... in Barcelona.

I dreaded going because it was some sort of "consumer coalition" with some sort of program against the bank "bandits", yadda, yadda. I had visions of Ralph Nader and PIRGs and all that horseshit. But, the acquaintance whom I was with for the day insisted... so... off we went.

We had an appointment so we caught up with the demonstration as it was approaching one of the larger banks. At first sight, my fears were immediately confirmed: multi-page flyers, a five page "manifesto" of every demand under the sun, wordy horsecrap about who they were and what they were demonstrating against... The banners had so much horsesit on them that they took up 3 lanes of traffic. There was no indication of any "leftism" of any kind, with all kinds of shit about pensions and bank fees and all kinds of crap blended together into a health-food milk shake. No red flags, no union stuff, nothin'.

But the worst was the crowd. A few hundred people - one thousand at most - with 75% older than 55, a healthy number over 65, and all other age groups representing the remaining 25%. In Europe, people who go to working class demonstrations usually wear working clothes: overalls, jeans, work boots... Here, none of that was visible. The entire group was dressed lower middle-class; not rich but more like teachers and retired postal workers (which, it turns out, many were).

And the whole time, I'm wondering if I've wandered into some right wing demonstration... until the crowd pulls up to the bank. Out come the bullhorns, and the chants start... and the cadence is unmistakable... and the slogans that are being shouted are getting shorter and more succinct and the old people are working themselves up and I KNOW what's coming next and sure enough, up go the fists... and they are pumping the air as though they are the 500 hundred pistons of some unbelievable steam engine.

And after this goes on for a while, the required pitch is reached and the old people trash the bank. I shit you not. They litter, they turn over trash cans, they pull down signs, they dent planters, they put up hundreds of stickers with slogans all over the plate glass, which they have come prepared to do and which will take days to peel off. The Bank is closed (it's a Saturday) but they do everything but break all the windows ( and this, not because they don't try).

And the whole time, it is the old people. The youngsters mostly mill around looking confused. And it reminds me of the old demonstrations under late Iberian Fascism when all of the popular organizations were completely infiltrated by "Reds" and when "spontaneous demonstrations in support" of some silly civic group or event would "degenerate" into one of these.

I ask my companion about the group and he says, "Who the fuck knows but it wasn't a bad demonstration, was it?"

Not bad at all... we move along to our appointment and the old people march off to the next bank.

I learned somethin' today... don't need them young people. They're nice to have but...

Damn, you're making me feel kind of ummmm..superfluous? I told you about getting kicked out of the Biden rally right ;)?

Re the lower middle class deal, my brother calls it Alan Harper syndrome. If you don't catch the reference well, you're better off lol Its this stupid show that I've been forced to watch during my "convalescence" (ha) because my Dad loves it, Two and a half men. It started out featuring Charlie Sheen, the prissy guy (Alan Harper) and a kid. The kid now sounds like Barney Gumble ;)

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE0MTc4OTE3OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDEwNzk3._V1._SX266_SY400_.jpg

One of my exchange students is from Barcelona, I'll have to chat him up on this. great stuff!

One of my exchange students is from Barcelona, I'll have to chat him up on this. great stuff!


The Catalans say that Catalans are crazy. It is a fair assessment.

They are also soft and warm and deserve better than they get.

Let them seriously fuck with Social Securityand watch the old fucks go nuts

*Social Security is inviolate

*Single Payer Health Care

*Repeal Taft-Hartley

That's all we need to start with..

One of my exchange students is from Barcelona, I'll have to chat him up on this. great stuff!


The Catalans say that Catalans are crazy. It is a fair assessment.

They are also soft and warm and deserve better than they get.



Sounds like Raimon, crazy and warm...Barcelona is my number one city I'd like to see...Gaudi is among my favorites...speaking of crazy!

This got so many recs, that it made "the greatest" and is now on the front page!

http://socialistindependent.org/

This got so many recs, that it made "the greatest" and is now on the front page!

http://socialistindependent.org/


Yay, great move!! Great new links! I can clean out my bookmarks now!

This got so many recs, that it made "the greatest" and is now on the front page!

http://socialistindependent.org/


whoa, that is alot of material added..have to check all this stuff out

I love a great story, especially when there's a message and a moral. Go to the demo, see what happens, and you may just be pleasantly surprised. Trashed the bank.

Hey man, you see how the Senate fucked the mortgage assistance program - 45 Yea-51 Nay. They must have been doing the Arlen Specter's a Democrat dance.

Now comes the credit card reform bill, if that hasn't been spiked already. It won't pass, NFW. If there is one, it will suck.

These are the two bills for citizens, the entire, total, and complete package for the people that will be offered.

The Senate mortgage assistance program was just a change in code for bankruptcy courts but 1.7 mil people may have benefited. There ought to be a demonstration in every town after every one of those families get put out on the street.

Good work. On those kids, recent polling that I'm sure you've seen shows they're already sold, even if they don't know what they're buying - preference for socialism.

Damn!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/autorank/001/islavista.png
"Once the bank caught fire, and the police cars were pelted with rocks and left, then came the Greyhound busses full of police. There was a very large line of police in full riot gear with shields. It reminded Steve of that movie, '300 Spartans.' (the original). They began to advance, and everyone panicked and ran. Some people were falling and in danger of being trampled. But then they regrouped, and started 'firing' rocks and some bottles at the blue line. The police had advanced so powerfully, seemingly arrogant and ruthless, certainly overpowering and seeming invincible. But as the 'missiles' found their mark, one cop after another would fall. Soon the line broke, and they ran for cover and left. For that one night, of course, there was no 'law and order' in Isla Vista. No civil authorities, police or fire, could enter, and of course they gave up. It could be said, for one night Isla Vista was not a part of the U.S. It seceded from the Union.

Commemorative check from Bank of America
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/sr/00-cover_sc-small.GIF

I love a great story, especially when there's a message and a moral. Go to the demo, see what happens, and you may just be pleasantly surprised. Trashed the bank.

Hey man, you see how the Senate fucked the mortgage assistance program - 45 Yea-51 Nay. They must have been doing the Arlen Specter's a Democrat dance.

Now comes the credit card reform bill, if that hasn't been spiked already. It won't pass, NFW. If there is one, it will suck.

These are the two bills for citizens, the entire, total, and complete package for the people that will be offered.

The Senate mortgage assistance program was just a change in code for bankruptcy courts but 1.7 mil people may have benefited. There ought to be a demonstration in every town after every one of those families get put out on the street.

Good work. On those kids, recent polling that I'm sure you've seen shows they're already sold, even if they don't know what they're buying - preference for socialism.

Damn!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/autorank/001/islavista.png
"Once the bank caught fire, and the police cars were pelted with rocks and left, then came the Greyhound busses full of police. There was a very large line of police in full riot gear with shields. It reminded Steve of that movie, '300 Spartans.' (the original). They began to advance, and everyone panicked and ran. Some people were falling and in danger of being trampled. But then they regrouped, and started 'firing' rocks and some bottles at the blue line. The police had advanced so powerfully, seemingly arrogant and ruthless, certainly overpowering and seeming invincible. But as the 'missiles' found their mark, one cop after another would fall. Soon the line broke, and they ran for cover and left. For that one night, of course, there was no 'law and order' in Isla Vista. No civil authorities, police or fire, could enter, and of course they gave up. It could be said, for one night Isla Vista was not a part of the U.S. It seceded from the Union.

Commemorative check from Bank of America
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/sr/00-cover_sc-small.GIF


Hey Dude,

All of the above have a good ways to go: The Democrats are just starting on their openly treasonous journey, the socialist kids still have to find out what that is, and the banks can afford a few buildings.

