Two militant actions were held on May 29 to denounce the arms industry's complicity in genocide and to say no to war profiteering at the expense of people's lives and of world peace, the first outside the CANSEC weapons-fest, the second on Parliament Hill.

The morning action, which began at 7:00 am in front of the EY Centre, was a resounding success. The focus of this year's action was the demand of the Palestinian people and the peoples of the world for an end to the genocide in Gaza and for a free Palestine. A few days before CANSEC, billed as Canada's Global Defence and Security Trade Show, the CEO of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) was asked in an interview what her thoughts were on the upcoming protests being planned for May 29. She said that the show always has protests because of "the nature of the type of business we're in." No kidding! "With the intelligence that's being gathered, the plan we have in place should make it a safe and enjoyable environment for our delegates," she added.

The plan, besides beefing up police forces, seems to have been to prevent protesters from disrupting CANSEC's program, which they succeed in doing every year by walking slowly in front of an entrance and letting cars trickle in a few at a time, jamming traffic for miles. This year demonstrators took to the street and blocked the oncoming traffic entirely. Frantic police officers seemed poised to attack, then decided to encourage participants to take an alternate route, directing CANSEC attendees to the other entrance where, because of traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing, demonstrators were still able to slow down traffic, greeting participants arriving by car or on foot with shouts of "Shame!," "Your weapons are killing the children of Gaza!" and "No arms for genocide!"

Early morning picket outside CANSEC venue, May 29, 2024

The first keynote speaker at the arms fair was Minister of Defence Bill Blair who announced billions of dollars in training and equipment deals for the armed forces. He said: "The government is on a very clear path and plans to grow defence spending by 27 per cent next year over this year." Flaunting the ties between government, the war industry and U.S./NATO, Blair stated that he was confident that Canada would "well exceed the two per cent target established by NATO. I'm very confident I will be able to assure our NATO allies, our American partners, Canada is moving very strongly in an upward trajectory of defence spending. We are going to do what is required."

Blair also announced a $1.2 billion contract to improve training platforms for the military as well as the first of 1,500 logistics vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems Canada and Marshall Canada to be used "in domestic disaster assistance as well as overseas deployments."

Several arrests were made during the action. One young woman was arrested when trying to check on her sister who had been assaulted by a man entering the centre and injured so severely that she was taken to hospital by ambulance. Organizers demanded the immediate release of those arrested and by the end of the day most had been released, some charged with 'mischief.'

The morning action was followed by a demonstration in front of Parliament at noon, and a march through the streets of downtown Ottawa, passing in front of the Israeli embassy. Demonstrators shouted their support for Palestine, calls for an end to arms trade with Israel, and their opposition to CANSEC and demand for a public inquiry into the activities of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the organizer of CANSEC.

Canada's Obligations to End Arms Trade with Israel

Experts of the UN Human Rights Council stated in a February 23 press release that any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and should cease immediately, saying in a press release that "All States must 'ensure respect' for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law. States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition -- or parts for them -- if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law."

They noted that States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty have additional treaty obligations to deny arms exports if they "know" that the arms "would" be used to commit international crimes; or if there is an "overriding risk" that the arms transferred "could" be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. They added that the need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the International Court of Justice's ruling on January 26 that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then and that State officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide,

Several of the organizations involved in the "Shut Down CANSEC" actions are calling for an inquiry into Canada's arm deals. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East says that Canadians deserve answers to their questions about Canada's arms exports to Israel. The International League of Peoples' Struggles (ILPS) is calling for a People's Inquiry into the arms industry in Canada and to hold the government to account for its support for CANSEC, its continued arms trade with Israel and support for U.S.-led aggression and war.

Tradewinds Military Exercise Threatens
Peace in the Caribbean

– A.T. Freeman –

From May 4 to 16, the 39th annual Tradewinds military exercise took place in Barbados, co-hosted by the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).

This year's exercise, dubbed Tradewinds 2024, involved more than 1,600 military personnel from 26 participating countries plus representation from various regional organizations. In addition to the U.S., which led the exercise, participants came from mostly Caribbean countries except Cuba; the old European colonial powers of the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands; Canada and the Latin American countries of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico.

The following Caribbean regional organizations also participated: the CARICOM Secretariat, the Regional Security System (RSS), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (CASSOS) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). The list of participants gives an insight into the all-encompassing nature of this military exercise.

Tradewinds 2024 is part of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Large Scale Global Exercises for 2024 and is described by SOUTHCOM as "a Caribbean-focused multi-dimensional training exercise focused on the ground, air, sea, and cyber domains." Given the nature of the military exercise it, not surprisingly, involved personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and elements of the United States Special Operations Command (South).

Speaking at the opening ceremony Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), Commodore Errington Shurland, declared that, "the focus this year is on foreign military interaction, maritime operations, ground security and field training exercises supporting SOUTHCOM's campaign plan." This highlights the fact that Tradewinds 2024 is not about protecting the people of the Caribbean but about supporting the military plans of the U.S. Southern Command in the region.

The Tradewinds military exercise, which first took place in 1984, is itself part of the military/security machinery that the U.S. has built up in the region since its invasion of Grenada in 1983. This machinery is intended to ensure that there will be no repeats of revolution in the region and that the people of the Caribbean will remain in the box that the enslaving and colonial powers have had us in for the last 400 years. It also underlines the fact that the so-called defence forces in the region are not there to protect the people of the Caribbean but are modern day versions of the old West Indian regiments raised by the European powers to defend their plantation wealth from the enslaved Africans and competing colonial powers. They serve the U.S. and its colonialist allies, not the citizens of the Caribbean countries.

At the same time that the Tradewinds exercise was taking place, the U.S. was stepping up its overall militarization of the region. Speaking on BreakThrough News, Professor Jemima Pierre, who is Haitian, pointed out that the U.S. has already landed nine military flights in Haiti, with the expectation that there will be around another 100 of these. She further stated that these flights are part of the U.S. plan to construct a military base in Haiti to house the invasion force that it has sub-contracted out to Kenya and other CARICOM states and that this current military occupation is part of a 10-year plan that the U.S. has for the subjugation of Haiti.

As if this was not enough, the U.S. is also militarizing Guyana and using that country as a base from which to threaten Venezuela. In the midst of Tradewinds 2024, the U.S. embassy in Guyana tweeted that two U.S. Navy aircraft, F/A-18F Super Hornets, had conducted a flyover of Guyana's capital, Georgetown and the surrounding areas. This is when there are persistent rumours that SOUTHCOM intends to establish a military base in Guyana. In response, the government of Venezuela denounced the actions of the U.S., with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil describing it as "further proof of the provocations made to Venezuela by the U.S. Southern Command."

The continued militarization of the Caribbean by the U.S. is a serious threat to peace in our region and poses a real danger to plunge the region into bloodshed. It does not serve the interests of the Caribbean people. It represents a direct attack on the 2014 Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declaration that the Caribbean must remain a zone of peace.

The declaration noted, "peace is a supreme asset and a legitimate aspiration of all peoples and that preserving peace is a substantial element of Latin America and Caribbean integration and a principle and common value of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)" and affirmed, its "permanent commitment to solve disputes through peaceful means with the aim of uprooting forever threat or use of force in our region."

These principles need to be actively defended to block the U.S. from setting our common home on fire with its incessant militarization.

U.S. Military Out of the Caribbean!
End the Tradewinds Military Exercise!
No to the Invasion of Haiti!
For a Peaceful Settlement of the Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute!

(Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment, May 22, 2024)

Repeated Failure of Attempts to
"Make Sure Ukraine Prevails"

In what media labelled "a bad omen for Zelensky," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made "a surprise visit" to Kyiv May 14 to 15. The visit took place just as the Ukrainian armed forces are on the retreat in Kharkiv and Donetsk. The U.S. State Department press releases had very little to say about the actual substance of discussions Blinken had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other government officials, while Russian analysts noted that Blinken's visit coincided with the expiration of Zelensky's presidential term. No new elections are currently scheduled in Ukraine, however under the Ukrainian Constitution the president's tenure is limited to five years, to be extended only through nationwide elections.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also went to Kyiv at the end of April. Media reports are all talking about the defeats and challenges Ukrainian forces are experiencing along the entire battle front, but especially in the Kharkiv region. A top Ukrainian general responsible for defences, who is said to have been swamped by a surprise Russian offensive into the northeastern Kharkiv region, was removed from his post on May 13, "as senior Kyiv officials vowed masses of men and weapons were deploying to contain the Kremlin success. Kyiv says it's throwing thousands of veteran reserve troops led by a top general into battle in a bid to contain the most successful Russian land grab since the early days of the war," one news agency reports.

