Unas conjeturas sobre la injerencia y interferencia de los EE.UU. y la derecha colombiana surgieron inmediatamente. El senador conservador de Ohio Bernie Moreno, defensor de Turning Point USA, afirmó que EE.UU. quizá no reconociera las elecciones colombianas. Moreno, nacido en Colombia, cree que la condena del ex-presidente Alvaro Uribe, ligado al narcotráfico, es una represión política y él apoya la posibilidad de sanciones y otras medidas contra Colombia.

Moreno fue uno de los 88 oficiales de EE.UU. en Colombia durante la elección, lo que levantó sospechas de intimidación de los votantes.

Las movilizaciones populares a favor de Cepeda ocurrieron el 1 de junio, con muchos jóvenes manifestando junto a organizaciones comunitarias.

En 2019 y 2021, los movimientos sociales de Colombia mostraron su frustración con el gobierno de derecha en el poder. Dos huelgas nacionales históricas dieron lugar a movilizaciones masivas, especialmente en los centros urbanos, que unieron a una nueva generación de jóvenes colombianos con organizaciones de larga duración. El régimen pro-EE.UU. de Iván Duque respondió con represión por parte de la policía y las fuerzas armadas que resultó en cientos de víctimas. En particular, la policía disparó balas de goma a los ojos de los protestantes. Hubo más de 100 reportes de manifestantes con lesiones oculares.

Tras el sabotaje intencional por parte del gobierno de los Acuerdos de Paz de 2016 con las FARC, las huelgas nacionales resultaron en un cambio masivo en lo que las fuerzas populares están dispuestos a arriesgar para comenzar a transformar el país. Muchas de las fuerzas populares involucradas avanzaron, a través de la coalición Pacto Histórico, al candidato presidencial Gustavo Petro en 2022. Petro y la afrocolombiana Francia Marquez ganaron la elección.

En la lista del Pacto Histórico de este año hay Iván Cepeda, un senador desde hace mucho tiempo, y Aida Quilcue, una líder de una organización indigena. En la primera vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales, obtuvo el 40.9% y el candidato de derecha extrema, Abelardo de la Espriella, obtuvo el 43%. Esto reduce el campo de candidatos a Cepeda, un izquierdista, y de la Espriella, el candidato proisraelí, respaldado por EE.UU.

De ser elegido, la plataforma de Cepeda incluye una continuación de los objetivos del gobierno de Petro, con foco mayor en la reforma agraria y otros temas. Cepeda también fue un defensor de mucho tiempo de la repatriación del revolucionario colombiano Simon Trinidad. Trinidad, un ex-líder de FARC, está cumpliendo su 22do año como prisionero del imperio EE.UU. después de que cuatro juicios falsos por fin lograron una condena.

#International #Colombia #Elections

Chicago, IL – Now more than ever it’s important for our movement to talk about what the Trump administration is doing and what we need to do to stop it. Right now, he doesn’t have the entire ruling class behind him, but right now he has the MAGA people of the Republican Party, which operates like a racist cult. The difference being that they have state power, and this is the difference that makes a difference.

What we should be looking at is what they’re actually doing with that state power vis a vis Kristi Noem with the Department of Homeland Security and Pam Bondi with the Justice Department, and how both these agencies of government have gone rogue and show no intention, much less a desire, to abide by the Constitution, or to respect the balance of powers.

So, all we’ve had since the election is one act of defiance after another, and the most blatant one before engaging us in the war against Iran and the peoples of the Middle East, was clearly the refusal to obey the mandate from Congress to release the Epstein files.

Although it’s been a back and forth with the federal courts because the Supreme Court has time and time again taken the side of Donald Trump, there’s a trend that can’t be ignored where Trump has also been in defiance of federal district courts with regard to ICE and lately the Supreme Court itself on the question of the tariffs. The thing to be noted here is that the basic trend has been to vilify the courts and refuse to obey their rulings if they are against Trump’s policies.

What Trump has done through all these measures is to turn the federal government into the enemy of the people and actively engage in setting up a regime of racist and political repression.

This administration has been actively engaged in weakening the federal government in areas that have to do with workers’ rights. It’s active in weakening if not abolishing the Voting Rights Act with new ID requirements which have become a new poll tax. This regime has told people that the gains made by the LGBTQ community do not have to be respected. They’ve done several broadsides against women and the women’s movement, and one of the headline things is what they did in the Winter Olympics, so much so that the athletes who participated in those games, both men and women, have come out and denounced the administration, and refused to go along with it.

There are so many instances of blatant, open, racist expressions on the part of Trump and his administration. We can take what happened with Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl, or the instance where Trump portrayed the Obamas as apes. All of these incidents spell one thing: that already this administration is in open defiance of Congress, the Constitution, and the people of the United States who have been demonstrating en masse against them, manifested by what happened in Minneapolis.