As far as the old people go, how many old American demonstrators do you know who come with their own whistles - on lanyards around their necks?

SLOGAN, SLOGAN, SLOGAN, tweet, tweet, tweet
SLOGAN, SLOGAN, SLOGAN, tweet, tweet, tweet

The whole time, pumping that fist...

We've got a ways to go, but I have faith in MY, MY, MY... GenerATION:

slogan, sLOGAN, SLOgan, WEEZE, WEEZE, WEEZE...

Slogan slogan wheeze cough fart - indeed.

I have been thinking about geezers and greenhorns a lot lately. I remember in the 60's hearing the stories from thegrizzled veterans from the 30's, and they told stories they had heard from the people two generations before them who were talking about people two generations before them. It skips a generation, because no one wants to hear what their parents have to say, and no one thinks their kids know anything. But ask the grandparents... or now, in my case tell stories to the grandkids...and valuable stuff can be passed along.

I don't think I would have noticed this if not for my interest in traditional music. As a kid, I was learning from people my grandparent's age, and was fascinated to find this enormous repertory of music that had been passed down for hundreds of years. Adults cannot understand this, but kids can. Children live in that world (we all do actually, but as adults we forget that we do.) I had a musician friend who was doing a PHD on children's rhymes, collected them and traced them back in history. The little girls in my neighborhood were always skipping rope and chanting strange rhymes, and my friend would sit on my porch and point out words or stories that could be traced back to Africa. These rhymes stayed in an age group, so that what ten year olds were chanting today ten year olds were chanting 100 years ago, while older kids had forgotten them and younger kids had yet to learn them. So they were passed on within an age group. Interesting.

As a kid, it made perfect sense to me that tunes were passed on, but as an adult when I would say to another adult "this tune is at least 300 years old, and has never been written or recorded" I would get blank looks - as though this was not a remarkable thing. They cannot "get" it the way that kids automatically can. "This tune has been passed down through the generations" is just a phrase to them, something they think they "know" and are not surprised by. They think they are knowledgeable and sophisticated because they are not surprised by that, bu the opposite is true. They should be surprised - that is the sophisticated and knowledgeable response - because that is a glimpse into another realm, the true history of the people, an inviting beacon into a more accurate and valuable view of reality.

To this day I occasionally say from stage "this tune goes back hundreds of years, was passed down without any benefit of recordings or written music, from one untrained musician to another, by ear, generation after generation" and look out on a sea of blank faces, devoid of any expressions of wonder or amazement. They think they know, but they do not. Very rarely does someone come up afterward and say "wow, what you said changed my life - changed my entire view of the world, of history, of reality." But they should - had they really heard what I said.

Now, how can we know that a tune goes back 300 years or more if it has never been written down and dated? By a process of elimination. If, in 1960 a person - usually many people - 80 years old says that they learned the tune as a kid from someone who had learned it from another musician 70 or 80 years older than them, and that person had said THEY had learned it from someone 70-80 years older than them, we are now back to 1720 - I learned it in 1960 from a person who learned it from a person who learned it in 1880 who learned it from a person who learned it in 1800, who learned it from a person who learned it in 1720. Compiling hundreds of stories like that, and a clear picture emerges.

Then, you can look at what HAS been written. Now, that works to eliminate the possibility that a tune is recent, and the reason that works is because such a tiny percentage of the music of the people has ever been written (or today, recorded.) This is also true about all history. Educated adults assume that most of what can be known can be known through what is written, and that oral history, traditional music and the like is just a little spice in the mix. "Field work" the academics call it - most of life, most of reality, is relegated to a category called "field work" and what is in the books is seen as "reality."

In music, what has been written (and now recorded) represents what the church, the landed aristocracy, and now "the suits" control. It is the upper class narrative, controlled by the upper class, and serving the upper class. So too is this the case in our history and our politics. What the ruling class gives us is also very small and limited - 1% of the total experience, if that.

Music has changed massively in the last 10 years (or 15 depending on how tech savvy you were back then)..used to be underground music was a mysterious, hard to discover thing. If you found an indie label that you liked you pretty much ordered stuff from their catalogue based on the "recommended if you like" and the confidence that they were putting out quality albums

Now between myspace, soulseek, mediafire/rapidshare/megaupload, torrents you can pretty much find anything you want and find other people with similar niche tastes (lastfm) and so on.

Funny how it should be a golden age, given how accesible music is and how (relatively) cheaply you can record, produce and distribute it..yet all you hear right now is doom and gloom..the "industry" can't survive, the "business model" is fatally flawed, people who want to listen to music are "thieves"..

Music has changed massively in the last 10 years (or 15 depending on how tech savvy you were back then)..used to be underground music was a mysterious, hard to discover thing. If you found an indie label that you liked you pretty much ordered stuff from their catalogue based on the "recommended if you like" and the confidence that they were putting out quality albums

Now between myspace, soulseek, mediafire/rapidshare/megaupload, torrents you can pretty much find anything you want and find other people with similar niche tastes (lastfm) and so on.

Funny how it should be a golden age, given how accessible music is and how (relatively) cheaply you can record, produce and distribute it..yet all you hear right now is doom and gloom..the "industry" can't survive, the "business model" is fatally flawed, people who want to listen to music are "thieves"..




Doesn't matter what the method of transmission is, nor whether we are Indie or not, if we are divorced from all history and cultural moorings and are still laboring under the commercial and consumer models. The "music industry" can now go forward without the industry, because people have internalized the meaningless and regurgitated pop music themes and commercialized approach to art and expression.

The two things we could do that would have an impact would be to rebuild the union, and to protect and fund traditional art forms. All of the tech in the world won't accomplish either of those - in fact, much of what is happening works against those goals.

I love a great story, especially when there's a message and a moral. Go to the demo, see what happens, and you may just be pleasantly surprised. Trashed the bank.

Hey man, you see how the Senate fucked the mortgage assistance program - 45 Yea-51 Nay. They must have been doing the Arlen Specter's a Democrat dance.

Now comes the credit card reform bill, if that hasn't been spiked already. It won't pass, NFW. If there is one, it will suck.

These are the two bills for citizens, the entire, total, and complete package for the people that will be offered.

The Senate mortgage assistance program was just a change in code for bankruptcy courts but 1.7 mil people may have benefited. There ought to be a demonstration in every town after every one of those families get put out on the street.

Good work. On those kids, recent polling that I'm sure you've seen shows they're already sold, even if they don't know what they're buying - preference for socialism.

Damn!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/autorank/001/islavista.png
"Once the bank caught fire, and the police cars were pelted with rocks and left, then came the Greyhound busses full of police. There was a very large line of police in full riot gear with shields. It reminded Steve of that movie, '300 Spartans.' (the original). They began to advance, and everyone panicked and ran. Some people were falling and in danger of being trampled. But then they regrouped, and started 'firing' rocks and some bottles at the blue line. The police had advanced so powerfully, seemingly arrogant and ruthless, certainly overpowering and seeming invincible. But as the 'missiles' found their mark, one cop after another would fall. Soon the line broke, and they ran for cover and left. For that one night, of course, there was no 'law and order' in Isla Vista. No civil authorities, police or fire, could enter, and of course they gave up. It could be said, for one night Isla Vista was not a part of the U.S. It seceded from the Union.

Commemorative check from Bank of America
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/sr/00-cover_sc-small.GIF


Hey Dude,

All of the above have a good ways to go: The Democrats are just starting on their openly treasonous journey, the socialist kids still have to find out what that is, and the banks can afford a few buildings.

As far as the old people go, how many old American demonstrators do you know who come with their own whistles - on lanyards around their necks?

SLOGAN, SLOGAN, SLOGAN, tweet, tweet, tweet
SLOGAN, SLOGAN, SLOGAN, tweet, tweet, tweet

The whole time, pumping that fist...

We've got a ways to go, but I have faith in MY, MY, MY... GenerATION:

slogan, sLOGAN, SLOgan, WEEZE, WEEZE, WEEZE...



Not quite sure where 52 plus fits in, but a "kid" of maybe 24 in my irl discussion group did bring up the fact that their generation has no stigma of cold war, and McCarthy is taught as a "bad guy" against commies...I often have the hardest time with folks between 30 and 45, there are so many who just don't seem to get any of it, no need for social justice, economic justice, everything is fine...the arthritis that hits my middle finger is what gets me most...

Auto. is that 'commerative check' for real? If so, man, the hubris. In any case a fine adornment for a sig line.

Banks, John Dillinger understood perfectly.

In Italy, one version of the story is that the PCI was so successful that they took over the ENTIRE left and then disbanded, leaving no left at all. Now there is only Berliscone with his fascists and his spokesmodel candidates running a "government" of simple thievery and suppression.

Of course, all of that is way too simple but the former left is clearly shell-shocked and can't do much more than get drunk and sing Bandera Rossa.

Europe as a whole is not much better off than the States.

It don't mean nothin' though...

The ghost of the Jacobins is still in the house.

OK, so I'm back... and the last thing I see is the current copy of Liberation... Libé itself... the newspaper of Sartre, the mouthpiece of "radical" social liberalism, Europe's number one supporter of everything but actual, real-live Socialism... the paper which was "saved" by no less than Édouard de Rothschild in 2005 - The Nation, brought to you by David Rockefeller.

And what does Libé have to say? Here it is...

http://cache-thumb1.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/docserver/getimage.aspx?file=25042009052300000000001001&page=1&scale=24

"Springtime for Marx"... The old man is back according to Tools-Are-Us. And Libé wants him back. Eminent domain, you see?

We might have nothin' but they have even less.

OK, so I'm back... and the last thing I see is the current copy of Liberation... Libé itself... the newspaper of Sartre, the mouthpiece of "radical" social liberalism, Europe's number one supporter of everything but actual, real-live Socialism... the paper which was "saved" by no less than Édouard de Rothschild in 2005 - The Nation, brought to you by David Rockefeller.

And what does Libé have to say? Here it is...

http://cache-thumb1.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/docserver/getimage.aspx?file=25042009052300000000001001&page=1&scale=24

"Springtime for Marx"... The old man is back according to Tools-Are-Us. And Libé wants him back. Eminent domain, you see?

We might have nothin' but they have even less.



I hope they still have the love and openness of true political discussion? Or did that disappear too?? (30 years since I've been in Europe).

In Albany, NY
Actually I joined in a parade with the Veteran for Peace chapter here...actually allowed into the Memorial Day parade...I helped carry a banner, nearly as wide as the street that said "No Child Left Unrecruited, many left ill, hungry, and illiterate" A vet said regarding having our pix taken by some obviously not just general public, "If I'm not on some list, I'm not doing my job", I told him Chlamor's line liberals are assimilated, leftists are assassinated", he laughed and said he may use that..

... a few weeks ago. He was a remote acquaintance of a friend of mine, a "guide" who had been in Africa for many years and had only been back in Portugal since the end of Apartheid in South Africa. The conversation shifted to Liberty Day which celebrates the overthrow of Fascism in Portugal in 1974. I mentioned that I had been in Lisbon shortly after that event. My drinking companion stated matter-of-factly that he had left the Portuguese Army six months before the Revolution and that if it had occurred one year earlier, it would have entirely altered his life.

He had been a lowly under officer in one of the "special" branches of the Portuguese Army and had served four years in the guerrilla war in Guinea-Bissau. "It was madness. How could a little country of 10 million people field an army of 500,000 for so long? It was madness. So many died. The money came from the Americans but the blood was all ours... an entire generation... madness."

After my companion left the army, he "worked" throughout Africa. He was in Cabinda, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa. In short, he was a tour "guide" where no tourist in their right mind would have ever dared to go. Nothing was mentioned but we both understood the conversation. I mostly just listened and then got up to leave. My companion put a hand on my shoulder.

"When I was still in the Portuguese Army, I made 30,000 Escudos." Escudos then were probably 25 or 30 to one dollar.

"The Americans tried to recruit me for Vietnam." I presumed he meant as a contract killer for Operation Phoenix.

"They offered me 750,000 Escudos... but I wouldn't do it. Work for the Americans? I couldn't make myself do that."


He was telling me that even monsters have scruples.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Sempreatentos...aoperigo%21.jpg/300px-Sempreatentos...aoperigo%21.jpg

I put this story up on one of the Ghost's threads on DU... just out of curiosity.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5719458

Anax, your tale cannot help but remind me of a song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRRWwH3Fro

So he's a "guide", huh? Nice euphemism. And maybe he was...guiding corporate expeditions into the heart of darkness.

Fuckin' mercenaries. Given the last half century the supply is almost unlimited. Employment opportunities abound.

Treat them the way the Russians treated the SS.

Anax, your tale cannot help but remind me of a song;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRRWwH3Fro

So he's a "guide", huh? Nice euphemism. And maybe he was...guiding corporate expeditions into the heart of darkness.

Fuckin' mercenaries. Given the last half century the supply is almost unlimited. Employment opportunities abound.

Treat them the way the Russians treated the SS.


I put the story up on Chlamor's Operation Condor thread because it is all related. The Portuguese set up counter-insurgency and assassination units for colonial war as early as 1960 and they were active in Angola by 1961. The first of these were the Caçadores Especiais (Special Hunters), who became so notorious that they had to be disbanded but their "techniques" were disbursed throughout the military. The primary emphasis was on murdering cadre - death squads. The "theory" was the same throughout Africa, Indochina, and Latin America.

Why the emphasis on assassination? In part, it was simple terror... in part, it was the cult of the individual common to the imperialist countries: that revolution was "made by individuals" rather than by history. The final part was that the tactic was effective. In many of the colonies and developing countries, cadre were in very short supply while recruits were endless. Top leadership was particularly rare. The job was to identify fledgling George Washingtons and Thomas Paines and to kill them.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Stamp_Am%C3%ADlcar_Cabral.jpg/180px-Stamp_Am%C3%ADlcar_Cabral.jpg

My avatar, Amilcar Cabral, was assassinated in 1973. For all I know, the guy I had a drink with was in on it. The timing was right.

My avatar, Amilcar Cabral, was assassinated in 1973. For all I know, the guy I had a drink with was in on it. The timing was right.



What a Maroon I am!! I always thought you were ballsy and used your own picture!! (not to say you're not ballsy) What a fucking idiot!! I always liked "your" face too!! :-[ :D

My avatar, Amilcar Cabral, was assassinated in 1973. For all I know, the guy I had a drink with was in on it. The timing was right.



What a Maroon I am!! I always thought you were ballsy and used your own picture!! (not to say you're not ballsy) What a fucking idiot!! I always liked "your" face too!! :-[ :D


I am not Amilcar Cabral or John Brown, although that is the nicest thing anybody ever said to me...

It is very much worth reading Cabral.

My avatar, Amilcar Cabral, was assassinated in 1973. For all I know, the guy I had a drink with was in on it. The timing was right.