On May 13 at NATO's 2024 Youth Summit, Stoltenberg spoke about NATO's role in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. "The first thing I will say is that first of all, you need to ensure that Ukraine prevails. Because unless Ukraine prevails, there's nothing to reconstruct in the free and independent Ukraine," NATO reported on X. It appears that everything Stoltenberg spoke of was qualified by statements about the immediate task facing NATO being to "ensure Ukraine prevails."

The U.S. State Department did publish that Blinken joined on stage a rock band at a Kyiv bar playing and singing "Rockin' in the Free World." It also reported that he gave an optimistic speech at a Kyiv Polytechnic Institute about Ukraine's future in which he elaborated three general themes. First, the U.S. and NATO are determined to provide Ukraine the military hardware, weapons and ammunition it needs to defeat the Russian special operations in Ukraine. "We're helping to ensure that Ukraine has the military that it needs to succeed on the battlefield," he said. Here he also emphasized the significance of the new conscription legislation Ukraine has made law to provide more cannon fodder for the U.S./NATO proxy war. Second, he said the U.S. would ensure that Ukraine's economy "not only survives, but thrives." Finally he spoke of U.S. and EU efforts to "help Ukrainian people fully realize their democratic aspirations" which he acknowledged is a herculean task given that "eight in 10 Ukrainians still believe that there's one set of law for the elites and another for everyone else."

Russian commentators who are not known to comment on Russia's military strategy, said that the aim of the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region is to clear a buffer zone to protect the Russian city of Belgorod from further missile attacks from Ukrainian forces. The Russian force is comprised of 30,000 Russian troops. Kharkiv is the second-largest city in Ukraine.

The rapid visits in succession by NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg and U.S. Secretary of State Blinken suggests concern by the U.S. and NATO that their proxy war in Ukraine may be facing a catastrophic collapse of the Ukrainian armed forces. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, also a former Marine Intelligence Officer, recently explained: "As we speak, the attritional warfare model has Ukraine losing around 1,500 troops a day. This number is going up now because Russia's expanded its operations into the Kharkov region. So, you can expect this number [to] easily top 2,000 a day.

"What the Ukrainians have had to do is pull in reserves and take forces out from other fronts, including the Kharkov front and the Odessa front, to come into the battlefield where they've been eliminated, or they've been worn down and there are no replacements ... what's going to happen is Ukraine will be compelled to withdraw reserves from the Kyiv region and from Odessa, to go to Kharkov to fill that gap. While they do that, the Russians will then launch a second major attack somewhere in the Zaporozhye area, and Ukrainians are going to be put to the classic horns of a dilemma where if they go north they lose, they go south they lose, if they stay in the middle they lose -- there's no good option for them." Ritter added that "we will then see the total collapse of the Ukrainian army" and the "rapid withdrawal beyond the Dnepr River" to set up a new defence line. This is something Ritter does not think the Ukrainians will be able to accomplish.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea Condemns U.S. and Allies for Destabilizing the Region

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) recently issued two statements condemning the U.S. and certain U.S. "allies" acting as self-appointed enforcers of anti-DPRK sanctions for destabilizing the situation in the region.

The Section Chief for External Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK released the following press statement on May 12: "The U.S. allies have recently made their military interference in the Asia-Pacific region undisguised under the pretext of monitoring the violation of UN 'sanctions,' further worsening instability of the regional situation." The DPRK statement goes on to say that "the UK staged a naval operation drill with the ROK [Republic of Korea] by dispatching its naval forces into the waters around the Korean Peninsula, talking about the implementation of the UNSC [United Nations Security Council] 'sanctions resolution against the DPRK'" and that "Canada is scheming to deploy a sea-patrol plane at a military base of Japan to conduct surveillance over the waters around the Korean Peninsula."

Canada has announced it will deploy a patrol aircraft to Japan for one month, from early May to early June, to contribute to the U.S. sanctions enforcement against the DPRK. It is a cruel policy which causes severe humanitarian difficulties and threatens war against the Korean people.

Germany, France and New Zealand have also dispatched their warships and warplanes to the Asia-Pacific region including the waters around the Korean Peninsula, one after another this year, encroaching upon the security interests of regional countries and escalating the military tension in the region. An Australian warship, dispatched to the waters around the Korean Peninsula, deployed a military helicopter that threatened the maritime and air security of neighbouring countries, thus creating the possibility of a dangerous armed conflict. China strongly protested the action of the Australian military. China's foreign ministry accused Australia of coming "within close range of China's airspace" and endangering its security "in the name of enforcing UN Security Council's resolutions."

Turmoil in Global Finance

Theft of Russian Assets

The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom have frozen $300 billion of Russian-based social wealth held in Europe and the United States. Two hundred billion dollars of the funds are currently in the possession of Euroclear securities depository in Belgium, $6 billion in the U.S. and the rest scattered throughout Europe. The U.S. and its vassal Canada led by Finance Minister Freeland want to outright confiscate the private property belonging to Russians and use it mostly to buy weapons for use in the already failed U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. They are pressuring other members of the G7 cartel of imperialist countries to support this position but are encountering resistance not only from certain members but also the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Opponents point out the obvious -- that the seizure undermines confidence in the imperialist international financial system under their control, reduces foreign investments and directly imperils their private property held in Russia.

Of course, theft by any other name is still theft. The theft of private property by those who have seized control of the system and arrangements designed to defend private property is the sure sign that the sanctity of private property no longer prevails. This is causing endless turmoil in global finance and rightly so.

Signs of a backlash against the attack on Russian-held social wealth can be seen. President Putin of Russia recently signed a decree authorizing Russian authorities to prepare a "roadmap" for the seizure of foreign property in retaliation for the theft of Russian property held abroad.[1] In response to the turmoil, China is divesting out of U.S. bonds and increasing its holdings of gold.[2] Many countries are skirting the U.S. dominated financial control of global trade by using national currencies to settle accounts and using newly developed methods to move funds internationally beyond the control of the U.S. and European imperialists.

The socialized economy worldwide coupled with the massive developments due to the scientific and technical revolution have rendered private ownership of the means of production archaic. The private interests and self-centred aim of the few in ownership and control of the socialized productive forces have become superfluous to development internally and globally leading to the destruction of the productive forces through anti-social measures internally and wars of destruction internationally along with the massive dislocation of populations, and natural and social catastrophes.

The striving of very few narrow private interests to control the means of production globally operating through oligopolies and their cartels and coalitions which have usurped state power has put the collective interests and security of all humanity at risk.

The turmoil in the global financial system, the NATO proxy war in Ukraine, the U.S./Zionist genocide in Palestine, the U.S. military encirclement of China and the DPRK and many more such actions are warnings to the people of the necessity to broaden and strengthen the struggle to fashion new global arrangements among the people not based on private property, which is clearly no longer sacred, and exploitation, but on the human factor/social consciousness.

Note

1. The U.S. and its allies are presently devising ways to use funds generated by some $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets they have frozen to finance the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. Many even among U.S. vassals consider this risky as it exposes all private property to confiscation including their own. This indeed is the case with Russia as President Putin has created groundwork for confiscation of U.S., Canadian and European property held in Russia in retaliation for any seizure of Russian property.

Reports from RT say in part, "Moscow could move to seize property owned by U.S.-linked entities and citizens in Russia, should Washington attempt to confiscate Russian assets being held abroad, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. The document released by the Kremlin outlines a future mechanism that would allow any damages caused by the U.S. to be offset by property owned by the U.S. itself or associated entities. The Russian government and central bank would be empowered to seek redress for such losses through a Russian court.

"Those who could face potential action against their assets include U.S. citizens or those who reside in the country, or those who do most of their business or generate most of their profits in Russia. The property of people 'under the control' of such individuals will also be liable, regardless of their nationality and residency.

"The court will be able to grant compensation in the form of property physically present in Russia, shares in Russia-registered businesses and property rights. A governmental commission will be responsible for compiling the list of those who could be targeted for compensation. Putin's decree gives the government four months to prepare the legal framework for the mechanism and submit the relevant proposals to parliament for consideration."

The International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and various countries in Europe have also issued warnings against seizing Russia's social wealth. They say that such an action puts at risk the global financial system and investment based on the sanctity and legal rights of private property. Some are suggesting instead a special windfall tax on profits generated by the frozen assets and using those for the proxy war. In response, the Russian government said it considers any form of expropriation as theft and has vowed to retaliate tit for tat in defence of its citizens' property rights.

2. China offloads record amount of dollar assets according to the latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department. The Chinese government sold $53.3 billion in U.S. Treasuries and agency bonds during the first quarter of 2024 highlighting the country's shift away from dollar assets. During the same period, the Chinese government increased its purchases of gold and other commodities.

