My name is Phil Wilayto, and I’m the editor of The Virginia Defender, a community newspaper based here in Richmond. We cover issues of interest to working-class folks from all communities. 

I’m also a gun owner who’s opposed to some of the laws being proposed in the 2020 General Assembly. 

And I’m a Richmonder who’s concerned about what might happen in my town on Monday. 

The Virginia Citizens Defense League [VCDL], the organization that has called for lobbying and a rally on Jan. 20 at Capitol Square, says that as many as 50,000 people may show up. They wanted to come armed — Virginia is an open-carry state — but Gov. Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency and banned civilians from carrying firearms on the Capitol grounds. 

Nobody knows just what to expect, and tensions are running high. Some normally open downtown businesses plan to close on Monday. Some non-gun lobbying groups have cancelled their plans to come to Richmond. Virginia Commonwealth University is advising its more than 31,000 students to stay away from the downtown area. The VCU Health System’s emergency room has tripled its staff to be prepared for possible mass casualties. And the cops are gearing up for trouble. 

Some liberals view all gun rights activists as racist, right-wing yahoos, lumping them in with the extremist organizations that try to infiltrate the gun rights movement for recruitment purposes. And the FBI arrests on Jan. 16 of three neo-Nazis who supposedly put together a homemade machine gun and bought more than 1,500 rounds of ammo as part of their plans to join the Richmond rally didn’t do much to calm anyone’s nerves. We’ve heard rumors that white supremacist organizations like the Proud Boys and the League of the South are coming to Richmond. These kinds of thugs are not your friends. Far from it. 

I believe that people have a right to own guns: for sport, for hunting, for self-defense. I agree that guns don’t kill people, people kill people — although they often do it with guns. And that’s what scares non-gun owners.

In 2017, the most recent year for which there are figures, nearly 40,000 people died from gun-related injuries in this country. More than half the deaths were actually suicides, which raises the question if those people would have killed themselves if they hadn’t had a gun at hand. 

Then there are the senseless killings by mostly young men in poor city communities. We lost 66 people to homicides last year here in Richmond. So there are good reasons why some people think there are too many guns in too many hands. 

But it’s also true that you could ban all the guns in this country and we would still have people killing people. The real reason for the mass shootings and the endless fatal individual killings is that this society is addicted to violence. 

It’s true. We promote it in our movies, TV shows and video games. Our police departments are armed to the teeth with “surplus” military equipment. We make violence the basis of our foreign policy. This country was born in violence against Indigenous and enslaved people, and that culture of violence has continued to define us as a country. Banning guns does nothing to address that. 

What I’m really worried about is that, with the liberal Democrats acting like anyone who owns a gun is suspect, the average person who has a gun for legitimate reasons will be more open to right-wing arguments and possible recruitment. That would be a disaster for all working people. 

You have to understand that, while you might see your movement as just against government overreach, it can come across as something else altogether. The idea that thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of armed, mostly white men are coming to Richmond on Monday is not a good “optic,” as they say. It sets off deep historical memories. 

I know the VCDL states on its website that, ”We are not there to push any other agenda. Our total focus is on protecting our right to keep and bear (sic) arms. Period. This is not about flags, statues, history, etc. Just guns.” We appreciate that. People with very different political views on other issues can still agree that people have the right to self-defense. 

Of course, picking Jan. 20 as a gun rights lobby day is already a pretty bad optic. It’s the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a man of peace brought down by a gun. The VCDL might have picked a better day. 

Plus, it means the schools are out, and there may be a lot of kids in the area. 

And with Northam banning civilians from having guns on the Capitol grounds, that means thousands of armed people roaming the downtown area. And this includes some openly right-wing groups that have a whole other agenda. 

I’d like to point out here that the right to self-defense is not a “white” issue. The old Black Panther Party stood for the right to armed self-defense against police brutality. The Southern-based Deacons for Defense provided armed security for many civil rights events. And today, people who live in crime-plagued neighborhoods have a legitimate interest in being able to protect themselves and their families. And if unreasonable gun laws are passed, they’re likely to be enforced in the same racially discriminatory ways as other laws already are. 

