| January
15, 2021 - No. 1 Desperate
Trump Administration Designates Cuba
as State Sponsor of
Terrorism Cuba Is
Not a State that
Sponsors Terrorism -
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) - 
•
When the Victimizer Blames the
Victim -- No to Latest U.S. Aggression Against Cuba!
- Canadian Network On Cuba
• No to U.S. Government's Recent Move to
Include Cuba on Its List of States that Sponsor Terrorism
- Table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba
• Firm and
Absolute Condemnation of Fraudulent Designation of Cuba as State
Sponsor of Terrorism - Cuban Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
• Trump-Pompeo
Parting Shots Hurt the Caribbean - Sir Ronald
Sanders
January 26 March on
Delhi
• Indian
Farmers Valiantly Organize to Affirm Their Rights
- J. Singh
Desperate
Trump Administration Designates Cuba as
State Sponsor of
Terrorism - Communist Party
of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) - The Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) condemns the decision of the Trump administration in
its final days to designate Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, which
the U.S. State Department did on Monday, January 11. We call on all
Canadians to denounce this baseless designation and demand it be
retracted immediately. We also call on Canadians to urge the government
of Canada to disassociate itself from this outrageous move and call on
the international community to refuse to recognize it and not to
appease it in any way. Cuba rejects terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations, wherever it is committed, no matter
by whom or against whom. Cuba has been a victim of relentless U.S.
state terrorism and terrorist attacks, time and again orchestrated by
U.S. agents and state agencies. It has suffered 3,478 fatalities and
2,099 persons live with disabilities due to actions carried out by U.S.
governments or perpetrated and sponsored from U.S. territory
with the connivance of U.S. authorities.  The United States
has no moral authority to designate other countries as terrorist
states. For the State Department to do this in the dying days of the
Trump presidency is reprehensible. The Trump administration is doing
many unpardonable things, besides its unprecedented assault on the U.S.
Congress for which President Trump has been impeached, a second time,
this time on charges of inciting an insurrection. Further, agents
provocateurs paid to incite violence and carry out terrorist
attacks are holding the entire country hostage with threats of
terrorist attacks against federal institutions and other acts of
violence against individuals in the six days leading up to the
inauguration of the new administration on January 20.
Vermont
Senator Patrick Leahy decried the designation of Cuba as a state
sponsor of terrorism saying: "... domestic terrorism in the United
States poses a far greater threat to Americans than Cuba does."
We fully support the statement of the Cuban government which
condemned in the strongest and most absolute terms this fraudulent,
arbitrary, unjust and baseless decision by the current U.S.
administration. We reiterate the following points without equivocation:
- Cuba is widely recognized by the international community as
a country that promotes peace and solidarity all over the world. It
does not belong on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. -
This designation by the U.S. State Department is not motivated by any
legitimate concern related to terrorism or its consequences. -
Its aim is solely to denigrate Cuba and justify the imposition of
harsher coercive economic measures in the last week of the Trump
administration, in addition to the more than 230 other unilateral
sanctions it has implemented which have caused irreparable damage to
the Cuban economy and people. - Its true motivation
is to impose additional obstacles to any prospective restoration of
bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States. Show
your support for normal relations with Cuba by attending the virtual
pickets against the all-sided U.S. blockade of Cuba to be held on
January 17. 
- Isaac Saney, Spokesperson, Canadian Network
On Cuba - 
October 6. A day of
commemoration in Cuba for the victims of state terrorism.
The Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) vigorously and unequivocally
condemns the deceitful and duplicitous designation of Cuba by the Trump
regime as a sponsor of terrorism. This is an act of blatant opportunism
and cynicism, an act that flies in the face of reality. It is Cuba that
has been the victim of all manner of terrorist attacks that have been
carried out with the complicity, participation and sponsorship of
Washington.  Since the triumph
of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Washington has waged an unceasing
assault, both military and economic, against the Cuban people,
organizing an invasion, assassinations, terrorist attacks against
civilians and systematic economic sabotage. Many of these acts were
directly launched from and/or planned in the United States. These acts
of terror against Cuba include the 1976 bombing of a civilian Cuban
airliner that claimed the lives of 73 people and the 1997 Havana hotel
bombings, which claimed the life of Fabio Di Celmo, a young Montrealer
of Italian origin. As a point of fact, 3,478 Cubans have been killed
and 2,099 injured, as a result of these terrorist acts.