Reuters reports some analysts have suggested that this reduction in U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves could be part of China's broader strategy to diversify away from U.S. dollar-denominated assets amid rising geopolitical tensions with the United States. Others point to the widespread economic impact of U.S. sanctions on Russia and China and the freezing of $300 billion of Russian assets and its possible expropriation, saying China seeks to mitigate against these risks.

"The handling of Russian reserves by the U.S. and other G7 countries, including threats of expropriations and sanctions, likely prompted China to reduce its exposure to U.S. Treasury assets to avoid being similarly targeted," Craig Shapiro of LaDuc Trading, told Newsweek, referring to the seizure of Russian assets.

Newsweek writes, "As the second largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities after Japan, China's sell-off could potentially unsettle the Treasury market and raise U.S. borrowing costs, some economists argued. 'As China is selling both, despite the fact that we are closer to a Fed rate-cut cycle, there should be a clear intention of diversifying away from U.S. dollar holdings,' said Stephen Chiu, chief Asia foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. While China is selling dollar assets, its holdings of gold have surged in the country's official reserves. The share of the precious metal in reserves climbed to 4.9 per cent in April, the highest since records began in 2015, according to the People's Bank of China."

Grasping at Straws to Attack China

The U.S. government and certain global auto producing cartels accuse Chinese auto manufacturers of overproducing new electric vehicles (NEVs) and dumping them in the U.S. market at low prices. An article carried by China's Xinhua news agency refutes the accusation describing it "fallacious, dangerous logic of 'Chinese overcapacity' rhetoric." Xinhua writes: "The rhetoric of 'Chinese overcapacity' contradicts factual evidence and fundamental economic principles."

According to Xinhua, NEV production in China was 9.59 million units in 2023. Of these, 8,339,200 NEVs were sold internally in the Chinese market and 1,150,800 units were exported and sold abroad leaving around 100,000 units unsold. Only a few thousand Chinese produced NEVs were sold in the United States during the year.

The U.S. argument seems to be that all Chinese produced NEVs sold abroad plus the unsold units constitute overproduction for the Chinese market. But that argument does not hold water as almost no commodity in any quantity is produced in a large country solely for an internal domestic market but rather for the global marketplace. In fact, most of the auto producers in China have ownership, financial and other connections with the global producers. Tesla, a global NEV producer headquartered in the U.S. but with significant production capacity in China, held 30 per cent of NEV sales in China in 2023 and uses that base to expand its sales worldwide.

To be clear, the U.S. government and most official economists use the term "overproduction" narrowly with regard to a marketplace and the relation between production and sales or supply and demand of certain commodities. The aim for maximum profit of those in control of the imperialist economy often motivates them to produce beyond expected sales or to flood the market to wipe out competitors. Overproduction in this sense can lead to particular bankruptcies or even generalized economic crises when demand collapses for whatever reason. Use of the term to attack other producers stems from an antagonistic view of competing forces and a preoccupation with their own private interests, not from a desire for a new aim and direction for the economy to serve the people, solve problems and humanize the social and natural environment.

When narrow private interests produce for the worldwide marketplace in competition with other global producers, those in control of the imperialist economy have the success of their own private interests in mind not the overall well-being of the economy, people or Mother Earth. Principally they want to maximize their profits and in doing so outcompete their rivals and eventually take them over or destroy them.

Overproduction of certain commodities can be a way to wipe out the competition and destroy their productive capacity. To accomplish this, the global producers enlist the public treasuries of governments they control or influence to subsidize their prices of production allowing them to "outcompete" their competitors. Forcing public treasuries to subsidize certain global cartels in pay-the-rich schemes, creating legal blocks to sales such as Biden's tariffs against Chinese imports, and waging propaganda campaigns against producers centred in particular countries form aspects of the intense competition among the cartels to dominate the global marketplace for their own private interest and wipe out their competitors. This competition can escalate to war as is now occurring with the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, the U.S./Zionist genocide in Palestine to retain U.S. imperialist domination of west and central Asia and north Africa, and the U.S. arming its military vassals in south Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan in preparation for war with China and the DPRK.

The global cartels regularly plunder the public treasuries of governments at all levels in Canada to serve their private interests in competition with other private interests and in contradiction with the needs of the people, economy and society. The U.S. imperialist-controlled media in Canada are loud propagandists in this economic warfare against global companies such as Huawei, NEV producers and others in China, which the U.S. imperialists have designated as enemy competitors that need to be destroyed, covering up, beside other things, the extent to which they are intertwined.

Canada's cartel party governments and opposition are fully involved in the global collusion and contention between the cartels and coalitions comprised of oligopolies which constantly threaten war. Canada is an active member of the U.S. imperialist military alliances NATO and NORAD and regularly engages in U.S.-led military exercises and campaigns throughout the world.

The imperialist global marketplace is a festering sewer of collusion and contention for maximum profit for a few and the U.S. striving for control. This antagonistic competition and striving gives rise to regular economic crises and war. The Canadian working class must step forward and play a leading role to bring into being a new direction and aim for the economy to serve the people and not the private profit of a few, and to establish an anti-war government that takes immediate measures to sever all ties with the U.S. military and the U.S. war economy.

Under Dictatorship of Global Oligarchs,
Fraud Is Everywhere

Montreal, Earth Day march, April 21, 2024

Throughout central and south America, the global rich have unleashed a fraud to manipulate the concern of the people over climate change and create yet another debt trap. The ensuing debt to the global finance imperialists is designed to ensnarl the people into further decades of handing over their social wealth to a global few and leave the besieged people with the dehumanizing social and natural problems that have plagued the vast region since the beginning of the colonial invasions centuries earlier.

A recent report called Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup explains in detail the interlocking relations of familiar oligarchs from the financial, tech, space and military/intelligence sectors centred in the U.S. and Europe. They are using fraud, corruption and bribery to ensnare the people in schemes while their public relations and mass media companies make it appear as if the public/private partnership is "doing something" to reduce carbon emissions, alleviate climate change and save nature from destruction.

The evidence from the article points to the absence of economic and political power of the people and the necessity for fundamental political change to empower and bring the people to power and in so doing gain control over the socialized economy. In that way, the working people who are the human factor in the forefront of transforming nature's bounty into social product can gain control over the productive forces including the land and their own capacity to work and bring into being a modern aim for the socialized economy to serve the people and society and humanize the social and natural environment.

The investigative article by Whitney Webb and Mark Goodwin begins with the following two paragraphs and continues in a most detailed manner the exposure of the various nefarious schemes of the imperialists.

"Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup"

"Sweeping across the shores of Latin America comes a scheme from some of the most predatory figures in the venture capital ecosystem of the United States. It is a brazen attempt to assert foreign influence across Latin America and threatens to reshape the very fabric of the region and the day to day lives of its people. At its core is a serpentine set of contractual obligations, held at the municipal level, cast throughout Central and South America, upheld by an intelligence-linked satellite company, and controlled by a private sector consortium of green-washed financiers aiming to turn the region's forests into equity and carbon credits. At the same time, it obliges local governments to spend 'conservation' funds on projects that further financialize nature and aid the construction of an inter-continental 'smart' grid. One of its key ambitions appears to be further entrenching the debt load of the region through the multilateral development banks and the dollarization of the continent from the subnational level up through carbon markets upheld by a digital ledger. What seems like a technological marvel aimed at progress and connectivity harbors a darker agenda -- one that intertwines planetary surveillance, financial predation, geopolitical manoeuvring, and the domination of a resource-rich continent buried in debt.

"This grand design, known by the acronym GREEN+ and conceived by stalwarts of the digital dollar and debt schemes of the private sector, has quietly taken root through a web of political entanglements at the local level. Even a key figure in the Drexel Burnham Lambert junk bond scandal plays a role. Astonishingly, every capital city of Latin America has eagerly signed on, apparently unaware of the strings attached to these seemingly benign partnerships, while a majority of municipalities in the region have also made commitments with these same groups that will push them to join GREEN+, potentially in a matter of weeks. The (hopefully) well-meaning regional governments have unwittingly paved the way for a sweeping surveillance apparatus tied to American intelligence that threatens to erode privacy and civil liberties under the guise of progress and combating the climate crisis."[1]

The people are responding to these imperialist frauds which can be stopped with the human factor/social consciousness in command. The peoples are determined to stop the global imperialists from running roughshod over them with their corruption, wars and exploitation. To turn the situation around decisively requires bringing into being new pro-social economic, political and governing arrangements under the control of the people. The working class must strive to unleash the full capacity of the modern socialized economy to serve the people and humanize the social and natural environment. The crucial central element for working people in this struggle is to bring into being a modern democratic personality and a modern democratic state and governing structures that have the capacity, outlook, aim and strength to deprive the imperialist elite of their power and to free the socialized economy to serve the people and Mother Earth.

