Daily Archives: May 18, 2023

Abdulai Mansaray: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 May 2023:

Politics in Sierra Leone may be reaching its crescendo, but its the political musical chairs that is making the headlines in the rag tags and social media. After Kandeh Yumkella went semantic with forming a Strategic Alliance, three members of the Coalition for Change (C4C) swapped their horses in midstream to join the ruling SLPP government.

We are not surprised at this, as both sets of swingers were scions of our traditional APC and SLPP parties. Both have understandably come under considerable scrutiny and criticism for making these lane changes on our political highways. Equally, they have received the prodigal son treatment from some quarters, while the remaining disciples of C4C accuse the government of preventing them via a High Court injunction, from participating in the soon to be held general elections.

C4C claims that the injunction was served on the eve of their Delegates Conference. Sounds familiar? So, what is the attraction between the High Court and the Opposition Delegates Conferences? Does it begin to feel platonic?

Interestingly, whenever our political situation gets into a quagmire, our politicians and especially the aggrieved opposition parties call on the international community for redress. Whats ironic is that after 62 years of self-governance, we are quick to crawl back to the International Community to arbitrate among us. It is a sad reflection of our incapability to discharge the very self-rule that our forefathers fought for.

As a nation and a people, it shows that not only are we apparently incapable of self-governance but reflective of the fact that, we are still tethered to the umbilical cords of our colonial masters. So, whats the fuss about all this chest beating, flag hugging and lung bursting noise about realm of the free on Independence Day?

In case you did not notice, Alhaji Alpha Khan, former apprentice of EBK has officially joined the SLPP to become the ferryman. The joke on the street is, Alpha Khan is going to ferry across as many converts as possible to the SLPP. Sounds like a contingency plan while waiting for the Lungi Bridge, which is in its gestation period. I guess.

Victor Foh, the man who replaced the erstwhile Sam Sumana during the dying embers of the APC reign as Vice President has also changed his tune. While some see them as traitors and betrayers, others idolise them as patriots. Depends on which side of the bridge youre sitting.

However, Yumkellas strategic Alliance has come in for praise and condemnation in equal measure. While some see his move as selfish, others believe that he has Put Salone Foss, by relegating his own personal ego in exchange for a political bed with his former opposition. Like Churchill once said, some people change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for their parties. So, why did these guys change their parties? Did they do so for any of these two reasons? Time will tell.

Those who defend and support our flip-flopping politicians would have you believe that those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. By joining the SLPP, will KKY and the others change anything or help change some things? That is the fervent hope of his supporters and those who think like him.

On the other hand, when Maada Bio raised the olive branch to KKY, did he see something in KKY that he considers an asset in his government? By returning for Strategic Alliance, did KKY see a room with a view in Bios government that he thinks he can fill? If this alliance is born out of a symbiotically osmotic necessity, who stands to gain from this political alchemy?

This and many more, is one of the questions most Sierra Leoneans would be pondering before they decide on which party is best placed to take their blame. Nevertheless, and even though some see these recent defections, cross carpets, returnee, etc as a common feature of our political DNA, others who might see this as political expediency at its best, sense an insidious car crash towards a one-party state. This is especially so, when you consider that these defectors are seasoned household names on our political playgrounds. Does that tell us anything about the state of the opposition APC party? Is the APC party, all sail and no anchor?

So, why do our politicians cross the Rubicon in our political system?

Many politicians thrive on the notion that if you cant convince them, confuse them. In most parts of the world, politicians and political parties define themselves by ideologies, which form the bedrock of their political parties. Social studies define a political ideology as a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. We sometimes use this to bracket our politicians into Democrats, Communists, Socialists, Republicans, despots, autocrats, Conservatives etc.

While some might consider political ideologies as mere time savers that tell you what you think about things you know nothing about, others see them as the yardsticks to calibrate their value-based political beliefs.

In the case of Sierra Leone, other than tribal or regional affiliations, youll struggle to differentiate or identify any of our political parties based on ideological blueprints. Do we as the electorate have any ideology by which we can calibrate these parties? This is not to say that politics needs an ideology to thrive, because ideologies also have the potential to corrupt the mind and even science. Nevertheless, do they have any belief systems other than nepotism, tribalism, regionalism and all the isms that define their relationships with the electorate? By the way, One People, One Country is not an ideology. Nor is Action pass intention or Talk & DO. These can pass for hot air. Manifestoes dont qualify as ideologies either.

There are those who think that defections across political parties dont have any impact. Wrong. When politicians switch parties, it shows there is disunity. Unity is very crucial for political parties. When a party is united, it becomes more effective in passing its policies into law. Political party unity can only be good for the citizens because a unified party is seen as more responsible and trustworthy. History shows that parties that fail to keep their flock together often suffer electoral defeats. In general, defections hurt a partys reputation and, in some cases, even endanger their survival.

With that said, will the recent defections from APC (Alpha Khan & Victor Foh), C4C (Musa Fofanah, Rebecca Yei Sam and Saa Emerson Lamina), NGC (Yumkella Kandeh- strategic alliance) have any implications for the abandoned parties. It is safe to conclude that the defections from NGC and C4C could probably mark their death knell respectively, considering their embryonic nature in political terms.

On the other hand, these parties can go on to prosper during such disruptions. Despite the damage and potential threat to their survival, they can still survive. But first, they urgently need to restore their image by focussing on the valence issues, which are special policy areas. One of the valence issues in Sierra Leone is corruption. Every citizen in Sierra Leone is against corruption. If C4C and NGC, or whats remaining of them can focus their campaign on such valence issues, they might just prove their relevance to a point. But as I mentioned earlier, defections hurt a partys reputation and, in some cases, even endanger their survival.

As if on cue, Last Friday, 5th May 2023, Arthur E Pearce and over four hundred former members of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) Party in the Western Area, including a youth group, the Progressive NGC Youth Organisation East formally joined the All-Peoples Congress (APC) at a ceremony held in the APC Party Head Office, Old Railway Line, Brookfields, Freetown. It is expected that NGC members in other parts of the country will also declare for the APC in their own areas in the coming days. (Sierraleonetelegraph.com). Be Twaa?

When KKY formed his strategic Alliance with the SLPP, his former NGC members were spitting feathers about betrayal. It goes without saying that this alliance between NGC and APC is in response to KKYs betrayal. Do you remember COPP? It was a coalition of NGC, C4C, and APC. In their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), COPP said that The parties maintain that their main aim is to defend democracy in Sierra Leone and to vigorously oppose all types of political oppression, intimidation and authoritarian tendencies. We all said Amen to that at the time.

In my article titled Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (COPP): How Deep is Your Love? (sierraleonetelegraph.com-March 28), I questioned Coalition Parties credentials for longevity and that Their triumphs never last, because they are a compact majority.

Coalitions are a collection of conspiracies. In its MOU, COPP bandied around phrases like harness the collective strength, condemn bad governess, eventually put an end to the suffering of the people of this country, tighten our collaboration as opposition political parties, to function individually or collectively as political parties, challenging tribalism and sectionalism etc. hallelujah.

So, where does the NGC party get its moral right to condemn KKY?

This election cycle has seen the electorate treated to an orgy of coalitions. The recent defections, sorry coalition between NGC members and the APC party should not come as a surprise.

Let us look at this with another lens. If the NGC, C4C and APC had envisioned a coalition under the guise of COPP in opposition to SLPP, does that mean that the NGC is angry with KKY, not because he formed a strategic alliance, but because he did so with the wrong crowd? Having jumped into bed with the APC, are they angry that KKY beat them to it and jumped first? Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? NGC andC4C had already declared their intention to jump ship when they formed the COPP. It was just a matter of time, before they signed their respective death warrants as viable political parties.

After completing its last rites as a political party, where does it get the moral rectitude to condemn KKY for doing the same stunt they have pulled with the APC? Indeed, politics in Sierra Leone is too important to take seriously. Where is George Orwells Animal Farm when you need one?