What a Maroon I am!! I always thought you were ballsy and used your own picture!! (not to say you're not ballsy) What a fucking idiot!! I always liked "your" face too!! :-[ :D


I am not Amilcar Cabral or John Brown, although that is the nicest thing anybody ever said to me...

It is very much worth reading Cabral.



Glad my idiocy can result in pleasing you! I will check out Cabral, as I'm confessing ignorance here, I've never heard of him 'til now...

Don't feel bad Mary, I'd not heard of him either until I asked Anax who he was once

Anax is right about reading him btw. Here is sort of a "starter" piece from him:

http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/cabral/1966/weapon-theory.htm

If any of us came to Cuba with doubts in our mind about the solidity, strength, maturity and vitality of the Cuban Revolution, these doubts have been removed by what we have been able to see. Our hearts are now warmed by an unshakeable certainty which gives us courage in the difficult but glorious struggle against the common enemy: no power in the world will be able to destroy this Cuban Revolution, which is creating in the countryside and in the towns not only a new life but also — and even more important — a New Man, fully conscious of his national, continental and international rights and duties. In every field of activity the Cuban people have made major progress during the last seven years, particularly in 1965, Year of Agriculture.

We believe that this constitutes a particular lesson for the national liberation movements, especially for those who want their national revolution to be a true revolution. Some people have not failed to note that a certain number of Cubans, albeit an insignificant minority, have not shared the joys and hopes of the celebrations for the seventh anniversary because they are against the Revolution. It is possible that others will not be present at the celebrations of the eighth anniversary, but we would like to state that we consider the ‘open door’ policy for enemies of the Revolution to be a lesson in courage, determination, humanity and confidence in the people, another political and moral victory over the enemy; and to those who are worried, in a spirit of friendship, about the dangers which many be involved in this exodus, we guarantee that we, the peoples of the countries of Africa, still completely dominated by Portuguese colonialism, are prepared to send to Cuba as many men and women as may be needed to compensate for the departure of those who for reasons of class or of inability to adapt have interests or attitudes which are incompatible with the interests of the Cuban people. Taking once again the formerly hard and tragic path of our ancestors (mainly from Guinea and Angola) who were taken to Cuba as slaves, we would come now as free men, as willing workers and Cuban patriots, to fulfill a productive function in this new, just and multi-racial society, and to help and defend with our own lives the victories of the Cuban people. Thus we would strengthen both all the bonds of history, blood and culture which unite our peoples with the Cuban people, and the spontaneous giving of oneself, the deep joy and infectious rhythm which make the construction of socialism in Cuba a new phenomenon for the world, a unique and, for many, unaccustomed event.

We are not going to use this platform to rail against imperialism. An African saying very common in our country says: “When your house is burning, it’s no use beating the tom-toms.” On a Tricontinental level, this means that we are not going to eliminate imperialism by shouting insults against it. For us, the best or worst shout against imperialism, whatever its form, is to take up arms and fight. This is what we are doing, and this is what we will go on doing until all foreign domination of our African homelands has been totally eliminated.

Our agenda includes subjects whose meaning and importance are beyond question and which show a fundamental preoccupation with struggle. We note, however, that one form of struggle which we consider to be fundamental has not been explicitly mentioned in this programme, although we are certain that it was present in the minds of those who drew up the programme. We refer here to the struggle against our own weaknesses. Obviously, other cases differ from that of Guinea; but our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle this battle against ourselves — no matter what difficulties the enemy may create — is the most difficult of all, whether for the present or the future of our peoples. This battle is the expression of the internal contradictions in the economic, social, cultural (and therefore historical) reality of each of our countries. We are convinced that any national or social revolution which is not based on knowledge of this fundamental reality runs grave risk of being condemned to failure.

When the African peoples say in their simple language that “no matter how hot the water from your well, it will not cook your rice,” they express with singular simplicity a fundamental principle, not only of physics, but also of political science. We know that the development of a phenomenon in movement, whatever its external appearance, depends mainly on its internal characteristics. We also know that on the political level our own reality — however fine and attractive the reality of others may be — can only be transformed by detailed knowledge of it, by our own efforts, by our own sacrifices. It is useful to recall in this Tricontinental gathering, so rich in experience and example, that however great the similarity between our various cases and however identical our enemies, national liberation and social revolution are not exportable commodities; they are, and increasingly so every day, the outcome of local and national elaboration, more or less influenced by external factors (be they favorable or unfavorable) but essentially determined and formed by the historical reality of each people, and carried to success by the overcoming or correct solution of the internal contradictions between the various categories characterising this reality. The success of the Cuban revolution, taking place only 90 miles from the greatest imperialist and anti-socialist power of all time, seems to us, in its content and its way of evolution, to be a practical and conclusive illustration of the validity of this principle.

However we must recognize that we ourselves and the other liberation movements in general (referring here above all to the African experience) have not managed to pay sufficient attention to this important problem of our common struggle.

The ideological deficiency, not to say the total lack of ideology, within the national liberation movements — which is basically due to ignorance of the historical reality which these movements claim to transform — constitutes one of the greatest weaknesses of our struggle against imperialism, if not the greatest weakness of all. We believe, however, that a sufficient number of different experiences has already been accumulated to enable us to define a general line of thought and action with the aim of eliminating this deficiency. A full discussion of this subject could be useful, and would enable this conference to make a valuable contribution towards strengthening the present and future actions of the national liberation movements. This would be a concrete way of helping these movements, and in our opinion no less important than political support or financial assistance for arms and suchlike.

It is with the intention of making a contribution, however modest, to this debate that we present here our opinion of the foundations and objectives of national liberation in relation to the social structure. This opinion is the result of our own experiences of the struggle and of a critical appreciation of the experiences of others. To those who see in it a theoretical character, we would recall that every practice produces a theory, and that if it is true that a revolution can fail even though it be based on perfectly conceived theories, nobody has yet made a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory.

Those who affirm — in our case correctly — that the motive force of history is the class struggle would certainly agree to a revis

ion of this affirmation to make it more precise and give it an even wider field of application if they had a better knowledge of the essential characteristics of certain colonized peoples, that is to say peoples dominated by imperialism. In fact in the general evolution of humanity and of each of the peoples of which it is composed, classes appear neither as a generalized and simultaneous phenomenon throughout the totality of these groups, nor as a finished, perfect, uniform and spontaneous whole. The definition of classes within one or several human groups is a fundamental consequence of the progressive development of the productive forces and of the characteristics of the distribution of the wealth produced by the group or usurped from others. That is to say that the socio-economic phenomenon ‘class’ is created and develops as a function of at least two essential and interdependent variables — the level of productive forces and the pattern of ownership of the means of production. This development takes place slowly, gradually and unevenly, by quantitative and generally imperceptible variations in the fundamental components; once a certain degree of accumulation is reached, this process then leads to a qualitative jump, characterized by the appearance of classes and of conflict between them.

Factors external to the socio-economic whole can influence, more or less significantly, the process of development of classes, accelerating it, slowing it down and even causing regressions. When, for whatever reason, the influence of these factors ceases, the process reassumes its independence and its rhythm is then determined not only be the specific internal characteristics of the whole, but also by the resultant of the effect produced in it by the temporary action of the external factors. On a strictly internal level the rhythm of the process may vary, but it remains continuous and progressive. Sudden progress is only possible as a function of violent alterations — mutations — in the level of productive forces or in the pattern of ownership. These violent transformations carried out within the process of development of classes, as a result of mutations in the level of productive forces or in the pattern of ownership, are generally called, in economic and political language, revolutions.