This
contemptible move by the Trump regime reeks of desperation, reflecting
Washington's failure to isolate Cuba in international relations and
public opinion. This failure is poignantly underscored by the
international acclaim, accolades and gratitude that Cuba continues to
receive for its singular role in the global fight against the COVID-19
pandemic, illustrated by the numerous nominations of Cuba's
internationalist medical contingent, the Henry Reeve Brigade, for the
2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Indeed, it is precisely Cuba that shows the
world a model of international relations that stands diametrically
opposed to terrorism. It is a model based on creating and fostering
relations between countries founded on genuine human solidarity.
The CNC stands with Cuba and the rest of the world in
denouncing this latest despicable act of aggression against the heroic
island nation. The CNC calls on the Canadian government to take a
principled stand by rejecting this utterly immoral and self-serving
hypocritical double standard that flagrantly violates international
law. Despite this unacceptable and grotesque action by the U.S.
government, the CNC is convinced that justice and truth will prevail in
the end. No to the Latest
U.S. Aggression Against Cuba!
Justice and Truth Will Prevail!
-
Table de concertation de solidarité
Québec-Cuba - 
The Table de
concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba (TCSQC)
joins its voice with the rest of the world in firmly condemning the
decision of the U.S. government to include Cuba on its list of states
that sponsor terrorism. On January 11, nine days before Donald Trump's
mandate ends and the new president takes office, [U.S. Secretary of
State] Mike Pompeo announced that "The State Department has designated
Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for repeatedly providing support
for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbour to
terrorists." The TCSQC considers this latest
measure on the part of the Trump administration an act of great
despair, not of strength. It's a web of lies and a vengeful act against
the courageous Cuban people and government. Ever since the victory of
the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the U.S. has refused to establish equal
relations with Cuba, and to respect the sovereignty of the Cuban people
and their right to be. For the U.S. to declare that Cuba sponsors
terrorist activities reveals once again its shameful hypocrisy, as the
real terrorist is the United States. The reality is
that Cuba is the victim of an inhumane blockade imposed by the U.S.
government for over 60 years, along with assassinations, terrorist
attacks against civilians and systematic economic sabotage, which have
met with international condemnation. Despite these
activities of systematic sabotage, Cuba has won the hearts and the
support of the world's peoples for its courageous defence of its
sovereignty, its right to determine its own affairs and its vibrant
worldwide internationalism. The Henry Reeve Brigade, amongst others,
which travels the world to assist during times of natural calamities,
earthquakes, pandemics etc., is acclaimed internationally and is now a
candidate for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Last year Cubans travelled to
over 39 countries to bring relief and make their unfailing contribution
to assist humanity in defeating COVID-19. 
April 25, 2020. Members
of Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade prepare to go to
South Africa.
The TCSQC calls upon the Canadian
government to adopt a principled position and formally reject this
latest immoral measure imposed by the U.S. government against Cuba.
Washington's lamentable efforts to isolate Cuba are doomed to
fail; they run counter to Cuba's momentum and that of the peoples of
the world, who demand relations between peoples and countries based on
mutual benefit and equal exchange between countries large or
small, oppose interference, aggression, sanctions and blockades against
the peoples and aspire to true human and international solidarity.
Long Live Cuba! Long Live Solidarity
Between Peoples!
- Declaration of
Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs -  The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Cuba condemns, in the strongest and most absolute
terms, the fraudulent designation of Cuba as a State that sponsors
terrorism which, in a cynical and hypocritical move, has been announced
by the government of the United States.
For some
months now, there have been speculations about the possibility of
including Cuba in a unilateral list issued by the State Department that
designates countries, without having received any mandate or having any
legitimacy whatsoever to do that and without having any genuine
motivation in relation to terrorism and its sequels, in order to use it
as an instrument to denigrate and implement economic coercive measures
against other countries that may refuse to indulge the whims of the US
imperialism. The announcement made by Secretary of
State Michael Pompeo is an arrogant action by a discredited, dishonest
and morally bankrupted government. It is well known -- and there is
little doubt about it -- that the true motivation behind this action is
to impose additional obstacles to any prospective restoration of
bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States. Cuba
is not a State that sponsors terrorism and this is a truth that has
been widely recognized by everybody. Cuba's official and well-known
policy and impeccable behavior has been that of rejecting terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations, particularly State terrorism,
wherever and by and against whoever committed. Cuba
has been a State victim of terrorism and our people have suffered from
it first hand, at the cost of 3478 fatalities and 2099 persons with
disabilities due to the actions carried out by the government of the
United States or that have been perpetrated and sponsored from the
territory of that country with the acquiescence of the US official
authorities. We Cubans disdainfully deplore every maneuver aimed at
manipulating such a sensitive issue to achieve gross politically
opportunistic goals.