March at COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, November 5, 2021

Note

1. The article in full can be found here: Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup.

Britain

UK Government Persists in Passing Inhumane Racist Law to Expel Migrants and Refugees

Time and time again the government of the United Kingdom has been condemned for trying to expel migrants and refugees seeking asylum in Britain. Its racism and arrogance reveals the essence of British empire-building values promoted in the mid-nineteenth century of "white man's burden" whereby it can do whatever it wishes in its colonies and possessions according to what it considers to be its "god given right." In this case, it has persisted in using its position of privilege and power to manipulate the process of passing law until it can claim a majority as if this is what is required to give what it is doing legitimacy and credibility.

Against all humanitarian principles and the principles underlying refugee laws and conventions passed by the United Nations since World War II, the UK government thinks it has succeeded in getting the green light to expel people from the British mainland who have come to its shores. These are people who have been turned into migrants and refugees by Britain's own policies of exploitation and wars of destruction, and genocide against tribal peoples in Asia and Africa. On April 22, the British parliament passed the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act which it intends to use to deport refugees deemed "illegal" because they left a "safe third country" such as France to seek asylum in Britain. This is similar to what Canada is doing when it refuses refugee claimants who have arrived through the U.S. because the latter is deemed a "safe country." But even more heinous and odious, the UK has managed to find a willing partner in the long-suffering country called Rwanda – a country in central Africa more than 6,500 kilometres from Britain.

This legislation is the response of the Rishi Sunak government to bypass the November 2023 ruling of the UK Supreme Court. That ruling found that his government's "Rwanda Policy" of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful because Rwanda is not a safe country for asylum seekers to be sent to. Note that many of the asylum seekers being deported are not from Rwanda at all. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom – which is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – found that there is a substantial risk of the expelled asylum seekers being returned to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. In response to the Supreme Court decision, Sunak's government negotiated a treaty with Rwanda which it claims addresses the Court's concerns. It then crafted legislation that designates Rwanda as a safe country and furthermore denies asylum seekers the right to return to the UK.

According to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak -- problem solved.

This law has been denounced by human rights activists in Britain who point out that it is illegal, racist and criminalizes refugees. They say that they will do everything in their power to stop any deportation plane leaving for Rwanda.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated, "The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK's long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention. " Grandi pointed out, "Protecting refugees requires all countries -- not just those neighbouring crisis zones -- to uphold their obligations."

To divert attention from the crisis in which the so-called liberal democratic institutions in the UK are mired and the need to remove from power those who serve narrow private interests, monopoly media pretend that Britain is a victim of too many people wishing to come to its shores because it is such a great country. In this vein, they claim that thousands of refugees from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the Channel to be reunited with friends or family or because they speak English or feel that they would integrate more easily into British society. Meanwhile, Britain receives fewer asylum seekers than many European nations, including France, Germany and Italy, because it is far from their point of origin and is, on top of this, an island.

The fact remains that the U.S. and its Anglo-American allies such as the UK, Canada and others, are trying to get rid of the refugee convention adopted by the UN after World War II and to dispose of people like they are trash. They are racist and anti-human to the core and nothing they can do or say will redeem the crimes against humanity they are carrying out in the name of high ideals.

On a recent trip to Poland, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that the aim of the Safety of Rwanda Act is to curb illegal criminal gangs who exploit and endanger asylum seekers. So long as he leaves himself and his gang of miserable persons with power and privilege out of who comprises that category, his statement will ring false. Whatever criminal gangs exist are thanks to the British state that rules on the basis of keeping such criminal gangs, his own included, in place. For good measure, Sunak said that "for matters of compassion more than anything else, we must actually break this business model and end the unfairness of people coming to our country illegally."

First the likes of the U.S., Canada and Britain concoct the third safe country "rule" and then declare refugees and asylum seekers "illegal." This is what those British colonials who wanted to Keep Canada White did in 1914 when they declared British subjects from India illegal if they did not come via direct passage. When they charted the SS Komagata Maru to bring them via direct passage, the colonial authorities would not permit them to disembark in Vancouver nor would they permit the ship to be provisioned with water or food. The ship was finally forced to return with more tragedies befalling those who made the trip.[1]

No matter what Sunak says, his government's legislation violates British law, international humanitarian law and the UN Refugee Convention. It provides credible evidence that the British state itself is engaged in large-scale illegal human trafficking.

The UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, also known as the Rwanda Asylum Plan was first proposed by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In 2022, Johnson reached an agreement with Rwanda to accept asylum seekers from Britain in exchange for more than 100 million pounds sterling and other aid money with more to come. It was thanks to the broad opposition in Britain and the actions of migrant advocates and legal challenges that the deportations were stopped in 2022.

When the first group of deportees were set to depart for Rwanda in June 2022, two organizations, Detention Actions and Care4Calais, joined with the Public and Commercial Services Union and four asylum seekers to challenge the plan and request a last-minute injunction to stop the first flight from taking off. The British High Court refused the injunction but the European Court of Human Rights intervened on the grounds that "the plan carried real risk of irreparable harm" and the flight was cancelled.

The Sunak Conservative government has pushed forward despite widespread opposition. Sunak states that the first plane of deportees to Rwanda will take off in weeks, but human rights organizations and legal experts plan to continue challenging the government through the courts and politically to stop the deportations.

Britain can never be forgiven for the crimes it is committing against the asylum seekers and refugees today. It built its wealth and power on the Atlantic Slave Trade, growing rich on the bodies of Africans and causing irreparable damage as the master of colonies in Africa. To now use Rwanda as a dumping ground for human beings it does not want is unconscionable and shows that what are called British values and civilization are as rotten today as they were in colonial times. Britain, through its participation in NATO and wars against countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, is one of the big powers responsible for the refugee crisis, for millions of people forced to take desperate measures to find refuge in countries where they hope to start new lives.

The demand of the peoples of the world is for Britain to make amends for its historic crimes. Far from it, the deeper the crisis of its liberal democratic institutions, the more the government clutches at straws to remain in power, and the more racist, criminal and genocidal it shows itself to be.

Sunak will rue the day that he decided to press forward with his plan to "stop the boats." The people who make up the UK have shown they will not put up with the racist immigration and refugee policies of the British state. Besides demanding the rights of all refugee claimants be respected, the expectation is that the Sunak government will be defeated in the general election to be held in Britain on July 4.

Note

1. Compelled to return to India literally at gunpoint, the SS Komagata Maru stopped at Yokohama, Kobe, and Singapore, where the British authorities ordered it to sail to Calcutta. On September 26, it was searched for arms and seditious literature at Kulpi, in Bengal. The search did not yield anything and on September 29 the ship arrived at Budge Budge, near Calcutta.

The commissioner of police asked the passengers to disembark and to proceed to a special train waiting to take them to Punjab. Gurdit Singh, who had chartered the Komagata Maru, refused as they were carrying the sacred book of Sikhism, the Granth Sahib, which they intended to install at the Gurdwara in Howrah. The passengers eventually disembarked with Gurdit carrying the Granth Sahib on his head. As they reached the station, they sat on the road. On being asked to board the train, Gurdit argued that it would be sacrilegious to take the sacred book onto it. The situation became increasingly confrontational and the authorities appealed to Calcutta for more troops. After some time, the crowd stood up, crossed the level crossing, and started marching towards Calcutta. With the police following, the procession was stopped by troops from the Royal Fusiliers. They asked Gurdit and the others to go back.

On their return to Budge Budge, the passengers refused to go back to the Komagata Maru and squatted on the road. The Punjab police and the British forces guarded them. The Granth Sahib was placed on a portable platform. As the police commissioner walked towards the level crossing, a few shots were heard. An officer had plunged into the crowd and had allegedly been knocked down, at which point the firing had begun. The commissioner later alleged that he had seen a few Sikhs firing, but Hugh Johnston writes that this view was not shared by some of his own officers. He writes: "Some of the shots came from the four police sergeants ... discharging their revolvers at such close quarters that one man... was hit six times." As the passengers surged forward, the Calcutta and Punjab forces retaliated. The Royal Fusiliers entered the scene late, but had secured permission to fire. Most of the passengers now found shelter in a nearby ditch, or in the fields, and some even jumped into the river.

The number of dead passengers was officially put at twenty, of whom eighteen died as a result of wounds suffered from service rifles, as recorded by the inquest report. The total number of dead was put between 26 and 40, but it was probably higher. Only 62 passengers were sent to Punjab, while 211 were arrested and 28 others, including Gurdit, escaped.

The unsuccessful immigrants to Canada were forced to spend several months on the sea and then found that they did not enjoy freedom of movement even in their land of origin. Did this not anticipate what would be a familiar global scenario decades later? These people experienced a virtual fate of statelessness. They were not admitted to Canada and they were not allowed to move freely in India. They were the boat people, floating in the sea, for more than six months in search of land. When they found land, they also found bullets. (Extract from "The Tragic Journey of the Komagata Maru," by Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty, IWMpost 128: Statelessness, 2021.)