Clearly, however, the possibilities of this process are noticeably influenced by external factors, and particularly by the interaction of human groups. This interaction is considerably increased by the development of means of transport and communication which as created the modern world, eliminating the isolation of human groups within one area, of areas within one continent, and between continents. This development, characteristic of a long historical period which began with the invention of the first means of transport, was already more evident at the time of the Punic voyages and in the Greek colonization, and was accentuated by maritime discoveries, the invention of the steam engine and the discovery of electricity. And in our own times, with the progressive domesticization of atomic energy it is possible to promise, if not to take men to the stars, at least to humanize the universe.

This leads us to pose the following question: does history begin only with the development of the phenomenon of ‘class’, and consequently of class struggle? To reply in the affirmative would be to place outside history the whole period of life of human groups from the discovery of hunting, and later of nomadic and sedentary agriculture, to the organization of herds and the private appropriation of land. It would also be to consider — and this we refuse to accept — that various human groups in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were living without history, or outside history, at the time when they were subjected to the yoke of imperialism. It would be to consider that the peoples of our countries, such as the Balantes of Guinea, the Coaniamas of Angola and the Macondes of Mozambique, are still living today — if we abstract the slight influence of colonialism to which they have been subjected — outside history, or that they have no history.

Our refusal, based as it is on concrete knowledge of the socio-economic reality of our countries and on the analysis of the process of development of the phenomenon ‘class’, as we have seen earlier, leads us to conclude that if class struggle is the motive force of history, it is so only in a specific historical period. This means that before the class struggle — and necessarily after it, since in this world there is no before without an after — one or several factors was and will be the motive force of history. It is not difficult to see that this factor in the history of each human group is the mode of production — the level of productive forces and the pattern of ownership — characteristic of that group. Furthermore, as we have seen, classes themselves, class struggle and their subsequent definition, are the result of the development of the productive forces in conjunction with the pattern of ownership of the means of production. It therefore seems correct to conclude that the level of productive forces, the essential determining element in the content and form of class struggle, is the true and permanent motive force of history.

If we accept this conclusion, then the doubts in our minds are cleared away. Because if on the one hand we can see that the existence of history before the class struggle is guaranteed, and thus avoid for some human groups in our countries — and perhaps in our continent — the sad position of being peoples without any history, then on the other hand we can see that history has continuity, even after the disappearance of class struggle or of classes themselves. And as it was not we who postulated — on a scientific basis — the fact of the disappearance of classes as a historical inevitability, we can feel satisfied at having reached this conclusion which, to a certain extent, re-establishes coherence and at the same time gives to those peoples who, like the people of Cuba, are building socialism, the agreeable certainty that they will not cease to have a history when they complete the process of elimination of the phenomenon of ‘class’ and class struggle within their socio-economic whole. Eternity is not of this world, but man will outlive classes and will continue to produce and make history, since he can never free himself from the burden of his needs, both of mind and of body, which are the basis of the development of the forces of production.

The foregoing, and the reality of our times, allow us to state that the history of one human group or of humanity goes through at least three stages. The first is characterized by a low level of productive forces — of man’s domination over nature; the mode of production is of a rudimentary character, private appropriation of the means of production does not yet exist, there are no classes, nor, consequently, is there any class struggle. In the second stage, the increased level of productive forces leads to private appropriation of the means of production, progressively complicates the mode of production, provokes conflicts of interests within the socio-economic whole in movement, and makes possible the appearance of the phenomena ‘class’ and hence of class struggle, the social expression of the contradiction in the economic field between the mode of production and private appropriation of the means of production. In the third stage, once a certain level of productive forces is reached, the elimination of private appropriation of the means of production is made possible, and is carried out, together with the elimination of the phenomenon ‘class’ and hence of class struggle; new and hitherto unknown forces in the historical process of the socio-economic whole are then unleashed.

In politico-economic language, the first stage would correspond to the communal agricultural and cattle-raising society, in which the social structure is horizontal, without any state; the second to feudal or assimilated agri

cultural or agro-industrial bourgeois societies, with a vertical social structure and a state; the third to socialist or communist societies, in which the economy is mainly, if not exclusively, industrial (since agriculture itself becomes a form of industry) and in which the state tends to progressively disappear, or actually disappears, and where the social structure returns to horizontality, at a higher level of productive forces, social relations and appreciation of human values.

At the level of humanity or of part of humanity (human groups within one area, of one or several continents) these three stages (or two of them) can be simultaneous, as is shown as much by the present as by the past. This is a result of the uneven development of human societies, whether caused by internal reasons or by one or more external factors exerting an accelerating or slowing-down influence on their evolution. On the other hand, in the historical process of a given socio-economic whole each of the above-mentioned stages contains, once a certain level of transformation is reached, the seeds of the following stage.

We should also note that in the present phase of the life of humanity, and for a given socio-economic whole, the time sequence of the three characteristic stages is not indispensable. Whatever its level of productive forces and present social structure, a society can pass rapidly through the defined stages appropriate to the concrete local realities (both historical and human) and reach a higher stage of existence. This progress depends on the concrete possibilities of development of the society’s productive forces and is governed mainly by the nature of the political power ruling the society, that is to say, by the type of state or, if one likes, by the character of the dominant class or classes within the society.

A more detailed analysis would show that the possibility of such a jump in the historical process arises mainly, in the economic field, from the power of the means available to man at the time for dominating nature, and, in the political field, from the new event which has radically clanged the face of the world and the development of history, the creation of socialist states.

Thus we see that our peoples have their own history regardless of the stage of their economic development. When they were subjected to imperialist domination, the historical process of each of our peoples (or of the human groups of which they are composed) was subjected to the violent action of an exterior factor. This action — the impact of imperialism on our societies — could not fail to influence the process of development of the productive forces in our countries and the social structures of our countries, as well as the content and form of our national liberation struggles.

But we also see that in the historical context of the development of these struggles, our peoples have the concrete possibility of going from their present situation of exploitation and underdevelopment to a new stage of their historical process which can lead them to a higher form of economic, social and cultural existence.

The political statement drawn up by the international preparatory committee of this conference, for which we reaffirm our complete support, placed imperialism, by clear and succinct analysis, in its economic context and historical co-ordinates. We will not repeat here what has already been said in the assembly. We will simply state that imperialism can be defined as a worldwide expression of the search for profits and the ever-increasing accumulation of surplus value by monopoly financial capital, centered in two parts of the world; first in Europe, and then in North America. And if we wish to place the fact of imperialism within the general trajectory of the evolution of the transcendental factor which has changed the face of the world, namely capital and the process of its accumulation, we can say that imperialism is piracy transplanted from the seas to dry land piracy reorganized, consolidated and adapted to the aim of exploiting the natural and human resources of our peoples. But if we can calmly analyze the imperialist phenomenon, we will not shock anybody by admitting that imperialism — and everything goes to prove that it is in fact the last phase in the evolution of capitalism — has been a historical necessity, a consequence of the impetus given by the productive forces and of the transformations of the means of production in the general context of humanity, considered as one movement, that is to say a necessity like those today of the national liberation of peoples, the destruction of capital and the advent of socialism.

The important thing for our peoples is to know whether imperialism, in its role as capital in action, has fulfilled in our countries its historical mission: the acceleration of the process of development of the productive forces and their transformation in the sense of increasing complexity in the means of production; increasing the differentiation between the classes with the development of the bourgeoisie, and intensifying the class struggle; and appreciably increasing the level of economic, social and cultural life of the peoples. It is also worth examining the influences and effects of imperialist action on the social structures and historical processes of our peoples.

We will not condemn nor justify imperialism here; we will simply state that as much on the economic level as on the social and cultural level, imperialist capital has not remotely fulfilled the historical mission carried out by capital in the countries of accumulation. This means that if, on the one had, imperialist capital has had, in the great majority of the dominated countries, the simple function of multiplying surplus value, it can be seen on the other hand that the historical capacity of capital (as indestructible accelerator of the process of development of productive forces) depends strictly on its freedom, that is to say on the degree of independence with which it is utilized. We must however recognize that in certain cases imperialist capital or moribund capitalism has had sufficient self-interest, strength and time to increase the level of productive forces (as well as building towns) and to allow a minority of the local population to attain a higher and even privileged standard of living, thus contributing to a process which some would call dialectical, by widening the contradictions within the societies in question. In other, even rarer cases, there has existed the possibility of accumulation of capital, creating the conditions for the development of a local bourgeoisie.

On the question of the effects of imperialist domination on the social structure and historical process of our peoples, we should first of all examine the general forms of imperialist domination. There are at least two forms: the first is direct domination, by means of a power made up of people foreign to the dominated people (armed forces police, administrative agents and settlers); this is generally called classical colonialism or colonialism is indirect domination, by a political power made up mainly or completely of native agents; this is called neocolonialism.

In the first case, the social structure of the dominated people, whatever its stage of development, can suffer the following consequences: (a) total destruction, generally accompanied by immediate or gradual elimination of the native population and, consequently, by the substitution of a population from outside; (b) partial destruction, generally accompanied by a greater or lesser influx of population from outside; (c) apparent conservation, conditioned by confining the native society to zones or reserves generally offering no possibilities of living, accompanied by massive implantation of population from outside.

The two latter cases are those which we must consider in the framework of the problematic national liberation, and they are extensively present in Africa. One can say that in either case

the influence of imperialism on the historical process of the dominated people produces paralysis, stagnation and even in some cases regression in this process. However this paralysis is not complete. In one sector or another of the socio-economic whole in question, noticeable transformations can be expected, caused by the permanent action of some internal (local) factors or by the action of new factors introduced by the colonial domination, such as the introduction of money and the development of urban centers. Among these transformations we should anticipate a progressive loss of prestige of the ruling native classes or sectors, the forced or voluntary exodus of part of the peasant population to the urban centers, with the consequent development of new social strata; salaried workers, clerks, employees in commerce and the liberal professions, and an instable stratum of unemployed. In the countryside there develops, with very varied intensity and always linked to the urban milieu, a stratum made up of small landowners. In the case of neo-colonialism, whether the majority of the colonized population is of native or foreign origin, the imperialist action takes the form of creating a local bourgeoisie or pseudo-bourgeoisie, controlled by the ruling class of the dominating country.

The transformations in the social structure are not so marked in the lower strata, above all in the countryside, which retains the characteristics of the colonial phase; but the creation of a native pseudo-bourgeoisie which generally develops out of a petty bourgeoisie of bureaucrats and accentuates the differentiation between the social strata and intermediaries in the commercial system (compradores), by strengthening the economic activity of local elements, opens up new perspectives in the social dynamic, mainly by the development of an urban working class, the introduction of private agricultural property and the progressive appearance of an agricultural proletariat. These more or less noticeable transformations of the social structure, produced by a significant increase in the level of productive forces, have a direct influence on the historical process of the socio-economic whole in question. While in classical colonialism this process is paralyzed, neo-colonialist domination, by allowing the social dynamic to awaken (conflicts of interests between native social strata or class struggles), creates the illusion that the historical process is returning to its normal evolution. This illusion will be reinforced by the existence of a political power (national state) composed of native elements. In reality it is scarcely even an illusion, since the submission of the local ‘ruling’ class to the ruling class of the dominating country limits or prevents the development of the national productive forces.

But in the concrete conditions of the present-day world economy this dependence is fatal and thus the local pseudo-bourgeoisie, however nationalist it may be, cannot effectively fulfill its historical function; it cannot freely direct the development of the productive forces; in brief it cannot be a national bourgeoisie. For as we have seen, the productive forces are the motive force of history, and total freedom of the process of their development is an indispensable condition for their proper functioning.

We therefore see that both in colonialism and in neo-colonialism the essential characteristic of imperialist domination remains the same: the negation of the historical process of the dominated people by means of violent usurpation of the freedom of development of the national productive forces. This observation, which identifies the essence of the two apparent forms of imperialist domination, seems to us to be of major importance for the thought and action of liberation movements, both in the course of struggle and after the winning of independence.

On the basis of this, we can state that national liberation is the phenomenon in which a given socio-economic whole rejects the negation of its historical process. In other words, the national liberation of a people is the regaining of the historical personality of that people, its return to history through the destruction of the imperialist domination to which it was subjected.

We have seen that violent usurpation of the freedom of the process of development of the productive forces of the dominated socio-economic whole constitutes the principal and permanent characteristic of imperialist domination, whatever its form. We have also seen that this freedom alone can guarantee the normal development of the historical process of a people. We can therefore conclude that national liberation exists only when the national productive forces have been completely freed from every kind of foreign domination.

It is often said that national liberation is based on the right of every people to freely control its own destiny and that the objective of this liberation is national independence. Although we do not disagree with this vague and subjective way of expressing a complex reality, we prefer to be objective, since for us the basis of national liberation, whatever the formulas adopted on the level of international law, is the inalienable right of every people to have its own history, and the objective of national liberation is to regain this right usurped by imperialism, that is to say, to free the process of development of the national productive forces.

For this reason, in our opinion, any national liberation movement which does not take into consideration this basis and this objective may certainly struggle against imperialism, but will surely not be struggling for national liberation.

This means that, bearing in mind the essential characteristics of the present world economy, as well as experiences already gained in the field of anti-imperialist struggle, the principal aspect of national liberation struggle is the struggle against neo-colonialism. Furthermore, if we accept that national liberation demands a profound mutation in the process of development of the productive forces, we see that this phenomenon of national liberation necessarily corresponds to a revolution. The important thing is to be conscious of the objective and subjective conditions in which this revolution can be made and to know the type or types of struggle most appropriate for its realization.

We are not going to repeat here that these conditions are favorable in the present phase of the history of humanity; it is sufficient to recall that unfavorable conditions also exist, just as much on the international level as on the internal level of each nation struggling for liberation.

On the international level, it seems to us that the following factors, at least, are unfavorable to national liberation movements: the neo-colonial situation of a great number of states which, having won political independence, are now tending to join up with others already in that situation; the progress made by neo-capitalism, particularly in Europe, where imperialism is adopting preferential investments, encouraging the development of a privileged proletariat and thus lowering the revolutionary level of the working classes; the open or concealed neo-colonial position of some European states which, like Portugal, still have colonies; the so-called policy of ‘aid for undeveloped countries’ adopted by imperialism with the aim of creating or reinforcing native pseudo-bourgeoisies which are necessarily dependent on the international bourgeoisie, and thus obstructing the path of revolution; the claustrophobia and revolutionary timidity which have led some recently independent states whose internal economic and political conditions are favorable to revolution to accept compromises with the enemy or its agents; the growing contradictions between anti-imperialist states; and, finally, the threat to world peace posed by the prospect of atomic war on the part of imperialism. All these factors reinforce the action of imperialism against the national liberation movements.



If the repeated interventions and growing aggressiveness of imperialism against the peoples can be interpreted as a sign of desperation faced with the size of the national liberation movements, they can also be explained to a certain extent by the weaknesses produced by these unfavorable factors within the general front of the anti-imperialist struggle.

