This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
The Plough Volume 2, Number 15 28 November 2004 E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party 1. Ukrainian Elections: Lessons for Ireland 2. Media Lies 3. Why Solidarity? 4. One-Eyed Police in Germany 5. From the Newspapers 6. Letters 7. What's On ******* UKRAINIAN ELECTIONS: LESSONS FOR IRELAND Those who have been watching the TV news this week will not have failed to notice that one of the main stories was the contested results of the Ukrainian elections. Channels like the BBC have tried to present this as as struggle between 'democracy' and 'authoritarianism'. Scepticism however is required, as what we are witnessing constitutes what Jonathan Steele called a 'post-modern coup d'etat': "Intervening in foreign elections, under the guise of an impartial interest in helping civil society, has become the run-up to the post-modern coup d'etat, the CIA-sponsored third world uprising of cold war days adapted to post-Soviet conditions. Instruments of democracy are used selectively to topple unpopular dictators, once a successor candidate or regime has been groomed." (Ukraine's Post-modern Coup d'Etat, The Guardian, 26 November 2004) The opposition's electoral campaign "is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing that, in four countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple unsavoury regimes. Funded and organised by the US government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, diplomats, the two big American parties and US non-government organisations, the campaign was first used in Europe in Belgrade in 2000 to beat Slobodan Milosevic at the ballot box. Richard Miles, the US ambassador in Belgrade, played a key role. And by last year, as US ambassador in Tbilisi, he repeated the trick in Georgia, coaching Mikhail Saakashvili in how to bring down Eduard Shevardnadze. Ten months after the success in Belgrade, the US ambassador in Minsk, Michael Kozak, a veteran of similar operations in Central America, notably in Nicaragua, organised a near identical campaign to try to defeat the Belarus hardman, Alexander Lukashenko. That one failed." "'There will be no Kostunica in Belarus,' the Belarus president declared, referring to the victory in Belgrade But experience gained in Serbia, Georgia and Belarus has been invaluable in plotting to beat the regime of Leonid Kuchma in Kiev. The operation -- engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil disobedience -- is now so slick that the methods have matured into a template for winning other people's elections." (Ian Traynor, US campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev, The Guardian, 26 November 2004) Ian Trainor continues: "The Democratic Party's National Democratic Institute, the Republican Party's International Republican Institute, the US State Department and US Aid are the main agencies involved in these grassroots campaigns as well as the Freedom House NGO and billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute. US pollsters and professional consultants are hired to organise focus groups and use psephological data to plot strategy...Officially, the US government spent $41m (£21.7m) organising and funding the year-long operation to get rid of Milosevic from October 1999. In Ukraine, the figure is said to be around $14m." The article concludes: "If the events in Kiev vindicate the US in its strategies for helping other people win elections and take power from anti-democratic regimes, it is certain to try to repeat the exercise elsewhere in the post-Soviet world. The places to watch are Moldova and the authoritarian countries of central Asia." What should worry people in Ireland is this: what would stop the US and the UK to do the same in Ireland? Imagine that in a future election, a Republican Socialist candidate had serious chances of winning, is it not reasonable to think that a similar 'post-modern coup d'etat' would take place? Does this not vindicate our argument that there cannot be an electoral road to socialism? ******* MEDIA LIES (Below we carry a short piece on a Sunday World article. Funny is it not how at the same time that Spotlight, a BBC investigative programme, are doing a programme on so-called INLA activity in Strabane that the article appeared? Surely journalists and investigative journalists at that, don't leak juicy if inaccurate stories to the gutter press?) The Sunday World on the 21st of November a news item "written," if that is the word, by Stephen Moore: "INLA lodges cash in bank it has robbed. Cheeky INLA bank robbers stashed their stolen cash on the very bank they robbed. The terror gang is believed to be behind a kidnapping which led to £300,000 being stolen from the Ulster Bank in Strabane -- the same bank used by the terror group's political wing!" This story is somehow misleading. It is a wrong inference from two different premises. There was an incident in Strabane. There were media allegations that the INLA was behind the incident. Willie Gallagher, an IRSP member, also made some widely reported comments about that incident. However, this is not sufficient evidence to prove that the INLA was behind this incident. A professional journalist would not write that the INLA carried out the robbery but that the organisation ALLEGEDLY carried it out. Mr