- Sir
Ronald Sanders - As they are preparing to exit the
White House and the State Department on January 20, the outgoing Donald
Trump administration has planted some explosives for the foreign policy
of the government of Joseph Biden Jr. A grenade has
already been thrown into policies that Antony Blinken, Biden's
nominated Secretary of State, might pursue in relation to Cuba and,
consequently, the Caribbean region. In the dying
days of his tenure as Secretary of State and only nine days before
Blinken takes over the reins of U.S. foreign policy, Mike Pompeo placed
Cuba on a list of State Sponsors of Terrorism that the U.S. draws up
unilaterally. As the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
stated on January 13, the listing of Cuba as a sponsor of state
terrorism is "baseless." Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of
government on the same day were unequivocal in their view that "Cuba's
international conduct does not in any way warrant that designation."
In pursuing this pugnacious policy against Cuba, including
unravelling the painstakingly weaved policy of the previous Obama
administration to try to normalize relations between Cuba and the U.S.,
Trump's government is seeking to maintain the support of
Cuban-Americans in Florida both for raising money for his political
activity in the coming years and to be able to deliver the state for a
presidential candidate he favours -- maybe even for himself in 2024. As
Juan Gonzalez, the incoming senior director for Western Hemisphere in
the Biden National Security Council, has pointed out, securing Florida
for the 2020 presidential election was the principal motivation of
Trump's Cuba policy throughout his term in office. Little
publicized is a corollary of the Trump-Pompeo Cuba policy for the
countries of CARICOM. Less than a month ago, the U.S. government sent a
questionnaire to Caribbean countries. The answers will be used to
compile its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report that is
submitted to the U.S. Congress. The December questionnaire included a
new and sinister section related specifically to workers from China and
Cuba. In relation to Cuba -- from which every
Caribbean country has sought and received -- vital help through the
provision of medical personnel, the U.S. asks questions which are
entirely the business of a sovereign State, or the business of
sovereign States which have entered contracts. The questions intrude
glaringly on State rights. Were the same questions put to the
government of the U.S., it would quite rightly firmly reject the very
audacity of asking them. Trafficking in persons is
a very troubling activity. It is one that every country should combat
vigorously. In this regard, it is true to say that Caribbean countries
have worked diligently with the U.S. to try to stamp out the activity,
related to what amounts to modern-day slavery in its worse form, and at
its best to the criminal exploitation of vulnerable persons,
particularly women and girls. However, this attempt
by the outgoing Trump administration to include Cuban medical workers
and professionals, serving Caribbean governments, is an attempt to
politicize an otherwise noble cause. The objective appears to be the
classification of Cuban medical personnel as "trafficked persons,"
thereby implicating both Cuba and Caribbean governments in criminal
activity. The latter would be the weaponizing of a policy against
countries that discards cooperation against crime and replaces it with
coercion. The implications of this are quite
serious and will be a priority of the work of Caribbean countries with
the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress because of the dangers
posed to them. Under the U.S. TIP Act,
the non-trade related, and non-humanitarian assistance can be withdrawn
from any country considered not to be in compliance "with minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking" and "is not making
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with such
standards." Of course, the determination of what is "minimum standards"
and "significant efforts" is made entirely by officials of the U.S.
government. Every year, the TIP report classifies
countries from Tier 1 (the most acceptable) to Tier 3 (the least
acceptable). Of the 14 independent CARICOM countries, two of them --
the Bahamas and Guyana -- were listed in 2020 at Tier 1. Seven
countries were in Tier 2. These were: Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti,
Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and
Trinidad and Tobago. On the Tier 2 Watch List were Barbados and Belize.
For unclear reasons, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts and Nevis appear
in none of the Tiers. In the event, no Caribbean country is at the
worst level -- Tier 3. However, if the presence of
Cuban personnel in CARICOM countries becomes a criterion for the U.S.
to unilaterally declare a human trafficking offence, this will injure
U.S. relations with CARICOM countries for no good reason, since U.S.
security and U.S. values are not threatened in any way. The
addition to the U.S. TIP questionnaire of a section on Cuban and
Chinese workers fitted well with the anti-China, anti-Cuba stance of
the Trump administration to serve its domestic political agenda.
How much of this booby trap left for the Biden administration
is known to its incoming State Department and National Security teams
is not clear, but the Caribbean must regard advising them as a
priority. The next U.S. TIP report will be published and sent to the
U.S. Congress in June. The U.S. publication Foreign
Policy recently quoted a U.S. official as saying that
Pompeo's team is engaged in "parting shots deliberately aimed at
hampering the incoming administration's foreign policy." Where the
Caribbean's interests are affected by those "parting shots," the region
must act in unity to safeguard them. Sir
Ronald Sanders is Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United
States and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior
Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of
London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.