On the internal level, we believe that the most important weaknesses or unfavorable factors are inherent in the socio-economic structure and in the tendencies of its evolution under imperialist pressure, or to be more precise in the little or no attention paid to the characteristics of this structure and these tendencies by the national liberation movements in deciding on the strategy of their struggles.

By saying this we do not wish to diminish the importance of other internal factors which are unfavorable to national liberation, such as economic under-development, the consequent social and cultural backwardness of the popular masses, tribalism and other contradictions of lesser importance. It should however be pointed out that the existence of tribes only manifests itself as an important contradiction as a function of opportunistic attitudes, generally on the part of detribalised individuals or groups, within the national liberation movements. Contradictions between classes, even when only embryonic, are of far greater importance than contradictions between tribes.

Although the colonial and neo-colonial situations are identical in essence, and the main aspect of the struggle against imperialism is neo-colonialist, we feel it is vital to distinguish in practice these two situations. In fact the horizontal structure, however it may differ from the native society, and the absence of a political power composed of national elements in the colonial situation make possible the creation of a wide front of unity and struggle, which is vital to the success of the national liberation movement. But this possibility does not remove the need for a rigorous analysis of the native social structure, of the tendencies of its evolution, and for the adoption in practice of appropriate measures for ensuring true national liberation. While recognizing that each movement knows best what to do in its own case, one of these measures seems to us indispensable, namely, the creation of a firmly united vanguard, conscious of the true meaning and objective of the national liberation struggle which it must lead. This necessity is all the more urgent since we know that with rare exceptions the colonial situation neither permits nor needs the existence of significant vanguard classes (working class conscious of its existence and rural proletariat) which could ensure the vigilance of the popular masses over the evolution of the liberation movement. On the contrary, the generally embryonic character of the working classes and the economic, social and cultural situation of the physical force of most importance in the national liberation struggle-the peasantry-do not allow these two main forces to distinguish true national independence from fictitious political independence. Only a revolutionary vanguard, generally an active minority, can be aware of this distinction from the start and make it known, through the struggle, to the popular masses. This explains the fundamentally political nature of the national liberation struggle and to a certain extent makes the form of struggle important in the final result of the phenomenon of national liberation.

In the neo-colonial situation the more or less vertical structure of the native society and the existence of a political power composed of native elements-national state-already worsen the contradictions within that society and make difficult if not impossible the creation of as wide a front as in the colonial situation. On the one hand the material effects (mainly the nationalization of cadres and the increased economic initiative of the native elements, particularly in the commercial field) and the psychological effects (pride in the belief of being ruled by one’s own compatriots, exploitation of religious or tribal solidarity between some leaders and a fraction of the masses) together demobilize a considerable part of the nationalist forces. But on the other hand the necessarily repressive nature of the neo-colonial state against the national liberation forces, the sharpening of contradictions between classes, the objective permanence of signs and agents of foreign domination (settlers who retain their privileges, armed forces, racial discrimination), the growing poverty of the peasantry and the more or less notorious influence of external factors all contribute towards keeping the flame of nationalism alive, towards progressively raising the consciousness of wide popular sectors and towards reuniting the majority of the population, on the very basis of awareness of neo-colonialist frustration, around the ideal of national liberation. In addition, while the native ruling class becomes progressively more bourgeois, the development of a working class composed of urban workers and agricultural proletarians, all exploited by the indirect domination of imperialism, opens up new perspectives for the evolution of national liberation. This working class, whatever the level of its political consciousness (given a certain minimum, namely the awareness of its own needs), seems to constitute the true popular vanguard of the national liberation struggle in the neo-colonial case. However it will not be able to completely fulfill its mission in this struggle (which does not end with the gaining of independence) unless it firmly unites with the other exploited strata, the peasants in general (hired men, sharecroppers, tenants and small farmers) and the nationalist petty bourgeoisie. The creation of this alliance demands the mobilization and organization of the nationalist forces within the framework (or by the action) of a strong and well-structured political organization.

Another important distinction between the colonial and neo-colonial situations is in the prospects for the struggle. The colonial situation (in which the nation class fights the repressive forces of the bourgeoisie of the colonizing country) can lead, apparently at least, to a nationalist solution (national revolution); the nation gains its independence and theoretically adopts the economic structure which best suits it. The neo-colonial situation (in which the working classes and their allies struggle simultaneously against the imperialist bourgeoisie and the native ruling class) is not resolved by a nationalist solution; it demands the destruction of the capitalist structure implanted in the national territory by imperialism, and correctly postulates a socialist solution.

This distinction arises mainly from the different levels of the productive forces in the two cases and the consequent sharpening of the class struggle.

It would not be difficult to show that in time the distinction becomes scarcely apparent. It is sufficient to recall that in our present historical situation — elimination of imperialism which uses every means to perpetuate its domination over our peoples, and consolidation of socialism throughout a large part of the world — there are only two possible paths for an independent nation: to return to imperialist domination (neo-colonialism, capitalism, state capitalism), or to take the way of socialism. This operation, on which depends the compensation for the efforts and sacrifices of the popular masses during the struggle, is considerably influenced by the form of struggle and the degree of revolutionary consciousness of those who lead it. The facts make it unnecessary for us to prove that the essential instrument of imperialist domination is violence. If we accept the principle that the liberation struggle is a revolution and that it does not finish at the moment when the national flag is raised and the national anthem played, we will see that there is not, and cannot be national liberation without the use of

liberating violence by the nationalist forces, to answer the criminal violence of the agents of imperialism. Nobody can doubt that, whatever its local characteristics, imperialist domination implies a state of permanent violence against the nationalist forces. There is no people on earth which, having been subjected to the imperialist yoke (colonialist or neo-colonialist), has managed to gain its independence (nominal or effective) without victims. The important thing is to determine which forms of violence have to be used by the national liberation forces in order not only to answer the violence of imperialism, but also to ensure through the struggle the final victory of their cause, true national independence. The past and present experiences of various peoples, the present situation of national liberation struggles in the world (especially in Vietnam, the Congo and Zimbabwe) as well as the situation of permanent violence, or at least of contradictions and upheavals, in certain countries which have gained their independence by the so-called peaceful way, show us not only that compromises with imperialism do not work, but also that the normal way of national liberation, imposed on peoples by imperialist repression, is armed struggle.

We do not think we will shock this assembly by stating that the only effective way of definitively fulfilling the aspirations of the peoples, that is to say of attaining national liberation, is by armed struggle. This is the great lesson which the contemporary history of liberation struggle teaches all those who are truly committed to the effort of liberating their peoples.

It is obvious that both the effectiveness of this way and the stability of the situation to which it leads after liberation depend not only on the characteristics of the organization of the struggle but also on the political and moral awareness of those who, for historical reasons, are capable of being the immediate heirs of the colonial or neo-colonial state. For events have shown that the only social sector capable of being aware of the reality of imperialist domination and of directing the state apparatus inherited from this domination is the native petty bourgeoisie. If we bear in mind the aleatory characteristics and the complexity of the tendencies naturally inherent in the economic situation of this social stratum or class, we will see that this specific inevitability in our situation constitutes one of the weaknesses of the national liberation movement.

The colonial situation, which does not permit the development of a native pseudo-bourgeoisie and in which the popular masses do not generally reach the necessary level of political consciousness before the advent of the phenomenon of national liberation, offers the petty bourgeoisie the historical opportunity of leading the struggle against foreign domination, since by nature of its objective and subjective position (higher standard of living than that of the masses, more frequent contact with the agents of colonialism, and hence more chances of being humiliated, higher level of education and political awareness, etc.) it is the stratum which most rapidly becomes aware of the need to free itself from foreign domination. This historical responsibility is assumed by the sector of the petty bourgeoisie which, in the colonial context, can be called revolutionary, while other sectors retain the doubts characteristic of these classes or ally themselves to colonialism so as to defend, albeit illusorily, their social situation.