In other words, there are other possible allies out there. So there are all kinds of reasons to make sure your movement isn’t hijacked by extremist groups promoting division and hatred. 

I think most gun owners don’t hold grudges against other people because of their race, creed or color. They just want to be able to protect themselves and their families, and they have a right to do this without unreasonable interference from the government. 

But if this movement is going to be successful, it needs to consciously exclude those right-wing elements that would attempt to infiltrate this movement and subvert it for their own twisted agendas. 

People who respect Adolf Hitler will never respect democracy. They’re not our friends. In fact, they’re our enemies. And they should have no place in a real gun-ownership movement. 

So welcome to Richmond. Be safe, watch each others’ backs and be sensitive to the people who live here. They’ll be here long after you’re gone. 

Phil Wilayto
Editor, The Virginia Defender
P.O. Box 23202, Richmond, VA 23223
Email: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com
Call or text: 804-644-5834

Listen to podcast version here

Source: Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality

Monday, January 20, 2020 at 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST

26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY

In case you have not been on top of the news in Puerto Rico, earthquakes have been ongoing in the south for around 18 days. Thousands are sleeping outside or in cars and many have lost their homes completely.

Today, supplies that were hoarded and stolen by the Mayor of Ponce were found neglected and left to rot in a warehouse. In addition, there were blankets and cots that could have been used to supply many of the people sleeping outside, as well as diapers that have been needed.

The people have had enough and are calling for a national strike in Puerto Rico on Monday.

In solidarity with the national strike, we are asking folks in the diaspora and our allies to mobilize against the colonial government.

Let us be clear. The issue wasn’t just Ricky. It is not just Wanda. It isn’t just Donald Trump. The issue is colonialism, and we must demand an end to this system of genocide. From the federal to the local puppet governments, enough is enough! The people have the power!

Monday, January 20, 2020 at 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Historic St. Mathew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, 8850 Woodward Ave., Detroit

This year’s 17th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Rally & March comes at a time of rising hatred, bigotry and military conflict both inside the United States and around the world. The Detroit MLK Day Committee is once again requesting your participation and support to continue this tradition which mobilizes the largest social justice gathering in the whole of southeastern Michigan.

On Monday, January 20, 2020, the Detroit MLK Day Program/Rally and March will commemorate the 91th birthday of Dr. King. This year’s program will feature keynote speaker Dr. Luis Barrios, the President of the Inter-religious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) Board of Directors based in New York City.

IFCO has been in the leadership of various community and international campaigns since its founding in 1966. In late April 1969, IFCO sponsored the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) at Wayne State University (WSU) which put forward the first modern-day call for reparations to be paid to African Americans for the stolen labor during slavery and the national oppression in which they have lived under since the conclusion of the Civil War (1861-1865).

In addition to its work on domestic issues, IFCO has coordinated the education of over 150 students who studied medicine for free at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in the Republic of Cuba. Numerous youth from Detroit along with other cities have taken advantage of this program. The recruitment of these young people was initiated by Rev. Dr. Lucius Walker, the founder of IFCO, as well as former City Council member Rev. Dr. JoAnn Watson.

You are cordially invited to attend this 17th Annual Detroit MLK Day event for the second year at our new location of the Historic St. Mathew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church located at 8850 Woodward Avenue between King and Holbrook in the city’s North End neighborhood. This venue which is a historic institution in Detroit having played an integral part in the 19th century Underground Railroad and the Northern High School Student Strike of April 1966, among other important events, will place us in the heart of the city in a community where gentrification, water shutoffs and tax foreclosures continue to take a serious toll.

The program begins at 12 noon in the sanctuary and will include music and brief messages from cultural workers and activists from throughout the region.

At about 1:30 p.m., the Detroit MLK Day March for Jobs, Peace and Justice will begin. At 3:00 p.m., a special cultural program of poetry and music will take place at the church. A healthy community meal will be served.