As of this moment, they are illegally holding people, despite court orders, in detention centers. They are illegally going about the business of trying to set up concentration camps throughout the United States. What has put a hold on it is that these jurisdictions where they’re trying to set these up are saying “no, we don’t want that here.” Why would people be saying no? Because people know what it is. They know that these detention camps are really the prelude to concentration camps, a place where they can send those of us who are engaged in resistance as well as immigrants. If they get these detention camps set up all over the country, they’re not going to make a distinction.

Also, they have entered into hidden and open agreements with other countries. We know about the agreement they’ve entered into with El Salvador, but they’re not just talking about sending immigrants to El Salvador. They’re talking about sending American citizens to El Salvador, including people who are in prison on felony charges having absolutely nothing to do with immigration. Again, it is obvious that in fact, we have a regime of repression that is openly and flagrantly carrying out its illegal actions with the power of the state. They have taken over the government to make the government an instrument of their illegal actions.

All the major news networks talk about what they’re doing. The reporting on Fox News now and the reporting on MSNBC and CNN are not fundamentally different. What’s different is Fox News is openly supporting Trump and the other ones are being critical of him and taking advantage of the mass protests and whatnot to express that criticism. But also making him popular at the same time, giving him a lot of airtime.

Right now, he’s using his authority as president to make wars, and to do all of these things that he’s not supposed to be able to do, except through Congress, he is in fact doing them.

What the war on Iran and the peoples of the Middle East has revealed is more than the prerogatives of an imperial presidency. It has revealed that defending and perpetrating the crimes of U.S. imperialism remains a significant point of unity for the U.S. ruling class. Is there any doubt that the war that is presently being waged against Iran has the support of the U.S. ruling class, even though some of them raise issues of legality? At the same time, they praise Trump for having murdered the leaders of the Iranian people and ruthlessly prosecuting a war for regime change.

This brings us down to this here. There are no big differences in the understanding of what’s going on between the different networks, between the masses of the people and the politicians. Millions of people see where this is going.

A word about the Texas elections. The Texas elections are again a clear demonstration of the willingness of the Democratic Party to still pursue the bankrupt policy of reaching across the aisles in search of mythical unity with the Republican Party that will stop the movement that they’re engaged in to destroy every semblance of democracy in the United States.

So where is the real opposition? It’s the spontaneous uprising of the people in the streets and the growing organized engagement of the people on the part of Freedom Road and our allies.

We have to make up our minds going forward to really give a program to our slogan “make the country ungovernable.” Now is the time to do that because in these momentous times, our movement and our people are engaged in an existential struggle to bring about an end of the Trump administration, which is using every enforcement mechanism the government has to protect the rights of the people to destroy the rights of the people. And finally, choosing world war over peace.

This is not so much an analysis as a factual depiction. These are the facts. This is the reality created by the Trump administration that we must change.

#ChicagoIL #Opinion #Commentary #Trump #PeoplesStruggles #ImmigrantRights #Elections #DemocraticRights #AntiWarMovement

Milwaukee, WI – Former President Trump returned to Milwaukee this past Friday, November 1, to speak at a rally at the Fiserv Forum, the same venue where he accepted the Republican presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Once details of Trump’s visit were made public, the Milwaukee organizations who helped lead the Coalition to March on the RNC rallied together for an emergency protest to say no to Trump. Trump’s reactionary agenda stands against multiple movements that have a strong home in Milwaukee – anti-police crimes, reproductive justice, anti-war, labor, student, and Palestinian liberation.

Speaking to the question of reproductive justice, Allison Smith of Reproductive Justice Action – Milwaukee, stated, “we don’t want a man with a documented history of sexual misconduct. We want to remind him, and everyone else, that we did not stand idly by when our rights were stripped away in 2022, and we will not be silent now. We are committed to doing everything in our power to push back against right-wing attacks on reproductive healthcare and the healthcare system at large.”

Progressive elements of the labor movement have largely united against Trump on account of his prioritization of CEOs rather than workers and his vile attempts at sowing division among workers. While dividing the working class isn’t unique to Trump, his reliance on reactionary rhetoric has emboldened the reactionary elements of the U.S. population. Jacob Flom of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council made this point clearly, stating, “the labor movement stands for everything that Trump is against. Trump has tried to pit workers against each other by fostering anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ hate.”

With all the hatred Trump and his supporters have voiced against working and oppressed peoples, the imperative to take a firm stand against it and fight back became another consistent theme in the remarks of Friday night’s speakers. Speaking on behalf of the Milwaukee Antiwar Committee, Eva Dickenson, stated, “Trump’s comments on Palestinians have been sickening. He’s promised to put pro-Palestinian protesters like us in jail, and he has said that he wants to finish the job. No matter what he tries, he will never kill our spirit of resistance.” Aurelia Ceja, co-chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, carried a similar message forward, explaining “we’re united to show that Milwaukee is a fighting city.”