A coalition, in a political term, defines as a conditional and non-significant journey that starts risking the collapse without notice; whereas it also mirrors a hollow and unstable organ, to decide and solve wide-scale subjects and issues.-Ehsan Sehgal.

Now that we are all witnessing a deeply divided body politic, where half of our population believes that our elections are broken and the other half believes that it is fixed, you cannot help but get that sinking feeling that, the more you observe our politics, the more youve got to admit that each party is worse than the other. Such a backdrop should generate apathy among voters. Interestingly, the electorate is more energised to actively participate in the forthcoming elections. This can only be good for our democracy because when we vote, we do so because of our convictions that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.

At face value, Democracy is a government by the majority. Realistically, it is a government by the majority who participate. As for the irreparably apathetic and disillusioned voter, remember that if you dont take an interest in politics doesnt mean that politics wont take an interest in you.

Is there any scope for a third political party in Sierra Leone?

Sierra Leone has seen a lot of third parties erupt like volcanoes, only to fizzle out unceremoniously. One common denominator is that they have all been scions or former appendages of either APC or SLPP. They were borne out of reactive stress that was emotionally laden.

We know that coalition is a synonym for conspiracy. Coalitions though successful have always found that triumph short lived. Coalitions, as every married man will tell you have their troubles.

Despite the imperfections of our political system, we still need perfect participation of the citizens. As the electorate, we cannot just be consumers of good governance, but also co- creators and participants. Our elections should therefore represent our greatest participation and political reform. We can only achieve this through Free, Fair and PEACEFUL elections. We hope that our elections will come to pass freely, fairly and peacefully. After all, there is only one Mama Salone.

Dont forget to turn the lights out when you leave the room.

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Is a temporary coalition of anger against the old regime a basis for ... - Sierra Leone Telegraph

The government of Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador (AMLO) is approaching its final year. His tenure has been fraught with complications at all levels: the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis driven by it, unchecked violence, bashing by the right wing, etc. Nevertheless, polls indicate his support stands at over 65 percent. He enjoys massive support among the poorest. Against the odds, his personal backing will allow the party that he formed, Morena, to win the elections next year, notwithstanding something out of the ordinary.

Many who try to analyse what is happening in Mexico fail to understand why support for AMLO is so strong when we consider that the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 led to an 8 percent drop in GDP. Although the following years have seen some recovery, the economy still has not reached pre-pandemic levels.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) figure for excess deaths in Mexico stands at 626,000 dead between 2020 and 2021. The governments own numbers put the figure at 333,000 as of April this year. On top of this, there is everything that has resulted from the pandemic, such as the 5 million students who have dropped out of school, soaring domestic violence in 2020, with a 100 percent increase in calls for help from women, and so on. Those who limit themselves to superficial analysis will look at this and be disoriented.

The first thing that should be explained is that the arrival of AMLO to government in 2018 opened an escape valve after 30 years of unprecedented attacks at all levels against the working class, women, and youth.

The previous governments, particularly those of Felipe Caldern (2006-2012) and Pea Nieto (2012-2018), conducted a one-sided civil war, in which narcos, colluding with the state apparatus, attacked women and young people, murdering and disappearing thousands of youth. Counter reforms introduced by those governments in labour, energy, education, etc. were intended to complete the privatisation of electricity and oil, and to sweep away labour rights.

All bourgeois institutions were extremely discredited. It can be said that the political situation shortly before the end of the Pea Nieto government, was one where the country was on the verge of a massive explosion of struggle on the streets. This would have taken on an insurrectionary character, like the uprisings in Ecuador and Chile in 2019.

We already had the precedent of the struggle against election fraud in 2006 and the Oaxaca commune of the same year. There were struggles, but they didnt come together in a unified manner. As in 2006, AMLO has used his authority to contain the movement and prevent it from taking on a generalised character of a struggle to overthrow the government. Instead, he channelled all the energy of the mass movement into the electoral terrain.

In the absence of a revolutionary leadership to lead the movement towards a struggle for power, millions of workers, poor peasants and youth placed all their hopes and illusions in the victory of Lopez Obrador in the 2018 elections.

AMLO never said that his government was going to put an end to capitalism. From the beginning, he set his main task as the fight against corruption and neoliberalism. This is where he believes the problem of all societys ills lies.

Under his liberal conception, this fight should be waged by strengthening state institutions, lowering onerous salaries of highly paid officials, and trying to avoid waste and theft from state coffers. Hence his emblematic struggles against fuel theft (huachicol), the reduction of salaries of high ranking state officials, the disappearance of secret funds, a fight to increase tax collection, against all companies and contracts that were harmful to state finances, etc.

At the same time, he used all his political capital, all the sympathy people felt for him, to reestablish the legitimacy of the discredited state institutions. For him, the most important thing was to show that there was no longer a bad guy in the presidency, and that from this place he could now lead a moral battle that would save and renew whoever placed themselves at his disposal.

The army is the backbone of a regime of oppression by the capitalist state, yet AMLO presents them as the people in uniform / Image: Tomascastelazo, Wikimedia Commons

Thus, seeing that the entire state apparatus was rotten, he set himself the goal of using the Armed Forces as his battering ram. It is not that there was no corruption there, but that discipline was maintained there and acts of corruption are well-kept secrets among the armys top brass.

Everyone knows the role that the armed forces have played, particularly in the student movement of 1968, when they massacred hundreds of students in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. Then there were the forced disappearances and the siege of the communities of Guerrero in their fight against the guerrillas in the so-called dirty war in the 1970s. And, more recently, they participated in the disappearance and murder of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa. The army is the backbone of a regime of oppression by the capitalist state, yet AMLO presents them as the people in uniform, as loyal to the country and as a pillar in the fight against corruption.

In order to ensure that the military leadership has a good relationship with his government, he has not hesitated to give them economic and political concessions at all levels. Their budget has been repeatedly increased every year. The National Guard has been created, and he is determined that it should remain under the administration of the army as he says, to prevent it from being corrupted.

He has given the Army, for an indefinite period of time, the role of administration over the new Mayan Train project, of the hotels that are being built around the train route, of the new Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA). They are in charge of guarding customs, hospitals, roads, the new airports that are being built in the south of the country, etc.

The army and navy are the tools with which AMLOs government has been fulfilling its strategic projects, in exchange for which it has given them economic and political power, the likes of which they have not had since the time of the revolution, when armies occupied the centre of the political stage.

Right now, thanks to AMLO's support, the armed forces (army, navy and national guard) enjoy a level of popular support exceeding 65 percent. This is despite the fact that disappearances and murders continue, as do femicides. The only crimes that have dropped substantially are robberies, kidnappings and car theft. Fundamentally, violence continues.

This also means that, although the government has made some progress in recognising the role of the state in the dirty war, there are very clear limits to how far it wants to go in uncovering the truth. Neither the army as an institution, nor any of its representatives can be touched.

We have seen this in the case of the Ayotzinapa students. Progress has been made in the investigation, and some of the political responsibility has begun to be clarified. But the central role played by the army in the disappearance of the 43 students, its links with the drug traffickers, etc. are outside the bounds of what is permitted, and there is clearly no intention to pull this thread. The expectations that the relatives of the students and those fighting for justice had in his government have been frustrated.

Another of the central aspects of this administration is the way AMLO has used the state and its finances. On the one hand, it has given a series of subsidies to the poorest sectors of the country, mainly in the central and southern states. On the other, it has carried out his new strategic projects the Mayan Train, the AIFA airport, and the Transisthmian Train that crosses from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, and the industrial parks that will be opened along the railway line all of which are aimed at attracting foreign investment to fill the country with maquiladoras (i.e. sweatshops).

In the first case, AMLO has said in his morning press conferences that social programmes now reach 25 million families, another 5 million have a family member working for local or state governments. That is, 30 million families receive money from the state out of a total of 32 million families living in the country.

