“I trust that this pamphlet will help the reader to understand the fundamental economic question… the question of the economic essence of imperialism, for unless this is studied, it will be impossible to understand and appraise modern war and modern politics.” 

– Vladimir I. Lenin, Preface to “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism”

The words imperialism, capitalism, socialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism, combined with words like war, occupation, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), IMF (International Monetary Fund), and globalization, are used at many mass demonstrations worldwide. What do these terms mean?

Gary Wilson’s recently released book, “War and Lenin in the 21st Century,” defines these terms with a 21st-century analysis and concrete examples. His analysis build’s on V.I. Lenin’s 20th-century classic, “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” which is also included in the book.

Some of the topics discussed in the book include: 

• What are the key features of imperialism that Lenin describes?
• Does Lenin’s analysis of imperialism hold up today?
• What does this mean for today’s struggles against wars and occupation?

On the cover of Wilson’s book is a protester in the forefront with a facial cover, both hands up, one holding a sign that reads “STOP NATO” and the other giving a peace sign. In the background is a sea of people in Berlin protesting NATO’s involvement in the Russian-Ukraine conflict in January 2023. Protesters gathered under Berlin’s iconic landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, which symbolizes Cold War Berlin. Above the book title is an image of the massive demonstration in Niger against French neo-colonialism and U.S./French imperialism in August 2023.

With the worldwide humanitarian and environmental crisis that exists today as the result of global war, it is imperative that people deepen their understanding of the meaning of imperialist wars, neo-colonialism, and occupation.

I purchased the paperback copy of the book on Amazon and liked the font size, index, and extra blank pages for notes. Having Lenin’s analysis of imperialism included helps in examining how it holds up today by highlighting key terms throughout the book referenced in the index.

Gary Wilson is a writer and co-editor for Struggle-La Lucha. The first five chapters can be accessed online at Struggle-La-Lucha.org, and V.I. Lenin’s “Imperialism” is also available on the Marxists Internet Archive. I highly recommend this book for study and discussion sessions seeking a deeper understanding of imperialism and imperialist wars. A paperback or e-reader copy of the book can be purchased here.

NEW YORK — The “People’s Republic of Brooklyn,” sent New York-based international activist Viola Plummer home as if she were a head of state, with a grand four-hour funeral this with hundreds of family members, friends, and colleagues celebrating her life’s works.

Ms. Plummer was a local leader—with national and global Black community impact. Government representatives from Cuba and Zimbabwe were present; and there was a letter from the Namibian government read at the Queens, New York wake held Jan. 26 and Brooklyn funeral, held at House of the Lord Church on Jan. 27.

Elected officials from New York State and NYC City Council came through to show their respect. At the wake, New York City Mayor Eric Adams quietly stood at the casket, flanked by some of Ms. Plummer’s family members. There were proclamations given at the funeral by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and New York State Senator Cordell Cleare.

“I thought she would be immortal,” a young speaker named Nas said at the wake, and tearfully the crowd nodded in agreement.

“I never thought she would leave,” said Erica Ford, founder of Life Camp, the Queens-based cure violence organization, and longtime family friend.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the Black Liberation Movement’s loss of Comrade Viola Plummer, Chairperson of the December 12th Movement,” declared Attorney Roger Wareham of The December 12th Movement on January 15.

Friends and family gathered at her acclaimed Sista’s Place jazz and community venue in Brooklyn, to simply celebrate her. Spending over six decades in civil and human rights activism, Movement Matriarch Viola Plummer, was 86 years old when she passed.

“Over the past 50 years of my life, I have had the privilege and honor to be tutored and learn and follow the lead of my comrade Sister Viola Plummer in struggling to make fundamental change in the quality of life for the people,” said Omowale Clay, co-founder of the Bed Stuy, Brooklyn-based civil and human rights organization. “My legacy to her is to continue the struggle. Viola Plummer was the last of the five original core founders of the December 12th Movement: Sonny Abubadika Carson, Coltrane Chimurenga, Elombe Brath, and Father Lucas, they are all gone now.”

On Friday, January 26 to Saturday, January 27—from the packed wake to the standing- room-only funeral, she was praised repeatedly, as the virtuous and courageous Black Power ambassador. Black liberation in all its forms was her agenda. Ms. Plummer taught by doing, the people declared.

Activist Lionel Jean Baptiste reminded everyone that Ms. Plummer would say that the work still needs to be done, and we have to do it by doing it.

It was the tone set for the weekend.

Rev. Dr. Karen Smith-Daughtry blessed the funeral with impassioned recollections of Ms. Plummer, and her dedication to the community work—which she implored must continue.

“This is a hard one,” Rev. Karen Daughtry said after telling of her long history with Ms. Plummer; and mentioning some of the notable visitors to the historic House of the Lord Church; including Winnie and Nelson Mandela, and Rev. Jesse Jackson when he first decided to run for president.

“Viola was my friend,” continued the reverend. They were there to celebrate a “life committed to the causes of our people … The life of a revolutionary, a woman full of fervor and no-nonsense … . Fear was not in her vocabulary … she spoke truth to power.” And now, “There’s a job to be done. She has left a sacred assignment … finish the gig.”

Health challenges notwithstanding, Minister Akbar Muhammad, the International Representative for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam attended the funeral bringing condolences.

In ‘the Movement,’ Minister Akbar Muhammad said, despite any differences of opinion, “When it came to this ‘struggle’ with our brothers and sisters—Minister Farrakhan was right there. His love for Viola was the kind of love that people don’t feel all the time, but he loved her.”

He spoke of the “the struggle,” of the people around the world, and the need to be involved. “All the young brothers and sisters … who are struggling for you, struggling for tomorrow, so we can have better days as Africans. So be that. Have no fear. Be a strong struggler. Fear is your biggest enemy,” whether it is concern for the consequences of doing the right, but uncomfortable thing; or just being bold. “Fear is your worst enemy,” he said. “Stand up like a man or woman. Stand up like Viola.”

Community advocate Charles Barron spoke of crying for days, but now was fired up. He said as well as being a close personal friend to himself and his wife Inez Barron, Ms. Plummer had served as chief-of-staff to both during both their recent stints as City Council and State Assembly representatives for East New York.

“My heart is heavy, and my tears soaked my soul! My beloved friend of over 40 years is gone. It is significant that Viola Plummer transitioned on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. It is fitting that two people who loved our people will now be forever linked in history. My sister Viola Plummer was completely committed to our community.” Ms. Plummer, he said, “told me to bring President Mugabe to City Hall,” he said, referring to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

He told The Final Call, “Viola was a revolutionary, and she called out people in power who betrayed the community, and we should continue to do that. As she would say— that is the gig.”

The sanctuary and the overflow room, seating hundreds, had no room for folks eager to enter, and the lines of people stretched down the block for hours, late into the evening.

“In the movies, they have a saying that; bravery means you ride to the sound of the gun, wherever the battle is,” said Rev. Herbert Daughtry, the National Presiding Minister Emeritus of The House of the Lord Churches. “Wherever the cannons are booming, that’s where you want to go. Viola Plummer would be present where the issues were. She would ride to the sound of people debating the issues.”

Beloved talk radio host Bob Law braved through his own medical challenge to pay a salute to Ms. Plummer. Always carrying the need to release political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, as recently-freed Sundiata Acoli looked on, Philadelphia-based activist Pam Africa got emotional and passionate, talking about the focus Ms. Plummer and the December 12th Movement maintained in bringing justice for the activists who had spent decades in jail for their Black Panther and Black Liberation Army commitments over 50 years ago.

Meanwhile, Chicago’s Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., brought that on-the-ground energy which Ms. Plummer so embodied.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa sent a message read at the funeral for “a gallant liberation fighter, a true pan-Africanist who stood by Zimbabwe throughout her illustrious life … Zimbabwe will forever remain grateful and indebted to the great sacrifices that Comrade Plummer made for the country.”

President Mnangagwa said that “After realizing that their fight for freedom and justice in the U.S. was not going to be completely fruitful without going back to the roots, Comrade Viola, Comrade Chimurenga, and others decided to scan for brotherhood and solidarity with fellow Africans and other global citizens fighting for the freedom of all humanity, and the eradication of the system of racism.”

To that end the December 12th Movement, the president said, established “solid relations not only with the liberation movements in Zimbabwe, but also in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Venezuela, and Cuba, to mention a few.”

“She was the beloved. We lose Viola’s ubiquitous presence. We lose her voice, her passion and vigor, and her articulation of the causes that Vi espoused. We miss her. She was always on the case,” said Rev. Daughtry. “She was fearless, and forceful with fire in her eyes and fury in her voice, and an absolutely loyal comrade. I’m glad that she’s coming home in our church.”

Born and raised in Queens, Ms. Plummer had been an activist since her teenage years.

She was a community advocate, who went beyond the local issues concerning; housing, worker’s rights, police brutality, education disparities, and the impact of institutionalized racism. She was well-versed in international issues, including; the effects of Western foreign policy in nations like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Niger, and Namibia.

The December 12th Movement has fought against injustice in New York City and beyond since its formation in 1987, organizing protests such as: the 1991 Korean market boycott; they successfully protested against and shut down the 2010 Scottsboro Boys musical; every year they close down retail stores in Harlem in honor of Malcolm X’s birthday; they have stood outside multi-billion dollar condos appearing all over Black neighborhoods, that priced-out the traditional residents; and they have demonstrated against police killings of unarmed Black people for decades; and inner city killings.

“I didn’t just want to be a witness,” Ms. Plummer once said. ”I wanted to be a part of the movement.” And she was a local, national, and international leader on so many issues over her 50 years of people-centered activism.

December 12th Movement attorney Roger Wareham said, “We became the December 12th Coalition—around a number of issues, and that was just the date that was chosen. It was the first time Minister Louis Farrakhan had ever protested with us because the Nation of Islam was already looking into some issues upstate. Several statewide issues converged at the time—the Tawana Brawley case—a young girl found with ‘KKK’ written on her, and we held the protest in Newburgh in 1987. Back in 1985, Viola Plummer had been a part of the New York 8. We had been fighting and were acquitted finally in the case; where prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani falsely accused eight revolutionaries of an armored conspiracy and charged us with RICO. A charge he is now facing incidentally.”

“We were eight people who were doing nothing more than organizing and fighting for freedom,” Ms. Plummer said at the time.

With hundreds of members and associates throughout the decades, the December 12th Movement formed many groups. They include: the Citywide Mobilization Committee Against Police Brutality, the Black Men’s Movement Against Crack, the African Peoples Farmers Market, the Million Youth March, the Durban 400 to the UN Conference Coalition Against Racism, the Katrina Support Coalition, the Freedom Party, the Founding Meeting of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, the Stop Ethnic Cleansing Campaign, the stop the Killing Campaign, the Zimbabwe Anti-Sanctions Campaign, the Cuba Youth Conference, or the United Front Against Facism Campaign.

The last victory—after a protracted struggle that Ms. Plummer witnessed, was the signing of the Reparations Bill in December 2023. Then, New York State finally succumbed to the decades-long demand to look into the impact of slavery on the Black people in New York, made by the December 12th Movement, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, the Institute of the Black World, and the NAACP.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of a great Movement Matriarch Viola Plummer, co-founder of the December 12th Movement,” said State Senator Cordell Cleare, co-sponsor of the Reparations bill. “Viola Plummer was a community organizer for the majority of her 86 years of life. With her no-nonsense approach to advocacy, Viola was a fighter until the very end. My sincerest condolences to her family and friends and everyone who knew her at home and abroad.”

“Queen Viola is a legend,” said community organizer Divine Allah. The Youth Minister of the New Black Panther Party told the Final Call, “We have lost a true fighter. But we have the blueprint she gave us. She was a bold, fearless, uncompromising Black woman. She was our sister, our mother, our grandmother, our aunty—our Powerful Black Warrior Queen. We are thankful, and we are grateful that we were able to be led and taught by her.”

Ms. Plummer was the mother of four— two preceded her in death—Lisa and Robert Taylor and was the grandmother of 11 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Nayaba Arinde is an Editor-at-Large, award-winning reporter and activist. Follow her on Instagram @NayabaArinde1

Source: Final Call

Marie Maude Leblanc, the longest-serving member of the socialist weekly Haïti Progrès, died of lung and brain cancer on Jan. 25, 2024, at the age of 69.

Born Aug. 31, 1954, in Port-au-Prince, she spent most of her life living outside of Haiti but always devoting herself to radical social change in her home country.

The eldest child of Leonvil Leblanc, one of Haiti’s foremost union leaders in the 1960s, she developed as a child a sharp understanding of political dynamics, having to flee Haiti at the age of 10 with her mother and two younger siblings to the Dominican Republic, to which her father had fled a year earlier.

There, she lived through the April to September 1965 U.S. Marine invasion of the country, domiciled in the very Santo Domingo neighborhood where the heaviest and deadliest fighting took place. She used to describe to her Haïti Progrès co-workers how a cease-fire would be called midday during the war. She with her family and neighbors would venture out into the bullet-ridden streets, circumnavigating dead bodies and buildings’ rubble, to gather food and water. An hour later, a whistle would blow, and fighting would resume.

Such experiences and her father’s activism surely forged the steely side of her character, while her always religious and ebulliently cheerful mother, Lamericie Leblanc, likely brought forth her upbeat, encouraging, nurturing side, which made the rigors of working at a cash-strapped, radical Haitian weekly that much easier for her comrades to endure. Her quick, melodious laugh, thoughtful advice and insights, and Sylvio Rodriguez playlists made her the “poto mitan” (center pillar) of Haïti Progrès’ New York office for most of 40 years.

After spending three years without her parents at a Catholic boarding school in the DR, Maude with her siblings traveled to New York in the early 1970s to be reunited with their parents.

She attended Hunter College, where she became active in the CUNY-wide Association of Haitian Students and teaching ESL classes to Haitian immigrants at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were a heady period for progressive Haitians. The Duvalier dictatorship was beginning to crumble, and most students became caught up in the political fervor of the time.

Maude was recruited into the Haitian Liberation Movement (MHL), led by Ben Dupuy, a dynamic communist revolutionary who died in April 2023. She was part of a progressive student movement called Idées, helped found the Association of Haitian Workers (ATH), and then in 1983 the weekly Haïti Progrès, where she spent hundreds of hours typing up articles on a giant, noisy typesetting machine, working in close collaboration with Dupuy and French school-teacher Jeanie Loubet, whose trenchant, elegant writing defined the muck-raking “Journal qui offre une alternative.” She also did many of the voice-overs in the award-winning 1983 film Bitter Cane, produced by some of her Haïti Progrès comrades.

For the next four decades, Maude worked mostly in Brooklyn, NY, with occasional stints in Haiti, producing the weekly.

During that time, she suffered numerous trials and losses. In 1995, Jeanie Loubet and former political prisoner Jacques Magloire left Haïti Progrès. In 2006 and 2007, several Haïti Progrès writers left the paper to start another weekly, Haïti Liberté. In 2012, Maude and her life companion and soul mate, Georges Honorat, politically broke with Dupuy, expelling him from Haïti Progrès and the National Popular Party (PPN).  A year later, in 2013, a gunman on a motorcycle fatally shot Honorat in front of his home in Port-au-Prince in what was likely a political, but still unsolved, assassination. A year later, in 2014, Harry Numa, another former PPN leader and dear friend, drowned after his car fell in a river in Jérémie at night.

Despite such body blows, Maude soldiered on, producing the paper with writers in the U.S. and Haiti.

However, in late 2023, years of relentless chain-smoking caught up with her, although she quit cigarettes almost a decade ago. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which then spread to her brain.

Fluent in four languages, a lover of mystery novels, and a gifted event organizer, Maude’s bubbly yet thoughtful personality combined with her competence and persistence to make her an extraordinary leader, despite her modest and retiring ways. Above all, her undying commitment to and sacrifice for radical social change allowed her to become one of the giants of her generation’s political actors.

In a Jan. 30 press release, Haïti Progrès wrote that: “A dedicated and loving woman, she was the heart, support, and balance of the entire team. Showing great optimism, she never gave up and brought strength and dynamism to all those around her.”

The obituary her family produced states that Maude’s sister-in-law interviewed her in 2009. Maude described her journey as “years of intellectual learning, but there’s the actual experience of living it as much as possible, because it all comes down to: from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”

She is survived by her brother Myrthon (Milton) and sister Marie France (Francia), sister-in-law Nadine, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

A viewing and service will be held on Fri., Feb. 2, 2024 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Frank R. Bell Funeral Home, 536 Sterling Place in Brooklyn, NY 11238. Tel. 718-399-2500.

In Haiti, a memorial will be held the same day at the Galata Inn hotel, 57 Rue Capois in Port-au-Prince at 10 a.m.

Source: Haïti Liberté

War & Lenin in the 21st Century

Join Struggle-La Lucha for Socialism for classes on the new book

“War and Lenin in the 21st Century,” which includes Lenin’s “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism”.

Our study group begins on Sunday, Feb. 4,

6 pm East Coast, 5 pm Central, 4 pm Mountain, 3 pm West Coast

• Our first class is an introduction to the classes by the book’s author, Gary Wilson.
• Followed by three discussion groups on consecutive Sundays at the same time period with assigned reading from the book.

What are the key features of imperialism that Lenin describes?

Does Lenin’s analysis of imperialism hold up today?

What does this mean for today’s struggles against wars and occupation?

To attend, you must register: REGISTER HERE

You can obtain the book (kindle or paperback) on Amazon: “War and Lenin in the 21st Century.”

War and Lenin in the 21st Century

Teach-In on Yemen: What you need to know

Hear Bill Dores, Al-Awda NY/NJ, longtime activist for Palestine.

REGISTER HERE

Thursday, Feb 1, 7 pm (hybrid meeting)
In person 6:45 pm {or attend on Zoom at 7 pm}
at the Harriet Tubman Solidarity Center,
2011 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

We will start on Zoom at 7 pm sharp.

To participate on Zoom you must register

REGISTER HERE

Get PDF here

• U.S. finance capital owns the bombs falling on Palestine
• Made in the U.$.: White phosphorus weapons
• Massive march and rally in D.C.: Stop the genocide in Gaza!
• Palestinians vow ‘We Will Remain’
• Palestinian Resistance on the decision of the International Court of Justice
• New Orleans keeps marching, rallies for Yemen
• Far-right deepens threats to trans lives, Biden stays silent
• Justice for Tawfik Aldeljabbar
• On the 100th anniversary of the death of V.I. Lenin
• 75 years of Lao People’s Army
• Police in Berlin attack Palestine solidarity activists
• ‘Black and a Red’: Rank-and-file ILWU Local 10 leader Leo Robinson linked local and global fights for justice
• If I must die / You must live / To tell my story …
• South African lawsuit against U.S. for complicity in Israel’s war crimes
• Celebración MLK y militarización en PR

You can’t use a restroom in a public building, your school, or the airport without facing jail or violence. The medication you rely on to stay alive is suddenly denied you. 

You fear arrest for speaking in public or even walking past your neighborhood school. The government is collecting intimate medical and legal records about you – for what purpose, they won’t say, but you know it’s nothing good.

It sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? But this is the daily reality facing trans people across the United States in 2024. An entire section of the population is being legislated out of existence before our eyes through a well-financed, coordinated campaign by far-right extremists, with nary a peep from the federal government. 

Between this year and last, half of U.S. states have passed anti-trans legislation or enacted executive measures against trans lives.

Threats of violence by neo-Nazis grow in tandem with the “official” attacks. Incursions by hate groups aimed at queer events and spaces are becoming more common even in “safe” cities like Los Angeles and Boston. 

In New York, the fascist Patriot Front held a march in lower Manhattan on Jan. 20; videos taken at the scene showed police allowing them to enter the subway system without paying and otherwise taking a completely hands-off attitude. The same day, New York cops viciously attacked a pro-Palestine march in upper Manhattan, targeting protest leaders and arresting at least 12 people.

While the Biden administration is neck-deep in Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, another genocide is being prepared right here by Biden’s political opponents – against transgender people.

More than 300 hate bills

Since Jan. 1, at least 317 anti-trans bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. These are being swiftly voted into law and are even more extreme than those in 2022 and 2023: total bans on gender-affirming healthcare for people of all ages, bathroom bans, refusal to recognize the identities of students and teachers, and increasingly, measures that would make simply being out in public illegal for trans people.

On Jan. 26, Utah passed HB257, a law banning trans students from using the correct restrooms for their gender, trans public employees from using the correct restrooms in their workplaces, and any trans person from using restrooms in public facilities like airports. Trans people could be imprisoned for up to six months – jailed with people of the opposite gender. The law depends on vigilante-style “citizen reporting,” like Texas’s snitch laws on abortion. 

The measure also ends gender-affirming care for trans youths and bans them from participating in sports, among many other attacks. Republican leaders bragged about how they revised the bill at the last minute in an attempt to prevent legal challenges like those that met Utah’s abortion ban. 

Ohio is a beachhead in the Midwest for hate measures. Despite their abortion ban being thoroughly rejected by voters in a statewide referendum, Republicans who dominate the state government have enacted some of the most brutal anti-trans laws this month. On Jan. 24, the state legislature overrode the veto of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who thought he could more cleverly achieve the same ends with executive measures. But DeWine’s planned attacks on trans lives just weren’t vicious enough for his colleagues.

Texas is attempting to subpoena medical records of trans residents who visit other states for care, while Florida and other states move to compile lists of trans state residents, including legal records related to name and gender changes. These are often paired with measures to rescind identification, like driver’s licenses and birth certificates. 

Florida is also attempting to force insurance companies to cover deadly anti-LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy” for trans children while denying them real health care. Oklahoma’s Department of Education hired Chaya Raichik, a transphobic social media troll who last year instigated bomb threats against the Tulsa School District, among many other targets. And on and on.

No protection from Biden, Dems

It seems almost impossible that the anti-trans panic that started a few years ago could grow so swiftly into a campaign of legal and extra-legal eradication. But with zero resistance from Democrats in the White House and Congress – and with the cooperation of more than a few – the fascist measures have advanced unimpeded. 

On Jan. 25, Democrats in Maine struck another blow against trans rights, joining Republicans in voting down a measure to make Maine a sanctuary state.

LGBTQ+ nonprofits tied to the Democrats have offered little opposition either outside of courtrooms. Yet the courts, both at the state and federal levels, right up to the U.S. Supreme Court, are dominated by the ultra-right. 

The result: Many tens of thousands of internal refugees are fleeing dangerous conditions for so-called “safe” states – often the most expensive like California and New York – which claim to be sanctuaries for persecuted LGBTQ+ people but provide no resources to make housing, health care, or jobs accessible. Millions more are without the resources or ability to flee, trapped under the domination of those who make clear they want to eliminate trans people.

A California activist recently told Struggle-La Lucha about a trans couple he is trying to find housing for. The couple fled Michigan – considered a “safe state” on the legislative front this year – after death threats. The prohibitive cost of housing is a major obstacle to providing refuge for them and other trans refugees.

Already, the Democratic Party and its social media operatives have started a campaign of attacks on LGBTQ+ people who criticize Biden’s inaction on trans rights and participation in genocide in Gaza, telling people they are “supporting Donald Trump” and threatening them with the prospect of being rounded up and imprisoned – or worse – for opposing Biden.

Who benefits?

Behind the coordinated nationwide campaign to dehumanize and eradicate trans people are wealthy capitalists who see the growing fascist movement as a guarantee of their grip on power. 

In this time of deepening political, economic, and military crisis for U.S. imperialism worldwide, there is no incentive among any section of the ruling class to oppose the politics of divide and conquer taken to the extreme. 

Recently, the New York Times ran an article on the role of the Claremont Institute, one of the well-funded think tanks coordinating the attacks on trans rights, abortion, diversity programs, and “critical race theory” – ironic, given the Times’ role in disseminating and normalizing anti-trans and anti-affirmative action propaganda. This and similar media exposes never touch on the underlying systemic roots of the crisis.

The whole capitalist class and its political institutions, including the corporate media, are deeply committed to keeping workers and other parts of the population fighting against each other rather than the profit system that exploits us. 

The Coalition to Protect Trans Lives, organizers of last October’s National March to Protect Trans Youth & Speakout for Trans Rights, released this statement: 

“Last Oct. 7, we brought together hundreds of people from across the U.S. on the front lines in Orlando, Florida. We said then that Orlando was just a first step toward building an independent fight-back movement in the spirit of Stonewall, AIDS activism, and the Civil Rights Movement. 

“This election year presents special challenges to our efforts to build an independent grassroots movement. There will be enormous pressure (in fact, it’s already begun) to drop every form of protest in favor of electoral campaigning for ‘lesser evil’ candidates, many of whom have already proven their utter indifference to trans rights. 

“But we believe it is necessary to persevere and continue the struggle in the streets – because whoever is in the White House and Congress next year, we will need to continue the fight for our very lives and the existence of our community. 

“We also remain committed to breaking down barriers and uniting with other communities that are under attack – Palestinian, Arab and Muslim people targeted for challenging the genocide in Gaza; immigrants and refugees facing execution at the U.S.-Mexico border; pregnant people whose lives and well-being are sacrificed to the altar of repressive abortion bans; workers whose access to healthcare, food, and housing are being stripped away by attacks on Medicaid, SNAP, and other social programs; and so many more.”The Coalition to Protect Trans Lives will hold an initial organizing call for 2024 on Wednesday, Feb. 7.  Readers who want to participate are urged to contact info@protecttranskidsmarch.org or fill out the interest form at ProtectTransKidsMarch.org for details.

The general strike against the austerity measures and the Omnibus Law was strongly felt throughout the country yesterday.  Although the mobilization had its epicenter in the Capital, in the main cities of the interior, there were massive protests as well. According to Tiempo Argentino, over a million and a half people filled the streets of the country.

There were unprecedented demonstrations, for example, in Mar del Plata and Bariloche, and large mobilizations throughout every province against the austerity measures.

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) announced that more than one and a half million people had mobilized throughout Argentina to protest against the decree and the Omnibus Law.

The images that circulated in the networks showed large gatherings in almost all the capitals of Argentina. In the City of Buenos Aires, getting to Congress was an almost impossible task.

In Córdoba, a district very favorable to Milei, the march ended in Patio Olmos, and traffic was cut off for several blocks around. As the CGT is divided in La Docta, there was also another congregation in Plaza España.

In La Rioja, the march was also massive, as well as in Mar del Plata, where it is estimated that there were 40 thousand people. The protest ended at the monument to San Martín.

In Jujuy, the demonstration converged at the government house, while in Salta, they congregated at Plaza 9 de Julio.

In Bariloche, in an unprecedented protest, thousands of people arrived at the Civic Center to express their rejection to Javier Milei’s measures. On the coast, there were images of demonstrators applauding from the beach.

Plaza Independencia, in San Miguel, was the scene of the main protest in Tucumán. In the city of Santa Fe, there was a demonstration of state employees in front of the Ministry of Education of the province, where they claimed 191 dismissals of workers, and then they went to the Legislature, where the central labor unions were carrying out their central act in the district.

In Santa Cruz, the measure of force was supported by the construction (Uocra), mining and oil, gas, and state unions, which in the afternoon will concentrate in a march to be held in Río Gallegos.

In Neuquén, more than fifty social, union, and student organizations, tenants and cultural associations, cooperatives, and other organizations participated in a massive mobilization against DNU 70/2023 and the “Ley Bases.”

Milei had threatened repercussions from those who protested, but the sheer massive numbers put the balance of forces firmly on the side of those in the streets who opposed his Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) and his austere Omnibus Law. The massive display of opposition comes just 45 days since Milei became president and is just the first round of struggle against his Bolsanaro like model of neoliberalism.

Source: Resumen Latinoamricano – Buenos Aires with contribution from Tiempo Argentino

On Jan. 26, the International Court of Justice accepted the genocide case brought by South Africa. In the acceptance, the court ordered the Zionist regime to take all measures to prevent the killing or wounding of Palestinians.

The court’s order says:

“The Court indicates the following provisional measures:

(1) By fifteen votes to two,

The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular:

(a) killing members of the group;

(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

 (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Following are responses from the Palestinian Resistance posted on the Resistance News Network:

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Regardless of its direct disregard for the call to stop the aggression on the Strip, The Popular Front welcomes the decision of the International Court of Justice to accept the invitation presented by South Africa.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine welcomed the decision (https://t.me/PalestineResist/27364) of the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding what it presented today on the urgent measures required to stop the genocide war against our people, expressing hope for the necessity of implementing these decisions and imposing their implementation on the zionist entity, starting legal accountability mechanisms for this occupation, considering it a brutal occupying force practicing all forms of massacres, killings, siege, displacement, and genocide, despite the fact that the authority to implement the ceasefire decision lies with the United Nations Security Council.

The Front stated: “Regardless of the fact that the International Court of Justice today did not issue a direct decision to stop the aggression on the Gaza Strip and our rejection of what was mentioned in the decision regarding the legitimate operation of October 7th against the brutal occupation, what was included in the text of its decisions today regarding the response to South Africa’s invitation is a historic decision, and a victory for justice and the Palestinian cause, especially since there is almost consensus from the court judges to proceed in considering the invitation presented by South Africa.”

The Front expressed its pride and honor in the Republic of South Africa for its great efforts in supporting the just struggle of the Palestinian people, calling for more solidarity and escalating activities to support our people and boycott the occupation, through the continuation of the global intifada of rage against the forces supporting the genocide war, affirming that all forces believing in justice and humanity should escalate their struggle against the system of brutality that exterminates our people from the imperialist powers that have violated our occupied Palestinian land.

The Front concluded its statement by affirming that the struggle is long to prosecute the leaders of the occupation and their partners in America, Britain, and others for their heinous crimes against the Palestinian people. It considered that this invitation presented by South Africa constitutes a step towards achieving this goal, despite the fact that the main bet today in facing genocide, massacres, injustice, and brutality should be on our people first, our Arab nation, and the free people of the world in light of the collusion and inaction of the international system, and their blatant bias towards the occupation.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
January 26, 2024

Hamas political bureau member Izzat Al-Rishq

The International Court of Justice’s acceptance (https://t.me/PalestineResist/27393) of the genocide case filed by South Africa, and the court’s rejection of “israel’s” request to dismiss it, is an important step towards justice for our people. It signifies the initiation of proceedings and procedures to hold “israel” accountable for its crimes, indicating that it cannot escape accountability. This marks a significant beginning in holding “israel” and all its supporters accountable for the genocidal crimes committed against our people.

The court’s adoption of the demand for urgent measures to protect our civilian people and to stop all acts leading to killing and genocide is an acknowledgment by the court of the magnitude of the crime committed by the terrorist occupation in the Strip.

We call for immediate action to oblige the occupation to implement the ruling of the International Court of Justice and to confront any zionist attempts to evade this obligation, and reject any attempts by the American administration, a partner in the crimes of genocide in Gaza, to circumvent the ruling.

We look forward to the International Court of Justice proceeding with its actions to try the zionist occupation entity for the fully-fledged crime of genocide that continues against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This crime has not ceased or diminished even after the commencement of the trial sessions, but was accompanied by brazen zionist positions attacking the court and ongoing American positions washing the hands of the occupation from the blood of innocent children, women, and elders.

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

On the decision of the International Court of Justice:

The Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas welcomes the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague (https://t.me/PalestineResist/27364), which indicted the occupying state on charges of genocide, and demands that the occupation army protect civilians, lift the siege imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip, and respect its duties as an occupying force within the framework of international law and international humanitarian law. This decision means the cessation of all forms of aggression against our Palestinian people in Gaza.

We call on the international community to oblige the enemy to implement the court’s decisions and stop the ongoing “crime of genocide” against our people. We look forward to the court’s final decisions convicting the occupying state of committing the crime of “genocide,” war crimes, and crimes against humanity. This decision opens the way for enemy leaders to be held accountable for these crimes before the International Criminal Court, affirming the rights of our Palestinian people to self-determination, establishing their independent state, and returning to their lands and homes from which they were forcefully displaced, in line with international resolutions on this matter.

We in the Hamas movement appreciate the genuine position of the Republic of South Africa, its support for our Palestinian people and the justice of their cause, its sincere endeavor to repel the aggression against the Gaza Strip, and its rejection of the brutal crimes of the occupation. We also extend our thanks to all countries that have expressed their support for this noble humanitarian action.

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

Millions march worldwide, unions act in solidarity

The Palestinian uprising on Oct. 7 occurred after 75 years of brutal colonial occupation. Palestinian leader Leila Khaled says: ”Liberation is not achieved at the negotiation table.” 

Palestinian leaders have been continuously negotiating, during which time the Zionist arrests of Palestinians increased, as have Zionist settlements, with the confiscation of Palestinian land and the demolition of their homes, murdering and maiming many in the process. Palestinians were imprisoned in their own occupied territory through the Israel checkpoints.

Even before October, the Zionist entity was engaged in conducting a system of apartheid in Palestine, where the original people were denied their right to survival.

Since October, in over 100 days of bombing, Israel has killed nearly 25,000 Gazans, nearly 10,000 of them children. The Zionist goal appears to be the complete extermination of the Palestinian people. The Biden administration has assisted with billions of dollars of U.S.-manufactured weapons. U.S. weapons, including 2,000-pound bombs, are falling on homes and apartment blocks, murdering children, women, men, the elderly, and the youth.

Palestinians are ordered to evacuate their homes. Then, the refugee caravans and camps are bombed mercilessly. Hospitals and UN relief centers are targeted. Access to food and drinking water is blocked. Disease is spreading unchecked.

Cuba and South Africa charge genocide in the World Court

On January 9, South Africa initiated proceedings in the International Court of Justice against Israel for the Crime of Genocide. Cuba issued formal support. Indonesia followed with a similar proceeding. Chile and Mexico have called upon the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s crimes. Beginning in November, Bolivia, South Africa, Djibouti, and the Comoros called on the court to investigate war crimes of genocide in Palestine.

Namibia rejected Germany’s support of the genocidal Intent of the racist Israeli state against the people of Gaza. They commented that Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century against thousands of Namibians. 

In countries around the world, millions have taken to the streets to demand a ceasefire.

Major labor unions in the U.S. and abroad have pledged solidarity with the call of the Palestinian General Confederation of Labor to take action against governments, like the U.S., that are arming Israel. They are picketing munitions factories and shutting down weapon shipments at the ports.

On January 12, the U.S. bombed Yemen in retribution for their solidarity with the Palestine people. Millions of Yemenis have protested, and militants are struggling to block arms shipments to Israel.

Leila Khaled says:  “We hear from inside Gaza those standing in the rubble chanting: We are with the resistance, and we will remain in the land of Palestine. Resistance against the Zionist entity has not stopped since the occupation and the displacement of the masses of refugees in different countries. Yes, Palestinian society was destroyed in 1948, but the Palestinian people restores itself every time.”