Workers Resistance

Author: Fight Back

  • Observer speaks out on Syria elections

    Damasucs, Syria – On June 4, a group of parliamentarians met with the delegation of election observers from Canada, Ireland and the U.S. for a press event, which was covered by SANA, the Syrian public news company.

    The chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the People’s Assembly, Dr. Fadia Deeb, convened the meeting. Assemblywoman Deeb is from the city of Homs, which had been one of the starting places for the uprising of right-wing rebels that has torn apart the country for three years.

    The following is a statement made by Joe Iosbaker, who served as an observer for the elections and is prominent Chicago based anti war activist:

    “I was an election observer in Homs, where I spent time at multiple polling places. I directly observed several dozen people casting their ballots; I spoke with several of them at each of the precincts; I listened as other members of the delegation spoke with voters, as well as precinct workers.

    “The election I observed was as free and fair as any I’ve witnessed in the U.S. The election was characterized by a high level of participation, with hundreds at enthusiastic voters, as well as the children of the community, rallying at each poll. Politically, it was more than a first multi-party election for president; it was a celebration of victory over the foreign armies that had finally withdrawn less than one month earlier.

    “I am an experienced electoral activist in Chicago, where I am from. I want to compare the Syrian election with elections in the U.S. First, there is a much lower level of participation in the U.S. There are several reasons for this. For one, political parties work to depress turn out among workers, the poor, African Americans, Latinos and immigrants and youth. Also the electoral system requires a special registration to vote.

    “Given the lies being told by the White House, I wanted to share with you a feature of the political system in the city of Chicago. Chicago, a city of 3 million, is a one-party state. The Democratic Party has controlled city government for 80 years. The last Republican mayor left office in 1931. There are 50 members of city council. They are all Democrats and there hasn’t been a Republican council member since the 1940s. Chicago is in Cook County, and all those elected from Chicago to county government are Democrats. The state assembly representatives and senators for the city of Chicago, of which there are a total of 45, are all Democrats. The six federal congresswomen and men for the city of Chicago are all Democrats as well. And on election day in Chicago, the precincts are required to have both Democratic and Republican party judges. It is routine that the ‘Republican’ judges are in fact Democrats, wearing the Republican badge for the day.

    “Furthermore, I believe this is true in many cities in the U.S. In conclusion, the U.S. government has no right to criticize the elections in Syria.”

  • Donbas challenges U.S. backed Ukrainian fascists

    The Ukraine crisis is an attack by U.S. imperialism, along with local fascists, on the people of Ukraine. The European Union has been ally of the U.S. attack.

    The former government of Viktor Yanukovich was driven out by neo-Nazis, in the Feb. 20-22 coup d’état. These include the U.S.-funded Svoboda Party and several thousand street hooligans of the Right Sector. There has been hidden intervention on the part of the European Union. A ‘government’ of neo-Nazis in key places was named and recognized by the U.S. on no legal basis whatever. It is really only a junta, a dictatorial lineup imposed from outside.

    One of Washington’s main objectives is to bring Ukraine into NATO. That directly threatens Russia militarily. It also threatens Russia’s internal security. Despite the hysterical raving of Wall Street’s government and media mouthpieces, Russia has so far entered the picture only secondarily.

    Svoboda and the Right Sector both give allegiance to an infamous man named Stepan Bandera. During WW II Bandera organized guerilla forces that fought Soviet partisans in alliance with the Nazis. They murdered tens of thousands of Poles and Jews before the Soviet partisans and Red Army made them pay for their crimes.

    Because it is mostly made up of Nazis, the junta has not been recognized by the people it supposedly governs. 7 million people in the Ukraine were killed by the Nazis in World War II. Few will accept the return of Nazism. The US/Nazi attack has aroused a tremendous spirit not seen since revolutionary times.

    A man interviewed in Kramatorsk on April 19 spoke for many. He is worth quoting at length. He said, “The Banderites who have now come here and want to impose their ideology on us have given us a precious gift because they have awakened for us in East Ukraine our patriotism, which had been dormant for many years. 

    “This happened because people had forgotten more or less who they used to be, who they had become. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a kind of depression. People saw this event, the collapse of the Soviet Union, as a kind of natural disaster. The Soviet Union fell apart, and the rain came. People didn’t understand what had happened – they were demoralized, they used to believe in their leaders. 