This welfare policy ranges from support for the elderly ($266 every two months); student scholarships from primary school to university level (which vary in amount depending on the level of studies); the youth programme Building the Future with which the government pays the salary ($361 a month) for a year to young people who are employed in registered companies to give them training; the Sowing Life programme, which has planted 6 million timber trees (paying $361 a month); supplying free fertiliser to farmers and buying their products at a subsidised prices; universal health care proposals, etc. In addition, it has decreed a 90 percent increase in the minimum wage.

All these programmes for the poorest sectors have had a tremendous effect in maintaining the presidents approval ratings. None of these programmes solve chronic poverty, nor the lack of study opportunities or well-paid jobs. They are all palliatives. But compared to what the right wing did in government, these policies are seen in a positive light and are supported by the people.

Using the laws at its disposal and state money, the government has proposed the above-mentioned infrastructure projects. At first, it was announced that private enterprise would be involved in all of them. However, there has been sabotage of these initiatives, and the government has used the army and the state budget to develop the infrastructure necessary for foreign companies to come to the country.

There is talk of 60 percent of the transport on the Mayan Train (which is supposed to be a tourist route) being freight. The Transisthmian Train is designed to compete with the Panama Canal and to be the new route for North American and Chinese goods. In addition, there will be a tax exemption for new capital investment in this region, just as there is on the northern border, where hundreds of large companies are now arriving under the relocation phenomenon known as near-shoring.

In 2022, foreign investment reached $35 billion, the highest figure since 2015. The outlook is that this sum will continue to increase in the coming years. Taking into account that interest rates have been rising almost in parallel with those in the US; right now the interest rate is 11.25 percent. This has prevented a massive outflow of capital and has helped the peso to appreciate against the dollar. Right now, one dollar is equivalent to 18 pesos on average, whereas under the last administration it was, on average, one dollar for 20 pesos.

The government also repeatedly calls on Mexican migrants in the US to send their remittances and has enabled various companies to charge cheaper remittance fees. The impact of this money has been substantial on overall finances. In 2022, remittance money was at a historic high of over $58 billion, a growth of 13.4 percent over 2021. AMLO has claimed that this money has a direct impact on 10 million families.

Mexicos subordination to its powerful neighbour to the north has been deepened, especially in migration policy / Image: Amyyfory Wikimedia Commons

The bourgeoisie does not see AMLO as one of their own. As such, it has treated him badly since the beginning of his administration. They regard his connection with the popular masses and his virulent attacks on what he calls the power mafias as potentially dangerous to themselves.

Businessmen like Claudio X. Gonzlez, heir to the Kimberly Clark emporium, is leading and coordinating the opposition of the right-wing parties in order to present a united front at the 2024 elections. Big business is unable to see eye to eye with this government, and continues to stand in political opposition to AMLO. It now has to pay taxes whereas previous governments returned taxes or exempted companies from paying them. It has taken away big contracts and reduced the amount of money in advertising campaigns, etc.

As such, big business are the organisers of the smear campaigns and all the attacks on the government, which have a strong component of class hatred. They reflect the way they despise the masses for their alleged low level of formal education, ignorance, etc. The executors and front men are the right-wing parties (PRI, PAN and PRD) who follow the instructions of the capitalists slavishly.

These campaigns are one of the main topics addressed in the maaneras, the president's daily press conference. There, AMLO responds to them and exposes their lies. This has helped the government to capitalise on all these attacks in its own favour, and those close to AMLO close ranks in response and remain attentive to calls for mobilisation. The language AMLO uses in denouncing the right wing connects with a healthy class hatred among millions of workers and peasants who consider the president their president. However, AMLO stays within the narrow confines of bourgeois nationalism in his language, criticising neoliberalism, corruption, mafias, but never the capitalist system itself, nor imperialism.

This mass support is limited to AMLO himself, and does not extend to the Morena bureaucrats in the states and municipalities. The party has become an electoral machine that reproduces all the vices of the old regime parties: corruption, cronyism, etc. There has been an influx of right-wing politicians into Morenas structures at all levels, a process that AMLO himself has encouraged, and which has provoked widespread discontent among the rank and file.

Notwithstanding this back and forth with the right wing, AMLOs government has facilitated and promoted the accumulation of capital by the national and international bourgeoisie. The figures do not lie and the government boasts of this.

I can tell you that there is not a rich person in Mexico who has lost money during the time I have been governing, and I refer to the evidence. They have done very well, he has stated. This statement is true. In 2022, the 50 largest fortunes with investments in Mexico grew by 30 percent compared to the previous year. Banking capital is one of the biggest beneficiaries. The 15 richest families in the country have increased their fortunes by 645 billion pesos. All this contrasts with the increase in poverty from 51.9 million to 55.7 million.

The government has stopped investing in infrastructure in order to encourage private investment: a classic neoliberal policy, but which is only applied in certain sectors. In others, such as energy, the government is determined to win a majority and invests in buying up private companies so that state-owned companies have a majority in decision-making and production of electricity and oil.

Although we cannot go into detail in this article, in the international arena AMLO has followed a policy of gestures that distance him from US imperialism. At the same time, however, Mexicos subordination to its powerful neighbour to the north has been deepened, especially in migration policy and with the signing of the new Free Trade Agreement.

This government suffers from the classic contradictions of capitalism: poverty continues to increase, crime, labour exploitation, murders, drug trafficking, the lack of decent and well-paid jobs, etc. In addition, it suffers the contradictions of a country that shares borders with an imperialist country: the flow of migrants and their whole tragic journey, drug trafficking and human trafficking, the invasion of maquilas that plunder natural resources and devastate the environment. We must add to this the permanent sabotage of a part of the bourgeoisie that takes millions of dollars out of the market, that maintains a permanent campaign in the media against any government initiative.

The governments welfare policy has had an impact on keeping mass mobilisations in check. This is not to say that class contradictions are not expressed. For example, in the trade unions there has been a 150 percent increase in strikes since the beginning of his six-year term, because the different reforms made by the government give the workers the possibility of expressing themselves. This happened in Matamoros in 2019, in different unions in the struggle for union democracy, etc. When these worker-employer conflicts break out, the government tries not to intervene, that is to say, to let the conflict break out and develop. In some cases, depending on the organisation of the battalions in the struggle, the working class wins. In others, it is crushed.

The strongest and most direct mobilisations have been in the field of student and womens struggles. In both cases, it is the youth that maintain a fighting spirit. Although the pandemic was a period in which these two sectors were unable to take to the streets, once classes resumed, student mobilisations were not long in coming. On International Womens Day this year, the mobilisation was massive and went on for hours.

To the left of MORENA there is no mass left with a correct alternative / Image: Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata, Wikimedia Commons

The right wing has cynically tried to intervene in these struggles and capitalise on them in order to beat the government. In general, the movement itself has been able to get rid of these intruders and carry forward the struggle for its just demands.

To the left of MORENA there is no mass left with a correct alternative. In next years elections, AMLOs party will surely win the presidency regardless of the candidate, but that government will be diametrically different from the current one.

The majority tendencies within Morena point to a continuity of AMLOs policies with Claudia Sheinbaum, or else a turn to the right and open negotiation with the bourgeoisie, as with Ebrard. These are the two strongest candidates.

But the situation is more complex. Many of the measures AMLO has taken make the Mexican economy increasingly dependent on the US economy. Everything points to a recession in the neighbouring country to the north, which will drag down the Mexican economy and complicate things even more for the next government. Some of the economic phenomena that have benefited AMLO (near-shoring, high energy prices, etc.) are about to come to an end. The contradictions and struggles in the trade union and youth sectors will intensify, and the possibilities for the intervention of the Marxists will be exceptional.

The problem is not neoliberalism, nor corruption. These are only symptoms of the crisis of capitalism itself. While rejecting the attacks of the reactionary right, we must patiently explain the limits of AMLOs programme.