The Detroit MLK Day Committee is comprised of a small, dedicated group of volunteers. Due to the significance of the January 20, 2020 Detroit MLK Day Program & March, we are seeking contributions now to assure a successful event.

Please send your contribution and enclosed donor response form to: Detroit MLK Day Committee, 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202. Please make checks payable to: “Detroit MLK Day”. You may donate online https://mlkdetroit.org/donate/.

Thank you for your kind support! (You may download event leaflets at www.mlkdetroit.org.)

Sincerely in Peace and Solidarity,
The Detroit MLK Day Committee

Embassy Protectors Defense Committee

Email: admin@DefendEmbassyProtectors.org
Web Site: DefendEmbassyProtectors.org

Join the People’s Organization for Progress (POP) Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March & Rally Against Racism, Poverty, Inequality, and War

Saturday, January 18, 2020, 12:00 NOON

Beginning at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Statue next to the Hall of Records, 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark, New Jersey

The statue is near the corner of Springfield Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Add your organization as an endorser here

       Reclaim and honor Rev. Dr. King Jr. by resisting war and racism

       A call to action on the Dr. King Jr. birthday week

STOP WAR ON IRAN 

BALTIMORE MARCH TO WASHINGTON D.C.: Jan 18 

Money for jobs, education, health care & people’s needs

In 1967 on April 4, Rev. Dr. King Jr., passionately spoke out against the Vietnam war. He exclaimed that the bombs in Vietnam also exploded at home in our decaying cities.

These words are just as true today. Donald Trump and the trillion dollar oil and fracking businesses stand to profit from a war on Iran and Iraq.while the people of the world suffer.

In Baltimore, we remember Trump’s hateful racism in describing our city and attacking Congressman Cummings. His insults hurled at our city are comparable to his attempts to demonize the people of Iran and Iraq to justify war for oil profits.

This is the same white supremacist ideology that justifies the assassination of foreign officials of color and the nearly one million Iraqi children killed by U.S. war. These are war crimes. We will not be fooled by those who would dismiss the humanity of our international family.

If war is to be declared in our name, let it be a war on racism, police terror, low wages, homelessness and poverty. End anti-immigrant violence, sexism and LGBTQ2S bigotry. Close the detention camps.

FEED THE PEOPLE, NOT THE PENTAGON

• This April 700,000 people will lose food stamps; millions will get fewer benefits.  In Baltimore, 22.2% of people, many of them children, go to bed hungry. The loss of food stamps (SNAP benefits) will mean that many small grocery stores will have to close their doors. But not the Pentagon! This year the military got a $130 billion increase. In addition, social security disability will be cut.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE

• The children of Baltimore, DC and everywhere need clean lead-free drinking water, more and better paid teachers, books and decent schools. Redirect the billions for war to save our youth and pay for free universal health care for all.

LOW WAGES & WORKERS RIGHTS

• Close to half of the workers in the U.S. are poor!  53 million workers between the ages of 18 to 64 — 44% of all workers — qualify as low-wage. This amounts to a median income of $18,000 per year. Amazon and Walmart refuse to respect workers rights to unionize. Amazon even threatened to fire workers who spoke out against climate change.

PENTAGON, THE WORLD’S BIGGEST POLLUTER, SHUT IT DOWN

• Indigenous people courageously protected the Amazon rainforest from fires and destruction. Now Australia is engulfed in flames threatening the existence of an entire continent and killing millions of animals. Jakarta, Indonesia home to 30 million people is literally sinking, destroyed by flood waters. The capitalist climate crisis threatens the entire planet. The Pentagon with it’s 800+ military bases and endless wars is one of the world’s biggest polluters.

WAR BREEDS REPRESSION 

• Police departments across this country are militarized, increasing racism and repression. Globally the US is number one in mass incarceration. Yet the problems of drug addiction, despair and violence continue. Instead of investing in the community, Johns Hopkins has hired a private armed police force.

ONLY THE PEOPLE CAN STOP THE WAR!  

The people of Baltimore are Marching on the Dr. King Jr. weekend. We invite you to join us. If you cannot come to Baltimore, and we expect that many can’t, please hold solidarity actions in your city, town, school or work place.