    “Now people understand that it is not necessary to believe in leaders. We don’t need to believe in any Yanukovich, we don’t need to believe in a Party of Regions. We need to organize ourselves by ourselves – and to remember our own history, remember our own culture. That is our foundation. 

    “So thank you to all the Banderites who have come into Kiev, and who have made people remember who they are, who they are in the world, and above all why they are here on this earth.”

    The heroism of the people stands out time after time. Victory Day, May 9, commemorating the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, is the biggest holiday of the year in all post-Soviet lands. On Victory Day this year a junta-appointed Nazi governor in the city of Kherson had the gall and the stupidity to praise Hitler as a “liberator” from the “tyrant Stalin.” His filthy insults of the people’s history met with an explosion of anger and inspiring resistance from the crowd.

    Mass heroism stands out most clearly where the people’s resistance is strongest, in the eastern and southern parts of the country. Early in April municipal buildings in several cities were seized by the people, who proclaimed the People’s Republic of Donetsk and the People’s Republic of Lugansk. No government has recognized them. That does not matter. The important thing is that people themselves recognize them. They refuse to be governed by the U.S./Nazi Kiev junta.

    Referenda on the People’s Republics were set up for May 11. They were held on short notice, with minimal organization and little expenditure of money. The questions were, “Do you support the declaration of state independence of the Donetsk/Lukansk People’s Republic?” The Kiev junta sent military and terrorist forces to mount attacks against several towns to disrupt the voting. The referenda went on anyway because of the people’s will.

    Huge crowds turned out to vote, sometimes waiting in line for hours. The participation rate in the Donetsk People’s Republic was 75%, of which 89% voted for independence. The participation rate in the Lugansk People’s Republic was 81%, out of which 90% voted independence. 

    Not much reliable information on the leaders of the People’s Republics is available at this time. The people face great challenges. Only those worthy of the people can lead. It is a practical question. The solution will take time.

    The votes refuted claims in western countries that the separatist movements are the work of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for postponement of the May 11 vote. A self-defense guard in Slovyansk was quoted in the UK Guardian as saying, “He is a coward. He will pay for this with a revolution in [Moscow’s] Red Square.”

    Time after time the U.S./Nazi junta has mounted attacks on the people. Hundreds have died in dozens of attacks but the people are unshaken. They defeated Hitler’s armies during World War II. They will defeat the junta. They will defeat U.S. imperialism.

    On the other hand the Kiev lineup is an unholy mess. The fascist groups Svoboda and the Right Sector are rivals for power. Another prop of U.S. regime change is a few oligarchs, i.e., gangster-boss capitalists who built their fortunes by stealing everything in sight. There are reports that the CIA is running the show from behind the scenes. The German press reports that 400 U.S. Blackwater mercenaries are in country as enforcers for the junta.

    After having been stoned, mercilessly beaten and burned with Molotov cocktails in Maidan Square by the Right Sector, the police are unreliable. Like the police, the soldiers of the former state sometimes obey orders but often not. The junta sent tank columns into the cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in mid-April to crush the uprising. Instead the crews got out of their vehicles and joined the uprising, saying they would not kill their own people. Things got so bad CIA director John Brennan had to visit Kiev in April in an attempt to straighten things out.

    The junta’s main force against the people has been the street hooligans of the Right Sector, but they are undisciplined. At the crucial moment on Feb. 20 in Maidan Square in Kiev, hooligans were whipped to a murderous frenzy by sniper fire that killed as many as 100 people. The dead included both Right Sector protesters and the police forces of the Yanukovich government. It later came out that the shootings came from a single source and that the opposition rather than the government was behind the killings.

    The same tactic was used during the May 2 massacre in Odessa that claimed the lives of anti-Kiev activists in the Trade Union Hall. The police, infiltrated by the Right Sector, failed to protect the anti-Kiev activists from attack by a Right Sector mob. The massacre was carefully planned.

    EU foreign policy representative Catherine Ashton issued a statement on May 3, stating “The facts which led to this tragic loss of so many human lives must now be established in an independent investigation and those responsible for these criminal acts brought to justice.”

    She said the EU urged everyone to exercise restraint and not to exploit events in Odessa “to fuel more hatred, division and senseless violence.” She also said, “All political forces must now assume their responsibility and engage in a peaceful and inclusive dialogue to find a joint way out of the crisis.”

    It is a good statement on the face of it. It indicates serious divisions between some EU countries and the U.S. It also indicates Ashton had a good idea of what really went on. A thorough independent investigation should surely be carried out.

    The main problem is the U.S. aggression. U.S. imperialism is now in a predicament. All of the difficulties were obvious. The ideology of Svoboda and the Right Sector would put them at odds with the people. The two are rivals for power. It is folly to rely on mob-boss oligarchs to govern. None of the junta factions have political program. The people will resist a foreign takeover of their country. Policymakers are paid to know these things. They went ahead and overthrew the Yanukovich government anyway.

    The economic prospect of the west of the Ukraine is ruinous and sure to bring further unrest. The U.S. still shows no willingness to engage in any political process that could end the crisis. The American people want no part of any war in Ukraine. Sooner or later they will see through all the hypocrisy and lies that they have been fed. U.S. imperialism will meet a disastrous defeat.

    On May 25 leaders of the two Republics signed a unity agreement to form a single state called Novorossiya (New Russia.) On the same day the oligarch Petr Poroshenko was anointed ‘president’ in a light-turnout travesty election in the eastern part of the country. The same western ‘let’s pretend’ media that scorned the genuine people’s referenda had no problem singing the praises of the Kiev regime farce. The first thing he did was launch a heavy weapons assault on the cities of Novorossiya, Donetsk, Slavyansk and others.

    The people of the regions who have refused to submit to the junta are the bastion of world peace. So far they have responded only to defend themselves. However, the people’s self-defense forces are as yet small and not yet well-armed. The people are up to the challenge but much depends on the ability of the leaders.

    Private property in the means of production itself is coming into question. Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetov declared himself on the side of Kiev on May 20 when he called on workers at his industrial plants to demonstrate against the People’s Republic.

    In response, People’s Republic of Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin warned him that all of his factories would be nationalized. “All these years we were stolen from, stolen from by local oligarchs,” said Pushilin.

    “Any problem can be solved with a telephone call, especially for Akhmetov,” said a local newspaper editor. “But now you have 500 people with guns for whom telephone calls don’t exist, and all your billions mean nothing.”

  • U.S. government lies as Sami Osmakac trial begins

    Tampa, FL – The trial of Sami Osmakac is underway at the Sam Gibbons Federal Court Building here, June 2. Osmakac is being accused by the government of attempted use of weapons of mass destruction. This is part of an ongoing persecution of Muslims and Arab Americans. The government has frequently targeted those who speak out against U.S. wars as well as building cases of ‘terrorism’ on fictitious evidence.

    Osmakac immigrated with his family from Kosovo in the aftermath of the war in 2000. As a devout Muslim, Osmakac attended mosques throughout the Tampa Bay area. He later became a U.S. citizen. He frequently talked about the local homeless problem in the Tampa Bay area and helped give food to those in need. He also has no prior criminal record.

    Osmakac was arrested in January 2012 after allegedly trying to buy weapons off of undercover FBI agents. Since then, he has spent almost two and a half years in solitary confinement. Currently he is housed in the medical area of the Pinellas County jail under suicide watch. Before his arrest he had been diagnosed with mental illnesses.

    Mel Underbakke, education committee director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF), is a local activist who had previously worked on the Sami Al-Arian trial in Tampa and is speaking out against this injustice. Underbakke said, “This is the third ‘terrorism’ trial I have attended at Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse. The first two resulted in not guilty of terrorism verdicts by juries, but in both cases, the defendants had spent months and years in solitary confinement before the trial. Sadly, once again the defendant Sami Osmakac has not been accused of committing any violence, but nonetheless has been held in solitary confinement for two years before his trial began. Solitary confinement is torture and has the same lasting effects as physical torture.”

    The federal prosecutors are using recordings from two FBI informants who had been spying on Osmakac or months. However, he had been talking with and led on by FBI informants for much longer. Sami Osmakac’s brother Avni Osmakac, said he had “seen agents around his house every day since 2010.” Their house frequently had undercover police vehicles parked nearby. Back then Sami had worked as a grocery stocker for a local market. This is where they think he met the first government informant. From there he spent over a year being coaxed and pushed by agents into making “radical YouTube videos”. He was eventually guided into buying fake weapons with money given to him by the FBI. Government videos show FBI informants teaching and pushing Sami into committing acts of terrorism.

    The U.S. government has been trying to build a case of lies and doctored evidence to portray a mentally ill man as a terrorist. Accidental recordings between informants and their FBI supervisors have revealed other important information. From the beginning it shows, the supervisors were telling the informants to get them a “Hollywood ending.” And that the recordings of Osmakac were “gifts” for the government prosecution. It also revealed what the informants thought of Sami. At one point they said Sami was “wishy-washy” and doubted whether or not he would even carry out the FBI’s planned “attack”.

    Like in the other trials, the U.S. government tries to portray Muslims, Arab-Americans and even anti-war activists as terrorists. Jared Hamil, of the Tampa Committee to Stop FBI Repression says, “They do so for two reasons – for propagandizing for their wars on countries in the Middle East and to scare other Muslims and Arab peoples from speaking out against U.S.-led invasions and occupations. Just as we see with the case of Rasmea Odeh, the U.S. government will do whatever it can to silence those who are outspoken and calling them out.”

    Avni Osmakac states, “the real terrorism is going on in the courtroom.” Activists in the area plan to speak out against this trial in the coming weeks.

  • Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014

    Berkeley, CA – I just heard about the passing of Yuri Kochiyama from my father, another Nisei (second generation Japanese American) political activist, who lives in Berkeley about a mile from where Yuri was living. I didn’t know Yuri well, having only met her once when we were both attending the same program in the Asian American community. Nevertheless, she was the single most prominent individual Asian American activist of the 20th century and her life and politics pioneered the Asian American movement born in the late 1960s.

    Yuri and her husband Bill moved to Harlem in New York City in 1960 and became involved in the growing civil rights movement. She came to know African American revolutionary Malcolm X and her image of kneeling beside the mortally wounded Malcolm in 1964 was highlighted in LIFE magazine photos. Yuri’s identification with Malcolm and the broader Black Liberation Movement blazed the path for a generation of younger Asian American activists. The first revolutionary Asian American organization that I joined, the I Wor Kuen, was directly inspired by the Black Panther Party and began with a very similar political program in 1969.

    Yuri also spoke out against the U.S. war in Vietnam. She pointed out the connection between the racism in U.S. imperialist wars in the Third World and the national oppression that African Americans, Puerto Ricans and others were facing here in the U.S. This perspective had broad appeal among oppressed nationalities here, leading to protests such as the 1970 Chicano Moratorium against the war in Los Angeles in 1970, as well as the African Liberation Support Committee and solidarity work among African Americans to support the national liberation movements in Africa in the 1970s.

    Yuri was also involved in the 1980s movement among Japanese Americans for redress (an official government apology) and reparations (monetary compensation) for the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent put into concentration and prison camps during World War II. Yuri’s own father, Seiichi Nakahara, was arrested the day of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and was denied medicines. He died within days, and the rest of Yuri’s family was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center, where they had to live in horse stall, and were eventually sent to a concentration camp in Jerome, Arkansas.

    This movement not only won redress and reparations from the federal government in the late 1980s, but also paved the way for Japanese American solidarity with and support for Arab Americans and American Muslims targeted by the U.S. government after Sept. 11, 2001. Yuri was again a pioneer in this solidarity effort, organizing Japanese Americans to join Iranian Americans following the 1979 revolution in Iran to combat the growing anti-Iranian sentiment in the U.S.

    Masao Suzuki is a long time activist in the San José, California Japanese American community and chair of the Joint Nationalities Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

  • Protest at MN Senator Klobuchar’s office demands: “Zero troops in Afghanistan”

    Minneapolis, MN – Twin Cities area peace and anti-war groups held a protest at the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar, May 30, to respond to President Obama’s announcement that the U.S. plans to leave nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. Organized under the call of “Zero Troops in Afghanistan – Bring All the Troops, Drones and War Dollars Home Now,” about 25 people joined the picket.

    A statement issued by organizers says in part, “While Obama and the Pentagon talk about the war ‘ending,’ the reality is that U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan and the war and occupation will continue.”

    “The longest war in U.S. history is essentially getting longer. A year from now, or in two years, what new excuse will be available to keep troops involved in a war and occupation that does nothing but harm the people of Afghanistan?” the statement asks.

    The statement concludes, “We say enough. Not one more day, not one more death, not one more dollar for the war and occupation of Afghanistan.”

    Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the Anti-War Committee spoke at the protest, saying in part, “While the president’s speech focused on how the U.S. is ending and changing its operation in Afghanistan, we see the speech as a political smokescreen for the U.S. continuing its war and occupation in Afghanistan.”

    Minnesota Peace Action Coalition initiated the Friday protest. The event was endorsed by AFSCME Local 3800, Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Bookstore, Military Families Speak Out (Minnesota chapter), Socialist Action, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Students for a Democratic Society (UMN), Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, Workers International League.

    Military Families Speak Out, a national network of family members of military personnel issued a call for protests against the decision to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

  • ICE raids Milwaukee families’ homes and workplaces, community fights back

    Milwaukee, WI – Voces de la Frontera, Youth Empowered in the Struggle and community members protested at the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services building in downtown here, May 29, to condemn the May 27 immigration raids. About 22 people were picked up and arrested at their homes and workplaces in the raids.

    The immigration sweep was carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cooperation with the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). The sweep was executed systematically, digging into government archives in order to find any excuse to validate the arrests. The victims that were picked up by the MPD were accused of bogus and irrelevant charges and included cases which had already been closed.

    The community members detained by the MPD are in diverse stages of the deportation process, with some of them already in the Juno, Wisconsin Detention center and some others in county jail on an ICE hold. After the arrests, MPD officers prevented any type of direct communication between the detainees and their loved ones or their lawyers. Eventually, lawyers were allowed to directly communicate with the detainees as their cases progressed.

    The actions carried out by ICE occurred due to a federal quota system known as the ‘bed mandate’, where all detention center beds need to be occupied.

    Community members at the rally condemned ICE’s and MPD’s actions and described them as variously as violent, unfair, appalling, inexcusable, inhumane and terroristic.

    “The raids happened at people’s homes in front of their families,” Cynthia Tellez, one of the attendees and member of Youth Empowered in the Struggle, commented on the incident. “How can this be done in the name of [national] security? That’s inhumane!”

    Another target of furious chants and speeches was the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other liberal organizations which are asking president Obama to delay any type of executive action to stop or reduce deportations. SEIU’s statement coincides with the same day the sweep happened.

    “The SEIU have sold out the movement in an attempt to win over the right wing on this issue. In the meantime, more than a thousand a day will continue to be deported,” said Sean Orr, a local immigrant rights activist. “Organized labor needs to support legalization for all, not more delays.”

    The organizers of the rally plan on continue the fight to free the 22 detainees and to prevent any more immigration raids. They have scheduled call-ins for the coming days. Here is the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/478322572314345/

  • U.S. trying to oust Assad by any means possible, aims for compliant Syria

    Editors note: Prominent Chicago- based anti-war activist Joe Iosbaker is in route to Damascus, Syria where he will participate in a delegation of observers for the Syrian election’s. Fight Back! will publish commentary by Iosbaker as we receive it.

    Beirut, Lebanon – In a front page story, May 30, headlined “Foreign Jihadis in Syria Pose Risk to West,” the New York Times reports that the U.S. and the UK are concerned about the blowback from the U.S./NATO war on Syria. Hundreds of sectarian fighters have been recruited from the UK and France, and according to the U.S. government, 70 from the US. The article describes efforts by Al Qaeda groups to prepare these recruits to “strike back home.”

    In President Obama’s speech at West Point this week, he announced plans for increasing U.S. support for “moderates” among the Free Syrian Army (FSA). This is another effort to get their war in Syria on course. But this aid to so-called moderates is for public relations in the West. The FSA is not a unified, disciplined army. It is well known that weapons provided to a ‘moderate’ reactionary force today end up in the hands of the most brutal of the sectarian forces tomorrow.

    The most successful armies fighting to overthrow Syria’s government are those of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Fighters tired of losing will join them. In the fall, the largest of the brigades linked to the U.S.-supported Syrian National Council crossed over and announced they would be affiliating with the Nusra Front.

    To spell it out, the U.S. support of the ‘moderates’ won’t achieve the stated objective of countering the influence of sectarians. So what is the real objective of the White House?

    Ousting Assad by any means

    For three years, the U.S. has funded foreign-led, foreign-dominated armies in Syria. U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have been responsible for most of the direct aid and delivered most of the weapons. The U.S. began directly providing small arms and other battlefield equipment in the summer of 2013, but was involved from the outset in vetting the forces that the Qataris were backing.

    In the U.S., the Obama administration and the mainstream media stick to the mantra that the U.S. allies operate independent of Washington. This is a pretty weak story. Over a year ago, the New York Times revealed that back in 2011, the CIA had been in the Qatari cabinet meetings where the decisions were being made about which of the Syrian fighters to arm. More than that, the Gulf States and Turkey would never have made those moves if the U.S. hadn’t given them the OK.

    The monarchies in the Gulf States have supplied several billion dollars worth of arms, not just to any of the fighters arrayed against the Syrian Arab Army; they have especially backed the most sectarian of those. Saudi Arabia is the main backer of those linked to Al Qaeda. If Washington truly wanted that stopped, how could the Saudi’s have continued it? The tail doesn’t wag the dog.

    New rhetoric, unchanged U.S. objective

    Increased U.S. training of the ‘moderates’ in the FSA has two purposes. The main goal of everything the U.S. is doing in Syria is to get a government that is compliant with U.S. and Israeli wishes. They have decided that President Assad must go.

    But the problems with the jihadists are something that the U.S. has to address. The imperialists have to be concerned that the fighters will move against targets other than Assad – Israel, for example. Or returning to the U.S. or the UK. This is a public relations problem, as well as a military matter.

    But bad PR won’t stop the U.S. from their course: using any means necessary to achieve their objective in Syria. The anti-war movement must build the movement against the U.S. war of intervention in Syria. We have our work cut out for us.

  • Eyewitness to Syria presidential election: Is the end to the U.S. war in sight?

    Damascus, Syria – Ten people from the U.S., Canada and Ireland have traveled to Syria to observe the presidential elections taking place here June 3. Our delegation is mainly anti-war and international solidarity activists who are members of organizations including the International Action Center, Syria Solidarity Committee, the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, the United National Antiwar Coalition and the International Solidarity Movement. We are hosted by a Iranian non-governmental organization, the International Union of Unified Ummah (Muslim community).

    Since arriving in Damascus yesterday, we’ve had several meetings with officials and experts to get an understanding of the elections and what’s at stake. Our first meeting was with Dr. Bassam Abu Abdallah, a local member of the nationalist Baath Party and director of the Damascus Security Center. He talked about how this will be the first multi-party election for president. The rules of the election were established in a new constitution voted on last year.

    The three candidates on the ballot were selected from an initial list of 24. The requirements to run include being Syrian, having lived in the country for at least the last ten years, and having the endorsement of 35 members of the national assembly. Previously, the Baath Party was constitutionally the only party that could lead the government. This change was a big concession to demands raised by the protests in the Arab Spring in 2011.

    Dr. Abu Abdallah was asked if the elections would have an effect on the armies fighting the government. He answered yes, that it will demoralize them, saying, “First, they see that the U.S. won’t send troops. They’re tired of fighting and they have no vision, other than dying and going to paradise.”

    As with the liberation of the Old City in Homs, the mercenaries can see the writing on the wall. “First we put them under siege. The foreign-backed armies previously had perhaps 500,000 with them. Now they have only 100,000. Our soldiers in the Syrian Arab Army [SAA] will continue to fight until the last centimeters of land,” Abdullah added.

    Election commission

    On the second day, we met with the election commission. Hasham Al Shaher, the commission head, told us we were free to go where we wanted to observe at the polling places. Some will go to Homs, or Atakia and others will stay in Damascus.

    He explained that the commission is independent of the administration and appointed to four-year terms. People over 18 years of age (15 million people) are eligible to vote. All that is needed to vote is to be a citizen and to have an ID. No one is required to register in advance.

    The Western media was stunned when hundreds of thousands of refugees turned out to vote in Beirut in neighboring Lebanon. It turns out that the commissioners were surprised by the turnout as well. As a result, many thousands were turned away. The Lebanese authorities told them if they returned to Syria to vote, they’d be denied re-entry into Lebanon.

    The outpouring was overwhelmingly people wanting to vote for the current president, Bashar al Assad. Coming from people displaced by the war, this was a clear message of opposition to the so-called rebels. Commissioner Al Shaher said, “This shows the insistence and nationalist feelings of the Syrians. Over 95% of those eligible registered to vote.”

    Speaker of the Parliament

    Speaker of the Parliament Jihad Laham described the political situation they are facing with this war. “We take issue with the criminal American policy to Syria and Palestine. China and Russia have used their veto power to stop the criminal war, while the U.S. has used their veto power 60 times to shield Israel.”

    “Unfortunately,” he continued, “we live in dog eat dog times, where the powerful eat the less powerful.” He explained that they had invited parliamentarians to see the truth, but U.S. and NATO governments pressured them not to. “The U.S. is partnered with Saudi Arabia, which has no elections.”

    He told us, “Most of the organizations fighting have extreme Islamic orientation. Syria has survived because we are in the right.” The speaker related some of the features of the social program of the government. “Basic food is subsidized: two kilos of bread is less than 10 cents. Education is free. Health care is free. Fuel is subsidized.”

    Returning to the countries behind the war, he continued, “Where did the rebels get their weapons? From neighbors with the support of the U.S. and NATO.”

    Regarding the moment of the chemical weapon attack last summer that was President Obama’s ‘red line,’ upon which he threatened to hit Syria with hundreds of cruise missiles, the speaker said, “Syria had requested the U.N. to investigate a sarin gas attack in March 2013. It took three months for the inspection committee to arrive, and just then, there was another attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.”

    He denied the use of sarin by the government forces, noting, “The SAA is victorious daily; why would we need sarin?”

    A question was asked about U.S. objectives and next steps after the election. Laham replied, “The U.S. plan is unchangeable, but sometimes they are forced to delay.” This helped make it clear to the anti-war forces in the room that we had to return to the U.S. and educate people about what we learn from the elections, in order to win people to taking a stand against the U.S. war which has already killed as many as 160,000 people.

  • Jacksonville demands: ‘Angela Corey out now!’

    Jacksonville, FL – On May 27, two dozen supporters gathered for a press conference announcing the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition’s (JPC) campaign launch to get State Attorney Angela Corey out of office. Angela Corey is responsible for letting George Zimmerman walk free after he murdered Trayvon Martin. Corey is also responsible for locking up Marissa Alexander for defending herself from her ex-husband. Corey followed this by botching the trial of Michael Dunn for the cold-blooded murder of African American teenager Jordan Davis. She is responsible for locking up a high number of Latino and African American youth in Jacksonville. The people of Jacksonville are ready to organize and get Angela Corey out of office.

    Supporters held signs that read, “Angela Corey: Wanted” and chanted, “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Angela Corey has got to go!” Speaking to a crowd of activists and reporters, JPC organizer Wells Todd laid the facts out: “In today’s Florida Times Union, there it a story about Cristian Fernandez. The youngest child ever to be charged as an adult is in a privately managed, state-contracted juvenile correctional center. Cristian is a victim of abuse and is not getting the treatment he needs for the trauma he has suffered. This is the kind of justice our children are receiving under Angela Corey – children that are victims being charged as adults. The system is truly broken. This is Angela Corey’s style of justice.”

    The crowd grew fiery as they listened to speakers talk about the need for justice in Jacksonville. JPC organizer Tefa Galvis summed up the purpose of the campaign: “We’re here to get Angela Corey out of office because of the racist, oppressive system she represents. This is a continuation of our campaigns to get justice for Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Marissa Alexander and all the other injustices Angela Corey has perpetrated.”

    After the speakers, the activists walked boldly into city hall to confront the city council about the need to remove Angela Corey from office. Organizers spoke out during public comment, denouncing Angela Corey for enforcing a policy of racist discrimination against African American and Latino youth in Jacksonville. Jacksonville Progressive Coalition members reminded the crowd of their successful campaign to rename Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. The school is no longer named after a Confederate General and KKK Grand Wizard. A JPC leader said the time had come for removing Angela Corey from office as part of a broader effort to fight racism in the South.

