Malcolm X Library
Saturday, August 24 @ 2 PM
In the imperialist era, the Olympic Games were never just about athletics or international goodwill. The United States and other Western imperialist powers dominated the bodies that planned, organized and carried out these events, always striving to use this platform to further their global aims.
It’s a remarkable accomplishment that countries of the Global South and socialist countries like China, Cuba, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea can field skilled athletes who can challenge and win medals despite the global athlete drain by the U.S. and Europe.
The 2024 Summer Games in Paris will go down in infamy for allowing the Zionist apartheid regime of “Israel” (and its master, the U.S.) to compete while committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Meanwhile, Russia is banned from the games because of the U.S.-NATO proxy war in Ukraine.
This year, in addition to the usual colonialist and racist dynamics, the Olympics has been gripped by the global trans panic and a calculated hate campaign against trans women on social media.
First came a concocted outrage campaign labeling the Olympics opening ceremony as “blasphemous” because of a tableau featuring drag performers and dancers seated around a table. Far-right groups and media labeled it a parody of Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” and a deliberate insult to Christianity and Christians.
In fact, the performance was based on the famous painting “The Feast of the Gods” by Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert, which is housed in a French museum. The painting depicts a celebration of the gods of Greek mythology.
But the main target of the anti-trans attacks has been Imane Khelif, a woman boxer from Algeria.
Trans women banned by IOC
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not allow trans women to compete if they went through the wrong puberty – that is unless they were able to use puberty blockers and transition before adolescence – among other Draconian restrictions that amount to a blanket ban.
This is an impossible standard to meet for trans women athletes in most countries, and increasingly even in the few Western countries like the U.S. and Britain where some trans youth were able to transition early because of rampant attacks on life-saving gender-affirming care, especially for kids.
This year, only one trans man athlete (boxer Hergie Bacyadan from the Philippines) and two nonbinary athletes (soccer player Quinn from Canada and runner Nikki Hiltz from the U.S.) are competing out of 193 openly LGBTQIA+ athletes.
Since no trans women are competing in this year’s Olympics, the trans panic has instead targeted cisgender women who don’t meet white Western standards of “femininity.”
(Cisgender is a term that describes people whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender describes people whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.)
Welterweight boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria and featherweight boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan (identified at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei), both cis women competing in Paris, were previously disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) at last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
Allegedly, when the boxers were subject to undisclosed testing under new anti-trans rules, these two women’s tests showed some XY chromosomes in addition to the more common XX chromosomes for cisgender women.
Toxic bigotry targets athletes
Last year, the International Olympic Committee broke ties with the IBA over corruption and financial malfeasance. The IBA has refused to release details of the women’s tests. The IOC – no friend of trans people, as we have seen – included Khelif and Lin in this year’s games without issue.
CNN reported: “The IBA did not say what test the pair had been subjected to. ‘The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential,’ it said.
“IOC spokesperson Adams dismissed the IBA’s test, calling it ‘arbitrary,’ and said the pair were disqualified by the IBA ‘without any due process.’”
Humans have wide chromosomal variations, including cisgender women who have some XY chromosomes and cisgender men who have some XX chromosomes, among other combinations.
Both Khelif and Lin were assigned female at birth and identify with their assigned genders. Both have lived as women their entire lives; neither identifies as trans nor were they ever diagnosed as intersex. They have always competed in women’s athletics. Both have suffered many losses as well as victories on their road to the 2024 Olympics.
None of this mattered to the far-right hate campaign that exploded on social media after Italian boxer Angela Carini resigned in tears during a match against Khelif on Aug. 1. The ongoing, highly coordinated international campaign against trans people and trans rights, based in the United States, was searching for an opportunity, and seized on a white woman’s tears to demonize an Arab/African woman whom they deemed “masculine.”
Hateful memes and headlines flooded social media and some mainstream media, including the Boston Globe (owned by the notoriously anti-trans New York Times). The fake campaign of outrage at a “male” hitting a woman during a boxing match was picked up and spread virally across the globe – including, shamefully, by some “leftists” who went full-in on anti-trans hate and misogyny.
Before her next bout, Khelif was subject to hateful propaganda by Hungarian opponent Anna Luca Hamori, including an extremely racist meme depicting Khelif as a monstrous minotaur in the boxing ring against a smaller feminine opponent. After Khelif defeated Hamori on Aug. 3, she flashed an “X” with her fingers – a dog whistle to the racist and anti-trans fascists watching.
On Aug. 9, Imane Khelif won the Olympic gold medal, defeating China’s Liu Yang in the final.
“Hours before Khelif battled for a gold medal in the women’s welterweight division Friday night, women arrived at Roland Garros wrapped in Algerian flags, many with no interest in boxing, but with the sole aim at supporting the 25-year-old boxer thrust into a worldwide clash over gender identity and regulation in sports,” the Associated Press reported.