January
26 March on Delhi - J. Singh - 
Farmers in
India are continuing their struggle without letup. They continue to
demand the repeal of the three farm laws which favour agribusiness at
their expense. They rejected the announcement by the Supreme Court of
India that it has stayed the implementation of the three farm laws
which the farmers demand be repealed. Nine rounds of talks with the
government have been fruitless. The government is adamant that it will
not repeal the laws. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court formed a panel packed
with supporters of the laws and big agriculture companies for
consultation with farmers about solutions to their problems. The
farmers see this as another manoeuvre by the ruling elite to exhaust
them and then attack them. They have announced that they will not go
back home without the repeal of the laws. They have announced a program
of intense agitation culminating in a tractor rally in Delhi on January
26, which is India's Republic Day. They have
organized actions on January 15, 16, 18, 20 and 23 in the lead-up to
January 26. On January 6, they held a rally with thousands of tractors,
described by some as a "teaser" for the January 26 tractor March on
Delhi. 
 
On
January 8, the anniversary of Chhotu Ram was marked. He was one of the
leaders of the farmers' movement against their indebtedness in 1905,
which forced the British to repeal the offending law at that time. On
this anniversary, farmers went to every village in India and discussed
issues with the people and mobilized them. They are also asking people
to go to Delhi on January 26 and take as many tractors and trolleys as
they can.  On January 13,
which is celebrated as Lohri, copies of the three anti-farmer laws were
burnt as people lit bonfires and declared that these laws constitute
their "death warrant." Lohri marks the arrival of longer days after the
winter solstice. It has been celebrated for millennia, possibly as far
as back as Stri Rajyas (the time of Women's Rule). Thus it celebrates
the memory of women who discovered fire (agni devi)
and harnessed it. Even now a huge bonfire is built and the winter crops
gur, sesame, corn and mustard are offered. People sit around the fire,
dance, sing and celebrate the birth of their progeny. In the last 500
or so years, Dulla Bhatti's name has become associated with Lohri as
well. Dulla Bhatti fought against the oppression of the emperor Akbar.
Folk songs about Dulla Bhatti's valour and generosity were sung in all
the farmers' encampments around Delhi.
January 18
is Women Farmers Day. Big rallies will be held leading to the January
26 Tractor March on Delhi. The tractors in the Tractor March will be
driven by women. January 23 is the anniversary of
Azad Hind Fauj (Free Indian Army). This was the army of the Provisional
Government of Free India, mobilized during World War II and constituted
of Indian expatriates and prisoners of war in southeast Asia. It is
being celebrated with rallies of soldiers and farmers as Azad Hind
Kisan Day (day to free Indian working people).
Army
retirees join farmers' actions. |
Meanwhile, the boycott of Ambani and Adani
products and services across the country continues. The farmers have
also warned against "Facebook Warriors" of the IT cells of the ruling
elite that are trying to mislead the people. On the
Singhu border of Delhi, farmers of Punjab and Haryana who have been
encamped for more than 50 days, recalled their memories of the
centuries-old fight against Delhi. They recalled the uprising of
peasants against Akbar led by Dulla Bhatti; the battles against Nadir
Shah and Abdali and their determination to continue their fight against
the new Nadir Shah of Delhi -- Modi and his cronies and the ruling
elite. Throughout the month of Poh (December 14 - January 13 is Martyrs
month), they recalled the battles against Aurangzeb and the valour and
sacrifice of the gurus and their sons. Speaker after speaker recalled
Ahmad Khan Kharal, Nizam Lohar, Malangi, Jabroo, Ajit Singh, Chhotu
Ram, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Barkatullah,
Udham Singh, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Baba Hari Singh Mrigind, Baba
Bujha Singh and many others who fought for the cause of the people.
Many speakers also pointed out that all the establishment
political parties have betrayed the people. The sentiment expressed is
that now is the time to take political power in their own hands without
the establishment parties, without the MLAs, MPs and judges who swear
allegiance to the state handed over by the British, as presently
constituted. The current system of party government inherited from the
British has never served the Indian polity but acts as gatekeeper of
the power of the rulers. Some farmers gave examples of how they are
running the toll barriers and the morcha
(resistance) by relying on their own forces. They also pointed out that
morcha is Beghampura in the
making, as envisioned by Guru Ravidassji in his hymn by the same name,
during the bhakti movement which took place in the 14th to 15th
centuries. Written long before the French Revolution, it extols the
virtues of a society based on equality, liberty and universal
brotherhood, where there is no discrimination, taxes or oppression. As
such it is an expression of Indian thought material based on rich
experience through the millennia. 