In order to substantially improve the living conditions of the masses, it is not enough to have one-off welfare plans, but rather to upend the balance of power in society. Only by putting the resources of society in the hands of the majority of the population (workers, peasants, working-class women, youth) will it be possible to guarantee a dignified life, housing, health, education and work for all. For that, it is necessary to expropriate the tiny number of capitalist parasites who control the means of production, and put them under the control of the working class, who produce all the wealth.

We are preparing for big events in the class struggle.

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Mexico: against 'neoliberalism' or capitalism? The final year of ... - In Defence of Marxism

Earlier this month, the Montana super-majority party voted to scapegoat Rep. Zooey Zephyr because she would not submit to their tyrannical suppression of free speech and the right to peaceful assembly.

I admit Speaker Matt Regier has a different perspective on his decisions to silence an oppressed minority.

Regier was triggered when Zooey spoke against Senate Bill 99, which denies a vulnerable minority of young Montanans access to medical treatments supported by a long list of the most reputable professional medical organizations. Furthermore, the treatments SB 99 prohibits for these young people and their families are recommended and accepted by sound medical science. The likely result of this egregious bill is an increase in suicides within this oppressed minority group of young people.

The super-majority party in control of Montana politics holds a variety of ideological beliefs, but one of the dominant ideologies is White Christian Nationalism. The adherents to this ideology are not offended by the label. On the contrary, they proudly insist that their view of religion, history, culture, politics and education are superior to all other belief systems. The Regier family, Keith (father), Matt, and Amy, currently hold a great deal of power over the lives of everyday Montanans. They are perfect examples of White Christian Nationalism.

White Christian nationalism is the dangerous belief that America is and must remain a Christian nation founded for its white Christian inhabitants and that our laws and policies must reflect this premise. Denying the separation of church and state promised by our Constitution, white Christian nationalists oppose equality for people of color, women, LGBTQ people, religious minorities and even genuine Christians who practice the teachings of Jesus (such as feeding the poor, healing the sick, and loving your enemies).

Matt Regier and I have a few things in common.

One, we were both born in Montana.

Second, we have bachelors degrees in business from the University of Montana.

Third, we both left Montana for a while to attend seminary. I graduated from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, with a master of divinity; Matt evidently dropped out of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Last week, Matt Regier failed to honor the wisdom contained in the gospel accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. Instead, Regier became irate because Zooey Zephyr used words similar to those of Jesus when he was angry and frustrated with the tyranny and oppression of the dominant voices of his religious tradition. He failed to recognize Zooey as a modern-day prophet speaking truth to power.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawless

Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth.

Matthew 23: 2728, 3435.

The early Jesus movement developed within the Jewish population during the oppressive occupation of the Middle East by the Roman Empire. As is often the case in human history, the religious power holders abandoned the fundamentals of their faith in exchange for wealth and power from the empire. During the first 400 years of the Jesus movement, the empire oppressed, imprisoned and murdered the followers of Jesus.

Jesus also organized a nonviolent protest as a counter-action to the empires annual show of military power leading up to the Jewish Passover celebrations. Christians celebrate this event as Palm Sunday. Jesus entered the capital city of Jerusalem on a donkey through the East Gate while the Roman Governor rode in on a horse with his soldiers through the West Gate. The action offered two choices to the people, asking: Which will you choose? The kingdom of tyranny or the kingdom of God?

On April 24, representatives of the LGBTQ+ community and allies staged a nonviolent protest in the House Gallery. The Montana House of Representatives space belongs to the people of Montana, not the supermajority partys leaders. There was no risk to the safety of the members on the House floor unless you count a flying crumpled paper cup as a danger.

The hypocrisy of Regiers insistence on maintaining decorum is stunning given the members of his party who describe the violent insurrection in our nations capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as just a bunch of tourists. On that day, law enforcement officers were killed and injured by White Christian Nationalists supported by many of the members of Regiers party. They were chanting about hanging Vice President Mike Pence. Tyrannical White Christian Nationalists use violence and oppressive tactics to silence their opposition. Nothing even close to that happened in the Montana Capitol Building.

Speaker Regier and the House Republicans who voted to scapegoat Zephyr deem anything that confronts their abuse of power to violate their rules of decorum. Their definition of order is White Christian Nationalists holding power and forcing the rest of us (the majority) to submit to their ideological whims. This attitude has been present in many House and Senate Judiciary hearings this session. Keith Regier raised his children to be just as authoritarian as he is. Most opponents of their harmful bills were limited to 60 to 90 seconds of testimony. Once, when I used the word tyranny in my testimony, I was immediately cut off mid-sentence.

One of the saddest aspects of the floor debate on April 26 was watching formerly moderate Republicans condemning what was merely a nonviolent protest. I still remember when the Montana Republican party believed the government should stay out of our personal lives. There is nothing conservative about the party anymore. Dissenting voices are treated harshly by their party leaders. Any remaining small-government conservatives have submitted to tyranny out of fear of repercussions or fear of becoming the next scapegoat for the White Christian Nationalists.

Yes, the gallery intentionally disrupted the proceedings. They were shouting, Let Zooey speak.

During the Palm Sunday nonviolent march into Jerusalem, Jesus was criticized for the decorum of his followers. He responded, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

The national and international news coverage has elevated Zephyrs voice. The stones really do cry out. Speaker Matt Regier will fade into obscurity because he is a weak, ineffective leader, not a follower of Jesus but a tool of religious oppression.

Zooey has elevated her voice to the national stage.

Morrison lives in Helena.

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White Christian Nationalism and the 2023 Montana Legislature ... - Daily Montanan

A group of House progressives led by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., have revived discussions at the federal level about giving reparations to Black Americans who descended from slaves and Americans of African descent.

Bush held a press conference on Wednesday unveiling her Reparations Now resolution, which declares "that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its massive harm on the lives of millions." She suggested the total amount would be at least $14 trillion, which she described as the gap in wealth between Black and Whites.

She spoke alongside fellow Squad members Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., as well as Senate candidate Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and freshman Rep. Summer Lee., D-Pa., and a host of activists from around the country.

"Black people in our country cannot wait any longer for our government to begin addressing all of the harm it has caused since the founding, that it continues to perpetuate each and every day all across our communities, all across this country," Bush said. "Let us speak this truth, uncomfortable as it may be: Our country was not founded on the principle that all people are created equal. It was founded at the expense of the lives, freedom and well-being of Black people, African folks who they stole."

CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS PANEL SAYS TOTAL COST 'LEAST IMPORTANT' ASPECT DESPITE POTENTIAL $800B PRICE TAG

Rep. Cori Bush is leading a resolution demanding the government look into reparations for Americans of African descent.

"The truth is uncomfortable," Bush added, before explaining how slavery was an "integral part of our country's development."

"By 1831, the United States was delivering nearly half of the world's raw cotton crop as a result of chattel slavery. In 1861 alone, the value placed on cotton produced by enslaved Black people was $250 million, or more than $8 billion today. All of this happened not in spite of the federal government, but because of it," the St. Louis Democrat said.

At the end of the press conference, Bush fielded a question from Fox News Digital about where federal funding for a federal reparations program would come from but did not give an answer.

CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS PANEL APPROVES PAYMENTS OF UP TO $1.2 MILLION TO EVERY BLACK RESIDENT

Rep. Bush led a group of House Democrats and activists from across the country in unveiling the resolution outside the U.S. Capitol. (Fox News Digital)

"We're still having those kinds of conversations," the congresswoman said. "We're working with this administration, we're talking with other members of Congress but I'll say this, if we can continue to fund these endless wars, or we can continue to put trillions of dollars into forever wars we're talking about things that are happening now."

She and the other progressives repeatedly called on Congress to take up H.R. 40, a bill re-introduced in January by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, which would establish a federal task force to "examine and develop" proposals for reparations for African Americans.

CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS PANEL TO RECOMMEND 'DOWN PAYMENTS' TO BLACK RESIDENTS, ABOLISHING CASH BAIL

It comes just as the reparations debate gains steam in the blue stronghold of California, where state lawmakers are now tasked with considering recommendations of a task force that include giving up to $1.2 million to every qualifying Black resident. California entered the Union as a free state in 1850, though it still allowed enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Rep. Barbara Lee, who co-led H.R. 40 alongside Jackson Lee and is running for an open Senate seat in California, praised the task force's recommendations when it was her turn at the podium.