Moore contradicts himself when he states that the group is "believed" to be behind the action, but at the same time categorically states that it robbed the bank. This may be a small nuance, but it is an important one. The IRSP has indeed Ulster Bank accounts. This is no secret, and never has been any secret. However, there are no connections whatsoever between this and the robbery allegedly carried out by the INLA. If so, could Mr Moore please provide proofs that £300,000 was transferred to one of those bank accounts he refers to? Because the amount of money in those accounts is nowhere near a six figures sum. The security apparatus, contrary to Mr Moore, are well aware of this fact. It would be incredibly stupid of the INLA to transfer the money they allegedly robbed on those two public bank accounts open to scrutiny. Mr Moore's story would have sounded more accurate if he had written that the organisation had invested that money in shares on the stock exchange or had placed it in secret bank accounts in Luxembourg or Switzerland. (Liam O'Ruairc) ******* WHY SOLIDARITY? At the recent Ard-Fheis of the IRSP a motion of solidarity with the people's wars in Peru, Nepal, India, Turkey, the Philippines and Colombia was put forward. This is why. The left in Ireland and in Britain talks all the time about "anti-capitalism" and "anti-globalisation" and complains about the lack of "proletarian leadership" in Iraq and Palestine, but it is silent about the most significant Marxist struggles going on in the world at present in the countries mentioned. For example, parties as far apart as the SWP and the CPI have been silent about the trial of Abimael Guzman or the persecution of Jose Maria Sison. So the IRSP believes that it is important that it takes the right side in those important struggles. We have a lot to learn from the like of the New People Army of the Philippines or the Nepalese CPNM, or the Naxalbari. The Philippines is made up of hundreds of islands and hundreds of dialects and languages, but the NPA was able to unite all those under a common socialist banner. The same for the Naxalites in India. If the CPNM are able to join in a common struggle with the Naxalbarri, it will change the whole balance of forces in the Indian sub-continent and in Asia. (My personal view is that Nepal and India are strategically the most important in the global struggle for socialism today.) A victory there would be of crucial importance for the cause of socialism world wide. Regarding Turkey, the IRSP has a history of solidarity with groups like the DHKC, TKP/ML, most recently during the hunger strikes there. Peru is an important struggle that has been forgotten. The left knows and loves the Zapatistas, but hardly speaks of the PCP/SL. With the current trial of Abimael Guzman, it is important for the IRSP to side with the Peruvian revolutionaries. That said, the IRSP does not take a specific stance on questions such as whether or not Luis Arce Borja and Adolf Oleacha are CIA agents, the struggle between the two lines in the PCP/SL, the disputes between the RIM and the MIM and other polemics internal to those revolutionary movements. (Liam O Ruairc) ******* ONE-EYED POLICE IN GERMANY 18 arrested at Nazi demo -- all of them anti fascists. The thought that fascists can get together for a 'remembrance' demo just a few days after the anniversary of the so-called 'crystal night', the burning of all the German synagogues on Nov. 9th, 1938, is absurd enough. But the events in the aftermath of this fascist gathering are sickening and have to ring the alarm bells of all anti-fascists in Europe. On the way home after the neo-fascist gathering in Munich, two Nazis were slightly injured in a scuffle with anti-fascists. The police moved in on the anti-Nazi scene in hard-core style and arrested 18 people, several of them under age. In a follow up operation the houses of the young people -- in some cases those of their parents -- were searched. No judge had issued search warrants; the police claimed that the prosecutor had given permission because of 'acute danger'. Up to nine police officers stormed into the houses and even observers of the scene who are far from progressive were surprised at the heavy-handed operation. It took until the next day for what looks to be the real reason to emerge. Amongst the houses under police siege was the home of 19-year-old Falko Blumenthal. He is the spokesperson of the Communist Youth Movement (SDAJ) in Bavaria and was one of the arrested protestors. Blumenthal's flat mate, Chris Sedelmair, a non-party aligned anti-fascist, gave the following report: "It was a shock. I heard someone coming through the flat door and thought it was Falko. The flat was in darkness and suddenly I faced a large group of heavily armed policemen; one of them pointed his gun at me. They had no proper search permit, just an order under the 'acute danger' act. Falko was actually in police custody at this point. They went into his room, took his personal computer, his CD-ROMs and written documents. They also searched the communal area, the kitchen and the bathroom." Chris Sedelmair did not resist the search -- he couldn't have, alone against a crowd of heavily armed policemen -- and informed his solicitor. He views this outrageous act of police brutality as an attempt to scare antifascist