(With files from UN, Al-Jazeera.)

A Government in Shameful Disarray with
No Way Forward

Demonstration against Britain's support for genocide, demands Hands Off Rafah!, May 7, 2024

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, called a general election to take place on July 4 after a six week campaign. Prior to this, on May 13, he made a major speech at Policy Exchange on Britain's "security," promoted as his pre-election claim to be the new leader following the General Election.[1] All under the guise of creating "a secure future," it betrayed an incoherent mishmash of worn out and reactionary rhetoric.

He said that he felt "a profound sense of urgency" because "more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty." He tried to set a tone of foreboding with "storms ahead" against the "threats we face at home and abroad" but with "bold action and a clear plan, we can and we will create a secure future." He tried to paint a picture that the "dangers that threaten our country are real," but these have nothing to do with the pro-war stance and support for Israeli genocide consensus of the main cartel parties in Parliament. The "threat" he tried to address was that "an axis of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China is working together to undermine us and our values." He talked about "war returned to Europe" as if Britain were not part of the U.S./NATO axis that has been escalating its expansionism and destabilizing Eastern Europe and Ukraine over many years. Sunak completely covers over Britain's role in provoking and continuing to escalate the U.S.-led NATO's proxy war in Ukraine against Russia as well as Britain's role in escalating sanctions, tensions and threats of war against China, Iran and the DPRK.

Sunak claimed that war rages, too, in the Middle East "as Israel defends itself not only against the terrorists of Hamas but a barrage of missiles fired -- for the first time -- directly from Iran." The likes of Sunak, as well as Starmer, who are blaming the resistance for war are shamefully attempting to exonerate Israel, giving it their backing, for its war crimes. Sunak's speech made no mention of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Gaza and genocidal war that Israel is conducting with Britain's support in Gaza and the West Bank. He also denies the right of the Palestinians to resist this genocide of their people and calls them terrorists, nor does he mention the provocations against Iran with the bombing of their Embassy complex in Damascus by Israel, destroying the building housing the consular section, that led to a stand off between Iran and Israel. Sunak also blamed Iran for Yemen's stand in imposing shipping sanctions on Israel in support of the Palestinians and he justified Britain's bombing of Yemen in support of Israel.

Furthermore, what is revealed by this speech is a government in shameful disarray with no way forward trying desperately to cover over its warmongering and support for genocide as "security" for the British people. This was further highlighted when David Cameron, Foreign Secretary sitting in the House of Lords, said on the same day on BBC news that while he would not support a major ground offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah, the UK "would not copy U.S. plans to stop some arms sales to Israel," as, according to Cameron, denying arms to Israel would only help Hamas.

Such shameful comments to try and mask Britain's complicity in the genocide in Gaza prompted Craig Murray, a former British diplomat, to condemn the government on May 13 saying that, "incredibly the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now reaching new heights of violence. Casualty figures are not coming in, as the attacks are so bad that bodies cannot be recovered, medics cannot travel and there are almost no medical facilities operational now anyway."[2] He continued, "We now see that the Western injunctions not to attack Rafah were a smokescreen of lies to mask complicity. The final pocket of Gaza is being ruthlessly ethnically cleansed and its infrastructure will be destroyed like all the rest. ...The only possible conclusion from all of the above is to reinforce my analysis that the Zionist political and media classes in the West, including Biden, Blinken, Trudeau, Macron, Sunak, Starmer, Scholtz, von der Leyen and all, are active and willing participants in a program of genocide."

Sunak's speech reflected this outlook of the old world values and not the values of peoples striving for peace, empowerment and the new in the modern world. The warmongering and genocidal values of the Zionists that Sunak tries to cover over are the continuation of the striving for hegemony of the oligopolies and their war industries in the world. Wars in the pursuit of their interests are causing mass deaths and destruction and displacing millions of people as refugees as they are now doing again in Gaza. This is infamy.

People Have Rights by Virtue of Being Human

After boasting, "We've proudly taken the generational decision to increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5 per cent of GDP, by 2030," Rishi Sunak veered onto another topic, that the "global displacement of a hundred million people is a new and defining challenge of our age." Sunak tries to reduce the massive refugee problems that their warmongering system have contributed to in the world to one when he says, "we can and will protect ourselves against illegal migration." The world the imperialists are imposing is one of global displacement of the peoples by their wars, but yet again they confound this by their lies that migrants and refugees are the problem and label them "illegal."

In this way Sunak tries to justify the illegal Rwanda scheme by trying to dress it up as a humanitarian measure. He says: "That's why we're pioneering the Rwanda scheme. And so, when people see that if they come here illegally, they will be swiftly detained and removed, they will be deterred from making that perilous journey, stopping the boats and saving thousands of lives." With this outlook, which is contradicted by stark reality, he claims that the "international frameworks on human rights are outdated," not the anti-human laws he shamelessly advocates for Britain. He tries to incite people against human rights by saying "there may be flashpoints ahead with the ECHR ."[3]

That any Prime Minister can in the modern age make a speech that tries to put a human face on the values and crimes of the past which the peoples of the world fought to end during the Second World War against Nazi Germany beggars belief. What it shows is how out of step they are with the requirements of the modern era.

The question facing the working class and peoples' movement emphasizes that the struggle on all fronts is between the New and the Old. The burning need of the present and for the security of the people of Britain and the world is for an Anti-War Government, the expression of a modern democratic personality opposed to police powers and executive rule and to the use of force to settle conflicts. It is not the Sunaks of this world that will lead society out of this crisis but the working class becoming worker-politicians themselves. Their aim is for a new situation where decision-making involves all workers, communities, and people as a whole, speaking and acting in their own name and as one, without the political mechanisms of the ruling elite that disempower and block their direct decisions from being realized.

Notes

1. PM speech on security: 13 May 2024

2. Shameless -- Craig Murray, May 13, 2024

3. The ECHR is part of the Council of Europe -- an international organization focusing on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, headquartered in Strasbourg, France. It oversees the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (also often abbreviated as the ECHR), signatories to which agree to abide by the rulings of the court. Forty-six countries are members of the Council of Europe, including all 27 members of the EU, as well as a number of non-EU members, including the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey and others. All Council of Europe members are signatories to the Convention.

The EU, meanwhile, has its own court system, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is based in Luxembourg. The CJEU interprets EU law to ensure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries.

50 Years After the February 1974 Election

Fifty years ago, on February 28, 1974, then Prime Minister Edward Heath called a snap election, asking his famous question: "Who governs Britain?"[1]

This question was in fact forced on his Conservative government by the miners, who at that time were a formidable organised force. Their strike action had been so powerful as to result in Heath's government imposing a three-day working week to conserve fuel as stocks of coal ran low. Heath called the election in an attempt to reassert the authority of the government, assuming that the electorate would respond by delivering him a stronger majority, tightening his government's grip over decision-making power in the face of the growing challenge by the working class and its developing consciousness and organisation.

Miners make gains in 1972 British miners strike (above). This was followed by further successes
in 1974 strike.

The resounding answer, however, was: not him. Instead, the election resulted in the first hung parliament since 1929. While the Conservatives had marginally more votes (37.9 per cent to Labour's 37.2 per cent), Labour, by the vagaries of the first-past-the-post system, emerged as the largest party in the Commons, albeit by just four seats.[2]

Participation in the election was historically high, with a turnout of 78.7 per cent, the highest since 1959. Yet the combined vote of the two major parties fell from nearly 90 per cent to 75 per cent, in what was perhaps the most significant feature of the election results other than its indecisive outcome.[3]

Poster from 2019

In the wake of the election, Heath attempted but failed to reach a deal with what was then the Liberal Party. He resigned as prime minister on March 4, power subsequently passing to Harold Wilson's minority Labour government. The striving of the miners for the recognition of their rights forced another election to be held in October of that year.[4] This election was again barely decisive, but was enough to deliver Wilson a slim majority.

So it was that the ruling circles, in the person of Edward Heath, put the question of "who governs," and lost. The profound repercussions of this moment in history have left their mark on the present and have still not been resolved. Though the government was defeated by its own question, the system then did not provide that it was the miners who won.[5] The role of the working class was affirmed during the whole period of that great conflict, a role that the working class has as its independent programme and mission to play its leading role in the transformation of society and put its stamp on the nation. In particular, the workers' consciousness surrounding its own question of "What Kind of Society?" has been developing since that time, and the necessity and possibility of bringing about a modern alternative that favours the working class and people not the rich.[6]

The events of 1973-4 came towards the end of the social-democratic period that had been the consensus since the end of the Second World War, a mode of governance and of accommodating claims on the economy that was going into serious crisis at that time.