Rep. Barbara Lee, who is running for the U.S. Senate, praised the reparations efforts in her home state of California during the press conference.

"I'm proud of California for leading the way, but I want our country to follow suit," Lee said. "It's far past time for the federal government to catch up, and to make sure that Congress understands that it must move forward."

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"We know it can be done. And now we begin our efforts to build a commission on truth, racial healing, and transformation. And of course, our truth commission, the transformation aspect of it is reparations. It's not about reconciliation, because there's nothing to reconcile. It's about transformation. It's about dismantling these systems of oppression and the systems of discrimination and repairing the damage."

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Left-wing lawmakers press for federal reparations for Black Americans: 'We're here to demand it' - Fox News

Javed came into the limelight in 2019 a time when the Government of India had unilaterally abolished the special status of Kashmir and there was a widespread crackdown on free speech in the Himalayan region. His debut album Little Kid, Big Dreams, was an instant hit, but back home things were getting worse. After releasing his album in New Delhi, Javed came home and saw people restricted in their houses.

There wasnt much to do during the curfew days. So, I used to go near The Jhelum River for leisure, where I found other rap artists looking for a platform to exhibit their talent, he said. There, they came together to form a hip-hop community called "Kashur Nizam (Kashmiri Culture)."

Comparing their motivation to Rage Against the Machine, whose unapologetic rock targets everything from Americancorporations and warmongeringto racial discrimination and police brutality. Like them, Javed says, Kashmiri hip-hop also refuses to shy away from reality.

We (rappers) are not political people. We just rap about what we see and observe," he explains. "And if our circumstances led us to rap about the atrocities that are happening around us, it is not our fault. It is conscious music.

Hip-hop first made its way to Kashmir in early 2000s when the valley was introduced to rappers likeEminem, 50 Cent and Tupac. The lyrical themes of oppression, poverty and racism resonated with young people, who saw mirrors of theirown experiences.

Thirteen years since Illahi's popularity threw a light on Kashmiri hip-hop, the scene is small but passionate. There are aroundrappers in Kashmir today spitting about politics, human rights violation, militarisation and speaking truth to power. In doing so, they are inspiring generations to come.

Among the crowd to watch Javed are two young boys from downtown Srinagar nodding their heads to beats.Arsalan (18) and Dawood (19) have been friends since childhood, and listening to hip-hop for eight years now. For them, Kashmiri hip-hopreflects what young people like them go through in their day-to-day lives.

Its like someone is singing our story, they say. We live in the most volatile area in the city, and we have seen so much turmoil right from our childhood. This music gives us a chance to listen to our own feelings.

Follow Junaid on Twitter.

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Originally posted here:

Underground cyphers are helping young Kashmiris reclaim their ... - Huck Magazine

Fijis Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka Sunday apologised for his role in orchestrating the 1987 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of then Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the first Indo-Fijian to lead the country.

I make this confession on my own behalf and on behalf of all those who took part with me in the military coup on the 14th of May, 1987. We confess our wrongdoings, and we confess that we have hurt so many of our people in Fiji, particularly those of the Indo-Fijian community of the time and among them sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of those who were indentured as labourers from India between 1879 and 1916, Rabuka said in the countrys capital, Suva.

Rabuka, who was then an army lieutenant colonel, entered Fijis parliament, arrested Prime Minister Bavadra, and suspended the constitution. The takeover, the first of several military coups in Fiji, was driven by indigenous Fijians fear of losing political control to Indo-Fijians, who dominated the countrys economy.

Rabukas action had far-reaching and long-term consequences for Fiji, and altered its relationship with the rest of the world, especially India.

The May 1987 coup

On the morning of May 14, 1987, Rabuka, who was accompanied by 10 masked soldiers, stormed the parliament building, herded Bavadra and 27 members of the ruling coalition into a waiting truck, and drove them to an unknown destination.

At a news conference subsequently, Rabuka announced the suspension of the constitution and said he would form a caretaker government until fresh elections are held to restore civilian rule and go back to democracy, The Indian Express reported at the time.

Meanwhile, the countrys Governor General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau declared a national emergency and announced he was taking charge of the government under the provisions of Fijis British-made Constitution. Fiji was a member of the British Commonwealth (the country has been in and out of the British Commonwealth over the years. It was most recently reinstated as a member in 2014) at the time, Queen Elizabeth II was the head of state, and Penaia Ganilau was officially her representative.

The coup took place a little over a month after an alliance of the National Federation Party and Labour Party won elections that led to the formation of a cabinet dominated by ethnic Indians for the first time since Fijis independence from Britain in 1970.

A day after his takeover, Lt Col Rabuka announced he was drafting a new constitution that would guarantee Fiji would never again have an Indian-dominated government (No Power for Indians: Rabuka, The Indian Express, May 16, 1987). He denied discriminating against Indians, and claimed that he was only looking after the Fijians interest.

On May 19, anti-Indian riots broke out in the country. [A] crowd of ethnic Fijians ran through the streets of Suva in an hour-long rampage, attacking Indians and Indian-owned shops despite Rabukas appeals for calm, The Indian Express reported on May 20. At least 50 Indians were reported injured in the violence that was provoked by a rally that Indians took out in support of the ousted Prime Minister.

Rabukas second coup

Widespread racial violence followed the military takeover, wrote academic Dr Amba Pande in an article published in Strategic Analysis, a monthly journal of Columbia University (Race and Power Struggle in Fiji). Pande wrote that an attempt by the governor-general to form an advisory council with both Bavadra and Rabuka failed after the ousted Prime Minister refused to participate on the grounds that the composition of the council was unconstitutional and biased.

Following weeks of negotiations, in July 1987, plans to reform the constitution were approved, and it was decided that Bavadra and Kamisese Mara a former Prime Minister popular with indigenous Fijians would form an interim government.

In response, Rabuka orchestrated a second coup on September 25 of that year. He declared Fiji a republic, and proclaimed himself head of the state, replacing the Queen. Countries around the world condemned these actions and refused to recognise his regime, and India imposed trade sanctions on Fiji.

Under pressure, Rabuka resigned as head of state on December 6, 1987, and Penaia Ganilau became the first President of the Fijian republic. A new constitution was promulgated in 1990, and elections were held two years later.

Background of crisis

The election victory of the Indo-Fijians was only a trigger for Rabukas coup. Since independence, the South Pacific Ocean archipelago had been seeing a widening political divide between ethnic Indians and indigenous Fijians.

Indians were brought to Fiji from 1879 onward as girmitiyas or indentured labour transported to work in sugar plantations. The majority of these Indians stay back after the indenture system ended and, over time, gained prosperity. The Indian community eventually became the backbone of Fijis economic system, and they had, by the 1940s, outnumbered ethnic Fijians in the islands population.

Another reason for the Fijians resentment was the nature of landholdings. Indigenous Fijians owned more than 83% of the land on the islands, but Indian tenant farmers held most of it on 99-year leases, according to Pandes article. Despite the fact that the land was legally made inalienable by the constitution of 1970, the fear of losing it had always been there in the minds of the Fijians, Pande wrote.

All these insecurities came to a boil after the general elections of 1987, and a section of indigenous Fijians sought to thwart Indo-Fijians from getting political power. Rabukas two coups triggered a massive wave of emigration according to a report published by The Guardian in 2000, around 70,000 Indians fled the country to escape the oppression.

Mondays apology by Rabuka who was elected Prime Minister in 1992 and then again last year was not his first for the 1987 coups. He had apologised publicly on the 21st anniversary of the takeover in 2008. It was a mistake and I admit I was wrongStaging a coup is something no one should be proud of because you dont become a hero, so all the copycats should not think they will be heroes, he said on that occasion, according to a Reuters report.

