Archive for the ‘Trotskyism’ Category
SWP to “Attract” Bangladeshi Fascists.
Peaceful Bangladeshi Islamists in Dhaka.
This is how Socialist Worker reports a march with Bangladeshi fascists in London.
Around 1,000 people protested in central London last Sunday in solidarity with anti-government protesters in Bangladesh. The protest marched from Hyde Park to the Bangladeshi Embassy.
Muhammad Ayyub is part of the Feb28 Justice for Bangladesh group that organised the protest. “We stand with the people of Bangladesh against the government,” he told Socialist Worker.
“Police are killing protesters there and opposition supporters have been unlawfully arrested.”
The protest coincided with a deepening political crisis in Bangladesh.
“Ordinary people in Bangladesh don’t matter,” said Rashid. “Many live on less than a dollar a day. But when the rich people came here for the Olympics they booked a whole floor of a five-star hotel.”
Protesters chanted, “We want peace. We want justice,” at a rally outside the embassy.
Speakers who talked about the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt won loud cheers.
Charlie Kimber, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, told the crowd, “The tide of revolution has swept through Tunisia and Egypt.
“Now the tide of revolution must sweep through Gaza, Syria and Bangladesh.”
There is no mention in the article of who is behind this Feb28 movement.
We can help,
“The Feb28 Justice for Bangladesh movement came about in response to this escalating crisis that has engulfed Bangladesh. It aims to expose the tyranny and anti-Islamic hatred of the oppressive Awami League regime and is dedicated to bringing you fresh and unbiased news on the struggle of the Bangladeshi people.”
This is some of its ‘unbiased’ news,
An estimated 2500 Muslim scholars and devotees killed
· Thousands injured, hospitalised in critical conditions and thousands arrested.
· Night completely blackened out to comfortably commit genocide.
· Media clamped to hide genocide.
It is rare in the history of human civilization that a Muslim country’s ruling government can be such fascist, ruthless and brutal to run a barbaric violence and systematic killing spree of such scale against the nation’s peaceful, unarmed and Islam-loving most revered scholars (ulama) of high repute and the devotee mass Muslims that took place in the deep black night following May 5, 2013 in Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka that is well known as the city of masjid (mosque).
It is also unprecedented in the history of human civilization to observe serious insult on Allah, the Prophet (PBUH), his highly respected wives, Islam and different forms of Islamic ibadah (worships) like prayer, fasting etc. in such shameful vulgar language used by some Bangladeshi atheist bloggers and political activists belonging to the ruling Awami League party of Bangladesh that the world has never experienced before.
These, as cited yesterday are some of the demands of the Bangladesh movement these creatures back,
1. Reinstatement of ‘Absolute trust and faith in Allah’ in the constitution of Bangladesh and abolishment of all laws which are in conflict with the values of the Quran and Sunnah
2. Enactment of (anti-defamation) law at the parliament keeping death penalty as the highest form of punishment to prevent defamation of Allah, Muhammad (S.A.W) and Islam, and prevent spreading hate against Muslims (highest penalty prevalent for defamation is 10 years).
3. Immediate end to the negative propaganda by all atheist bloggers in a leading role in the so called Shahbag movement who have defamed Allah, Mohammad (S.A.W), and Islam and their exemplary punishment.
4. End to all alien cultural practices like immodesty, lewdness, misconduct, culture of free mixing of the sexes, candle lighting in the name of personal freedom and free speech.
5. Abolishment of the anti-Islamic inheritance law and the ungodly education policy. Making Islamic education compulsory in all levels from primary to higher secondary.
6. Declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims by the government and put a stop to their negative and conspirational activities.
The SWP in another article published today suggests that in Bangladesh,
The Islamic protest comes as thousands of workers have been on the streets demanding justice for those killed in the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory.
The week of demonstrations proves there is a massive political vacuum in Bangladesh which many forces are trying to fill.
The left needs to draw those who rage against putting profit before people into a movement that can challenge the rich.