people in general and to criminalise the SDAJ in particular. The Young Communists in Bavaria are a fast growing region within the SDAJ, they are also known for their courageous and very outspoken anti fascist work. Though we know it can only be a symbolic gesture from so far away we would like to assure Falko Blumenthal and his comrades of the solidarity of the Irish Communists and indeed many other anti-fascists. We will try our best to spread the information about this as widely as we can. Keep up the good work, you are not alone. We are getting stronger and more global. No Passeran! (First printed in Unity, paper of the CPI) ******* FROM THE NEWSPAPERS We have a society where in 1994, 2.8% of the people over the age of 65 were living on less than half the median income, but where in 2001 the figure had risen to 18.2% and where the proportion of people with a disability living on this income had risen six fold in the same time period. The number of people in employment who were living in relative poverty increased fivefold from 0.6 percent to 2.9 percent. The proportion of people on old age benefit and living in poverty rose from 5.3% in 1994 to 49% in 2001, and the proportion of recipients of the widow's pension living in poverty rose from 5.5% to 42.1%. The percentage of children living in relative poverty rose from 9.4 to 14.2%. Every budget during that period favoured the better off. Irish society deteriorated during the reign of the Celtic Tiger not just because of the income shift but because people were more stressed and worked longer hours. There was an increase in depressive disorders and despite the doubling of incomes since 1989, no increase in life satisfaction. (The Sunday Tribune, 21 November 2004) ******* LETTERS * From: aiprf org <aiprf.org@rediffmail.com> Dear friend, The Indian State did not allow the revolutionary forces to celebrate the unity of revolutionary communist forces and the coming into being of Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the capital city of India. The decision not to allow the gathering was an attempt to tell the world that revolutionary forces in India are contained in a few pockets only and have a marginal presence. It was also an attempt to stop the spread of revolutionary influence in the capital city. While bourgeois parliamentary forces are allowed to carry on their huge gatherings with State's all help and assistance the people's democratic and revolutionary forces are denied even the right of peaceful gatherings and protests. Even the movements of the workers, peasants, students and other sections of the people struggling for their genuine economic and partial demands are suppressed with arrests and bullets. Here we are sending you what happened with the November 25th peaceful gathering in Delhi, which was to express solidarity with the people's democratic and revolutionary movements and to hail the formation of the CPI (Maoist). We take this opportunity to inform you and seek your support for exposing the grossly undemocratic and repressive attitude of the Indian Government. Darshanpal -- President -- AIPRF * No person is illegal. Come out against state racism. Next Wednesday December 1 there will be a candlelight vigil in front of City Hall, Belfast to address the criminalization of those seeking asylum who are being put in detention centres and prisons here in Northern Ireland. The vigil is to coincide with the beginning of a city council meeting (6pm) and the council members are being asked to address the issue criminalizing the internationally recognized right to seek asylum. Details of the situation: In the Crumlin Road Detention Centre there are at least 8 people, many of them black persons who were targeted directly after arriving at the airport based on their skin colour and foreign accent. At least one of them has legitimate papers and visa and has been taken into custody on the suspicion of attempting to go to the Republic of Ireland although he has committed no illegal action! There is also a Chinese woman being detained at Hydebank in a prison setting and with other prisoners. From what we know it seems that she has been bullied by other prisoners including having water thrown at her and her blanket pulled away from her. Her health is said to be poor. She does not speak English and has no translators although she now has a lawyer. The Human Rights Commission was recently refused visiting rights to Hydebank by the prison authorities! At least one person is also being held in Magaberry prison and the details of who they are and when they will be moved to a detention centre are unclear. No person is illegal. Come out against state racism! Candlelight vigil- bring your banners and your holiday spirits 5pm Wednesday Dec. 1st in front of City Hall. * AT&G fury at privatisation of Northern Ireland's traffic wardens 3 Nov 2004 The Amalgamated Transport & General Workers union today totally condemned the decision by government (2nd November) to transfer car park attendants (road service) and traffic wardens out of the civil service to a private company. The AT&G said this was viewed as another attack by a Labour government on public services, whilst promoting and expanding the private sector. Along with proposals for the transfer of water service staff, the union estimated that over two