Continued here:

Fijis 1987 coup: Why did Prime Minister Rabuka apologise to the Indo-Fijian community? - The Indian Express

In a startling address at a Conservative conference held in Westminster on Monday, a Tory MP drew criticism for invoking a term linked to an antisemitic conspiracy theory, according to The National.

Miriam Cates, representing the constituency of Peniston and Stocksbridge, made alarming claims about the perils of "cultural Marxism," linking it to the alleged destruction of children's well-being, including self-harm, suicide and an alarming rise in anxiety levels.

"Cultural Marxism" is a far-right conspiracy theory that arose in the past century, which accuses left-wing and liberal people of revolutionizing society for the worse with their views. This theory purports that Marxist scholars devised a clandestine agenda of progressive politics aimed at undermining Western democracies. Over time, the theory gained antisemitic tones as many who believe in it believe it to be a Jewish plot.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed condemnation towards Home Secretary Suella Braverman in 2019 for her use of the term "cultural Marxism." The organization, representing the British Jewish community, denounced her remarks due to the term's association with antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Moreover, the term has previously surfaced in the self-proclaimed manifesto of Anders Breivik, a far-right terrorist from Norway. Breivik killed 77 people in Norway's worst peacetime atrocity in July 2011. He killed eight with a car bomb in Oslo and then gunned down 69, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp.

Cates, delivering one of the opening speeches at the National Conservatism Conference, emphasized that a sense of optimism and prospects for the future play a vital role in motivating young people to start families.

"That hope is sadly diminishing in so many of our young people today because liberal individualism has proven to be completely powerless to resist the cultural Marxism that is systematically destroying our children's souls," she said.

"When culture, schools and universities openly teach that our country is racist, our heroes are villians, humanity is killing the Earth, you are what your desire, diversity is theology, boundaries are tyranny and self-restraint is oppression, is it any wonder that mental health conditions, self-harm and suicide, and epidemic levels of anxiety and confusion characterize the emerging generation?

"We must end the indoctrination of our children with destructive and narcissistic ideologies, instead protecting childhood, training children in the timeless virtues and teaching them how to love our country," she added.

Lord John Mann, the Government's antisemitism czar, raised concerns about Cates's utilization of the term "cultural Marxism," stating that it originates from a conspiracy theory with antisemitic underpinnings, according to The Telegraph.

However, Yoram Hazony, the conference chairman and Orthodox Jewish theologian, argued that the term accurately characterizes the cultural agenda endorsed by numerous left-leaning individuals today. Hazony emphasized that he unequivocally rejects any association with antisemitism and does not provide a platform for such individuals.

According to Cates, liberal ideology is facing an imminent decline due to a lack of pride in national history among children, resulting in decreased motivation to carry it forward.

Additionally, she asserted that the declining fertility rate in the UK poses a greater threat to Western society than both Vladimir Putin's Russia and the escalating global temperatures.

"None of our philosophical musings or policy proposals will amount to anything long-lasting unless we address the one overarching threat to British conservatism and the whole of Western society," she said.

"No, it's not climate change, it's not Russia or China or Iran. It's not the neo-Marxist ideology that has so weakened our institutions. No, there is one critical outcome that liberal individualism has failed to deliver and that is babies."

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Tory MP uses controversial term connected to antisemitic conspiracies - The Jerusalem Post

The crises of capitalist economies in several countries throughout the world has deepened social inequalities and the plight of millions of migrants that are desperately fleeing a life of misery. This is especially the reality in Latin America, where governments collude against the most vulnerable sectors of our class and our peoples: from governments that implement economic plans that target the working class to those that push to pass anti-immigrant policies, in line with those being passed in the U.S. This situation creates the kinds of tragedies like the most recent migrant crisis which will only become worse as a result of the policies announced by the Biden administration. Instead, this historic crisis demands an internationalist response from below based on the unity of the working class across our borders. It is with this perspective that we put forward the following declaration.

Entire families are begging for access to the United States at Mexicos northern border in front of undaunted guards carrying long guns at the edge of the Rio Grande. They are thirsty, hungry, exhausted men, women and children, often passing from Ecuador, through the Darien Gap and northward through Central America. They are those who survived the dangerous journey through Mexico, leaving behind their lives, including documents and their few belongings, from the Caribbean islands, from Central America, from Venezuela and Ecuador in South America and from Mexico.

The past few weeks have been crucial in determining the immigration status of thousands of people displaced by violence, the effects of environmental devastation, and poverty. On Thursday, May 11, Title 42, which was approved by the Trump administration during the pandemic and continued under the Biden administration expired. The policy restricted the entry of migrants in the name of preventing the spread of Covid-19. This brutal and inhumane bipartisan policy sought to delay and hinder at all costs the asylum requests and visa processing for hundreds of thousands of Mexican, Central American, Caribbean and Venezuelan migrants, and led to a record number of deportations: 2.8 million during both administrations and 72,000 alone since September 2022, in addition to 142,000 arrests making 2022 the year with the highest undocumented migration since the Second World War.

The Biden administrations policy, disguised under the guise of a humane and orderly migration policy, actually carried out more deportations than under the Trump administration, while promising to increase the quota of visas for asylum seekers, in the face of what his administration has called an unprecedented exodus from countries such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba, with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations. Biden has agreed to establish migrant processing centers alongside Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, and Alejandro Giammatei, President of Guatemala, in their respective countries.

In contrast to these promises, the U.S. has deployed 1,500 additional soldiers to its southern border with Mexico where a total of 4,000 troops are now mobilized. At the same time, the Biden administration is pressuring the administration of Andrs Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) to militarize the border with Guatemala. Biden has also returned to the Title 8 policy disqualifying people from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they do not first apply in countries they crossed earlier in their journeys or cannot demonstrate that they would be exposed to persecution or torture if they were deported to their countries of origin. At the same time, his policy also subjects migrants to harsher consequences for crossing the border illegally and expedites their arrests, fines, penalties, and deportations if they are caught crossing. The Biden administration has also initiated a policy so that migrants will only have 24 hours to find a lawyer after crossing the border to seek asylum, whereas previously they had 48 hours. These measures will speed up deportations and make visa and asylum procedures even longer and more difficult.

For his part, Greg Abbott, governor of Texas and one of the hardliners of the Republican Party, has sent Black Hawk helicopters and C-130 aircraft along with a new U.S. National Guard unit, which according to his statements, now totals 10,000 troops, to prevent the entry of migrants before the end of Title 42. This xenophobic Republican is also promoting a state law to consider the entry of migrants without papers into Texas a serious crime and penalties of up to 10 years in prison for hiding migrants without legal residency permits.

In addition, the Republicans have introduced a Border Security Bill that calls for increased funding for border security, the resumption of the construction of a border wall, improvements in surveillance technology along the U.S. southern and northern borders, and an increase in the number of Border Patrol agents. However, since they do not have a majority in the Senate, it is unlikely to pass.

At the same time, independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a representative from Arizona and former member of the Democratic Party, together with Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican legislator from North Carolina, are pushing for a bill to reinstate Title 42, without any reference to the pandemic.

Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are responsible for the implementation of imperialist policies throughout the Americas that have led to poverty and violence in this vast region. This imperialist orientation was evident in the statements of the General of the U.S. Army Southern Command, Laura Richardson, who recently stated that the wealth of natural resources in Latin America are a matter of national security for the U.S., in the face of its geopolitical adversaries; a position that she also promoted in Central America during her visit to Costa Rica in February. Clearly, the reactionary policies against immigration are a bipartisan affair. Both parties are driving a situation which entails greater oppression and precariousness for the entire migrant population living in the U.S. or intending to settle there. The bipartisan regimes imperialist policies also put downward pressure on the working conditions of the entire multi-ethnic working class north of the Rio Grande.

After the signing of the Bicentennial Agreement at the end of 2021, more than 32,000 National Guard troops were deployed to Mexicos southern border. The agreement, which aims to strengthen cooperation and security measures in a new chapter of the publicized War on Drugs, is being touted as a measure to curb the illegal entry of fentanyl into the United States.