A Trump presidency will require mass organizations capable of standing up against the multiple attacks on various movements. Trump has made it clear that he’s an enemy of the people, and the only antidote against him will be mass movement. Speaking to the importance of organizing, Audari Tamayo of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “We recognize the ballot box as an arena of struggle, but we say that the best way to fight reactionaries like Trump and his supporters is right here in the streets. Trump represents the U.S. empire in decline, but this system won’t fall on its own or through the ballot box. The real hammer of change will be socialism built by the working and oppressed people!”

Tuesday’s election is quickly approaching, and for the people of Milwaukee, the road ahead is one of struggle.

Milwaukee has become a must-visit location for Republicans and Democrats given the city’s significance for the Wisconsin vote, which will play a key role as a swing state. Regardless of the outcome, it will be up to the people of Milwaukee to fight like hell for what they need and deserve. Friday offered a small glimpse into how the progressive movements of Milwaukee intend on standing together post-election.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #2024Elections #Trump #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #NAARPR #MAARPR

La OSCL urge a nuestros miembros y simpatizantes a que salgan a las calles y organicen las protestas más amplias posibles el día después de las elecciones del 5 de noviembre. Sin importar el resultado, debemos seguir apoyando a Palestina y oponernos a la guerra cada vez más amplia de los Estados Unidos/Israel en el Medio Oriente. Y debemos avanzar una agenda progresista que defienda los derechos de los inmigrantes, los trabajadores, las personas LGBTQ, las mujeres y los derechos reproductivos.

Es cierto que Harris es una facilitadora del genocidio en Palestina, y que Trump es un tonto racista y reaccionario. Ninguno de los dos merece un voto ni apoyo, y es importante que estemos en las calles el 6 de noviembre diciendo que continuaremos la lucha por la justicia. No podemos descansar.

Sabemos que las protestas serán más grandes si Trump gana o se declara ganador, así que es importante que intentemos unir a todos los que se puedan unir. No tenemos que estar de acuerdo con todos los que marchan con nosotros, pero sí necesitamos llevar a la mayor cantidad de personas posible a las calles. Independientemente del resultado, queremos la respuesta más fuerte posible.

El futuro no está escrito, hay cosas de las que podemos estar seguros y cosas que ciertamente podemos hacer. Continuaremos apoyando a Palestina y exigiendo el fin de toda ayuda a Israel. Avanzaremos en la lucha por la paz, la justicia y la igualdad. Y seguiremos construyendo la lucha del pueblo, llevando a la mayor cantidad posible de personas hasta donde puedan llegar.

¡Todos a las calles el 6 de noviembre!

#PeoplesStruggles #FRSO #OSCL #Statement #Espanol #Elections #2024Elections #Harris #Trump

The upcoming presidential election is referendum on the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Palestine and the broader war that the U.S. and Israel are waging in the Middle East. The Biden/Harris administration is coordinating the attack on Iran, and the U.S. has dispatched troops and missiles to Israel. There is a minimum of 44,000 dead in Gaza, and Israel is raining 2000-pound bombs down on the cities of Lebanon. While it should go without saying that a reactionary racist like Trump does not deserve a vote, Kamala Harris doesn’t either.

The resistance to Israeli apartheid and the struggle throughout the Middle East to end Western domination is a turning point in world history – it is a key part of a revolutionary process that will bring the U.S. empire to an end. The Palestinian resistance embodies progress and hopes of oppressed people everywhere.

FRSO is a revolutionary organization. We do not believe that we can vote our way to socialism. The rulers of the U.S. have shown that they will resort to violence rather than give up even a small piece of their empire, like Afghanistan. They deployed troops – the National Guard – all over the country during the George Floyd Rebellion. They will never peacefully surrender their wealth, privilege or power.

While elections cannot bring about the rule of the working class (socialism), elections under capitalism are an arena of struggle.

Our electoral line has always been a flexible one that takes a number of criteria into account. We have never favored an abstentionist approach. Instead, we look at the issue from the overall perspective of how we can find the most favorable terrain to fight on and build revolutionary organization.

The four criteria for developing our line on elections in the past have been as follows: One, is a given candidate is a special danger? Two, is the election a referendum on a major social question, such as war or economic crisis? Three, is a campaign contending in an election the embodiment of a national movement, for example, Jesse Jackson in 1984. Four is the issue of whether there is significant political action that is independent of the two major capitalist parties, such as Nader in 2000. While these points serve as benchmarks for looking at what is at stake in any particular election, they are not all equal all the time.