The response of the Labour government following these events was to institute the tripartite arrangement between the government, big labour and big business in the form of the so-called Social Contract, to divert the workers' independent consciousness and organisation from developing any further.

But this itself was to be short-lived. The whole social democratic period was to be abandoned with the unleashing of the anti-social offensive spearheaded by the neo-liberal Thatcher government from 1979, and the equally historic miners' strike of 1984, which also marks its 40th anniversary this month. By that time, the aim was the complete silencing of the voice of the workers and the end of any reasonable accommodations.

Today, the days of "beer and sandwiches at Number 10," the days of winning the consent of organised labour to the programmes of government, are a distant memory. It is also telling that no prime minister since Heath has both taken and lost their time in office as a result of an election: all have either resigned due to factional infighting, been coronated following such a resignation, or both. The 1974 election marked the turning point of the two party system of the big catch-all parties of the postwar period, following which the big parties began to transform themselves into the cartel party system that is in such crisis today. With the decay of the old two party system came also the beginning of the end of predictability.

Today, the party-dominated system is in utter crisis, while the disequilibrium has become so great that the unions face a huge challenge in effectively carrying out their role as the workers' self-defence organisations.

Wakefield -- with banners held high, 2019

Today, it is the struggle between the Old and the New that is increasingly thrown into sharp relief. The financial oligarchy has reached a dead end, and the workers, increasingly disillusioned with cartel party politics, are tasked with taking up their independent role. The working class is becoming ever more conscious of the fact that it alone holds the solutions to the all-sided crisis. Workers are aware of their own worth and are determined to make their claims, declaring that "Enough is Enough!"

The times require that the working class upholds the most modern and enlightened definitions of democracy and human rights; it cannot succeed in making its claims on society without them. The role assigned to the workers by history is to make history by taking up the future of society, ending its division into classes and into governor and governed, bringing about a society based on the rights of all and where the individual and collective are one.

Faced with this historic task, the working class faces the immediate challenge of becoming an organised political force in its own right. The working people cannot afford simply to hand over their power to representatives whom they do not even select and over whom they exercise no control.

As has always been the case in the past, today also the working people know perfectly well who governs. The challenge facing the workers' movement is to deprive the ruling elite of the power to deprive them of what belongs to them by right, including their right to govern themselves and exercise control over the matters that affect their lives.

This is what the events of 50 years ago remind us of. In this election, once again the working class is set to further respond to this challenge.

Notes

1. After announcing the election on February 7, parliament was dissolved just one day later, and the election held 20 days after that.

2. "February 1974 United Kingdom general election", Wikipedia, February 23, 2024

3. Lewis Baston, "Who governs?," The Guardian, April 4, 2005

4. "Who Rules?," Workers' Weekly, June 14, 2017

5. "Election Material", RCPB(ML), April 2001

6. "There Is a Way Out of the Crisis", RCPB(ML), March 19, 1994

Cuba

Remove Cuba from U.S. List of State
Sponsors of Terrorism!

The Outaouais-Cuba Friendship Association joins its voice with those of the Cuban people, and governments and organizations around the world in demanding that Cuba be removed from the unilateral and arbitrary list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, created by the U.S. Department of State.

Cuba is extremely clear when it comes to the fight against terrorism. Not only is Cuba acting in accordance with international law on this issue, it has actively supported the work of the United Nations in the creation of the Counterterrorism Office and has collaborated with the United Nations and other countries in the fight against international terrorism. Cuba's commitment to its fight against terrorism was enshrined in its renewed constitution of 2019. Over the years, Cuba itself has been the victim of terrorist acts which have claimed the lives of 3,478 people and injured 1,099 others.

In international forums Cuba has repeatedly emphasized the essential role of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism. It has denounced the double standards and selectivity which predominate in matters of terrorism and stressed that, without tackling this problem, the scourge of terrorism cannot be eradicated. Cuba has also stressed that UN actions must be based on respect for the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and international law, in particular respect for sovereign equality, non-interference and non-intervention in the internal affairs of States.

The arbitrary, unfair and unjustified list of state sponsors of terrorism created by the U.S. Department of State exacerbates the already extremely difficult conditions in Cuba due to the criminal U.S. blockade. The explicit objective of both measures is to inflict suffering on the Cuban people and cause dissatisfaction amongst them.

We call on our own government to take a stand on this issue, knowing full well that Cuba does not deserve to be on such a list, and demand that the U.S. government stop these arbitrary measures and act in accordance with international law.

It is high time to put an end to this additional burden that weighs on the Cuban people and their government. Every day they face obstacles that may seem insurmountable but, with courage and creativity, they find new ways to overcome these illegal and inhumane measures and to defend their dignity and independence.

(Outaouais-Cuba Friendship Association, May 25, 2024)

Statement of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba

According to U.S. official media reports, on 15 May 2024, the country's State Secretary submitted to the Congress one more of the arbitrary reports that normally describe countries without any international mandate or recognition. This time, he listed four countries who allegedly "do not fully cooperate with the United States antiterrorist efforts for the 2023 calendar year." As opposed to what has happened in recent years, the list does not slanderously include Cuba among such countries.

Nonetheless, the State Department keeps Cuba as one of the States in a list of those allegedly "sponsoring" terrorism. It is nothing but a totally unilateral and unfounded list, whose sole purpose is to smear sovereign States and serve as a pretext for imposing coercive economic sanctions on them, as those ruthlessly imposed on Cuba.

The demand for the United States government to amend such an injustice continues to be firmly and repeatedly made not only by the Cuban people and many governments, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also by political, social and religious organizations in the United States itself and by several U.S. politicians.

The clear and absolute truth is that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, but it has been a victim of it instead, including State terrorism. This is a question that can be confirmed by anyone interested in the topic and that is very well-known by the government of the United States, its State Department and its intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They are also fully aware of how significantly harmful are for the Cuban economy the sanctions, actions and the intimidating effect that automatically have on any State having it included in such a list, regardless of what the truth might be.

It is not enough to acknowledge that Cuba fully cooperates with the United States. Cuba does so with the entire international community as well. That is a widely known fact and public opinion is not to be misled about it. The President of the United States has all the privileges to act honestly and to do what is right.

Havana, 15 May 2024

(Cubaminrex)

Haiti

Delays of Kenyan Police Deployment Further Reveal Malintentions of Foreign Interference

The plan to have 1,000 Kenyan police arrive in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on May 23 to lead an armed foreign intervention force known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM), their arrival to coincide with the official state visit to Washington, DC of Kenyan President William Ruto, fell through. The plan fell through because on May 17, Reuters reports, Kenya's High Court ordered that a lawsuit seeking to prevent the government from deploying police to Haiti be served to top government officials. The court has scheduled the hearing of the case for June 2. The plaintiffs in the case, Dr. Ekuru Aukot and Miruru Waweru, leaders of Thirdway Alliance, a Kenyan political party, argue that Ruto's agreement with Haiti to deploy police officers is in contempt of a January court order that deemed the deployment unconstitutional and illegal because there was no reciprocal agreement with the Haitian side to receive such a force.

Following the January ruling, in an effort to satisfy the court and legitimize the deployment, Ruto signed a security deal with Haiti's then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry in March. In April, a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) to replace Henry was put in place by the U.S., Canada and others. Henry resigned the day before the TPC was sworn in on April 25.

Speaking to the media, Aukot argued that the Kenyan government's decision to deploy its police to Haiti continues to violate the constitution because there is no valid agreement with a legitimate Haitian authority, no Haitian government which has made the request and agreed to the deployment of foreign troops in Haiti. He added, "As a Kenyan, I am looking at the fact that why should my country be used to go and clean up other people's messes, that was caused by the French, the Americans, and the Canadians...?"

In an interview with the BBC on May 27 Ruto said that he anticipated that the Kenyan police would be sent to Haiti in about three weeks as he now had a written agreement with the TPC for the deployment and that it has been approved by both houses of the Kenyan parliament. It remains to be seen what will happen with the court challenge to the deployment on June 2.

Ruto's visit to Washington is clearly seen as payment for services rendered to the U.S. It is the first state visit by an African head of state in nearly 20 years according to Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

An article published by Responsible Statecraft, the online journal of the Quincy Institute, a U.S. think tank, that prematurely announced the deployment, said: "[E]xperts argue that this military intervention is a short-sighted remedy to the broader crisis in Haiti. The current emergency is a result of deeply-entrenched inequality in Haitian society, an economic crisis, and an unaccountable government. Military interventions may quell violence for a limited time, but will do little to address its underlying causes."