Support from Palestinian team
The Italian boxer, Carini, later issued a half-hearted apology to Khelif. There have been rumors that she was pressured by the IBA and the NATO Italian government (headed by fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni) to throw the match. NATO member Hungary is similarly headed by a far-right regime that wages open war on LGBTQIA+ people.
The Algerian government and people responded with outrage to the charges against Khelif and the hate campaign fueled by white European governments and media, and celebrity bigots like “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, YouTube star Jake Paul, and Twitter/X owner Elon Musk. The large Algerian diaspora in France has turned out to loudly support Khelif in her matches.
“Algerian flags lined Roland-Garros’ lower sections, and Khelif entered the arena second, to the night’s loudest cheers and deafening chants of ‘I-MANE!,’” Yahoo Sports reported of the Aug. 6 match.
France, the Olympic host country, was the colonial occupier of Algeria and ruled with an iron fist until driven out in 1962.
The Palestinian delegation issued a statement in solidarity with Khelif, which condemned “the unethical behavior targeting the distinguished Algerian champion …. The Palestinian Olympic Committee stands in full solidarity with Imane Khalif [who] exemplifies excellence, determination and resilience.”
‘It can destroy people’
Nonbinary Olympic runner Nikki Hiltz declared: “Anti-trans rhetoric is anti-woman. These people aren’t ‘protecting women’s sports,’ they are enforcing rigid gender norms and anyone who doesn’t fit perfectly into those norms is targeted and vilified.”
Many women of color have noted that Dutee Chand, Caster Semenya, Annet Negesa, and Serena Williams are among the other Black and Brown women who have been accused of being men for outperforming white athletes.
In an interview with SNTV, Khelif said: “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects. It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Sally Jane Black, an organizer of the Protect Trans Lives Coalition and the Oct. 19 National March and Speakout for Trans Lives in Columbus, Ohio, summed up:
“Even if Imane Khelif were trans, she should still be allowed to compete in the Olympics as a woman. Let’s not lose sight of that, even as we address the fact that the anti-trans movement is wrong about who she is due to their narrow and hateful definition of womanhood.”
Mijaín López has taken Cuba’s name to the top in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, in France. on Tuesday, the Greco-Roman wrestling athlete won his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, a feat never seen before, admirable, especially for an athlete who is about to turn 41 years old. At a distance of 7,846 kilometers from this Caribbean island, Bartolo’s son, a native of Pinar del Rio, defeated his teammate and friend Yasmani Acosta from Chile, 6-0 in the 130 kilograms.
We were with him on the sands of the Champ-de-Mars. Five minutes in which all of Cuba cheered from their homes, workplaces, for the invincible giant. We raised our fists and got up from our seats. And like all of Cuba, those who were lucky to witness Mijain live and direct also lived with him every push and every effort.
All the tension was in the center of that venue; anticipating. People could not fit in their seats, they and they swayed with anxiety at each movement. They cheered for the Hero in French, Spanish, English, and all languages. Lopez, Lopez! Those chantings were heard seconds before the victory. A few days earlier, a giant Mijain poster was displayed around the Eiffel Tower, one of the most iconic and most visited points of the city. Everyone there knew they would be witnessing an historic moment.
“Cuba was Mijain tonight and he knows it. He planted himself like an oak tree in the center of the mat, right where the Parisian logo is placed, and from there he poured his strength and his lineage into his legs and arms, face and skin,” said Cuban journalist Oscar Figueredo, who was part of the Cuban delegation to the sporting event in Paris.
One of the most emotional moments of the competition was when the giant advanced to the center of the arena. He threw himself on the floor and kissed it. He took his shoes off in tears and placed them perfectly side by side. He left them there and slowly retreated towards his coaches, who were also waiting for him with tears in their eyes, clutching the Cuban flag. He said goodbye to competitions, and Cuba hugged him symbolically.
Tributes were not long in coming after the victory. As Mijain walked from the mat for the last time he was met by Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee, who came up to him to recognize his sacrifice and talent. Only then was he able to advance slowly amid the turmoil generated by his presence. Hundreds of journalists, athletes, coaches, and volunteers wanted to be close to the champion.
On social networks, there was nothing else to talk about but Mijain’s victory. Friends, families, and a whole country shared messages of pride. “How beautiful to be Cuban, and to coincide in time with a giant like Mijain,” agreed the users. President Miguel Díaz-Canel also shared on his official X account: “Your victory is the most important sporting event of the Games. You are an exemplary Cuban and revolutionary.”