We see this election as a referendum on genocide in Palestine, which is facilitated by Harris and Biden – so we don’t advocate voting for Harris as a way to oppose Trump. We fully understand that on a number of issues there are policy differences between the presidential candidates, for example on labor and reproductive rights. But, given the importance of Palestine in the revolutionary process on an international scale, and the role that Palestine has played in the popular movement in the U.S. – the Palestine issue stands above other factors in determining our views on the election.

It is correct to say that monopoly capitalism has two political parties in this country – the Republican Party and the Democratic Party – and that both parties are in the pockets of the big corporations. That said, it is wrong to say there is no difference of policy between the two. Labor and issues like anti-union “right to work” laws illustrate this. Some of our friends in the trade union movement disagree with us on making Palestine and the growing war in the Middle East a priority, so they tell us we need to support Harris. That is not going to happen, but we can continue to work together on union issues we agree on. And we are going to continue to promote labor for Palestine groups in the trade union movement.

We understand that many progressives are concerned about Trump representing a fascist danger and say the only way forward is to support Harris. We disagree. While there is no doubt that Trump is a racist, reactionary fool, we do not think he will rule by open terror, which is the essence of what fascism is. The specter of a Trump win should not give a pass to the candidate of genocide and war, namely Kamala Harris.

We are not advocating that people boycott the elections. We should not be indifferent to progressive candidates or positive ballot initiatives such as those for reproductive rights. But here is the big takeaway from the 2024 elections: capitalism is a failed system, and its two main political representatives do not deserve our support. Rather, the rotten choices are an indictment of a system that serves the wealthy, and which must be overturned.

#PeoplesStruggles #Elections #2024Election #Trump #Harris #FRSO #Statement #Feature

Lenin’s important book, “Left Wing” Communism, An Infantile Disorder, was written in 1920. According to the subtitle of the original manuscript, it was intended to be “a popular exposition on Marxist strategy and tactics.” After the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in 1917, the working class in the former Russian Empire had smashed its chains and set out on the road to socialism. Revolutionaries all over the world were eager to understand how the Bolsheviks had succeeded in defeating Tsarism and imperialism. Lenin, therefore, wrote this book to help guide the international communist movement and to sum up some of the critical lessons of the revolution in Russia.  

Reading this book by Lenin, one point is made clear again and again – there are no ready-made formulas that can be applied whenever and wherever just the same, but, rather, the concrete analysis of concrete conditions is paramount, and everything must be undertaken in accordance with the present time, place and conditions. Marxism-Leninism is a revolutionary science. It understands that there are general laws of motion that hold true. At the same time, those general laws must be applied creatively to any particular situation based on a dialectical analysis of the material processes at work. 

Lenin’s argument

Lenin begins this text with a look at what is universal in the experience of the Russian revolution. He says that “the Russian model … reveals to all countries something – and something highly significant – of their near and inevitable future.” 

From the outset, Lenin stresses that “the experience of the victorious dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia has clearly shown even to those who are incapable of thinking or have had no occasion to give thought to the matter that absolute centralization and rigorous discipline of the proletariat are an essential condition of victory over the bourgeoisie.” This is Lenin’s first point, that a party of the Bolshevik type is absolutely necessary if the working class is to win power. 

After a summation of the history of Bolshevism, Lenin begins to draw some conclusions. The first of these is that Bolshevism gained strength through struggle against opportunism within the revolutionary movement. Lenin writes that “Bolshevism’s principal enemy within the working-class movement” from 1914 until the time of his writing this book, was, “First and foremost, the struggle against opportunism which in 1914 definitely developed into social-chauvinism and definitely sided with the bourgeoisie, against the proletariat.” This is the “right” opportunist trend. This struggle is well known, Lenin says. If we want to study it, we can look at Lenin’s other texts like The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky. Here he wants to focus on another enemy of the working class, the trend of “left” opportunism. This takes shape as “petty-bourgeois revolutionism,” and Lenin explains how this arises ideologically from the material class position of the petty bourgeoisie, among whom it is rooted. 

“...[T]he petty proprietor, the small master (a social type existing on a very extensive and even mass scale in many European countries), who, under capitalism, always suffers oppression and very frequently a most acute and rapid deterioration in his conditions of life, and even ruin, easily goes to revolutionary extremes, but is incapable of perseverance, organization, discipline and steadfastness.”

He draws particular attention to “the instability of such revolutionism, its barrenness, and its tendency to turn rapidly into submission, apathy, phantasms, and even a frenzied infatuation with one bourgeois fad or another.” Surely everyone who has spent any time organizing has encountered these people and knows exactly what Lenin means. 

Drawing from the Bolshevik experience, Lenin writes, “The struggle that Bolshevism waged against ‘Left’ deviations within its own Party assumed particularly large proportions on two occasions: in 1908, on the question of whether or not to participate in a most reactionary ‘parliament’ and in the legal workers’ societies, which were being restricted by most reactionary laws; and again in 1918 (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk), on the question of whether one ‘compromise’ or another was permissible.”