Robert Fatton Jr., a professor at the University of Virginia cited by the journal, noted that even though it may be Kenyan troops on the ground in Haiti, this mission is ultimately engineered by the U.S. "After all, it was the U.S. that co-sponsored a resolution in the United Nations Security Council requesting approval for Kenya to lead a multinational peacekeeping operation, a move that followed unsuccessful attempts to persuade Canada and Brazil to do so," states the article. It adds, "Washington pledged its financial and logistical support for the mission in a defense agreement with Kenya signed in September 2023. It was then that Kenya committed to deploying 1,000 troops to Port-au-Prince."

The MSSM was authorized by the UN Security Council on October 2, 2023, under the pretext of stopping "gang violence" to justify yet more interference in Haiti's internal affairs. The MSSM also involves troops from several Caribbean countries trained by Canada, as well as forces from Bangladesh, Benin and Chad. Security Council approval means that the MSSM troops are authorized to use force, however the U.S. was not able to get approval for a fully sanctioned UN-led "peacekeeping" mission.

Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research called the MSSM "an unprecedented model for a peacekeeping operation." He pointed out that the UN is authorizing the multinational intervention but is not leading the mission itself, meaning the UN does not have direct oversight and responsibility for how the mission unfolds. "With Haiti's transitional government still on shaky ground, it's not clear who will be held accountable for the mission's execution," writes the journal.

Gazette Haiti reported that the UN has not yet received or confirmed rules of engagement for the MSSM. The newspaper wrote that unnamed U.S. government officials have given assurances to the Miami Herald that Kenya and the so-called transitional government of Haiti have reached an agreement on the rules of engagement, "However, this agreement has not yet been formalized in writing or submitted to the United Nations Security Council, a prerequisite for the commencement of the multinational security mission."

The newspaper adds, "Although the mission was presented as a Kenya-led deployment, congressional aides say that, in practice, it is a United States-led mission with multiple actors. The United States, which has pledged $300 million in support and has taken the lead in transporting troops to Port-au-Prince, provides 'the vast majority of funds.'"

According to Gazette Haiti, in a May 17 letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken obtained by the Miami Herald, Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul write that the Biden administration had used "a provision to combat drug trafficking" in the law to justify the transfer of funds to the mission." "In clear terms, the administration rushes to fund an undefined and indefinite intervention in Haiti without the approval of the Congress," they say.

Meanwhile, there is wide sympathy among Kenyans for the Haitian people, while the MSSM is regarded by many Kenyans as an "outsourced U.S. intervention" in Haiti, according to Professor Kenneth Ombongi, historian at the University of Nairobi.

India

Elections Which Will Solve Nothing

Farmers rally in Barnala, Punjab, May 26, 2024

General Elections are taking place in India and, as is the case in all the countries in which the electoral process no longer provides equilibrium and stability to the system of governance, they will not provide a single problem facing the polity with a viable solution.

On the home front Modi rule is known for its high level of corruption, pogroms against Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Dalits and Adivasis, while its service to the global oligopolies whose aim is to dispossess farmers and Adivasis and get rid of all toilers it considers disposable.

Abroad, India is caught between a rock and a hard place as concerns where to ally itself. Its hopes of basing its transportation, communications, energy and security corridors linked to those of Netanyahu's "greater Israel" are not working out for it while historical relations with Russia still smoulder as do problems with China which means that the peoples of Pakistan, Kashmir, Punjab, Nepal and other countries which straddle the borders of both countries continue to suffer.

Whether Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forms the next government or there is a change of government to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of the Congress Party and 16 other opposition parties, with Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister, these problems will still need to be addressed which these ruling elites do on the backs of the peoples of India who are turning new corners in the long struggle to empower themselves by adopting mass democratic methods which put the decision-making power into their own hands.

For instance, far from dividing their ranks behind this or that cartel party, farmers across India are asking politicians questions about their track record and promises. They launched a Jawab Do Hisaab Do campaign (Answer Us, Render Account). In thousands of villages they have put signboards up with 11 questions and they are asking the politicians to answer those questions. If they fail to do so, they are not permitted to enter the villages.

In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has ordered police to attack farmers, women and other people who are asking questions of candidates of different political parties. Harinder Singh Lakhowal, national coordination committee member of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), said, "The repression of farmers by Punjab police clearly indicates that the AAP is acting as the BJP's B team. We are warning the state government to release the farmers, or else we will intensify our struggle."

Following the arrest of farmer union leaders, effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann were burned in many villages across the state. In Haryana and Rajasthan also people are driving the candidates out of the villages as they do not want to engage in discussions with people. On May 12, in a Mahapanchayat (mass meeting) in Haryana, thousands of farmers passed a resolution to keep asking questions. Women, youth, Dalits are putting questions to MPs and other leaders about what they have done in the last five years. They are also asking the candidates why they are asking for the farmers' votes now after calling them anti-national, khalistanis, terrorists and much more during the farmers Morchas.

At a Mahapanchayat of farmers in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) on May 15, the farmers once again resolved to intensify their struggle for Jal, Jungle and Jameen (Water, Forest, Land), no matter what the outcome of the elections. Calling it Sankalp Diwas (Day of Determination), farmers pointed out that a gang of oligarchs which represent narrow global private interests have taken over the central government and state and they are calling the shots. They also said that they will keep fighting until in the short term they get guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) while they are fighting for Faslon Kai Faislaiyy Kisan Karaig (the farmer will decide the crop) in the long term .

At a press conference on May 18, farmers warned the leaders of BJP not to threaten them for asking questions. They were referring to a statement by a BJP member of parliament who had said that they will deal with farmers after the elections are over and will teach them a lesson. Farmers said that these leaders behave like kings and think that they can run roughshod over people. All we want is answers to our questions, they said. In this vein, Punjab farmers invited representatives of all political parties to answer their questions in a rally in Jagraon on May 21.

Farmers in their thousands gathered at a rally in Kaithal Haryana on May 19, to discuss their ongoing struggle against the ruling elite and its attempt to steal their lands. A young woman farmer pointed out that there is a life and death struggle between two visions of the future. The vision of corporates and WTO is to steal lands, do industrial agriculture, turn farmers into labourers on their own lands, force them to go to cities and live in slums. This vision is promoted by all the political parties; BJP, Congress, AAP and others. The second vision of the future is the vision of farmers and other toilers who want to protect the land, receive a fair price for farm produce, control cost of inputs,, raise the standard of living of everyone so that they are not turned into charity cases by receiving 5 or 10 kilos of grain every month. She said that farmers and toilers have to do it. None of the political parties is interested in doing this as they all are funded by the corporates and defend their interests.

Thousands of farmers demonstrated with black flags, placards and signs at Prime Minister Modi's election rallies in Patiala, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur in Punjab. Army, paramilitary and police laid siege of these cities before his rallies and many leaders of the farmers were arrested and confined to their villages. Farmers broke through the barricades and reached the cities. They wanted to ask the Prime Minister questions, but he would have none of it. As usual he made big claims, complete lies, incitement of hatred and even claimed that his lineage is from one of the Panj Pyaras of Guru Gobind Singh (five baptized (Amritdhari) Khalsa Sikhs who act as institutionalized leaders for the wider Sikh community). In this way he constantly claims divine origins.

The rally held on May 21 in Jagraon, Punjab was massive. Farmers had invited candidates of all political parties to come and answer their questions but none of the candidates of BJP, Congress, AAP, or Akalis showed up. Farmers declared that they will ask questions to Modi when he comes to canvass for the BJP. On May 22, in sizzling 50 degree Celsius heat more than 200,000 farmers gathered on Shambhu, Khanauri, Ratanpuri and Dabwali borders on the 100th day of their protest for guaranteed MSP and other demands. Farmers declared that if it takes 100 months for demands to be fulfilled, they will stay there. They decided to ask questions to Modi.

Farmers' rally in Jagraon, Punjab, May 21, 2024

A woman farmer pointed out that both Modi and Rahul Gandhi are claiming that they will give us this and that. Who are they? We are the producers of all the wealth, so who are they to make these claims as if they are doing us a favour? Another farmer said that some well-meaning people are forgetting that BJP has been in power only for the last ten years, before that for 60 years Congress and others were in power, they are the ones who signed agreements with the World Trade Organization (WTO ) and decided to steal the lands of the farmers.

Promises of every sort are raining down from the leaders of the cartel parties. Modi started with his "guarantees" followed by Rahul Gandhi's "guarantees" and also those of Kejariwal once he was released from prison on bail, tears in his eyes. Long ago, with his "tryst with destiny" in 1947, with tears in his eyes, Nehru "guaranteed" that he would wipe away the tears from every eye in India. Earlier Queen Victoria herself, having declared herself Empress of India, gave the "guarantee" of "peace, order and good governance." What the peoples of India got was plunder, looting, massacres and oppression. This has been the experience of the people of India for 166 years. Kejariwal, Modi and Rahul Gandhi are once again fooling around in a failed attempt to divert the polity. To claim he represents the peoples of India, and posture that his Congress Party is part of the solution, Rahul Gandhi stated the obvious, saying he accepts that 90 per cent of people have not benefitted from the policies of the last 70 years.