    This came on the heels of the last city council meeting, where JPC members gathered to hear Angela Corey feebly defend her policies, including her desire to reject the spirit of a proposed city council resolution calling for civil citations instead of jail time for youth in Jacksonville. People around the country were outraged when Angela Corey let George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn escape from trail without guilty verdicts, and realized that she was part of a bigger system that allows racist white vigilantes to murder young African American men and face no or few repercussions. Angela Corey has made it clear that she wants to continue locking up African American and Latino youth in Jacksonville, often trying them as adults. The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition and the people of Jacksonville made their message clear as well: “Angela Corey has got to go!” Fight Back! will be covering this campaign as it unfolds this summer.

     

  • Ukraine’s phony elections make billionaire new president. Turmoil spreads

    Over the past two weeks, the U.S. and NATO-backed junta in Kiev has persistently pushed Ukraine further down the path of civil war. Regime-orchestrated violence against the anti-fascist resistance is escalating, with a crackdown on both independent militias and civilians in the east.

    The ongoing turmoil is part of the aftermath of the Ukrainian presidential elections on May 25. The U.S.-backed coup makers held elections in an attempt to legitimize their fascistic rule and crusade against the independent forces in Eastern Ukraine. While billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko won with over 50% of the vote, multiple independent and foreign observers are pointing to an extremely low turnout and election process violations. Right Sector thugs ‘guarded’ polling booths in some areas, while in other places citizens eventually turned to throwing trash in polling boxes rather than cast ballots for an illegitimate regime.

    The military operation against eastern Ukraine’s 7 million people was resumed within hours of the election, and some of the worst fighting yet has gripped recently independent Donetsk.

    On May 26, just after the results of the election, Kiev’s ground and air forces launched a new assault to capture Donetsk’s international airport, a crucial airport of the region, and penetrate further into the city. Nearly 100 casualties of self-defense fighters and civilians were reported within 24 hours. Many died when Kiev forces opened fire on ambulances transporting the injured to hospitals. Although Kiev declared on Tuesday that self-defense forces had been routed, Donetsk self-defense forces announced on May 28 that the airport and downtown area were retaken. The contention continues, with a Kiev helicopter shot down on the morning of May 29, killing a general.

    Donetsk is not alone in being under intensified siege and assault since its successful referendum on independence on May 12. The Ukrainian military has besieged Slavyansk and shelled civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, including a kindergarten, in an effort to break the resolve of the resistance. Heavy gunfire has also plagued Lugansk.

    As Kiev continues its campaign of violence, Kiev’s oligarchs are unsuccessfully ordering workers in the east to refuse to cooperate with the new People’s Republic government. On May 28, however, in an act of courageous defiance, nearly 3000 miners of the Donbas region marched in Donetsk and demanded an end to Kiev’s military operation and the removal of its forces from the area. Miners’ shouts of “Fascism won’t pass!” and “Donbas will not forgive!” challenged the endless noise of gunfire and Kiev’s military airplanes overhead. More miners across Donetsk are joining the protests, with anti-oligarch, anti-fascist revolutionary ideas spreading amongst the people.

    The resistance of Donetsk and the east is heroically persevering amidst artillery shells bursting in civilian areas and air force and helicopter attacks on citizen soldiers. With Kiev’s new billionaire president violently tormenting civilians, Putin’s recognition of the Ukrainian presidential election, the announcement of an initiative for reconciliation, and the de facto abandonment of the People’s Republics appeal to join Russia, the people of the East are up against tremendous odds.

    Nonetheless, the people’s resistance is refusing to kneel down before the billionaire oligarchs and fascist rulers of Ukraine. On May 24, representatives of the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as other struggling cities, met to establish the state of New Russia and unite resistance territories into a sovereign state with a coordinated military. The fightback of the people of Eastern Ukraine is equally a beacon of light in the struggle against Kiev. The eastern bastions of anti-fascism need progressives’ solidarity more than ever. With the arrival of volunteers to the self-defense forces of Donetsk from Russia and Chechnya and the establishment of New Russia, internationalism must be on the agenda of anti-fascists around the world.