These are today still the points where the ultra-leftists try to drag the revolutionary struggle into the mire: how to relate to bourgeois elections, how to relate to the trade unions, and how to deal with the question of compromise. 

Bourgeois elections

Looking at how Lenin and the Bolsheviks dealt with the question of bourgeois elections, we would benefit from quoting the following paragraph in full: 

“The Bolsheviks’ boycott of “parliament” in 1905 enriched the revolutionary proletariat with highly valuable political experience and showed that, when legal and illegal parliamentary and non-parliamentary forms of struggle are combined, it is sometimes useful and even essential to reject parliamentary forms. It would, however, be highly erroneous to apply this experience blindly, imitatively and uncritically to other conditions and other situations. The Bolsheviks’ boycott of the Duma in 1906 was a mistake, although a minor and easily remediable one.  The boycott of the Duma in 1907, 1908 and subsequent years was a most serious error and difficult to remedy, because, on the one hand, a very rapid rise of the revolutionary tide and its conversion into an uprising was not to be expected, and, on the other hand, the entire historical situation attendant upon the renovation of the bourgeois monarchy called for legal and illegal activities being combined. Today, when we look back at this fully completed historical period, whose connection with subsequent periods has now become quite clear, it becomes most obvious that in 1908–14 the Bolsheviks could not have preserved (let alone strengthened and developed) the core of the revolutionary party of the proletariat, had they not upheld, in a most strenuous struggle, the viewpoint that it was obligatory to combine legal and illegal forms of struggle, and that it was obligatory to participate even in a most reactionary parliament and in a number of other institutions hemmed in by reactionary laws (sick benefit societies, etc.).”

So, should revolutionaries participate in bourgeois elections, and how should they go about it? Lenin doesn’t exactly give us a final “yes” or “no” which is true always and everywhere. He does say that “participation in a bourgeois-democratic parliament … actually helps that proletariat to prove to the backward masses why such parliaments deserve to be done away with; it facilitates their successful dissolution, and helps to make bourgeois parliamentarianism ‘politically obsolete’.” 

We should harbor no illusions that a peaceful, electoral transition to socialism is possible. However, revolutionaries must engage with the masses in electoral politics, simply because that is where the masses are at, and we want to create more favorable conditions for revolutionary work. We should use the mass line to take up the demands of the advanced among the masses and, with the lens of Marxist analysis, find ways to see them through. Then we sum up those experiences with the advanced and draw conclusions.  

It has to be stressed that Lenin’s main point in this regard is that particular conditions demand particular tactics. The goal is to build the revolutionary movement, which can only be done together with the masses in real struggle, and tactical decisions must start from there. 

Work in the trade unions

On the trade unions, Lenin writes, 

“The trade unions were a tremendous step forward for the working class in the early days of capitalist development, inasmuch as they marked a transition from the workers’ disunity and helplessness to the rudiments of class organization. When the revolutionary party of the proletariat, the highest form of proletarian class organization, began to take shape (and the Party will not merit the name until it learns to weld the leaders into one indivisible whole with the class and the masses) the trade unions inevitably began to reveal certain reactionary features, a certain craft narrow-mindedness, a certain tendency to be non-political, a certain inertness, etc. However, the development of the proletariat did not, and could not, proceed anywhere in the world otherwise than through the trade unions, through reciprocal action between them and the party of the working class.”

Lenin could not be clearer when he says, “If you want to help the ‘masses’ and win the sympathy and support of the ‘masses’, you … must absolutely work wherever the masses are to be found.” 

This is why we must not shun work in the unions, even if they are led by business unionists who want “class peace” or sellouts who are in it only for themselves. Instead, we have to fight for class struggle unionism and build the militant minority in order to put the unions on a class struggle basis. These are the main mass organizations of the working class. They are not sufficient for revolutionizing the class structure of society by themselves, but they are where the advanced fighters of the working class are to be found, and we will win them over by fighting shoulder to shoulder with them. 

“Left-Wing” Communism today

We find ourselves in interesting times, and the lessons of Lenin’s text deserve careful consideration. First, the working class has no organized vanguard. There is no communist party in the United States. While some claim the name, none in practice can honestly say that their cadres are the “generals of the proletarian army.” This means that the central task is to build such a party. We must do that by winning over the advanced fighters of the working class and oppressed nationality movements to Marxism-Leninism through practice. As Mao Zedong clearly put it, “A leading group that is genuinely united and linked with the masses can be formed only gradually in the process of mass struggle, and not in isolation from it.” In other words, party building has to be done in the course of real mass struggles. How else could we build a party comprised of the true leaders of the masses? 