The most admirable characteristic of Mijain is not just his strength but also his kindness. Everyone who knows him agrees that he is one more among all Cubans, humble and close. That is why his first words after the victory were of gratitude.
“I dedicate the triumph to all the human beings who have contributed to my triumphs and have helped me to stay on this path for so many years… Also, I’m grateful to all those young people who have inspired me. I feel happy to be Cuban and to have carried the Cuban flag so many times, and to have given this medal to our delegation,” he commented minutes later.
Mijain Lopez knows that achieving this victory is the result of a lot of personal effort, but also of his family roots, and of the opportunities that Cuba has also created for athletes like him, who come from humble families, to dream of achieving a gold medal at 5 consecutive Olympic Games.
Cuba is filled with pride for your strength, love and perseverance Mijain. Congratulations, Champion.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
While Walz exhibits concrete results at all levels, Vance appears to most voters as a question mark…
After the presidential debate on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, two potential scenarios opened up: the Democrats would march disciplined to the gallows, or they would introduce changes in their electoral formula, in order to be able to count on certain possibilities of success in November.
In the few days that have elapsed since then, a series of unique events have taken place in the United States, changing the routine of the processes leading up to the presidential election of 2024.
The first occurred on July 13, during a relatively insignificant Donald Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which an alleged attacker fired an assault rifle at the former president. The 20-year-old, who had no military training whatsoever, was shot down within seconds, preventing any background information that would shed light on the incident.
Trump exhibited an alleged blood stain on his ear, but that allowed to elaborate the theory about a “divine intervention” in his favor and to add another fact to his biography of the”exceptional” candidate.
Weeks later the Secret Service and other federal agencies were still contradicting themselves by telling a story of alleged mistakes and shortcomings that never occur and were promptly forgotten.
So many arguments were being woven then about the unbeatability of the businessman-politician, who seemed at the time the only competitor with real chances of winning in November.
Just 48 hours after the events in Butler, Trump chose as his running mate for the elections James David Vance, senator for Ohio since 2022. The sights were then set on adjacent states, considered among those that can tip the balance, beyond the 270 Electoral College votes needed….
On July 17, Vance was already confirmed by his party’s National Convention. He succinctly explained the essence of his credentials for being chosen over other prospects: “In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states all over the country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”
On July 24, however, Joe Biden’s long-awaited and much-discussed announcement that he would relent in his intention to become the Democratic Party’s nominee again took place. At that moment, the president pronounced a phrase that could have been assumed as early as 2020: “We must hand over to a new generation.”
Strategists call these events a “fundamental change in circumstances”. At another juncture, this decision would have led to the celebration of an “open” national convention of his party, which would serve as a space for a real debate between the different tendencies that make up the organization, from which the candidate and his or her running mate would be chosen, as a vice-presidential candidate.
But this did not happen. Instead, Biden gave his unequivocal support to his vice-presidential running mate, Kamala Harris, and, despite some initial discomfort, the main Democratic figures began to give their orderly backing to the former senator, until there was no doubt that no other candidate would appear to challenge the will of those who manage these decisions, including, first and foremost, the wealthiest donors.
Even without articulating any message or proposal of her own, Ms. Harris began “raising” substantial sums of money to support her candidacy. When even all the paper records of political action committees and other legal means of managing Democratic finances were still identified with the Biden-Harris label, contributions began to flow in and be recorded that were actually for Harris-someone else. Within 48 hours, the press was announcing the inflow of $200 million in fresh money into Democratic accounts for the presidential election alone.
Almost as quickly as these funds appeared, the list of possible alternative pre-candidates, which had been made up of names such as: Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan; Gavin Newsom, Governor of California; Pete Buttigieg, current Secretary of Transportation; John Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania; Jay Robert Pritzker, Governor of Illinois; Andy Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, was silenced. There was even the name of Michelle Obama, a charismatic and prepared woman, who eight years after the end of her husband’s administration still retains high levels of acceptance in the country.
What could have explained the promptness with which these rearrangements were achieved without strident dissent? How was the possibility of a public, open and bloody process to consider the formula of greater choices avoided?
For those who hold in their hands the levers that move U.S. federal policy, a new juncture had been created, which was somewhat different from the disaster-hecatomb scenario of the Biden-Trump dilemma.
Perhaps there was a possibility of building a more predictable future with a candidate who did not seem to have the necessary conditions, but who could surround herself with a team that was better prepared for the task. This new reality would have to be created in a narrow time frame, and to do so, a false or real sense of unity would have to be built. At the very least, a new packaging and brand name had to be attempted.
In the few hours in which the political readjustment took place, the concept of Kamalanomics came to be fabricated in the specialized press, based on alleged actions that the still vice-president could take with respect to various sectors of the U.S. economy, should she reach the throne.
But perhaps one of the keys to what was going on under the surface was given by the megabank JPMorgan in a communication addressed to its clients:
“Markets don’t like uncertainty, and some of the strength in risk assets over the summer was likely due to the increased likelihood of a Republican victory. We would not be surprised to see more turbulence as the presidential race evolves.” Lapidary.
What was a mere probability at the time was chillingly confirmed by the record drop in the major stock markets on August 5.
For the U.S. financial world, the opposite of uncertainty is predictability. In the new circumstances, this condition seems more likely among the Democrat party, which could not only offer a sense of continuity as of 2028 to the team that could be elected this November, but also exhibits a list of probable “leaders” for the future that are not present in the Republican party.
A question that is growing these days in the United States is the following: if Trump is elected, what will happen after the end of his term?
Trump answered that question badly, by making the mistake of choosing a pre-candidate for vice-president (Vance) thinking more about who would guarantee his personal freedom and the possibility of ungoverning at will, than presenting a sense of continuity, a projection towards the future. Vance is the product of a juncture, he is not the nucleus of a team, or a trend in formation.
With Kamala at the bow (not the helm) of the Democratic ship, another interesting trend began to emerge: major U.S. corporate media outlets extensively published opinion pieces favoring the former prosecutor of Afro-Asian descent, asserting that the results from purported last-minute polls were significantly more favorable against Trump than those recorded for Biden.
Instead, this supposed polling data did not exist, which allows us to affirm that another U.S. publicity campaign had begun in which truth was not the main requirement. The objective was to recycle the deteriorated image of an old product that would have a new “application”.
Of course, the actual statistics are very even in the states that will define this election. These are Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina.
However, the Democratic team announced a few hours ago the decision to nominate the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, as vice-presidential candidate along with Kamala.
The political credentials of Walz and Vance are incomparable.
While Walz exhibits concrete results at all levels, Vance appears to most voters as a question mark. In terms of possible endorsement of the former figure, Walz is a file and Vance an empty drawer. What’s worse: Trump is now the age he criticized in Biden during the 2020 campaign. He is also not a healthy man and in the event of incapacity or absence, it seems unlikely that most would consider Vance a true commander-in-chief.
The effect of Walz’s election on the Republican imagination could be immediately seen on the social media platforms of their top operatives. They went from calling Kamala Harris a socialist to saying that the Harris-Walz ticket was simply communist.
Between August 19 and 22, the Democratic National Convention will take place in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Something similar to what has been defined by their Republican peers will take place: the task has already been done and there will be no debate on the possible candidates. Nor will there be any substantive or thoughtful discussion of policies or priorities. The main effort will be aimed at disqualifying the enemy and demonstrating that in a world full of uncertainties the Democrats might be in a position to go a longer way.
To all that is happening in the domestic dynamics of the country, and which are of interest to only 50% of the electorate, one should add the real possibility that between now and the first week of November there could be developments related to the volatile situation in the Middle East, or around the war in Ukraine, that will impact the U.S. domestic political map.
Scenario analysis on U.S. elections is also conducted from Tel Aviv or Kiev and the component of U.S. support (or lack thereof) is key in both capitals.
José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez is the former Cuban Ambassador to the United States and current Director of the International Policy Research Center (CIPI) in Havana, Cuba.
Source: Cubahora, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English
The people and the media in China are excited about Team China’s outstanding results at the Olympics, though without ignoring the victories of other athletes or looking down on them. Those pushing for war totally dislike this.
Last Sunday, 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen defeated her opponent in the singles tennis final. She made history in Chinese tennis, winning the first gold medal for a Chinese and even for an Asian athlete in that event. Earlier, on Thursday, in the final of the men’s 100-meter freestyle swimming, Pan Zhanle had won and broken his own world record with an astonishing time of 46.40 seconds. Pan is a member of the foursome that won the 4×100-meter medley relay on Sunday.
Exceptional sports performances provoke mixed reactions: admiration, amazement, but sometimes also suspicion. Cyclist Tadej Pogacar, who achieved a spectacular double and more this cycling season, had to deal with doubts from certain quarters. However, the positive usually prevails.
The positive
Swimming champion Pan Zhanle experienced both positive and negative reactions. His closest sporting rivals, Kyle Chalmers, the Australian silver medal winner, and a previous world record holder, Romanian Popovici, warmly congratulated him. They predicted that swimmers would go even faster as long as they keep working hard and in the right way. Pan has indeed done that and so, after a somewhat hesitant start as a 16-year-old, he managed to make a steep ascent and reach the absolute top just days before he turned 20. Pau Gasol, member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Athletes’ Commission, and until recently an Olympic athlete himself, stressed that in the “many World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) doping tests that all Chinese swimmers had to undergo, absolutely nothing was found”. At a press conference Gasol also made clear that “he thought those tests that cause a lot of stress and turn athletes’ lives upside down were excessive” and that “he was not sure whether the measure [of testing Chinese swimmers two or three times more than others] is right or not”. IOC spokesman Mark Adams also confirmed that the Chinese swimming team was “the most tested team” at the Paris Olympics. Since January, the team has undergone more than 600 tests.