Others
pointed to the thought material inherited from Guru Nanak who called
for a new society based on Sarbat Da Bhalla -- the
well-being of all. Many of the farmers based their
remarks on insights from Punjabi Darshan on the duty of the state to
ensure the Sukh and Raksha of
all (happiness and security). If it does not, then it is the duty of
people to overthrow it. Many said that it is not just an economic
struggle; it is a fight for their Hond and Vajud
-- their very being. It is not only a fight for Fasal
(crops) but also for Nasal (the coming
generations); not only for Kanak (wheat) but also
for Anakh (dignity); not only for Anaj
(grain) but for Samaj (society). Hundreds of
artists and performers are invoking the battles that Punjab has waged.
Many artists from west Punjab have also expressed their unity with
their brothers and sisters in east Punjab. Some of their songs have
gone viral. According to one news report, more than 100,000 Punjabis
have returned from abroad to join the Punjabi farmers in their struggle.
Punjabi consciousness for the self-determination and unity of
Punjabis has emerged very strongly in this struggle. Dulla Bhatti's
call for the self-determination of Punjab is being repeated in the
farmers' protest. Many people are calling for the decolonization of
Punjab, which was occupied by the British in 1849 with neo-colonial
rule continued after 1947, suppressing the national, social, and
cultural rights of Punjab and Punjabis and finally leading to the
brutal division of the Punjabi nation in 1947, as was also done to the
Bengali nation. The present-day Raj in Delhi has
tried to demonize the farmers' struggle and the aspirations of Punjabis
by equating them with terrorism but it is not getting very far.
Punjabis have risen many times since 1947 for the affirmation of their
rights, the quest and aspirations of Punjab. It has been expressed in
diverse ways. In the 1950s, it was expressed in the form of the
movement for the Punjabi language; in the 1970s and '80s it was for
autonomy and Khalistan. Now it is being expressed in a call for a
referendum on an independent Punjab. Many commentators are pointing out
that whether the farmers' struggle succeeds or is drowned in blood by
Delhi, this aspiration and determination will grow stronger. The end of
the State of the oligarchs in Delhi is unavoidable. Governance is
untenable without renewal and renovation which empower the people. But,
like Aurangzeb before them, the ruling elite in Delhi would rather have
collapse than renewal. They have not learned any lesson from history
nor from the collapse of the Soviet Union or from what is taking place
in the U.S. and other countries. The farmers'
struggle shows that all the neo-colonial institutions imposed on India
by the British and their collaborators before and after 1947, such as
the transfer of the colonial state apparatus, government, parliamentary
system, judiciary, corporations and system of elections and party rule,
only serve the empire builders, exploiters and a tiny ruling elite and
concentrate all the natural and human resources in their hands. In the
last 74 years, nine monopolies have acquired more wealth than the 600
million people of India put together. The rights of people are violated
with impunity. 
December 26, 2020.
Action in Toronto in support of Indian farmers.
It
is reported that the anti-farmer laws were recommended by the World
Bank 30 years ago. That World Bank document was entitled India:
Country Economic Memorandum, Vol. II. The
farmers' struggle also reveals the necessity of developing the people's
own thought material to solve the problems faced by them and their
society. Punjabi farmers, workers, intellectuals, artists, musicians
and poets at the Singhu border, in full public view, are articulating
and presenting solutions based on the insights of Punjabi Darshan
developed over centuries as a guide to action in the present
conditions. They are inspired by and upgrading concepts and categories
articulated by revolutionaries, fighters, gurus, sufis, saints, bhagats
and thinkers of Punjab dating back several centuries. They reject the
borrowed phrases from Europe, the U.S. and other places. Punjabi
Darshan and Punjabi Reet are robust, rich and capable of dealing with
present-day problems and enunciate a vision for the future. Hundreds of
poets, singers, musicians and writers and story-tellers are expressing
the quest and aspirations of people and their fighting traditions from
the stage, through social media, on the streets and parks of villages,
towns and cities. The line of march remains to
support the farmers in India and unite in action to demand the
withdrawal of the three farm laws. Until they are withdrawn, the
farmers have no intention of withdrawing their morcha (resistance).
(To
access articles individually click on the black headline.) PDF
PREVIOUS
ISSUES | HOME
Website:
www.cpcml.ca Email: office@cpcml.ca |