In spite of the progressive rhetoric of AMLOs government and a discourse that attempts to distance itself from the previous administrations in Mexico and from the Biden administration in particular, regarding issues such as the blockade of Cuba or Venezuela which has been denounced by AMLO the reality is that in substance, AMLO and his government of the so-called Fourth Transformation (4T) have continued the essence of subordination to imperialist policies. This was expressed most recently with the renegotiation of the T-MEC, to continue oiling the North American value chain through the precarization of the labor force in Mexico. Added to that is the continuation of a policy initiated in 2006 by the governments of Felipe Caldern and George Bush to militarize Mexico to protect the interests of big national and transnational imperialist businessmen. Finally, the implementation of racist and xenophobic policies against migrants is another example of the subordination to imperialist policies.

Far from demilitarizing the country as he promised in his electoral campaign, AMLO ramped up the presence of the army in the streets, introduced the new civilian security corps the National Guard in security tasks, and deployed thousands of troops across both borders, particularly in Guatemala, to act as Border Patrol south of the Rio Grande. With the excuse of fighting organized crime, the reality behind this militarization has more to do with controlling strategic resource zones and guaranteeing mega-projects such as the Mayan Train than with crime. The militarization is also a way to prevent potential mobilizations and protests against the bosses policies of the 4T.

In turn, the government has implemented policies such as Stay in Mexico, a program promoted by Trump that forces migrants wishing to enter the United States to wait in Mexico to process their immigration. This has resulted in all kinds of complications for migrants in transit, such as overcrowding in immigration centers that in reality function as prisons.

While AMLO has put forward a slew of social programs that are aimed at combating poverty and helping those that live in the countryside, he has not resolved the conditions faced by the rural masses. Instead, the character of his regime becomes evident through his policies that seek to prevent migration and contain displaced migrants from countries in the region within Mexico, in accordance with the agreement with the United States. On the southern border of the country, the Mexican army represses Latin American and Caribbean brothers and sisters every day to contain their passage to the United States.

The most recent episode that highlighted the oppressive nature of the Mexican state was the tragedy that led to the deaths of 41 migrants who were locked up in a migrant jail in Ciudad Jurez, under the complicity of the guards of the National Institute of Migration who refused to help them while their lives were in danger during a fire. This is yet another example of the negligence and contempt of immigration officials against people who have been unjustly deprived of their liberties and faced a situation of complete defenselessness.

At the same time, the government continues to attempt to dismantle migrant caravans and prevent their passage through the largest migratory corridor in the world via repression and by presenting arrests as a humanitarian rescue from human traffickers. In addition, dozens of migrants disappear on a daily basis in states along the northern and southern border of Mexico due to the action of organized crime which collaborates with the police, the National Guard and the army. In the context of this violent situation, women and trans folks are among the most vulnerable to disappearances and sexual violence at the hands of the police, military and criminal gangs.

The situation of migrants in the rest of the region is no different. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by violence, the effects of the environmental catastrophe, unemployment and poverty all consequences of imperialist policies in the region. This comes as new adjustment plans are in the works in order to pay foreign debts to imperialist institutions like the IMF, as is the case in Costa Rica.

There are no figures on the number of Salvadorans expelled by the violence and repression of the Bukele government, only the records of U.S. deportations are known. But since the beginning of the Biden administration, the border police have deported 195,720 Salvadorans according to reports from the Border Patrol and Customs, in addition to 6,037 citizens of that country who requested asylum in Mexico during 2021. Along with the Salvadoran population, it is mainly Nicaraguans (20,917), Colombians (17,195), Venezuelans (20,044), Cubans (28,848), Guatemalans (14,806) and Hondurans (14,003), according to figures from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, who are forced to make this crossing, risking their lives. In the case of Nicaragua, the repressive and authoritarian government of Daniel Ortega has had an iron fist policy against migrants, as well as against social protest and opponents of his government, whom he has expelled from the country.

In Venezuela, the urgent situation has to do with a catastrophic crisis, a national collapse that produced what is already the biggest exodus of a country in the history of the region: the dismantling of the main public industries (including the oil industry) and the brutal capitalist adjustment policies of Maduro are combined with the criminal sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European imperialisms, in accordance to their own political objectives. The dismantling of the value of wages and the national currency, the drastic expansion of poverty and misery, have gone hand in hand with the profoundly authoritarian decomposition of the political regime, including the persecution of workers. That is what drives millions of Venezuelans into fleeing their country!

In Colombia and Honduras, the violence from organized crime and the militarization of these countries has expelled tens of thousands of people, while the supposedly progressive governments of Xiomara Castro and Gustavo Petro seek to minimize the migratory crisis through measures such as increasing humanitarian visas, while reducing institutional measures and support programs for the migrant population and maintaining the militarization of their borders and territories.

The situation in Haiti is also dire, especially since the imperialist occupation of the country after the 2010 earthquake. The humanitarian crisis and extreme poverty have increased with the proliferation of trafficking networks and criminal groups associated with the repressive forces, an untenable situation for Haitians who have opted to migrate to various Latin American countries. There is even a U.S. imperialist policy underway to militarily reoccupy the country, shielded by the request of the puppet president Henry.

In the Southern Cone, governments like Gabriel Borics in Chile, who also claims to be progressive, have supported the xenophobic and anti-immigrant policies pushed by U.S. imperialism by militarizing its borders and deporting thousands of migrants. In the same vein, the murderous coup government of Dina Boluarte in Peru has deployed the military to its borders to explicitly contain the flow of migrants.

The socialists of the Movement of Socialist Workers of Mexico, the League of Workers for Socialism of Venezuela, the Revolutionary Socialist Organization of Costa Rica and Left Voice of the United States, affiliates of the international network of newspapers that are part of the Trotskyist Fraction Fourth International in 14 countries and 8 languages around the world, denounce the criminal and anti-immigrant policy of U.S. imperialism, and its accomplices, the governments of Mexico, the various countries of Central America and the Caribbean.

The plundering of national resources by transnational capital and the respective local bourgeoisies is at the heart of the crises and hardships of our peoples. The resources that they deny us are those that the handful of exploiters keep for themselves, the dramatic needs of billions in our countries are their profits and opulence. There is no progressive solution to this situation without attacking their interests, without turning the tables: it is them or us, we must fight with an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist perspective, united with an internationalist perspective. Otherwise, we will remain prisoners of the respective demagogic, xenophobic, and reactionary policies of all the bourgeois governments of the region and of Yankee imperialism. No to the barbarism suffered by the migrants!

As inflation hits the economy of the working class and popular sectors around the world at different levels the funding of the militarization of borders and the harassment of migrants throughout Mexico is scandalous. It is necessary to fight on both sides of the border for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the United States, as well as the withdrawal of funds from institutions that repress migrants in Mexico and Central America, and to allocate them to the establishment of shelters and health care for those seeking a better future in other countries, as well as the urgent increase in the budget for education, health, and housing in all countries of the region. Stop the mistreatment and murder of migrants in the United States!

Faced with the harassment and criminalization of migrants, and the xenophobic and racist policy deployed by imperialism and the native bourgeoisies subordinated to it, we promote an anti-imperialist and internationalist policy, to be taken in hand by the working class of the U.S., Mexico and Central America, so that it can lead the struggle for the rights of migrants.

A solution to this humanitarian crisis that is favorable to migrants can only come from the working class of the region, together with those who face racism and police violence in the United States, peasants, indigenous peoples, queer folks, women, and youth who have resisted the attacks of these regimes in our countries, which in some cases, as in Mexico, display humanitarian and progressive discourses while persecuting those who migrate.

