview #Colombia #Interviews #SINCONSTASCAR #UniónSindicalObreraDeLaIndustriaDelPetróleo #ElPlanColombia #Americas

Dos miembras de la red Colombia Action Network (CAN, Red de Acción por Colombia), Thistle Parker-Hartog y Meredith Aby, entrevistaron al líder campesino Miguel Cifuente, secretario ejecutivo de la Asociación de Campesinos del Valle del Río Cimitarra. Debido a la duración de la entrevista, la publicamos en dos partes. La primera parte de la entrevista está en la edición de octubre / noviembre 2004 de ¡Lucha y Resiste!.

Una delegación de activistas estudiantiles y anti-guerra de la Red de Acción por Colombia viajó a dicho país para investigar los efectos de la ayuda militar estadounidense hacia Colombia. Evidencia presentada a la delegación muestra que los paramilitares derechistas coordinan sus actividades con el ejército colombiano apoyado por los Estados Unidos.

¡LyR!: ¿Cómo resisten los campesinos contra esta militarización y represión aumentada?

Miguel Cifuente: Tenemos como una estructura de denuncio que nos permite saber si es una operación militar o no. Entonces averiguamos que eso es una operación militar. Y sencillamente enviamos cartas a todo el mundo diciendo que se respete la vida y los bienes y onda y los campesinos, porque es la función del ejército. Y entonces, ya que es más difícil decir que no eran ellos y eran otros. [A menudo los militares dicen que las atrocidades cometidas fueron cometidas por otras fuerzas. – Editora]

Resistimos organizando la población. Entonces, cuando sabemos de que va incursiones paramilitares o queremos que el Estado haga un poco más de inversión social en la región, hacemos acciones de hecho. En las décadas 80 resistía una organización campesina que es la Coordinadora Campesina de la Magdalena Medio, que hizo varias marchas, buscando la reivindicación de los campesinos. En el año 96 se hizo otra marcha muy grande en el sitio de San Pablo y en el sitio de Barrancabermeja, tratando también de que el Estado invirtiera en el desarrollo de la región. Acuerdos que siempre incumplió. En el año 98, hicimos una movilización, del Valle Río Cimitarra y el sur de Bolívar con 10,000 campesinos. El Presidente Luís Pastrana firmó una seria de acuerdos con nosotros como refinanciar un plan de desarrollo por derechos humanos del Magdalena Medio, que nunca financió. Estuvieron de acuerdo de crear un bloqueo de busca contra el paramilitarismo; tampoco lo creyó.

Por lo que estamos luchando hoy, es el cumplir de ese acuerdo. La crearon por toda la presión nuestra, pero la han suspendido. Entonces, hemos hecho unos distintos tomas. Hemos hecho tomas a la Defensoría del Pueblo aquí en Bogotá, en dos ocasiones. Hemos hecho la alcaldía de Bucaramanga, la alcaldía del Jondón, y la alcaldía de Barrancabermeja. Y junto con otras organizaciones sociales, como los desplazados [personas echadas de sus tierras por los militares, los paramilitares, u operaciones de combate]. De esta manera, hemos estado siempre en esas actividades protestando frente a las políticas del gobierno, frente a la paramilitarización y militarización de la región.

¡LyR!: ¿Qué quiere Ud. que haga el pueblo norteamericano para ayudar en este trabajo y para demostrar solidaridad con Uds. y con los campesinos aquí en Colombia?

MC: Fundamentalmente, para que nosotros podamos a avanzar con la propuesta de resistencia del desplazamiento forzado, necesitamos el acompañamiento internacional, el hermanamiento con el pueblo estadounidense o el pueblo europeo, porque eso es la practica que nos ha hemos notado que funciona y que podemos resistir.

Creo que debe seguir adelante con su compromiso de estar consciente de lo que está haciendo el gobierno de los Estados Unidos como financiando el plan de guerra, el Plan Colombia. Prácticamente es una intervención extranjera en todos los asuntos internos, políticos, sociales, económicos, con la excusa de la guerra contra las drogas. Pienso que el pueble norteamericano debe ver más allá. Creo que los Estados Unidos está repartiendo la guerra por todas partes, no solamente en Colombia. Pero, sí, Colombia es uno de los países que recibe más ayuda militar y económica asesoría de los Estados Unidos. Entonces, el evento de que se puede suspender toda tipa de ayudas, pienso que los colombianos podemos encontrar una solución al conflicto que tenemos. Creemos que el conflicto que sea armado que tiene Colombia, el cual llega a cuarenta años se tiene que dar una solución política, una resolución política. Y que se tiene que ser el pueblo colombiano, el que tiene que llegar a esa solución política. En la media que los Estados Unidos tengan intereses de cualquier tipo, como a través de multinacionales, en todos recursos económicos o recursos naturales, y el control social en esto país. No va a servir. Los Estados Unidos nunca van a tener la autoridad para participar en ese proceso. Entonces, creo que nosotros colombianos tenemos que llegar allá a esa solución política.

#Interview #Colombia #Interviews #ColombiaActionNetwork #MiguelCifuente #Americas