The negative
But according to certain western media, Pan Zhanle was “the winner nobody wanted” (as Belgian television journalists stated). Indeed, there were a few ‘boos’ in the stands. There is a connection with insinuations and accusations poisoning the minds of part of the sports world and the Western public. German TV channel ARD and ‘quality newspaper’ the New York Times have published articles in recent months alleging that doping scandals among Chinese swimmers were covered up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Politicians in the U.S. have also colluded in this attack on the integrity of Chinese and global sports organisations: at the request of the U.S. Congress, the FBI has been called in. Some in the West cannot accept that China is so glaringly successful: the Australian swimming coach, and even some U.S. swimmers, showed themselves to be bad losers. They refuse to believe that Chinese athletes won their medals in a fair way.
Whence the Chinese success?
The Global Times offers some convincing explanations for China’s success. It is due to “physical fitness and skills and a comprehensive competition integrating nutrition, sports science, production science and other disciplines. In those fields, the Chinese government, as we know, has been making efforts for years and with excellent returns. That we see Chinese athletes on the Olympic podium is the result of Chinese participation in global competition… a fair, equitable and open competition.”
Finally, there is another global trend, which we see today in cycling and other competitions: “In large-scale international sporting events, winning gold medals is no longer the preserve of developed countries”. The Chinese newspaper points to a necessary historical catch-up: “according to a study by the British Lawn Tennis Association, developing a professional tennis player aged 5 to 18 can cost more than $300,000. The same applies to swimming. In terms of venues, swimming pools have long been popular in western developed countries, while developing countries started using them much later… Countries in the Global South are increasingly participating and are even among the world leaders.” Thanks to the economic development of emerging countries, “the Olympic movement is really becoming more international”.
New generation
In China, there is also lots of satisfaction with and admiration for the attitude of the new generation of Chinese athletes and what these youngsters exude. The Global Times notes: “Many people have noticed that the new generation of Chinese athletes are increasingly showing the grandeur of a great nation. They naturally praise and encourage athletes from other countries, are proficient in speaking English off the field, and are confident and inclusive in cross-cultural interactions. They use the universal language of sports to present a new understanding of China to the world – always striving for excellence and breakthroughs, and promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning in a peaceful and cooperative manner, fostering mutual understanding among people. This is evident both on and off the sports field.”
That was certainly the case when Pan Zhanle had to cope with the negative reactions from some in the public and Western media. Pan acknowledged that the testing regime was tough, but remained positive: “Last year I was tested 29 times, none positive. This year, I was tested 21 times between May and July, again no positive. During the Olympics I was tested twice, let the results come. All those tests didn’t affect me much and I don’t find it that annoying. It’s part of the rules”, he said.
Clearing misunderstandings
The swimming champion had understandably got angry for a while after the outrageous hostility with which his victory was greeted and he had misinterpreted Kyle Chalmers’ behavior. But Chalmers had been quick to say that, in his opinion, there was no cheating. “I trust he did everything he could to get to this point and he deserves that gold medal”. The two swimmers have since agreed that there had been a misunderstanding and a language problem. Moreover, this is confirmed by the photo of the medalists standing amicably together on the podium.
Racism and war
So, “all’s well that ends well?” No, it is not. The mainly Western suspicion and hostility has a decidedly racist, Sinophobic undertone: “Chinese are not capable of that,” “Chinese cannot be trusted.” Those are racist reflexes on the Olympics of which also other Chinese athletes, as well as athletes from other third-world countries, are the victims. Moreover, when it comes to attacking China, a dimension is added: racism and war preparation go hand in hand. A campaign is underway against the People’s Republic of China in which lies and distortions of the truth in many areas breed hostility and fear of the country, its leaders and even its people. In the case of the accusations against Chinese athletes at the Olympics, it can be seen how easily some journalists from established media go along with this.
In the case of the accusations against Chinese athletes at the Olympics, it is obvious how easily some journalists from established media go along with this. Reporters of Belgian television VRT, provided a typical example regarding the Pan Zhanle incident. The journalists are not outraged because of the booing of a medalist. They go along, somewhat meekly, with the U.S. narrative (“in the U.S., they don’t shy away from using any measure to prove themselves right”) and invoke anonymous experts. The Chinese meanwhile are accused of constructing “questionable arguments” and “totally implausible stories”, and can only “fuss” about “mental stress”. Pan is said to have “lashed out unusually hard at his opponents”. He is the “winner that nobody wanted.”