Now is the time to reclaim and honor Rev. Dr. King Jr. by resisting war and racism.

ENDORSE THE CALL

Endorsers: Peoples Power Assembly; Rev. CD Witherspoon; Rev. Annie Chambers, Douglas Homes Community Leader; Youth Against War and Racism; Black Alliance for Peace, Baltimore; ICE Out of Baltimore; Prisoners Solidarity Committee; The Marlyn Barnes Family; Baltimore Peace Action; CODE Pink; Union del Barrio; Puerto Rican Alliance; Popular Resistance; Union of Progressive Iranians; UNAC, United National Antiwar Coalition; Harvard Boulevard Block Club of South Central Los Angeles; Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice; Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ; Peoples Alliance, Bay Area; Bail Out the People Movement, Wisconsin; Women in Struggle/Mujeres en Lucha; Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine; Stand with Okinawa NY; International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Socialist Unity Party/Partido de Socialismo Unido; Struggle – La Lucha;  Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, LA Province; Jennicet Gutierrez; Phil Wilayto, editor, The Virginia Defender; William Camarada, Comité de Solidaridad con Venezuela Alberto Lovera NYC; D19: Partido Libre USA Canada; Baltimore City Green Party; Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; Familia: TQLM; Malaya Movement, Baltimore; San Diego County Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party of California; Communist Party of USA – Baltimore Club; U.S. Peace Council; Freedom Road Socialist Organization; Ujima People’s Progress Party; New Orleans Workers Group (list in formation)

DONATE HERE 

VOLUNTEER & SUPPORT HERE

Behind Boris Johnson’s victory in the recent British elections are decades of capitalist decay. It’s hollowed out the British economy even more than it has done to the United States.

The ruling class in both countries is richer than ever. It’s the working class that’s suffered from austerity. Homelessness in Britain has soared while the queen and all the other royal parasites live in palaces.

Between 1971 and 2016, 5.2 million manufacturing jobs in Britain were destroyed. Factory employment fell by two-thirds.

That’s like what happened in New York state, which lost about a million manufacturing jobs from 1976 to 2019, a 70 percent drop, judging by the “1978 U.S. Statistical Abstract” and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The wholesale demolition of industry in Britain went hand-in-hand with a 50 percent drop in union membership. While in 1979, more than 12 million British workers were in unions, the number fell to 6.23 million in 2018. 

Earlier periods of capitalism tended to concentrate workers, making it easier to organize our class. By getting rid of millions of jobs in factories, mines and other large workplaces, capitalist decay scatters the working class and helps destroy unions.

Workers in smaller nonunion companies or working by themselves as private contractors are often more susceptible to capitalist propaganda. 

Just as in the U.S., British workers were not so much defeated on the battlefield as they had their union fortresses stolen from them. 

Thatcher and Reagan

A key turning point was the 1979 election victory of the Conservative Party, the Tories, which made Margaret Thatcher prime minister. A year later Ronald Reagan was elected U.S. president.  

Both of these racist union busters supported the apartheid regime then existing in South Africa. Reagan broke the strike of the air traffic controllers belonging to the PATCO union in 1981.

Two long strikes were broken in Britain under Thatcher. These defeats were felt by workers around the world. 

Coal miners in Britain and the U.S. were backbones of the labor movement. It was the United Mine Workers in the U.S. that built the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s.

The strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1974 drove Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath out of office. British capitalists were humiliated by this example of working-class power.

A decade later, they had their revenge by breaking the yearlong miners’ strike against pit closures in 1984-1985. They were able to do so by the availability of oil from the North Sea.

Massive police brutality was used against the striking miners. So was an all out media assault against the miners’ leader, Arthur Scargill.

A similar slimy campaign used against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn helped elect the Tories in 2019. While Rupert Murdoch owns the Trump-loving New York Post and Fox News, he has even more of a media presence in Britain.

It was Murdoch who broke British printing unions, whose origins date back to the late 18th century. The media mogul built a new plant in the east London district of Wapping and fired the former printers. Police arrested 1,500 picketers in the 1986-1987 strike.

Inspired by Murdoch’s victory, the owners of the New York Daily News tried to break the unions in 1990 but failed.

The Tories’ popularity had fallen to 23 percent in December 1981. A big reason was that one out of eight British workers was jobless by January 1982. The unemployment rate reached 16 percent in parts of Scotland.

Thatcher survived by waging war against Argentina in 1982 over the Malvinas Islands. The subsequent war fever pumped up by the media led to a Tory victory in 1983 and later helped to smash the miners and printers.

Reagan’s popularity slid to only 35 percent in early 1983. His answer was to invade the Black Caribbean island of Grenada.

Trump supporters are now thinking that a war against Iran will re-elect the racist pig.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was born in Britain 250 years ago. The inventions of the spinning jenny and spinning frame, as well as improvements to the carding engine between 1764 and 1775, revolutionized the production of cotton textiles, the first great machine industry.

One result was the starving to death of many hand weavers in Bengal, who were renowned for their cotton goods. Loot poured in from South Asia where the British East India Company made huge profits from famines. By 1914, the British Empire—which started by invading Ireland—was exploiting a quarter of humanity.  

Britain became the workshop of the world and its products ruled the world market. British inventions included the slide rest for lathe, that along with the micrometer allowed for interchangeable parts. The first railroads were built in Britain, while Henry Bessemer’s inventions were the basis of the steel industry.

Much of the initial capital for these industries came from the African Holocaust. Liverpool became the world’s biggest port for slavers. Bristol, where Rolls Royce jet engines are now made, was also a leading port for kidnappers of Africans.

A big market for Birmingham’s ironmongers was making shackles for enslaved Africans. As Eric Williams pointed out in “Capitalism and Slavery,” James Watt’s first steam engine was financed by slave masters. The Tate art galleries in London came from a fortune built on slave-grown sugar.

U.S. capitalism was even more based on African slavery. Cotton accounted for half of U.S. exports in 1860. Wall Street grew up as the banking house for Southern slave masters. While today New York City has municipal green markets, Wall Street once had a municipal slave market.

‘The great unwashed’

What did poor and working people in Britain get from the Industrial Revolution? Their real wages fell by half. Even the average height of workers declined.

The rich called workers “the great unwashed.” Six-year-old boys and girls worked in coal mines. Karl Marx described in “Capital” how two-and-a-half-year-old infants helped make lace.

But these children weren’t thrown to the sharks like enslaved Africans were in the Atlantic Ocean’s Middle Passage.

Employees making cotton textiles—then Britain’s largest export— worked 12-hour and 14-hour days in what the poet Byron called “satanic mills.” Frederick Engels, Karl Marx’s co-worker, heard factory owners in Manchester joke about how workers had their fingers cut off by unshielded machinery. 

A million people were allowed to starve to death in Ireland in the 1840s with approval of The Economist magazine. A century later, there was an even greater famine in British-occupied Bengal, where—like Ireland earlier—food was being exported from the country. Tory Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s response to these millions of deaths was to ask, “How come Gandhi is still alive?”

British workers fought back against the factory owners. Unions were formed. A 10-hour work day and ultimately an 8-hour work day were won. 

The first organized working-class movement was called the Chartists. They fought for a People’s Charter demanding voting rights and other democratic demands.

Two of the favorite Chartist leaders were the Irish-born James Bronterre O’Brien and Feargus O’Connor. Another Chartist leader was a Black man, William Cuffay, who was deported to Australia.

British workers prevented their ruling class from recognizing the slave-owning confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. Karl Marx, the founder of scientific socialism — that is, communism — helped lead this struggle.    

A half-century later, the working class stopped British intervention against the Bolshevik Revolution.

Falling behind

While Britain pioneered the Industrial Revolution, it later fell behind the U.S. and Germany. On the eve of World War I, Britain was still the third largest producer of steel. 

By 1967, British steel production had slowly increased to 24.3 million metric tons. But it fell to just 7.3 million tons in 2018, smaller than what was produced in 1913 and less than one-half of 1 percent of world production. British motor vehicle production decreased by 31 percent from 1972 to 2018.

Large sections of the capitalist class gave up on manufacturing because there wasn’t enough profit in it. The Economist magazine sneers at much of it as “metal bashing.” That’s how U.S. slave masters contemptuously viewed northern factory owners in the 1850s.

Industrial giants with billions in assets, like Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and the British General Electric Company (GEC), were thrown to the wayside.  

Scottish workers were among those most hurt by deindustrialization. While in 1914, a fifth of all ocean-going ships had been built on the Clyde in Scotland, there are now only two shipyards left with 2,400 workers. 

Banking, Big Oil and Brexit

Even in the 19th century, British capitalists were investing much of their profits abroad. Karl Marx wrote in “Capital” that “a great deal of capital, which appears today in the United States without any certificate of birth, was yesterday, in England, the capitalised blood of children.”

Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, described in “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” how British capital was invested in railroads around the world. A huge source of profit was the gold and diamond mines in South Africa.

British industry was starved of investment because the export of capital became much more profitable than the export of goods. Profits poured in not just from British colonies but also from Argentina.

The British economy revolves around London banks. Two of the members of Big Oil — BP and Royal Dutch Shell — are headquartered there.

British foreign investments reached 1.4 trillion pounds in 2018, equal to around $1.8 trillion, about two-thirds of the country’s gross domestic product. That’s a higher percentage than the $6 trillion of U.S. foreign investments are as compared to the total U.S. economy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fellow Tories are claiming that Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union—Brexit—will lead to an economic renaissance. What’s guaranteed are more cutbacks, particularly in the National Health Service. Johnson is just a servile echo chamber for Trump.

Despite the nonstop hate campaign attacking Jeremy Corbyn, with the media painting him as a communist, over 10 million people voted for the Labour Party. The British working class, now with millions of Black and Asian workers, will fight. Coats off for struggle!

On Dec. 8, 2019, activists in Moscow organized an event called the Anti-Imperialist Marathon, which broadcast live for over four hours on YouTube and other social media and was viewed by thousands of people in Russia and worldwide. While taking up many issues, there was a special focus on the struggle in Latin America, following the recent coup in Bolivia, massive protests against austerity in Chile, and U.S. aggression toward Venezuela and Cuba. 

Struggle-La Lucha spoke with Jane Letova, a supporter of the New Communist Movement and member of the United Communist Party of Russia, who helped to organize the Anti-Imperialist Marathon. Readers can view the entire broadcast here.

Struggle-La Lucha: What was the inspiration for the Anti-Imperialist Marathon broadcast? What organizations were involved in making it possible? Were you happy with the outcome?

Jane Letova: The inspiration for the marathon was the call, made by trade unions, left parties, women groups, social movements and Indigenous organizations, to declare December 9 as the International Day of Struggle Against Imperialism. It was announced earlier this year in Caracas, Venezuela, and we decided to take part. So it was not a local initiative, but part of a broad international struggle.

My comrades and I are always in search of new ways to reach out and convey our message, so when Alexander Kubalov of the Moscow Rock Commune suggested we hold a marathon broadcast, we decided to try. We’ve never done anything like that before, so it was really a challenge, but this gave us a possibility to cover a wide range of issues from many countries, to create a space where the voice of anti-imperialist resistance from Chile to Donbass could be heard.

I can’t say we were absolutely satisfied with the outcome — there is still much to work on. But I can say that this broadcast has brought many great activists together on both sides of the screen, and that’s what really matters. I believe the solidarity movement is really about establishing connections between activists, organizations and countries. We have much to learn from each other, we can inspire each other, and inspiration is something that we really need in this reactionary and depressive period.  

The organizations that were involved were the United Communist Party, Workers’ University, Cuba Solidarity Movement, Moscow Rock Commune and our comrades from Station Marx Channel.

SLL: For non-Russian speakers, can you tell us what some of the highlights of the broadcast were?

JL: Difficult question! There were many. Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Faria, our honorable and special guest, gave an overview of the economic war that is being waged on Venezuela by the government of the United States. That was very informative and much needed, since there isn’t much coverage on the real situation in Venezuela in mainstream news, as you know.

A great surprise was a musical greeting sent by women from the Venezuelan band Sueños Repetidos. I recommend listening to it. It will really lift your spirits with revolutionary beats! 

And it’s always a special moment to hear and to see our comrades in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. It was good to see that our comrades of many years were joined by young people, who are just joining the struggle. This is good news. It means, despite difficult living conditions and continuing war [by the U.S.-backed regime in Ukraine], the great work is kept up and the movement for justice, for a better world, in the republics is growing.

SLL: As you mentioned, the ambassador from Bolivarian Venezuela participated, as did the Cuban ambassador. Can you tell us about the activities of the Latin America solidarity movement in Moscow?

JL: The Latin America solidarity movement is very hardworking. There are cultural events organized regularly, such as concerts, poetry readings, lectures and joint events with the embassies of Venezuela and Cuba. I think one of the goals of the solidarity movement is to show people that there is an alternative to capitalism, that victory is possible, and there are examples of such victories in our world. Of course, it’s important to provide informational  support for our comrades in Nuestra América, but it is also very important to be able to tell people here at home what we are fighting for.

SLL: There’s been an increase in popular protests in Russia, especially around austerity measures and other “reforms” that seem to bring the economy more in line with Western capitalism. The same weekend as the Anti-Imperialist Marathon, there were actions in Moscow and other cities against the “optimization” of health care, and in St. Petersburg against rate hikes for public transportation. How do the revolutionary communists relate to these actions?

JL: Yes, there were rallies against cuts in health care, organized by unions of medical workers and supported by activists of various communist and progressive organizations. At the same time that we were doing the broadcast, some of our comrades from the United Communist Party were at the rally. Of course, it is a very important issue which affects us all, and I am glad there is no question in our organizations about whether we should support this initiative.

SLL: Anti-Russia, pro-war propaganda has dominated U.S. politics for the last several years, especially since the ultraright coup in Ukraine. Recently it was reported that the U.S. military will deploy more troops to Europe in 2020 than it has in at least 25 years. How does the situation appear to you as a communist organizing in Russia? How do you balance the struggle against the capitalist regime in Russia with the threats of U.S. and European imperialism?

JL: We must always keep in mind that our main goal is to build a strong and conscious working-class movement at home, which at a certain point will become a real force in the coming class struggle. Unfortunately, our enemy is strong and has many faces. The capitalist regime in Russia and U.S. imperialism are both parts of that same enemy — world capitalism. And that is something that we as Marxists and educators of the working class should understand well. 

Meanwhile, we must look critically at the current situation in the world, and if we do that, we see that U.S. imperialism is truly the worst enemy of the working people today. It continues its bloody wars all over the world, and really, it’s hardly surprising when it finds another country in desperate need to be “saved.” So, of course, it is our responsibility to denounce the U.S. government’s actions, and we are especially eager to do so after we’ve seen what’s been done to Ukraine. 

At the same time, the struggle at home continues. The Russian capitalist regime keeps attacking working people, making our lives quite unbearable sometimes, and here there is much work to be done. The confrontation helps the ruling classes on both sides of the border to subjugate the workers, to pursue a policy of “rallying around the flag.” Activist work is needed on both fronts, and it’s possible, just a question of distributing our resources. 

Saturday, January 25, 2020 at 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CST

Nicollet Ave & Lake Street Minneapolis

No War on Iran!

Saturday, January 25, 2020
1:00 PM
Nicollet Ave & Lake Street
Minneapolis

Be part of a visible anti-war event with signs and banners!

Minneapolis event initiated by:

Minnesota Peace Action Coalition

Endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, National Iranian American Council (Minnesota), Minnesota Cuba Committee, No War with Iran (MN), Party for Socialism & Liberation, St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Socialist Action, Students for a Democratic Society (UMN), Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Veterans for Peace (chapter 27).

For more information 612 275-2720 or 612 827-5364.

From the call for the January 25 day of protest:

The Trump administration is dragging the United States into a war with Iran that could engulf the whole region and could quickly turn into a global conflict of unpredictable scope and the gravest consequences.

The people of the world need to rise up and stop it. For all who believe in peace, for all who are opposed to yet another catastrophic war, now is the time to take action. On Saturday, January 25 in cities across the globe, there will be protests against a new war in the Middle East. Please join us.

Initiators for this call include the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, Popular Resistance, Black Alliance for Peace, National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), Veterans For Peace, US Labor Against the War (USLAW), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), United National Anti-War Committee, Pastors for Peace/Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, International Action Center, United For Peace and Justice, Alliance For Global Justice (AFGJ), December 12th Movement, World Beyond War, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Dominican Sisters/ICAN, Nonviolence International, Food Not Bombs and many other anti-war and peace organizations.

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A standoff between a group of homeless mothers in northern California and law enforcement took a decidedly militaristic turn early Tuesday morning when the group of Black women was evicted from a vacant home they had recently moved into. Videos posted to social media showed cops from the Alameda Sheriff’s Office manning tanks and armed with high-powered rifles typically associated with war and terrorism to evict and arrest the women from the property in Oakland.

Alameda county sheriff pigs evicted Black mothers and children with tanks and AR15s in west Oakland this morning. This is what terrorism looks like.

pic.twitter.com/wmm8l76tYq

— Brotha B (@BlakeDontCrack) January 14, 2020

The development in Oakland came as the state tried to confront its growing homelessness crisis that has disproportionately affected Black people.

Four people were arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail in the nearby town of Dublin in Alameda County. Misty Cross and Tolani King, members of the Moms 4 Housing collective that targeted by cops, and supporters Walter Baker and Jesse Turner were taken into custody. The group is led by Dominique Walker, a homeless mother of two and a survivor of domestic violence.

The mothers in the home had removed their children in anticipation of the raid, according to SF Gate, which reported that they “moved into the three-bedroom house without permission in November, partly to protest the methods of speculators who they say snap up distressed homes and leave them empty despite the housing crisis.”

That property was strategically chosen beginning last month because it is owned by a local real estate company that’s been accused of predatory practices. “Wedgewood Inc. bought the property for $501,000 at a foreclosure auction last year” and “had planned to flip the 1,500-square-foot property,” according to SF Gate.

The @moms4housing fight is about a lot more than 1 house

Pictured here is a house in San Francisco owned by the same shell company occupied by the moms in Oakland https://t.co/E5P5CcEpee pic.twitter.com/MelJRYCT3S

— Aaron Glantz (@Aaron_Glantz) January 14, 2020

“Instead of allowing us to buy this home through the Oakland Community Land Trust for exactly what they paid for it, Wedgewood CEO Greg Geiser has chosen to enact physical violence on us and our families,” Moms 4 Housing said in a statement released to the media early Tuesday morning. “We won’t leave our home, and our neighbors, friends and family are standing with us in solidarity.”

What the Alameda County Sheriff Department did today was an act of war on the Oakland community. A tank and military grade weapons to take out mothers and babies. #WeStandWithTheMoms

— Moms 4 Housing (@moms4housing) January 14, 2020

The episode was yet further proof of how America and California, in particular, have criminalized homelessness.

A crowdfunding account was started later on Tuesday to help pay for their bail and other related costs. The Moms 4 Housing GoFundMe was already at more than $10,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Bay Area has consistently ranked high if not at the top of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. and the spike of homelessness in California has been credited for inflating national numbers.

While Black people make up just 6.5 percent of everybody living in California, they also account for a whopping 40 percent if the state’s homelessness population, according to Census data.

“Black people are more likely than White people to experience homelessness in the United States, including in Los Angeles County,”  according to a report from Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority that was published in September. “…The impact of institutional and structural racism in education, criminal justice, housing, employment, health care, and access to opportunities cannot be denied: homelessness is a by-product of racism in America.”

Source: NewsOne