This can attract those who look to the Islamists.
No doubt those raging at atheist bloggers, “lewdness”, demand the death penalty for blasphemy and the persecution of fellow Muslims they call ‘heretics’ are potential recruits to the SWP.
No doubt at all.
Galloway Backs Bangladesh Far-Right.
Twitter / Feb28info: “The real people of Bangladesh … http://fb.me/PZ9EEtqr
Retweeted by George Galloway
Abjol Miah, Respect’s chief ’operator’ in Tower Hamlets, has form as a religious Islamist.
His views on Gay Marriage (predictable) can be seen here.
This is the Twitter Feed.
JusticeForBangladesh
@Feb28info
Official Operation. Bringing you the latest news and development from the uprising in #Bangladesh #BanglaSpring #Revolution
Bangla Spring,
Ahmad Jibril الشيخ Why aren’t the Bostonians of yesterday, Bangalians today? Over 2500 Muslims dead in 1 night in #Bangladesh! #BanglaSpring #DarkNight #islam
This is what Jibril refers to,
HAKA, Bangladesh — Violence erupted across Bangladesh on Monday as Islamist fundamentalists demanding passage of an anti-blasphemy law clashed with security forces, leaving a trail of property damage and at least 22 people dead after a second day of unrest. NYT.
The protests that Galloway favours are organised by the far-right, Hefazat-e Islam*. They call for those who insult Islam to face the death penalty.
Is the SWP to follow Galloway’s lead?
This is far from established, despite what Harry’s Place insinuates.
The SWP has rightly focused on the terrible factory accident in Bangladesh which at present is recorded as having killed 705 people.
But HP does cite this,
“Charlie Limber Socalist Workers Party “The tide of revolution spread across Arab world and now must spread in Bangladesh” #BanglaSpring.”
We are waiting for clarification on what ‘spring’ Kimber means.
* These are the demands of these fascists.
1. Reinstatement of ‘Absolute trust and faith in Allah’ in the constitution of Bangladesh and abolishment of all laws which are in conflict with the values of the Quran and Sunnah
2. Enactment of (anti-defamation) law at the parliament keeping death penalty as the highest form of punishment to prevent defamation of Allah, Muhammad (S.A.W) and Islam, and prevent spreading hate against Muslims (highest penalty prevalent for defamation is 10 years).
3. Immediate end to the negative propaganda by all atheist bloggers in a leading role in the so called Shahbag movement who have defamed Allah, Mohammad (S.A.W), and Islam and their exemplary punishment.
4. End to all alien cultural practices like immodesty, lewdness, misconduct, culture of free mixing of the sexes, candle lighting in the name of personal freedom and free speech.
5. Abolishment of the anti-Islamic inheritance law and the ungodly education policy. Making Islamic education compulsory in all levels from primary to higher secondary.
6. Declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims by the government and put a stop to their negative and conspirational activities.
7. Stop instating more statues in the name of sculpture at road intersections and educational institutions to save Dhaka the city of mosques, from becoming the city of statues.
8. Remove all the hassles and obstructions at Baitul Mokarram and all mosques in Bangladesh which prevent Musallis from offering prayer. Also stop creating obstruction for people to attend religious sermons and other religious gatherings.
9. Stop the spread of Islamophobia among the youth through depiction of negative characters on TV plays & movies in religious attire and painting negative stereotypes of the beard, cap and Islamic practices on various media.
10. Stop anti-Islamic activities at Chittagong propagated by several NGO’s and Christian missionaries under guise of religious conversion.
11. End to the massacre, indiscriminate firing and attacks on the prophet loving Muslim scholars, madrassah students and the general public.
12. End to all threats against Islamic scholars, madrassah students and Imams and Muslim clerics of mosques throughout the country.
13 Immediate and unconditional release of all detained Islamic scholars, madrassah students and members of the general public and withdrawal of all false cases filed against them. Compensation to families of all injured and deceased and exemplary punishment to all those responsible.
March for the 6th Republic in France, Against Austerity
Thousands of people are expected to support the firebrand leftist presidential candidate Melenchon, who has shaken up France’s election campaign with a surprise jump in the polls. Melenchon, represents a coalition of leftist parties including the Communists. Supporters of French Front de Gauche candidate for the 2012 French presidential election Jean-Luc Melenchon gathered on the Bastille square in Paris, wave flags as they listen to the candidate’s speech after a march from Nation.Paris,… (from Here)
This demonstration has attracted support from the Front de gauche (le Front de gauche est une coalition de partis de la gauche antilibérale et anticapitaliste réunissant le Parti communiste français (PCF), le Parti de gauche (PG), la Gauche unitaire (GU), République et socialisme (R&S), Convergences et alternative(C&A), le Parti communiste des ouvriers de France (PCOF), la Fédération pour une alternative sociale et écologique (FASE), laGauche anticapitaliste (GA) et Les Alternatifs , left-wing Greens (Eva Joly), the Nouveau Paru anti-capitaliste (NPA) and many trade unions.
- L’appel de Jean-Luc Mélenchon
- L’appel de Pierre Laurent
- L’appel d’Eva Joly
- L’appel de La vie est à nous / Le Sarkophage
- L’appel de Christian Salmon
- L’appel du NPA
- Appel de Fabienne Brugel
- Appel de Zinn-Dinn Boukhenaïssi
- L’appel du PPLD
- L’appel de Gabriel Amard
- L’appel d’Aurélien Bernier
- L’appel de l’association l’Ange Bleu
- Appel de l’AGAUREPS-Prométhée
- L’appel du Front de Gauche
Song,
Le Roi Des Cons de Georges Brassens:
Non certes elle n’est pas bâtie
Sur du sable l’oligarchie
Il y a peu de chances qu’on
Détrône le Roi des cons.
Peuple affamé par l’austérité
Pour engraisser une bande de rentiers
Il y a peu de chances qu’on
Détrône le Roi des cons.
Il est possible au demeurant
De convoquer une constituante
Il y aurait une chance qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.
Qu’un jour on dise c’est fini
la domination des nantis
Il y a bien une chances qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.
Peuple debout et prend la Bastille
Pour la 6eme République
Il y a bien une chance qu’on
Se passe d’un Roi des cons.
You can hear this here.
People’s Assembly: International Socialist Network Talks Sense.
Excellent article on the International Socialist Network by Kieran Crowe,
The Fight Against Austerity and the People’s Assembly.
He begins,
I think we need to talk about how we are going to deal with the People’s Assembly.
The piece continues,
I have been trying to locate some good data on the effectiveness of anti-cuts campaigns, and must confess I’ve drawn a bit of a blank. There does not seem to be brilliant data out there to say where cuts have have been successfully blocked. Suffice to say, the movements have not been without successes – though they have not been across the board anywhere, it has been far from impossible to organise against cuts.
Kieren observes,
The role of the organised left in the anti-cuts movement has, to say the least, been inconsistent and marked at times with gross sectarianism. As mentioned before, the Labour left has taken some time to find any footing at all with opposition to austerity, due to the key role of New Labour and Labour councillors, but they seem to have regained the initiative to a large extent with opposition to the bedroom tax. The smaller centre-left parties have been similarly contradictory: Green and Nationalist councils have pushed cuts through, while their activists in other areas have criticised Labour for exactly the same.
The role of the far left has not been particularly more glorious. The 2008 crisis prompted by the collapse of American hedge funds led us to a big push on anticapitalist rhetoric, but most of the tactical and strategic initiatives we produced were objective failures. Numerous campaigns and front groups were founded, usually as more or less exclusive tools of the founding organisation and with grand goals that they were objectively unable to pull off. The activists (often full-timers) pushing them were highly enthusiastic though, and often so adamant that ‘their united front’ was the one that would deliver victory that they would happily engage in Popular Front of Judea arguments with their counterparts for other groups pushing very similar looking campaigns.
Need we rehearse the disputes around the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) and the so-called Unite the Resistance? Not to mention TUSC?
One development we are going to have to discuss is the People’s Assembly Against Austerity (PA). The PA is, in some ways, not really new as a concept – it is an outgrowth of the ‘Coalition of Resistance’ campaign that the was launched when several left groups were founding similar initiatives and that has received significant backing from the leaderships of several trade unions, notably the centre-left leadership of the mass Unite union under Len McCluskey.
The PA has, to say the very least, managed to stand out by being on a considerably larger scale than previous conferences. With a venue for over 2,000 booked, there is already the possibility of spill-over space being hired. This would make the PA four to five times larger than its nearest rival and probably one of the biggest activist conferences for a generation in Britain. The publicity it has generated has similarly been far greater than previous events: it has been plugged in the Guardian and denounced in the Spectator, which is a rare breakthrough into the mainstream, recalling a little the publicity that Stop the War got at its height.
Exactly.
My immediate reaction was to get on board.
There is, inevitably, a layer of the left that will attack the PA this way and make a point of principle out of it: witness the anarcho-miserablist Ian Bone of Class War, a man who famously advised people to stay away from anti-war demos in 2003, who has pledged to stand outside the PA venue, telling attendees how very wrong they are. If we take our activism seriously, we must find a mid-position between nodding along to McCluskey and abstaining on the sidelines with people like Bone who just think they’re smarter than everyone else.
Which will be fun, if nothing else.
My guess is the right approach to the PA would be to intervene through and as part of delegations to it from genuine campaigning groups. Most IS Network members ought to find this easy: we have, most of us, been part of anti-cuts groups at some stage, or can easily join one. Going into an anti-austerity body with the express purpose of getting it to participate in the PA would, in fact, be a useful thing to do and might help reinvigorate groups that have stalled.
This is in tune with what many of us feel.
Something I feel to be worth throwing into the debate is the role of trade union councils – in Barnet the trades council was central to the founding of the anti-cuts group and manages to remain in alliance with it even as it operates with its own autonomy. Anti-cuts groups elsewhere that have become moribund and trades councils that have been conservative for decades could potentially be revitalised in local areas if they get encouragement and support from similar groups that are doing better, giving us a far wider pool of activity to operate.
As a Trades Council activist I could not agree more.
There is also likely to be an interesting debate about regional People’s Assemblies later in the year – which have the potential to be very large and attract further layers of activists. Regional PAs would be quite different from a national one – indeed if you want a version of the event that is less ‘top table’, this may be what you would end up producing. It is still not counterposed to the national event.
One thing I do not believe can be argued is that that the event can be simply abstained from, though if other people do have other ideas for fighting austerity, we should hear about those too.
This analysis is so spot on that I nothing more to add.
Obviously The International Socialist Network is going places.
Good places.
John Rees and Counterfire: Ministry of Truth Rectifies.
Diamond Geezer.
Ministry of Truth Communication,
“Tendance Coatesy: unbad Counterfire, John Rees and Lindsey German. Misprints rectify. Immediate upsub to Ministry, vaporise duckspeak or Coatesy joycamp.”
Coatesy writes,
“It has come to our attention that Tendance Blog has published material that may give an impression that John Rees, Lindsey German and Counterfire can be criticised.
Our multi-volume series, “The Struggle against Reesite Liquidationism” and our pamphlet, “What Counterfire is and how to Smash it” are in the process of being re-edited.
The Children’s book, “The Famous Five Unmask the Zinovievite-Rees Spy Centre” has been returned to the publishers.
We now accept that, following Georg Lukács that 2 plus 2 can sometimes, in an “Aufhebung ” be dialectically sublated into 5.”
Sitting at his usual table in the Chestnut Tree Café Coatesy sipped his clove-flavoured Victory Gin.
Watching the telly-screen he saw John Rees on Russia Today.
He felt a swelling of pride: he had always backed Counterfire!