Is it a stretch to point to the New Cold War against China and to the top dogs in the two major U.S. parties and in the EU and NATO leadership who seem to be pushing for a ‘hot’ war? How much has public opinion changed since say 2008 around issues that basically only concern the Chinese themselves – Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and especially around the fable of China’s aggressiveness in the Pacific? To return to the Games for a moment: before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Western anti-Chinese campaigns were still mainly focused on Tibet, with unashamed disruptions of the Olympic torch relay by separatists and their supporters. Jude Woodward, who was among those in charge of the City of London’s relations with China at the time, was so shocked that it motivated her to write the prophetic book The U.S. versus China.
Compare all this to what is going on in Europe now. That there is still a majority in the West prepared to accept Washington and NATO’s views on the war in Ukraine and to approve arms deliveries to Kiev has been carefully prepared by poisoning people’s minds. In the process, Russia and its president Putin have been and are being demonized to such an extent that political parties, movements and citizens hardly dare to criticize the West’s Ukraine policy, or do not want because they fear they will be ostracized. Let’s return to the Olympics and other sports tournaments: Russian athletes are simply refused entry there, a disgraceful undermining of the Olympic spirit against which there seems to be little opposition. Food for thought when all those stories about “unstoppable, unreliable and aggressive Chinese” are trumpeted.
This article originally appeared in the Belgian website China Square, and has been translated into English by the author, Friends of Socialist China advisory group member Dirk Nimmegeers.
Source: Friends of Socialist China
The International Peoples’ Assembly calls on people around the world to defend Venezuela from U.S. imperialism. The U.S. has once again tried to destabilize the democratic process and independence of Venezuela through violent attacks and operations alongside right-wing governments of the region and the world. The people of the world stand with the Venezuelan people and against U.S imperialism.
On Friday, August 9th, we call on everyone to take to the streets and to social media with messages in defense of democracy and sovereignty. Hands off Venezuela! Post your own message and share @peoplesassembl_ and @movimientosalba posts on social media. Let’s unite with the Venezuelan people in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution.
#HandsOffVenezuela
So, the Democratic Party finally has a complete ticket in the race for Warmonger in Chief. In a text message to supporters, presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris announced that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be her running mate this November. Within minutes of Harris’ selection, the entire Democratic party establishment was crowing over Mr. Walz.
Marc Mellman, chair of the Democratic Majority for Israel fundraising PAC, commented that Walz is a “proud pro-Israel Democrat with a strong record of supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship.” Former President but forever corrupt racist, Bill Clinton heralded Walz as “a terrific choice.” That alone should give one pause.
Several media outlets commented on the electoral logic of Harris’ decision to pick Walz instead of Pennsylvania governor and genocide cheerleader Josh Shapiro. Unlike Shapiro, Walz does not have a long history as an openly firebrand Zionist. Walz’s campaigns and political administrations have focused on domestic and Minnesota-specific issues, and his comments on foreign policy are limited.
Luckily, the Zionist propaganda service known as the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) was kind enough to compile and publish all of Walz’s pro-”Israel” comments and policies, presumably to comfort conservative Zionist-Jewish voters who may view the selection of Walz as a move away from “Israel.” These Zionists need not be worried. Their genocidal regime is safe in the hands of Harris and Walz.
As Minnesota’s governor, Walz consistently refused to take any action to repeal Minnesota’s anti-BDS law or disinvest Minnesota’s government from its $3 billion investment in Israeli war bonds and U.S. defense contractors.
As printed in the JTA, Walz referred to the Palestinian rebellion of Oct. 7 as demonstrative of an “absolute lack of humanity, terrorism and barbarism.” Walz continued, “That’s not a geopolitical discussion. That’s murder.” So, Gov. Walz, are the Palestinian people supposed to meet missiles with “geopolitical discussion”? Imperialist politicians can’t help but shame the oppressed for their resistance.
In June, Walz told the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas that those who fail to recognize “Israel” are anti-Semitic. For what it’s worth, there are plenty of Jewish people as well who refuse to recognize “Israel.” Tim Walz from Minnesota does not have the right to call anti-Zionist Jews anti-Semites.
As the genocide continued and the campus encampment movement against Zionism grew, Walz condemned protesters and framed the pro-Palestine movement as anti-Semitic.
Tim Walz, from Minnesota to Palestine, has made his position clear. Harris’s decision to choose Walz over Shapiro should not fool anyone into believing that a Harris administration will mean the end of the U.S.-backed genocidal regime in Palestine. After all, Walz essentially said so himself.
Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.
Escondido, California, Aug. 1 – In solidarity with demonstrations, rallies, and vigils held in cities across the U.S. in honor of the life of Sonya Massey, North County 4 Palestine organized and hosted a candlelight vigil in front of City Hall. Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black mother of two, called the police for help and was killed in her home in Springfield, Illinois. Police officer Sean Grayson shot her three times, with a fatal shot to the head.
North County 4 Palestine is a community-driven organization that “stands for peace, justice, and freedom for all.”
Vigil organizers placed pictures of Sonya with candles against a palm tree, surrounded by colorful, beautifully arranged flowers.
As more people arrived, a semicircle began to form. Most were young activists, some with candles and flowers to place by the picture of Massey.
Sophie, an organizer with North County 4 Palestine, began by welcoming and thanking everyone for coming out on a Thursday evening. She pointed to the connection between the struggles of Palestinians and people who have been historically oppressed in the U.S. and globally. She said calling the police should not be a death sentence for Black and Brown people or anybody.
Sophie gave some chilling facts about the U.S. criminal justice system, saying, “Over a thousand people are killed by the police in the United States every year, and the numbers in 2024 have passed 750.”
She ended her presentation with a chant, “Say her name,” and the response was, “Sonya Massey!”
Then Sophie introduced speakers from North County Equity and Justice Coalition, Union Del Barrio, and this writer representing the San Diego Coalition to Free Mumia and All Political Prisoners.
Yusef Miller of the North County Equity and Justice Coalition spoke about the history of police violence in San Diego County. He named some of the people killed by San Diego police and border patrol.
Aleah Jinkens died while in San Diego police custody. Alfred Olinga, unarmed, was shot four times by El Cajon police. Valeria Tachiquin, mother of five, was killed by U.S. border patrol agents. These were a few of the names mentioned. He reminded everyone that police terror is real and could happen to any one of us.
The vigil ended with a moment of silence for Sonya and the thousands of others killed by the U.S. criminal justice system.
We must continue to fight and remind each other that the system can never kill our sense of JUSTICE and our struggle for a better world for all people.
Rest in peace and power, Sonya Massey. Your light will never burn out as we continue fighting the injustices plaguing our communities.
Justice for Sonya Massey. Defund! Disarm! Abolish the police.
Baltimore, Aug. 1 – Dozens of protesters took to the streets demanding justice for Sonya Massey and all victims of police terror.
After briefly rallying at Douglas Homes public housing project where the Rev. Annie Chambers – a public housing advocate in East Baltimore – addressed the crowd, the group marched to Baltimore’s police headquarters, blocking traffic on East Fayette Street, chanting “justice for Sonia Massey” and “from Baltimore to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”
The group carried signs exclaiming, “killer cops in cell blocks” with pictures of Massey’s killer, Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Peoples Power Assembly initiated the protest.
Attacks on the Venezuelan electoral system have reached the terrain of cyberwarfare, according to the complaints made by President Nicolás Maduro, the authorities of the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the Attorney General’s Office (MP).
The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, issued a second electoral bulletin on August 2 at noon, where he also reported that there are still signs of massive computer attacks from different parts of the world against the CNE and the Venezuelan state-owned telecommunications companies, which has delayed the transmission of the voting minutes and the announcement of electoral results.
These cyberattacks have been accompanied by the burning of CNE offices in various states and centers for the transmission and reception of computations, causing damage to the electoral infrastructure.
Investigations are ongoing and will be broadened after President Maduro introduced an electoral contentions appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).
However, with the information available up to now, it is possible to tie up loose ends regarding the depth and dimension of this aspect of the hybrid war against Venezuela in the context of a new regime change operation.
Epicenter of cyberattacks
According to the graphs and data published by computer expert Kenny Ossa on July 29, Venezuela was one of the countries that suffered the highest number of cyberattacks in the world.
The map of Ziwit HTTPCS shows that on the election and post-election days, Venezuela was the 39th most “cyberattacked” country in the world.
On July 29 at around 7:55 p.m., the real-time Kaspersky map found Venezuela in 46th place among the countries that have suffered the highest number of cyberattacks in the world, out of 200.
Ossa called attention to “the evident increase” of botnets that “are impacting Venezuela.” He explained that a hive of bots was being maliciously operated in the Venezuelan cyber atmosphere amid the election.
In another post, the computer expert mentioned that there was “a peak of malicious IP addresses between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. on July 28 (6,154 IPs) and 29 (4,714 IPs).” He added that these were “IPs for command and control of botnets, spam, DDoS attacks, etc.” The data is taken from Ziwit’s HTTPCS.
On the morning of July 29, President Maduro reported that there was intense malicious activity of bots in favor of far-right opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and a cyberattack against the CNE transmission system, which caused the slowdown in the counting of votes and transmission of election results.
This cyberattack created a breeding ground for DDoS attacks on websites of some Venezuelan institutions, including that of the CNE, making these websites inaccessible.
Side fact: Misión Verdad’s website was hacked on the morning of election day, so it was unavailable for a few hours. Regular readers of the website can attest to this.
The objective of these swarm attacks can vary, but they often intend to steal confidential information and cause damage to the target’s infrastructure.
The Ministry of Science and Technology explains that “a bot attack is a type of cyberattack that uses automated scripts to disrupt a site, steal data, make fraudulent purchases, or perform other malicious actions. These attacks can be deployed against various targets, such as websites, servers, APIs, and other endpoints.”
All this indicates that Venezuela was indeed saturated with cyberattacks. In addition, there was an attempted electoral blackout: a scenario that requires a high level of security and seriousness in an era where the cyber domain dominates and is of critical and daily use.
A technician’s explanation
It should be highlighted that the reported attack against the CNE system targeted the transmission of data. This does not affect the content of the data since the security mechanisms guarantee its integrity. The results transmitted cannot be altered, but the attack affected the transmission of information.
The delay caused has been remarkable since, according to IT specialist and external auditor of the CNE Victor Theoktisto, the attacks “reduced the connections in such a way that they were rarely completed successfully, slowing down the whole counting process.”
In conversation with Sputnik, Theoktisto explained that “communication between the voting machines and the Totalization Center is based on a WAN [Wide Area Network] provided by the Venezuelan national telephone operator through the telecommunications network that transmits telephone line data [Dial-up], Metro Ethernet, and GSM service or via satellite in remote areas.”
“The transmission network used is exclusive for the electoral process and does not use the Internet,” he added. “All this is extremely secure and encrypted, making it impossible to alter the transmitted data.”
Since the CNE has a system to back up the vote, possesses all the electoral minutes that, as stated in the first bulletin of July 29 at dawn, certify that Nicolás Maduro won the presidential election.
As for the transmission system, the specialist supports President Maduro’s request to the Council of State and the National Defense Council on July 30 to shield the integral security of the electoral technological domain. “Obviously, it will be necessary to use alternative equipment and protocols with greater redundancies to avoid a repetition, including more drastic measures to preserve the security of the transmissions,” Theoktisto commented.
Although Venezuela has an electoral system shielded against frauds of any kind, unlike, for example, the United States and the United Kingdom, the vulnerable flank (transmission system) was undoubtedly attacked with partial success, a technical detail that has been key to the present coup scenario led by María Corina Machado.
Origin of the cyberattacks: North Macedonia
Venezuelan authorities reported that the cyberattacks came from North Macedonia, a country located in the Balkan peninsula, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 2020, and a candidate to join the European Union (EU) since 2005 after splitting from Yugoslavia in 1991.
It is one of the countries that, for a good part of the 20th century, was in the European socialist orbit and is now part of the multinational military organization led by the United States.
In recent years, the refreshed ties between North Macedonia and the United States have consolidated a bilateral relationship of such magnitude that USAID has dozens of active programs throughout the country. The US embassy in the capital, Skopje, also maintains close relations with state and private institutions alike, in addition to close military ties.
Both countries share intelligence information and have a joint program in cybersecurity matters, a collaboration that began in 2018 and is overseen by the US Cyber Command.
It is worth mentioning that in February, a new commander took charge of that branch of the Pentagon, General Timothy Haugh, who is also in charge of the National Security Agency (NSA), the US institution overseeing the cyber domain and whose espionage scandals and malicious activities have gone beyond the limits of its own country.
Haugh announced in April that the US military’s Cyber Command has worked in some 20 countries in the past year under a “proactive approach” and in a secretive manner, including North Macedonia.
North Macedonia’s cyber activity, under US tutelage, is mainly focused on an anti-Russia agenda within the context of the war in Ukraine and Donbass. The agenda was prepared by the experts of the Cyber Command during the Trump era.
Another side fact that is not minor: the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintained (or still maintains) a clandestine detention center (black site) in Skopje, a secret prison financially assisted and run by the US spy agency. This collaboration became known in a report published in 2007, evidencing the close ties between North Macedonia and the United States.
As a NATO member, North Macedonia’s military structure is integrated into NATO. Its request to join the EU has also been accompanied by military adjustments according to the delimitations of European legislation.
The Venezuelan authorities’ accusation was not against the government of North Macedonia. It was only alleged that the cyberattacks came from the country. According to the Kaspersky Cybermap, malicious cyber activity from North Macedonia increased significantly on July 28, peaked on July 29, and exhibited a stable trend in the following days.
These data broaden the perspective on the cyberattack against the CNE, an attempt to throw the electoral system into chaos to benefit the coup agenda of Machado & Co.
Source: Misión Verdad
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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