thousand civil servants will transfer to private companies by 2006. The union calls on all unions to oppose the transfer of public sector jobs and the dismantling of public services by a Labour government in Northern Ireland. For further information, please contact Albert Mills on 07712 899341 or the AT&G Belfast office 028 9023 2381. * For information, Queens University Student Councils meeting held on 25th 11th 04, passed the following motions: 1. This council opposes the war on Iraq and the war on terror, and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq. 2. This council support the Colombian trade unions call for a worldwide boycott of Coca-Cola, until Coca-Cola apologise to, and compensates the families of the Coca-Cola employees who were murdered, because they were members of the trade union employed by Coca-Cola in its bottling plant in Colombia. Moreover, the Coca-Cola Boycott will only be removed when Coca-Cola recognise the human rights of workers in Colombia to belong to a trade union of the own choice free from the threat of murder/terror. The council have place the boycott of all Coca-cola products into immediate effect, further more: all profits made by the students union from the sale of Coca-Cola products we be donated to the Colombian trade union Sintraemcali to help fund their fight for justice for the employees Coca-Cola, and for all workers in Colombia. BOYCOTT COCA-COLA ******* WHATS ON * The ARN-North Belfast are organising a candle lit vigil outside the City Hall on Wednesday 1st of December. It is to protest against the detention of immigration detainees. We had a similar ARN vigil around this time last year outside the City Hall, which was the first visual event that the ARN organised at the City Hall. So a year on we urge all to attend this important vigil. Candlelight vigil -- bring your banners and your holiday spirits 5pm Wednesday Dec 1st in front of City Hall. The vigil is to coincide with the beginning of a city council meeting (6pm) and the council members are being asked to address the issue of the criminalizing of the internationally recognized right to seek asylum. Then on Thursday Dec 2nd at 4.30pm the S/B group along with the Queens Students group are organising another picket at Homefinders on Botanic Avenue. Again this is an important event and urge all to attend. The picket is against the memo produced by Homefinders that says certain homes should not be let out to people from the minority ethnic communities. And Not Forgetting -- Thursday night Dec 2nd, The ARN, Love Music Hate Racism gig in conjunction with Open Windows Production. After the end of a very active year come along and chill out or have a yarn and a bit of craic with Anti Racism activists and supporters. Hear live music from the 50's and 60's, as well as some county rock and other music for the 'younger folk' -- with even throwing in some chilled out vibes etc. £5.00 at the door -- Come and lend your support -- See ya there -- Davy Carlin * INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY Picket 6pm and 8pm Friday 10th December 2004 in Whitehall, opposite Downing Street End Human Rights Violations in Colombia No Military Support for Uribe Regime The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Yet 56 years later, and despite the ratification by Colombia of all the International Covenants that followed the UDHR, the Colombian people continue to suffer gross violations of their civil and political rights, but also of economic, social and cultural rights. In the context of war that the country endures, the state's repressive policies and impunity for right-wing paramilitary groups fuels further violations. President Uribe has opted for war and blocked the path to peace. All principal articles of the UDHR are violated. Here are some examples: Article 2: everyone is entitled to rights without distinctions -- indigenous peoples such as the U'wa, Wayuu, Kankuamo and the Embera Katios are being discriminated against on the basis of their ethnicity and their struggle for autonomy, culture and land. Article 3: the right to life, liberty and security of person -- is not being observed, as shown by the assassinations of trade unionists, social leaders and even students by paramilitary groups, often with the complicity of the state forces. These rights are further threatened by the US military intervention programme Plan Colombia. Article 7: All are equal before the law and entitled to its protection, under Uribe, the state has blurred the distinction between armed combatants and the civilian population. The victims of state sponsored paramilitary violence are unprotected, yet the authors of blood crimes and harassment of the population go free, especially when members of the armed forces (army and police) are involved. Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile, detentions have increased to more than fifty thousand. We highlight the cases of Luz Perly Córdoba, Human Rights Secretary of the agricultural workers union FENSUAGRO detained on 18th February 2004, and Samuel Morales, President of the Arauca Regional Committee of the CUT trade union federation and Raquel Castro a teacher were arrested in an early morning army raid on 5th August 2004 in which three of their fellow leaders were assassinated. Article 13 the right to freedom of movement and Article 17 no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property: peasants, African descendants and indigenous communities are violently driven off their lands to make way for multinationals like BP. There are 3 million displaced people. Article 19: the right to freedom of expression. Social leaders, lawyers and trade unionists who oppose the government's neo-liberal policies are treated as military targets. Documents reveal Operation Dragon, in which military intelligence has targeted the entire leadership of public sector union SINTRAEMCALI and listed 80 opposition politicians for close surveillance, the normal prelude to elimination. Article 23 the right to work and form a trade union: last year 681 trade unionists received death threats, and 47 were assassinated between January and August 2004. The trade unionists killed while protecting the interests of their fellow workers in Coca-Cola bottling plants shows just how vulnerable is the realisation of this right. Elections in Colombia are not free. Uribe is now trying to change the constitution so that he can gain a second 4 year term, with full backing from Bush and an international media offensive to clean his image. British government support for Uribe helps whitewash a regime responsible for the worst violations in the western hemisphere. Despite a motion signed by 237 MPs calling for an end to it, Tony Blair still supplies military aid. Now is the time for decent people to insist on a change in policy. FINANCIAL APPEAL: We ask you to make a special donation to support our human rights and campaigning work. Donations payable to Colombia Solidarity Campaign? and send to: Colombia Solidarity Campaign, PO Box 8446, London N17 6NZ. Many thanks. Colombia Solidarity Campaign PO Box 8446 London N17 6NZ Tel: 07743 743041 Email: colombia_sc@hotmail.com http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/ * 10 December 2004 Women's Rights are Human Rights - summit conference Women into Politics will mark International Human Rights Day with a conference on Globalisation and the challenges for Women's participation and leadership. This conference entitled Women's Participation and Leadership in Global Processes is a summit following a series of workshops on globalisation and its impact on women's lives -- locally and globally. The day is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner. The summit will address themes that increasingly define our world and that pose enormous challenges to women, women's movements and feminists worldwide. The conference takes place on 10 December 2004 in Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast, from 9.00am to 4.00pm and will analyse the diverse forms of globalisation in local, regional, and global arenas and its impact on communities and on every woman’s right to participate at all levels of society and will also explore ways of showing global solidarity. There are limited places left so please contact Carola Speth on tel: 028 9024 3363 or email: dialogue@womenintopolitics.org to register. ******* Please feel free to comment on the contents of The Plough. We welcome political comments and criticisms. If you know of anybody who might wish to receive The Plough please send his or her e-mail address to johnmartinps@eircom.net. If you wish to receive back copies of the The Plough please e-mail to johnmartinps@eircom.net stating which numbers you wish. To unsubscribe to The Plough please send e-mail entitled "unsubscribe" to johnmartinps@eircom.net. It is the policy of The Plough to acknowledge information and articles from other sources. Subscribe to the bi-monthly "The Starry Plough/An Camchéachta" P.O. Box 1981, Derry, BT48 8GX, Ireland. THE VOICE OF REPUBLICAN SOCIALISM! Email: starry_plough@hotmail.com Website: http://www.irsm.org/irsp/starryplough/ Fighting Fund/Donations To: The Starry Plough First Trust Bank, Derry, BT48 6BU Account No. 14986015 Sort Code No. 93-86-10 http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html (Pairtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na h-Éireann) http://www.wageslave.org/jcs/ (James Connolly Society) http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/ (James Connolly Archive) The Republican Socialist Forum from Derry IRSP http://rsmforum.proboards23.com/ Republican Socialist Online Merchandise - A website that offers a central place to go on the Internet to find good quality items with a distinct Republican Socialist theme. Proceeds from sales from this effort go towards the IRSM and its various projects. http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/ Teach Na Failte Memorial Committees - A new 2004 full colour glossy calendar is available now on the RSM online shop. It celebrates the brilliant work undertaken by the Teach Na Failte Memorial Committees this past year throughout the six counties with full colour photographs on each page. This calendar can be viewed online by clicking the link below. http://www.cafeshops.com/rsmshop.8844526 * Support the IRSP Standing Order Form To the Manager First Trust Bank, Andersonstown. Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code 93-84-75 The sum of: Amount in words: Commencing date: and thereafter every month till further notice. And debiting A/C number: Name (Please print clearly): Date: Address: Signature: