Posted by admin on January 16, 2012 under Uncategorized | 
I Fell in Love with Cuba
Interview with Liu Yuqin,
Ambassador of China
By CLAUDIA FONSECA SOSA
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann
"I’m sad and happy at the same time," said Liu Yuqin, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, upon receiving the Order of Solidarity recently granted to her by the Cuban Council of State. "Sad, because my stay in Cuba is ending, and happy because the relations between Cuba and China are getting deeper with each passing day," she commented during a visit to Granma a few days before returning to her country.
Cuba has been linked to a good part of your diplomatic career; what does this mean to you?
From 1996 to 2000 I was the Political Counselor at the Embassy of China in Havana. Ten years later I returned as the Ambassador, a posting I conclude this year 2012. I also worked at the Latin American Department of the Foreign Ministry in China and from there I was closely linked to subjects related to the island. I can affirm that I owe a lot to Cuba.
From my childhood I learned about the Cuban Revolution. I began admiring Fidel, Raúl and all the leaders of their historical generation. Of course, at that time I could not imagine that years later I would be so closely linked to this country, nor foresee that I would be representing my country here. This is a people I admire for its resistance to adversity and for its happiness. I have sincerely enjoyed my diplomatic mission in Cuba, and I believe in these years I fell in love with the country.
How do you assess the state of the bilateral relations?
The links between Cuba and China keep consolidating not only in the political and economic areas, but also in culture, health and education, among other aspects. We have established a very important and mutually beneficial strategic cooperation.
At present, China remains the second trading partner of Cuba. And, even as the world economic crisis has affected all of us, the trade between both nations is increasing.
We have made great progress in biotechnological cooperation. A number of products are already being jointly produced, such as monoclonal antibodies and interferon, and there are plans to produce other medicines.
The first group of Chinese students who were learning Spanish at Cuban Universities has already graduated. This is very important for us, because the relations between China and the Latin American countries are at a very good point and we have a shortage of Spanish’ speaking staff. There are also many young Chinese students who come to Cuba to study medicine.
There is a favorable climate and great political trust between both nations. For example, in July last year, the Cuban Government received the visit of Vice President Xi Jinping. This meeting was an important step for the present and future relations, evidence of which was the signing of 13 agreements for commercial and economic exchanges.
You had the opportunity to live and work on the island at different moments of the revolutionary process. Could you see any transformations between the Cuba you left 11 years ago and the one you are leaving now?
My first posting here was in the midst of the difficult years of the Special Period. It was clear that the Cuban economy had deteriorated; there were problems with public transport, very few products in the markets. I remember the blackouts.
Ten years later I returned and saw a prettier and more dynamic Havana. There are more cars circulating, particularly more public transport. There are more restaurants of different categories, a greater offer at the agro markets and there is a happier and more hopeful environment.
I really feel glad for all Cuba has achieved. I congratulate you for the successful coordination of the Congress of the Communist Party and hope the coming holding of the Conference is equally successful. Cuba is moving forward in the path of socialism.
What are the main internal challenges China is facing at present?
Improving the standard of living of the population has always been a main task for the Chinese government, and in this sense we have taken important steps particularly in the last 30 years. We will continue developing our economy so that our growth remains stable. We will continue the reforms and opening up. We will endeavor to fulfill the commitments outlined in the 12th Five-year Plan. My country promotes a policy of peaceful development and will continue working for its people through a socialist way with its own characteristics. The most important thing is that each country can decide its own destiny. Cuba and China agree on this.
Posted by admin on December 17, 2011 under Marxism, Political Economy, Socialism, Youth and Students |
Edited by Carl Davidson,
Changemaker Publications
Pittsburgh PA, 2011
By Jerry Harris
Carl Davidson has done a tremendous service to anyone who studies the history of social movements or anyone interested in the 1960s rebellion. This "lost" collection of papers reveals the depth and richness of radical thinking coming out of the student movement as the war raged in Viet-Nam and militant protestors marched through the streets of America.
The most important document is the "Port Authority Statement," by SDS members David Gilbert, Robert Gottlieb and Gerry Tenney. Although at the time not widely circulated, it offers great insight into the thinking and analysis of SDS as it turned to revolutionary theory and debate. This is an impressive document. Detailed in statistical and economic analysis, grounded in revolutionary social theory, and innovative in its thinking and insights.
One of the most important sections of the paper was its class analysis with its focus on the new working class and the relationship of students to an economy shifting from manufacturing to services and technology. The documents notes that, "Modern American capitalism is characterized by rapid technological change with scientific knowledge growing at a logarithmic rate." This will result in the "elimination of unskilled labor (as) the blue-collar sector will decrease (and) jobs that require high degrees of education and training" will increase. (pages 88-89)
That analysis was made in 1966. Now read a recent article by Edward Luce from the Financial Times: "the middle-skilled jobs that once formed the ballast of the world’s wealthiest middle class are disappearing. They are being supplanted by relatively low-skilled (and low-paid) jobs that cannot be replaced either by new technology or by offshoring – such as home nursing and landscape gardening. Jobs are also being created for the highly skilled, notably in science, engineering and management. (12/11/11) Decades later the paper’s main thesis still holds up.
Continuing its class analysis the Port Authority document examined the capitalist class and the debate over ownership and control. The authors focused attention on the growing trend towards paying executives with large stock rewards, merging management and ownership. Again we can turn to a recent article published in the December 2011 Monthly Review that reads, "More recently, David Harvey has argued that ownership (share holders) and management (CEOs) of capitalist enterprises have fused together, as upper management is increasingly paid with stock options." (Richard Peet) This "recent" argument now being made by a leading Marxist trails Port Authority by some 45 years.
Although the authors grasped the sweeping impact that technology would have on American workers, what they could not see would be globalization and the advent of neo-liberalism as a governing ideology. As the paper notes at the time, "Corporate liberalism implies that the dominant economic institution is the corporation and that the prevailing political and social mode is liberalism." (page 68) Of course it’s understandable how such changes would be all but invisible in 1966; it’s also a good reminder why political tactics and strategy must remain flexible and activists should always be willing to reevaluate their analysis.
The above are but a few of the enticing insights that are contained in page after page of these documents. As new social movements gather force throughout the world, a look into the thinking of activists from the last great social movement can help give direction to coming future battles. I would highly recommend this book to all activists and academics interesting in building a better world.
Jerry Harris, National Secretary of the Global Studies Association and author of "The Dialectics of Globalization."
Posted by admin on October 30, 2011 under CCDS Today, Germany, Socialism, Solidarity |
The Die Linke (The Left) Party Congress,
Oct 21 – 23, 2011, Erfurt, Germany
Photo: Die Linke founding co-chair Gregor Gysi addresses the Congress, October 21, under the banner of Freedom – Dignity – Solidarity
By Pat Fry
CCDS National Co-Chair
Erfurt, Germany, October 2011 – Culminating nearly two years of discussion and debate, the 519 delegates of the Die Linke Party of Germany united overwhelmingly around a new program at its Congress in Erfurt, Germany, October 21 – 23. The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism was one of 43 Communist, Socialist, left parties and organizations making up the international delegation, and was the sole representative from the United States.
The 44 page draft program, issued in March 2010, was discussed at meetings of local and regional bodies, resulting in 1,300 amendments presented for Congress deliberations. The program was adopted nearly unanimously following 3 days of debate. It will provide the political platform for Die Linke candidates in the 2013 federal elections.
The Congress was held against the backdrop of momentous events in Europe. The Eurozone debt negotiations to save bank profits led by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the general strike in Greece in opposition to the outcome of those negotiations dramatically framed the weekend’s deliberations. A representative of the Synaspismos Party (Coalition of the Left of Greece), Alexis Tsipras, delivered an impassioned greeting of solidarity bringing the Congress to its feet.
“The war in Greece is between capital and labor, not between Greece and Germany,” said Tsipras. “Greece is the guinea pig of the Eurozone. We are committed to defending democracy in Greece before it is too late for you,” he said.
The adoption of the Die Linke party program marks a milestone in the process of forging of a new left all-German party of democratic socialism. Founded in 2007, the party is a merger of east and west political parties and traditions – the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) founded in the ashes of the collapse of the GDR, and the west German WASG (Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice) founded by left wing social democrats in 2005 in a split from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) after its embrace of austerity policies under the Schröeder government.
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Posted by admin on October 25, 2011 under CCDS Today, Solidarity, Youth and Students |
Photo: Huge OWS Event at Washington Square Park in NYC
From Wall Street to Fort Benning:
The Growing Wave of Resistance
and the Left Perspective
An open discussion on the occasion of the
22nd School of the America’s Watch
Protest at Ft. Benning, GA
Friday Evening
November 18, 2011 6pm – 9pm
Country Inn & Suites Hotel
1720 Fountain Court
Columbus, GA 31904
Sponsored by Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism (CCDS)
Agenda
Welcome by Carl Davidson, National Co-Chair of CCDS
1. The growing mass struggle for human rights
2. The changing dialectics of political action
3. The responsibilities of the left
Posted by admin on October 23, 2011 under CCDS Today, Neoliberalism, Organizing, Political Economy, Socialism |
2010-2012: Deepening Contradictions of Capitalism,
New Challenges for the Progressive Majority
By Randy Shannon & Carl Davidson
Click here to download the pdf draft version with numbered lines
Posted by admin on October 13, 2011 under CCDS Today, Elections, Labor, Organizing, Racism, Trade Unions, Youth and Students |
Resolution of the CCDS NCC Meeting, Sept 30, 2011
In discussing the urgency of the political moment and the economic crisis facing the working class and its allies, the NCC urges CCDS members to undertake all possible ways to help build broad coalition efforts in the fight for jobs, peace and against austerity and war. Particularly, we urge CCDS to:
1. Become fully engaged with the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ direct actions and mass mobilizations expanding through hundreds of cities across the country. In addition to working directly with the young people initiating these events, we should work to bring wider allies, such as trade unions and grassroots organizations from communities of color, to add their voices and their strength to this common front aimed at finance capital.
2. Build support for the American Jobs Act put forward by President Obama as a first step to breaking the GOP’s resistance to any progressive change, as well as continuing support for other jobs legislation under considerations, such as then Schakowsky bill, and fuller measures such as the Conyers bill;
3. Build support and participate in the Rebuild the Dream coalition and its ongoing efforts, which has potential for building the left-center coalition of the progressive majority. In particular, we need to emphasize cutting the military budget and move the money to the needs of the country, and taxing the rich along with opposing any efforts to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
4. Prepare for working in labor-community coalitions and other grass roots efforts in the 2012 electoral campaigns
The NCC discussed a number of issues of the progressive movement in motion, including abolition of the death penalty in the wake of the execution of Troy Davis, mass mobilizations against home foreclosures and targeting the banks, the organizing in defense of justice for immigrants and the DREAM Act, opposition to the trade agreements coming before Congress, the organizing in support of Peace Action and UFPJ efforts to end the wars and mobilize opposition next May at the NATO/G8 Summit in Chicago, trade union organizing campaigns, and efforts to oppose right wing efforts to eliminate Black majority congressional districts and other discriminatory measures to restrict the right to vote. We urge attention to these as well.
Posted by admin on October 3, 2011 under Labor, Neoliberalism, Organizing, Socialism, Solidarity Economy, Strategy |
Speech by SACP General Secretary Cde Blade Nzimande at the Launch of the Red October Campaign, October 2 2011:
Together Let Us Build Working
Class Power in our Communities:
The 2011 Launch of the
SACP Red October Campaign
We are in that time of the year when the SACP launches its popular Red October Campaign. Our Red October Campaign is inspired and seeks to take forward the spirit and the victories of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in Russia – ushering in the first workers’ government in the 20th century.
The Red October campaign has been an important platform in building and strengthening the SACP over the last 11 years. Through our Red October Campaign we have built an SACP that is closer to the workers and the poor of our country. Through this campaign we say to the workers and the poor of our country, take up struggles to change your lives for the better and be the masters of your own destinies. It is only the workers and the poor themselves, in struggle and in solidarity with all other progressive forces that will consolidate and deepen our national democratic revolution, and advance the struggle for socialism in our country.
Through these campaigns we have also exposed the failures of the capitalist system to address the needs of the overwhelming majority of our people, and particularly also the failures of the neo-liberal macro-economic policies pursued since 1996. Our Red October Campaign has also been an important organising tool to recruit more and more members to the SACP. The Red October Campaign has also been an important platform for the ideological development of SACP members, and generally to conscientise and mobilise the workers and the poor to be the makers of their own history.
Since its launch twelve years ago, the Red October Campaign has been an important campaigning platform led by the SACP, and has notched some important victories, including:
a. the roll out of banking services to the poor via Umzansi account
b. the transformation of the financial sector as a whole
c. The passage of the Co-operatives and Co-operative Banks legislation
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Posted by admin on October 2, 2011 under Organizing, Solidarity, Trade Unions, Youth and Students |
This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com .
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one?s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers? healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people?s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/first_official_statement_from_the_occupy_wall_street_movement/
Posted by admin on September 12, 2011 under Elections, Racism, Rightwing, Strategy |
By Rafael Pizarro
In the past, when I’d been politically active helping to elect Democrats and for social justice and equality, I used to take exception to the word “fascism” being thrown around, even with reference to the worst conservatives. I thought that people would stop listening to us in the movement if we sounded like alarmists. I also thought that in order to have an effective strategy, you needed to be precise in your understandings of the times and your opposition. I was sometimes ridiculed and called a “sell-out” because of this position, but I stood firm because the stakes were too high to waffle on this.
But times have changed. If you read the American Heritage dictionary definition of fascism, you’ll see that it was a movement created by Mussolini whose ideology was ultra-nationalist, and anti-socialist. That definition almost perfectly describes the Tea Party. I say almost because it’s even worse. Now that socialism has been killed as a legitimate vision in this country, it’s progressivism, liberalism and often democracy itself that’s in the sights of extreme right-wingers. Yet, so far, the Tea Party and its fellow travelers have been effective politically and have managed to disarm their critics by capturing the media.
I say it’s time to stop this dangerous trend in American politics. Those who seek to limit voting rights to the poor, students and any group that would counter them at the ballot box (both through legislation and trickery); those who insist that the problem with our economy is that the poorest portion of it doesn’t pay taxes (which just isn’t true); those who strenuously fight even modest increases in the taxes paid by the richest 2% of our country – despite the fact that their taxes have declined steadily for the past fifty years; those who believe that our system of government must be based on the precepts of one particular religious view; those who brand anyone who opposes their policies traitors who have no right to a voice in democratic debates; those who continue to support the policy of handing over all functions of government – even the basic function of national security – to private businesses that have no public oversight; those who blame our problems on immigrants – just as earlier fascist movements scapegoated Jews, Gypsies, gays and other “outsiders; those who say that the answer is to hand over any remaining government functions to local and state control – just as the South did over the issue of slavery; those who steadily chop away at the rights of Americans to seek union representation; those who brand gay and transgender citizens as sub-human and those who’ve made racism and sexism acceptable – these people undermine our nation’s greatest principles of equality, democracy, tolerance and compassion. When will we do something about that? And what must we do?
There are very smart and well-meaning leaders who would have us focus on the ballot box and legislative processes to stop these dangerous people. But they have been ineffective. They complain that the Tea Party and other groupings of ultra-conservatives capture the public debate and influence government not in spite of their positions, but by making their positions so outrageous, their actions in support of these so provocative that the media can’t ignore them and, in fact, give them greater exposure than their opponents. But these smart and well-meaning leaders do little to counter that.
So what do I propose? Not armed revolution. Not thugs who attack those they disagree with. Not a secret, underground movement. I simply propose that we use the weapons ultra-conservatives have used so effectively.
I’d like to see a coalition of the left and of the sensible. I believe it’s time to create an Anti-Fascist Front. What would such a coalition do? Move past the positions and grand visions of government that divide us and use our collective strength to return our sensible political positions – i.e. expanded, not limited voting rights, progressive taxation, the right to collective bargaining, religious tolerance and compassion, to name but a few we can all agree on – to the public discourse. We don’t do that enough to be effective. When progressives and trade unionists call for a civil rights rally in Washington, liberals don’t come. When liberals call for a political stunt to highlight their opposition to current trends in politics, trade unionists don’t come. We need to work together.