In governance, the current Indian state was first created in 1858 by the British and their local collaborator Maharajas and Jagirdars such as of Patiala, Sindhia, the Jagat Seths and industrialists such as Tata, Birla and others. In the economic realm, a top heavy totalitarian organization called a corporation was established by the British East India Company as a mechanism which destroyed local infrastructure and carried out production and extraction for huge profits. The Indian state remained dominated and controlled by these private interests after independence with the result that the peoples are in dire straits as never before. People are more determined than ever to create new formations and mechanisms that serve their needs and interests. They have been stepping up their struggle for affirmation of the rights of all.

Workers, women, farmers, toilers, Adivasis, oppressed castes have raised the demand for community control of resources, where people decide themselves what has to be produced, how much and at what price it has to be exchanged. In their mass meetings, the cartel parties do not mediate the electoral process and people participate in making the decisions on the course of action they need to take. This has become a historic necessity.

In the current election, they seek to defeat the present dispensation. If they can wrench some concessions, they will experience a small measure of relief. Secondly, they are clear they cannot harbour illusions about any party or coalition which comes to power. On the contrary, they are working to strengthen their unity and organizations which empower them and weaken the stranglehold of the corporations. No cartel party is interested in doing this. All of them are part of the cartel party system whose aim is to keep them out of the decision-making power.

Kisan Morcha, which the farmers call Kisan University, has presented a prototype for people to reproduce and readjust according to their needs depending on Desh Kaal (concrete conditions). The experience of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) is another model that has come into being by women's own efforts that offers an alternative of economy and collective decision-making. In tribal areas also people have created self-organizing formations to protect their Jal, Jungle and Jameen (access to land, water and forest resources) for production, exchange and distribution. All these models are based on people relying on their own forces and keeping the neo-colonial state, corporations and cartel parties out of their formations. They open a path for a future needed by the people.

The two visions of India are clashing in these elections. The one promoted by the corrupt mass media is filled with reports of rampant voter suppression, rigging and violence against the people.

International Peoples Tribunal on War Crimes in the Philippines

U.S. and Philippine Governments Found Guilty of War Crimes and Violations of International Humanitarian Law

In response to mounting war crimes and concerns over violations of international humanitarian law in the Philippines, an International People's Tribunal was convened in Brussels, Belgium from May 17 to 18 to put Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and the United States government on trial.

Over the course of the two-day Tribunal, which was attended by 200 people and followed on line by thousands worldwide, participants heard from the team of prosecutors who laid the charges, as well as from fifteen witnesses including victims and victims' family members and legal experts.

On the first day of the Tribunal, victims provided testimony about extra-judicial killings, torture, abduction, forced disappearances, attacks on Indigenous communities in the interests of foreign mining corporations and other crimes under the Duterte presidency. Also brought to light were the targeted killings of peace and human rights activists.

Ariel Casilao spoke of the brutal murder of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Consultant Randall Echanis in his home while he slept in August of 2020 and called this a "crystal clear violation of international humanitarian law and all existing laws in the Philippines," adding that "Ka Randy was an unarmed NDFP consultant. He was a key figure in the peace negotiations."

Eufemia Cullamat testified about the killing and dehumanization of her daughter, Jevelyn Cullamat, a combatant of the New People's Army (NPA) by members of the APF. She stated that the soldiers photographed her daughter's body and paraded her remains as a "war trophy."

Indigenous activist Jeany Rose Hayahay described how public schools for Indigenous children in Mindanao have been branded as "communist" recruitment hubs and that volunteer teachers have been killed or charged with terrorism. Under Duterte's presidency, martial law was imposed on Mindanao in order to further militarize the southern island and step up state attacks against the people, she pointed out.

The second day of the Tribunal heard testimony from victims of the current Marcos Jr. government.

Jonila Castro, an environmental activist who was kidnaped by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) testified that she was abducted on September 2, 2023 with another youth activist, Jhed Tamano, held in detention and tortured for two weeks and later presented in a press conference as "communist rebels." She explained that they used the occasion to turn the tables on the AFP by speaking the truth about their abduction and abuse which forced the military to release them after a public outcry. She pointed out that these abductions and abuse by the AFP are widespread and must be ended.

Emily Fausto testified that her parents Roly and Emelda Fausto were leaders of the Farmworkers Association involved in fighting for land reform in Negros Occidental when they were murdered in cold blood along with two of their sons, Ben and Ravin, aged 11 and 14 respectively. Emily stated that her parents had been harassed for many months by the military before they and her brothers were murdered and demanded justice for this heinous crime.

The AFP extrajudicial killings of New People's Army combatants, even after they have surrendered, was brought out in the case of New People's Army (NPA) combatant Hannah Cesista, who along with four other NPA combatants were murdered when they surrendered in order to protect civilian children in the vicinity. To terrorize the locals, the five youth were murdered in front of the local Bohol province villagers.

The prosecution was able to establish through the evidence presented that the defendants had willfully engaged in egregious violations of international humanitarian law in their attacks on the Filipino people. It also established that the U.S. government played a key role in enabling these crimes which include extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate bombings, displacement of Indigenous communities, blocking humanitarian aid, causing environmental damage, torture, desecration of the dead, unlawful detention and other crimes.

After reviewing the prosecution's case, the witness accounts and the evidence presented, the five-member panel of jurors, – Lennox Hinds, Professor of Law at Rutgers University and former legal counsel for the African National Congress; Suzanne Adely, President of the National Lawyers Guild of the U.S.; Séverine De Laveleye, member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium; Julen Arzuraga Gumuzio, member of the Basque Parliament; and Archbishop Joris Vercamen, former member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, found Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former President Rodrigo Duterte, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the United States government guilty of war crimes against the Filipino people and violations of international humanitarian law.

The lead prosecutor, Jan Fermon, noted "The verdict of this tribunal will empower the Filipino people and their allies across the globe to demand accountability from those responsible for these heinous crimes." Law professor Marjorie Cohn, one of the expert witnesses at the Tribunal, noted: "I want to emphasize that peoples' tribunals, while political in nature, can serve as alternative fora, and provide a peoples' record for future litigation, both nationally and internationally. Officials of the Philippine government and the U.S. government who enable the commission of these crimes should be held accountable in national courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction."

The verdict delivered at the International People's Tribunal on War Crimes in the Philippines is a victory for the people of the Philippines and for the peoples around the world. It will further isolate the U.S. imperialists and their local henchmen in the Philippines. It sheds light and puts in front of world pubic opinion the crimes of the U.S.-Marcos Jr. regime in the Philippines and the crimes of the previous government of Rodrigo Duterte, and will strengthen the demand for justice, accountability and a permanent end to these war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

(With files from International People's Tribunal, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.)

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International Matters of Concern

Early morning picket outside CANSEC venue, May 29, 2024

Canada's Obligations to End Arms Trade with Israel

(Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment, May 22, 2024)

Note

Montreal, Earth Day march, April 21, 2024

"Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup"

March at COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, November 5, 2021

Note

1. The article in full can be found here: Debt From Above: The Carbon Credit Coup.

Note

(With files from UN, Al-Jazeera.)

Demonstration against Britain's support for genocide, demands Hands Off Rafah!, May 7, 2024

People Have Rights by Virtue of Being Human

Notes

1. PM speech on security: 13 May 2024

2. Shameless -- Craig Murray, May 13, 2024

The EU, meanwhile, has its own court system, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is based in Luxembourg. The CJEU interprets EU law to ensure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries.

Miners make gains in 1972 British miners strike (above). This was followed by further successes in 1974 strike.

Poster from 2019

Wakefield -- with banners held high, 2019

Notes

1. After announcing the election on February 7, parliament was dissolved just one day later, and the election held 20 days after that.

2. "February 1974 United Kingdom general election", Wikipedia, February 23, 2024

3. Lewis Baston, "Who governs?," The Guardian, April 4, 2005

4. "Who Rules?," Workers' Weekly, June 14, 2017

5. "Election Material", RCPB(ML), April 2001

6. "There Is a Way Out of the Crisis", RCPB(ML), March 19, 1994

(Outaouais-Cuba Friendship Association, May 25, 2024)

Farmers rally in Barnala, Punjab, May 26, 2024

Farmers' rally in Jagraon, Punjab, May 21, 2024

(With files from International People's Tribunal, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.)

Miners make gains in 1972 British miners strike (above). This was followed by further successes
in 1974 strike.