Furthermore, we are deep into an unusual presidential election season, and we are simultaneously witnessing a U.S.-backed genocide being carried about by the Zionists in Palestine. These are issues that many are talking about and that shouldn’t be ignored. It is unavoidable that we should discuss Lenin’s text in this context, particularly in regard to how we address bourgeois elections generally, and this one in particular. 

One of the main ways the broad masses engage with politics is through bourgeois elections. We may know that bourgeois elections, a contest for rulership between two sections of the capitalist class, is “politically obsolete,” but that doesn’t mean anything if the masses haven’t yet come to the same conclusion. Furthermore, while elections cannot fundamentally change the class nature of society, they can influence the conditions under which we are fighting to build a revolutionary movement. This has been proven in practice, such as in the struggle for community control of the police. 

All that said, how do we concretely analyze electoral questions? When we look at bourgeois elections, we need to consider four questions: 1) Does one candidate represent a special danger? 2) Is the election a referendum on a major social question, such as war? 3) Does a contending campaign embody a particular social movement, such as the Black liberation movement? 4) Is the election part of a significant political movement independent of the two main capitalist parties? 

Of course, all of these questions are in play, but in the present moment it is crystal clear that genocide in Palestine, and the heroic fight for liberation being fought by the Palestinian Resistance, is primary. The advanced fighters in many mass movements are united in this understanding. Solidarity with Palestine and the demand to end the genocide are at the forefront of the peoples struggles, and the Palestinian liberation movement is at the center of revolutionary process that can defeat the Zionist proxy of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Those who get this question wrong will lose the confidence of the advanced and will be rightly seen as betrayers of the Palestinian people. 

For the reason, we have to be clear that in the present moment the U.S. presidential election is a referendum on the genocide. It has never been clearer – as we are presented with a choice between the reactionary Trump, on the one hand, and the architects of genocide on the other – that this is a failed system and that the choice presented to us is rotten to the core. Neither choice is acceptable.

Communists must unite with the advanced, using Marxism to analyze the situation and find the way forward. Lenin’s book stresses this same point. Today, that way forward is to unite with and help lead the struggle to stop the genocide and to fight for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea. 

More than anything else, Lenin’s book “Left Wing” Communism shows us how to apply Marxism to the dynamic and complex mass struggles in which we find ourselves, and how to navigate those struggles, always with the goal of building towards revolution and socialism.

J. Sykes is the author of the book “The Revolutionary Science of Marxism-Leninism”. The book can be purchased by visiting tinyurl.com/revsciMLbook

#RevolutionaryTheory #RedReviews #Lenin #MarxismLeninism #Elections #Unions

Caracas, Venezuela – “A PSUV victory is the most important present for Commander Hugo Chavez. Today, July 28, is the anniversary of his birthday, the same day as the popular triumph of the people,” says international observer Diakaridia Diakita, the president of the youth of the Yelema party in the Republic of Mali. PSUV stands for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Over 800 international observers from around the world are in Venezuela to observe the historic elections between the Chavista PSUV leader Nicolás Maduro and the opposition pro-imperialism parties.

The main opposition candidate is Edmundo Gonzalez, who supports the privatization of the oil companies, schools, healthcare, and the removal of social programs that former President Chavez started.

These international observers come from unions, left parties, newspapers, and organizations from around the world. The grandson of Nelson Mandela, Nkosi Zwelivelile, is also observing this important election. Observers talk about the importance of this election for Venezuela, Latin America and the world.

Observers from Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and all over the world will be monitoring today’s election.

“Venezuela has been strangled by sanctions for over a decade. This election will show us if Maduro has been able to lead his country to persevere, or if smear campaigns and national betrayal of the opposition will bring the country back down into vassal status. The fate of Venezuela rests on July 28,” says Ahmed Eltouny, the former cochair of the Green Party in the U.S.

Booker Omole, the vice president of the Communist Party of Kenya, says, “I am here in Caracas to attend this very important event of the revolutionary history of Venezuela. Particularly, the Communist Party of Kenya is an internationalist organization, and we support the Bolivarian Revolution. Also, there are certain commonalities between the Venezuelan revolution and the ongoing processes in Kenya, which is still a neocolonial entity.”

Omole continued, “In 1989, in Caracas and major cities in Venezuela, there was a social explosion in the streets, where the IMF and World Bank had imposed austerity measures, the anti-people policies. In Kenya today, the masses and the working class are also resisting. We have seen millions of people pouring into the streets to resist the puppet regime that is sponsored by the USA imperialism. This reminds of similarities where the IMF has designed policies, particularly here in Venezuela, that took ten years after the social explosion for the Bolivarian revolution to materialize. Hugo Chavez still lives among us, not only here in Caracas, but also in Kenya.”