This has been said before and the obstacles have always overtaken our goals. But the crisis is more urgent that usual. We have to insert our broad and sensible positions into the public discourse, i.e., the media, before the ultra-right capture more and more of it.
The Tea Party uses stunts and outrageous statements to get its message across, why can’t we? Certainly we can think of ways to capture the media’s attention just as they can. I won’t discuss particular tactics here as they will immediately be ridiculed. I’ll just say that it’s possible to use social media, flash-mobs, rallies at legislator’s offices, etc. as effectively as ultra-conservatives do. Michael Moore is an excellent example of someone who knows how to do this effectively. But he’s only one person and we’ve allowed him to be marginalized as part of the “loony left.”
The first step is to start talking about it, to agree to work together to get our voices heard – by (almost) any means necessary. We won’t concede the moral high ground; we won’t intimidate the way they do. But we’ll insist that our voices be heard by using the most effective tactics to do so, even if they may appear silly or even outrageous to some onlookers. We won’t run screaming into the arms of the opposition when they label something “socialist” or “communist” or “one-world.” In fact, by publicly embracing the rights of citizens to have these ideas, just as the ultra-right has a right, so essential to democracy, to espouse their ideas, we’ll certainly get the media attention we deserve. The Tea Party does silly and outrageous things in support of their reactionary politics. People laugh or look down their noses at them – just as they did at Hitler and the Nazis before it was too late – but they do it anyway, knowing that they will, in any event, get their voices heard and their positions out there. It’s time we turn their own weapons against them.
Who will join me? Who will stand up to the rise of fascism and its ideological fellow travelers and defenders? Who will simply acknowledge that we need an anti-fascist movement now if we’re to rescue our country and our citizens from a ruthless mob funded by the super-rich towards anti-democratic ends? At long last, who will stand up for decency, democracy, compassion and an economy that doesn’t impoverish the vast majority of Americans?
Rafael Pizarro, a New England based trade union organizer, was a founder and early co-chair of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Posted by admin on August 26, 2011 under Neoliberalism, Socialism |
Soviet Poster from the NEP Period
By Keith Joseph
To Matt Helme:
I think we abandon science for religion whenever we assume that the answers to difficult questions (like the nature of the market) are known and no further investigation is necessary. The Soviet experience as well as other 20th century attempts to build socialism have provided us with a wealth of experience. We can defend the nobility of those efforts while learning from their mistakes. Newton remains an intellectual giant despite the theory of relativity.
A couple of points about markets:
Markets existed before capitalism. That is a historical fact. Three things follow. First, suppressing the market or using market mechanisms does not determine the essential nature of any given mode of production. In other words, markets can and have existed among hunter gatherers, in feudalism, in capitalism, and in "really existing socialism" (there were thriving private markets in the Soviet Union–some were legal and some weren’t). Second, if the existence of the market, one way or another, does not determine the mode of production than something else does. That something, thirdly, is exploitation. I’ll get to that in a minute.
A couple of things about the suppression of markets. The suppression of markets requires police. The more market suppression the more police. In the U.S. a number of markets are suppressed. The drug market is one of the most obvious and its suppression is socially destructive. The majority of people in prison are locked up for their participation in this illicit market. Another interesting example is the suppression of the raw milk market. Another example would be the FBI’s involvement in regulation of the airline industry in the 1970′s; for example, they investigated the meals served by airlines because since the airlines could n’t compete directly on price they attempted to compete in less obvious ways by offering better meals– sounds like a kind of stupid use of resources, no?
Adam Smith argued that the market emerges from human nature itself, from our "propensity to truck and barter." Interestingly, Marx did not criticize Smith’s position. What Smith argued is that since we need and want things, since we desire (Hegel put human desire at the center of the phenomenology of the spirit), we are going to trade with each other. The market is not something that can be suppressed visa vie police apparatuses (nor can it be suppressed with vague appeals to the New Soviet Woman and Man who only desire the virtuous). The market can only be transcended. How do we transcend the market? First, we have to know what it is that the market is doing. The market is a rationing mechanism, it organizes production, appropriation and distribution of the social product. The market IS NOT the site of exploitation. One of the mistakes of 20th century socialism was the belief that the market is the site of exploitation and that ownership over the means of production was the determining factor.
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