The struggle for migrants rights is twinned, in the United States, with the struggle against racism such as the protests for justice for Jordan Neely, recently murdered by a former Marine police officer and the white supremacist groups that terrorize Black folks, Latinos, and families crossing the southern border and risking their lives. It is also twinned with the struggle of the screenwriters of studios and streaming platforms on strike against job insecurity and wage increases, among other demands, and with the recent struggles of other sectors of workers, such as railroad workers who struggled for a collective contract that includes medical leave or the Amazon workers struggling to unionize.

In the case of Cuba we pronounce ourselves in favor of the immediate end of the blockade imposed by the United States, which only hits the working class and the popular sectors who are facing an increasingly acute social crisis, and against the capitalist restoration measures and the repression of the Daz Canel government against the workers and popular protests, such as those on July 10-11, 2022 and the recent ones in Caimanera for food, or those of the railroad workers on strike for back pay.

In Venezuela we are for an immediate end to imperialist sanctions and the return of all companies, goods, and resources confiscated by the United States. At the same time we denounce the policy of savage capitalism applied by Maduro from his anti-worker economic measures to the repression of those who struggle.

In Central America we denounce all the governments complicit in the imperialist agenda, whether they are dressed up as progressive or transparently neoliberal; we denounce the curtailment of democratic freedoms in the region and the increase in social violence in general, the responsibility for which lies exclusively with the different governments of the Central American states.

It is essential that north of the Rio Grande the trade union organizations and those that claim to be socialist take up the struggle against the imperialist policies of their own government and in particular against the plundering of Latin America that is being carried out through foreign debt and the subordination of national economies, now organized in the interests of U.S. imperialism in the framework of the commercial and technological competition with China, as well as through direct military control over the seas and lands of the region.

Down with the scourge of foreign debts! At different levels, this mechanism of imperialist plunder is among the reasons for the crises, it is a mechanism of usury by which enormous resources are taken from the countries, for the benefit of a handful of vultures of big international finance capital. There is no future for our countries without a break with this: resources for education, health, housing and wages, not for foreign debt!

In unity across our borders, let us strive to build a broad movement to win free transit for migrants throughout the countries of the region, with the right to health care, to work with full labor rights and to safe, dignified, and free shelters.

We fight for full social and political rights for all migrants, granting them automatic legal residence and nationality for the United States or any other country they wish to live in, while confronting racism, repression, and all acts of xenophobia.

It is necessary that trade unions, human rights, youth, feminist and left organizations throughout the region take up these demands as part of a great international campaign for migrants rights led by the working class.

The working class is one and without borders!

Originally published in Spanish on May 12, 2023 in La Izquierda Diario.

Translated by Maryam Alaniz

Link:

Declaration on the Migrant Crisis: Socialists From the U.S., Mexico ... - Left Voice

Brittney Griner: 'Surreal' being back with Mercury

Mercury center Brittney Griner attends Mercury Day for pictures and interviews and talks about the surreal feeling of being back.

Patrick Breen, Arizona Republic

Brittney Griner made her long-awaited return to a basketball court last Friday in Phoenix. The song that was played before the game didnt sound quite the same.

Hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different, Griner said. Its like when you go for the Olympics. Youre sitting there, about to get gold put on your neck. The flags are going up and the anthem is playing. It just hits different.

Yeah, nine months in a Russian prison will do that to a person.

It was Griners first game since authorities at a Moscow airport found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The WNBA star may well have planned on using them to help cope with another winter of moonlighting for UMMC Yekaterinburg.

Or, Vladimir Putin may well have had the stash, wanting to turn Griner into a negotiating pawn. The Russian judicial system is not exactly set up to stop such a ploy.

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Griner was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. The U.S. eventually traded her for Viktor Bout, aka the Merchant of Death.

Swapping a basketball player for the worlds most notorious arms dealer made the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth seem pretty innocuous. But its good when any American is freed from such a fix.

Even one who hasnt been too keen on America.Griner was one of sports more outspoken social justice warriors in the long, hot summer of 2020. As protests raged, taking a knee during the national anthem was the standard calling card.

Griner took it a step further, saying she didnt want to be in the same room where The Star-Spangled Banner was played.

Im not going to be out there for the national anthem, she told the Arizona Republic. If the league continues to want to play it, thats fine. It will be all season long, Ill not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing.

When Griner did just the opposite last week, it prompted a hearty I told you so from a lot of people. No, she didnt burn her old Black Lives Matter T-shirt and offer the full-throated mea culpa. But her words indicated shed learned not to hate America.

To which Griners defenders say, she hasnt actually changed.

She never hated America. As with the other kneelers, Griner wanted to protest Americas flaws and make it a better country.

That conflict was roiling sports long before anyone heard of George Floyd, of course. One side hears the anthem and thinks of freedom and fallen soldiers. The other hears oppression and police brutality.

Has Griner changed her tune?

In the moral panic of 2020, it was easy to condemn the United States for its past sins and present shortcomings. To conscientiously take a knee and look away as federal buildings were torched and thousands of small businesses many minority-owned were destroyed.

Silence is violence, at least according to BLM. And I cant recall Griner asking protesters to at least think twice before tearing down statues of abolitionists.

Then she was cast into another reality, one that billions of people live every day. One where there is no rule of law or presumption of innocence. One where protesting against the government is a ticket to a torture chamber.

Then, as LeBron James was wondering why Griner would want to go back to America as it failed to get her release, the US gave up a mass killer to bring Griner home.

She returned to a country that believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Maybe she realized the dusty old men who came up with those ideas should not be reflexively torn down.

Maybe she realized there are a lot more reasons to stand than kneel for the national anthem.

In summation: It hits different.

I dont know what to read into Griners comments. I do know that actions speak louder than words.

Before, she did not even want to hear the national anthem.

Now it sounds like music to her ears.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley

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WNBA star Brittney Griner standing and listening to national anthem - Gainesville Sun

ANI | Updated: May 16, 2023 23:35 IST

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 16 (ANI): Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Tuesday, said that he will address the next public meeting on Thursday and will announce the next plan of action. In a video message, shared by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's official Twitter handle, Khan said, "Earlier, I decided to start Jalsa on Wednesday but as I have to appear in court for various cases, I will start Jalsas on Thursday. My first Jalsa will be in Muridke, and I want everyone nearby to come and join it so that I can share my plan with you that how to get the country out of the quagmire and how we have to set ourselves truly free, how we have to snatch freedom."Earlier, on Tuesday, Khan released another video where he urged the public to hold a peaceful protest for the "freedom" of the people. In a video message, shared by PTI's official Twitter handle, Khan said, "This is the time for Haqeeqi Azadi and you can't let this moment go in vain."Khan has said that fear was being spread among the public to oppress them as he likened the situation in the country today to the atrocities during the rule of Genghis Khan. He further claimed that his supporters, including women, were being tormented in a manner never seen before. PTI Chief was arrested on May 9.

"All this fear is being spread only to tell the public that those who stand against them will be treated this way," Khan said in a video message. "When the nation decides that it won't tolerate this oppression ... when it decides that it won't allow the violation of the Constitution and that it wants elections ... then no one will be able to stop them.""When Genghis Khan used to kill and kill, he used to leave a few people alive and told them to tell the world how cruel I am, how much terror I have. The same is happening here, people's houses are being broken, women have never been oppressed like this, and stories of atrocities are being played on TV and social media, but my Pakistanis, this is the time for your freedom. to take," PTI tweeted while sharing the video of Imran Khan. Meanwhile, Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the petition filed by Khan -- the day after his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case -- seeking pre-arrest bail in every case filed against him since then, Geo News reported.In the backdrop of protests sparked following Khan's arrest in the infamous land corruption case, other cases were also filed against the former prime minister.Meanwhile, the court enquired about the PTI chief's absence at the beginning of the session to which Khan's attorney responded that his client would show up in court by 11 am.The interim government of Punjab's lawyer had opposed the bail request of Imran Khan, claiming it was inadmissible. The lawyer said, "Imran Khan hasn't even appeared in the court and seeking protective bail," as per Geo News. (ANI)

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Imran Khan to unveil next plan of action at a rally on Thursday - ANI News