#CaracasVZ #Venezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Maduro #NicolasMaduro #Elections #VZElection #HugoChavez #PSUV #Chavista #EdmundoGonzalez #Mali #DiakaridiaDiakita #GreenParty #Kenya #IMF #WorldBank #Kenya #BookerOmole #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

Caracas, Venezuela – “Hasta la victoria! El pueblo unido jamás se ha vencido!” tens of thousands chanted, filling the streets, in the rally for President Nicolás Maduro on July 26.

The presidential elections of Venezuela are July 28. These historic elections are crucial in continuing the PSUV-led Bolivarian revolution of former President Chavez and the current President Maduro.

Under Chavez and now Maduro’s leadership, widespread social programs such as free schools, literacy centers, free universal healthcare and free universities have been established. Due to these widespread literacy centers and free education, UNESCO declared Venezuela free of illiteracy. The PSUV also launched a program called, “La Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela” (Great Mission Housing Venezuela) and built over 5 million units of free housing for Venezuelans. You can see these buildings all over Venezuela, with Chavez’ signature in big letters on the outside of the buildings.

Under Maduro’s leadership, the government launched the People’s Assembly, made up of leaders from Las Comunas, the neighborhood organizations. The democratic People’s Assembly has real power and can pass laws and establish new programs that serve the Venezuelan people.

They have also nationalized the oil companies to bring more profit into Venezuela, instead of having the profits go to other imperialist countries like the USA. Before Chavez, five-sixths of the profit from petroleum went out of the country. Now, most of the profits stay in the country to support social programs. 

In Venezuela, the pro-imperialist opposition parties want to take control away from the people and remove social programs. The main opposition candidate is Edmundo Gonzalez. His neoliberal program, called the “Land of the Grace,” states that his first measure will be to privatize the oil and gas industry. The opposition wants to privatize schools, so they will no longer be free; privatize companies; amend the Organic Law on Labor to remove the restrictions on labor rights; remove pensions so workers will pay their own retirement in private banks.

The opposition party has close relations with the United States government. The U.S. government has major interest in these elections due to the profit they would make from the opposition’s right-wing program and to crush the Chavista national democratic movement. 

Venezuela is an inspiration to workers all around the world that another world is possible, a world where the power is in the hands of the “pueblo” (the people).

#CaracasVZ #Venezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Maduro #NicolasMaduro #Elections #VZElection #HugoChavez #PSUV #Chavista #EdmundoGonzalez #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

Tallahassee, FL – On July 20, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee hosted a forum for candidates running for city commission Seats 1 and 2. The forum was held at the Dr. B.L. Perry Southside Branch Library.

For Seat 1, Jacqueline “Jack” Porter, the incumbent, and one challenger, Louis Dilbert, was in

attendance. Another challenger, Rudolph “Rudy” Ferguson, did not respond to TCAC’s requests to attend.

For Seat 2, one of the challengers, Dorothy “Dot” Inman-Johnson, attended. The incumbent, Curtis Richardson, and another challenger, Donna Nyack, did not respond to requests to attend. Another challenger, Bernard Stevens, was going to attend, but was stuck out of town due to delayed flight.

The forum lasted around two hours. Topics discussed included civilian oversight and community control of the police, women’s, reproductive, and LGBTQ rights in Tallahassee, and the genocide in Palestine.

When asked about the conduct of the Tallahassee Police Department and Chief Lawrence Revell, Inman-Johnson said that the police department “has become a political pawn of the city manager, the mayor, and two of the city commissioners. The chief does what he knows what those three commissioners and the city manager wants.”

City Manager Reese Goad is a close ally with the conservative bloc of the commission, especially the mayor.

Inman-Johnson also mentioned that Chief Revell had actually retired at the end of 2023 and was appointed by Goad to a new Other Personal Services Employment (OPS) position, while also pulling retirement benefits.

To the same question, Commissioner Porter referred to her public comments on the dais, on social media, and in press conferences against the chief over her time in office.

“I believe we have a political problem that can only be fixed with a political solution, and that has to be a change at the top and a change of city manager,” Porter commented.

On the same subject, Dilbert spoke towards the responsibilities of people in public positions, particularly Revell’s speaking at an event hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, an anti-LGBTQ organization. Dilbert stated, “He has freedom of speech, that’s his prerogative. But when you do that under the banner of your position, that’s where I have an issue.”

Regarding the budgeting process of the city, all three candidates agreed that changes need to be made.

“We could improve city spending by making budget workshops real workshops where the public is invited,” said Inman-Johnson.

“We need to strike a balance between helping the least off with the ability to raise money,” said Dilbert.

Commissioner Porter emphasized reprioritization towards the poorest people in Tallahassee. “If the roof of your house is leaking, you’re going to fix that before you buy a new couch.”

The final question was about the genocide in Palestine. All three attendees agreed to vote for a ceasefire resolution, which would make Tallahassee the first city in Florida to do so.

On the five person city commission, Porter and fellow commissioner Jeremy Matlow comprise a more progressive minority. Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox, alongside Mayor John Dailey, lead a more conservative majority. They use that power to push through contracts that are beneficial for developers and to prevent more progressive demands such as affordable housing.

Inman-Johnson winning against Richardson would bring a progressive majority to the dais, a seismic shift to the city’s decision making board, as long as Porter wins re-election. Porter’s biggest challenger, Rudy Ferguson, has been endorsed by all three of the sitting conservative commissioners.

The full replay is available on TCAC’s Instagram, @tallycac. The primary for positions in the city and Leon County is on August 20.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #TCAC

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following April 3 statement from the Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Palestine solidarity activists are celebrating the success of a protest vote campaign in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary. 48,000 people voted “uninstructed” in the April 2 primary, Wisconsin’s version of “uncommitted,” that has found success in several state primaries.

The Wisconsin campaign more than doubled its goal of 20,682 votes, representing Biden’s margin of victory over Trump in Wisconsin in the 2020 election. The “uninstructed” campaign was led by Listen to Wisconsin, and supported by 60 pro-Palestine, progressive, and left organizations across the state, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Wisconsin District.

The success of the “uninstructed” campaign demonstrates the growing popular support for the Palestinian people in their just struggle for liberation from U.S.-backed Israeli occupation and genocide. Since October 7, mass protests in support of Palestine have reached historic levels, along with the development of a strong state-wide Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

The Democratic Party has tried to downplay the huge number of protest votes in several critical swing states, dismissing concerns over Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but the numbers are undeniable. In nine states that have an uncommitted/uninstructed option, the campaign has already garnered over 415,000 votes, with more states to come. After six months of marches, disruptions, and boycotts, Biden continues to send billions of dollars of weapons to re-arm Israel’s occupation forces, who have killed over 33,000 Palestinians. Many voters see the protest vote as one of the few options to force Biden and the Democratic Party to face political consequences for continuing to support the genocide in Gaza.

With a Biden vs. Trump rematch on the horizon, the two-party system doesn't offer any solutions for oppressed people. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been relentless in their support of Israel’s racist, settler-colonial occupation of Palestine for over 75 years. Israel serves an important role for Western imperialist domination of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The two capitalist parties want Israel to continue its role as an outpost of U.S. capitalist interests. But the Palestinian people are waging a fight that has the potential to end the Zionist project and limit the influence of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East, and we want them to win.

Over the past six months, millions of people across the U.S. have joined actions in solidarity with Palestine. Hundreds of thousands of protest votes against Biden are one manifestation of the power of the growing movement for Palestine. The movements that are being built have real potential to stifle U.S. support for the occupation of Palestine.

We encourage supporters of Palestinian liberation to continue bringing the demands of the movement to the doorstep of the Democratic and Republican parties by participating in the March on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024, and the March on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 19 – 22, 2024.

#WI #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Biden #Elections #DNC2024 #RNC2024

Despite Bukele’s declaration of victory, two days after the election almost all of the ballots cast for the Legislative Assembly still remained uncounted and a significant number of presidential ballots also remained uncounted. On election night, poll workers across the country started reporting in live videos on social media that the computer system for reporting results kept trying to double or triple the number of votes for Nayib Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas, as they tried to transmit the results. Then the system crashed entirely, grinding ballot counting to a halt.

After the vote counting was stopped late Sunday night, the ballots from the country’s capital San Salvador were then “lost”’ for over a day, leaving open the possibility that they had been tampered with before they were “found” the next day.

On February 5, the day after the election, the Popular Resistance and Rebellion Block (BRP), a block of left-wing and progressive organizations in El Salvador, released a statement saying that they condemn:

“… the unconstitutional reelection of Nayib Bukele, imposed with the complicity of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). As an expression of the organized Salvadoran popular movement, the Popular Resistance and Rebellion Block DOES NOT recognize the illegal election results or the de facto regime surging from this electoral farce. We denounce the fact that to guarantee this fraud in favor of the governing party, the regime also illegally modified the electoral system and violated many legal dispositions during the electoral campaign. We positively appreciate the courage of hundreds of thousands of people who voted for the opposition in a context of illegalities, political persecution and the continuing State of Exception, which suppresses constitutional guarantees and which the government utilizes as a mechanism of social containment. In this context of rupture with the constitutional order, of repression and regression in the political, social and economic order, we reiterate our call to build a broad front of left, democratic, and progressive forces to impede the consolidation of the dictatorial regime that seeks to perpetuate itself in power. We call on the people to get organized and deepen the struggle against the Bukele clan’s dictatorship, which sustains itself with illegalities and which has the backing of the oligarchy and imperialism.”

In a press conference after the election, a spokesperson for the group of accredited international election observers from the Center for Interchange and Solidarity, which has observed every Salvadoran election since the 1992 Peace Accords, said, “We suspect that there was an attempt to modify t