The neo-colonial situation, which demands the elimination of the native pseudo-bourgeoisie so that national liberation can be attained, also offers the petty bourgeoisie the chance of playing a role of major and even decisive importance in the struggle for the elimination of foreign domination. But in this case, by virtue of the progress made in the social structure, the function of leading the struggle is shared (to a greater or lesser extent) with the more educated sectors of the working classes and even with some elements of the national pseudo-bourgeoisie who are inspired by patriotic sentiments. The role of the sector of the petty bourgeoisie which participates in leading the struggle is all the more important since it is a fact that in the neo-colonial situation it is the most suitable sector to assume these functions, both because of the economic and cultural limitations of the working masses, and because of the complexes and limitations of an ideological nature which characterize the sector of the national pseudo-bourgeoisie which supports the struggle. In this case it is important to note that the role with which it is entrusted demands from this sector of the petty bourgeoisie a greater revolutionary consciousness, and the capacity for faithfully interpreting the aspirations of the masses in each phase of the struggle and for identifying themselves more and more with the masses.

But however high the degree of revolutionary consciousness of the sector of the petty bourgeoisie called on to fulfill this historical function, it cannot free itself from one objective of reality: the petty bourgeoisie, as a service class (that is to say that a class not directly involved in the process of production) does not possess the economic base to guarantee the taking over of power. In fact history has shown that whatever the role — sometimes important — played by individuals coming from the petty bourgeoisie in the process of a revolution, this class has never possessed political control. And it never could possess it, since political control (the state) is based on the economic capacity of the ruling class, and in the conditions of colonial and neo-colonial society this capacity is retained by two entities: imperialist capital and the native working classes.

To retain the power which national liberation puts in its hands, the petty bourgeoisie has only one path: to give free rein to its natural tendencies to become more bourgeois, to permit the development of a bureaucratic and intermediary bourgeoisie in the commercial cycle, in order to transform itself into a national pseudo-bourgeoisie, that is to say in order to negate the revolution and necessarily ally. In order not to betray these objectives the petty bourgeoisie has only one choice: to strengthen its revolutionary consciousness, to reject the temptations of becoming more bourgeois and the natural concerns of its class mentality, to identify itself with the working classes and not to oppose the normal development of the process of revolution. This means that in order to truly fulfill the role in the national liberation struggle, the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie must be capable of committing suicide as a class in order to be reborn as revolutionary workers, completely identified with the deepest aspirations of the people to which they belong.

This alternative — to betray the revolution or to commit suicide as a class — constitutes the dilemma of the petty bourgeoisie in the general framework of the national liberation struggle. The positive solution in favor of the revolution depends on what Fidel Castro recently correctly called the development of revolutionary consciousness. This dependence necessarily calls our attention to the capacity of the leader of the national liberation struggle to remain faithful to the principles and to the fundamental cause of this struggle. This shows us, to a certain extent, that if national liberation is essentially a political problem, the conditions for its development give it certain characteristics which belong to the sphere of morals.

We will not shout hurrahs or proclaim here our solidarity with this or that people in struggle. Our presence is in itself a cry of condemnation of imperialism and a proof of solidarity with all peoples who want to banish from their country the imperialist yoke, and in particular with the heroic people of Vietnam. But we firmly believe that the best proof we can give of our anti-imperialist position and of our active solidarity with our comrades i

n this common struggle is to return to our countries, to further develop this struggle and to remain faithful to the principles and objectives of national liberation.

Our wish is that every national liberation movement represented here may be able to repeat in its own country, arms in hand, in unison with its people, the already legendary cry of Cuba:

Patria O Muerte, Venceremos!

Death to the Forces of Imperialism!

Free, Prosperous and Happy Country for Each of our Peoples!

Venceremos!

Thanks...good stuff to ponder...

Not sure if this is the right place for this...

One week to 2009 elections

Millions in Europe sink into unemployment and poverty
By Dietmar Henning and Elizabeth Zimmermann
1 June 2009

The elections to the European parliament on June 7 take place in the midst of the deepest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s and an extremely tense social situation. Many millions are being plunged into unemployment and poverty, while a small minority of shareholders, stock market speculators and managers have been able to acquire enormous wealth.

The gross domestic product in Europe sank in the first quarter of 2009 compared to one year previously by 4.4 percent. The German economy, which is strongly dependant on exports, declined over the same period by 6.9 percent. The Eastern European countries have been particularly hard hit. In the Baltic States, GDP has plunged by between 10.9 and 18.6 percent.

Twenty years after the reestablishment of capitalism, the Eastern European member states in the European Union (EU) have entered an advanced stage of economic and political collapse.

Although official statistics invariably underestimate the real extent of the situation, the available figures make clear the catastrophic extent of the social decline. Rapidly rising unemployment, increasing misery and the pauperisation of whole regions are an indictment of the antisocial policies of the European Union and its respective national states.

None of the official parties dares to address the problems afflicting millions of EU citizens. Instead their election campaigns have concentrated on a bombastic hymn of praise for the EU institutions in Brussels. Against this background the broad antipathy for the European elections is hardly surprising. It is an expression of increasing opposition in the population and augurs major class struggles.

The election campaign of the Socialist Equality Party (Partei für Soziale Gleichheit, PSG) is based on a conscientious analysis of economic, social and political conditions in Europe, and fights on this basis for a socialist perspective.
Mass unemployment and poverty

Official unemployment rates have risen considerably across Europe. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European community, unemployment in the member countries of the EU in March 2009 totalled over 20 million. This represents an increase of 4 million compared to March 2008.

These official figures do not accurately reflect the real situation. First of all, no current figures are available for some countries and, secondly, all governments use various statistical tricks to exclude many millions of unemployed persons.

In Britain, nearly 1.5 million people applied for unemployment benefit in March. This figure represents a more than 80 percent increase compared to one year previously.

In Spain, the official unemployment rate stands at 17.4 percent compared to 10.5 percent in May 2008. Unemployment has doubled over the same period in Ireland, while unemployment has trebled in the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in the space of one year.

In countries such as Germany and Austria, the growth in unemployment has been largely delayed by the widespread introduction of short-time working. In April 2009, 2 million workers were working short-time in Germany. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecasts a drastic rise in unemployment in Germany to over 5 million in the coming months.

The EU and all European governments are using mass unemployment in order to implement cuts to wages and social conditions. This applies to all governments irrespective of whether they are social-democratic or conservative. The European Commission has become synonymous with deregulation, liberalisation and the dismantling of employee rights.

The “Bolkenstein Guidelines” of the EU have circumvented traditional minimum and contract wages as well as workplace standards. The “Flexicurity” demanded by the EU (a hybrid of flexibility and security), has given companies the possibility of imposing dismissals and wage cuts. At the same time, this measure has been implemented to withhold financial support for the unemployed.

Allegedly this withdrawal of unemployment benefit is to encourage the unemployed to find work more quickly. In reality, the measure is aimed at forcing the unemployed to accept cheap wage jobs and facilitating drastic cuts to general wage levels.

In an EU report released in March of this year, the authors write: “The recent data show that 16 percent of Europeans are still threatened with poverty. Although a good job is still the best protection against poverty, the fact that 8 percent of those in gainful employment are poor means that a job does not necessarily offer this protection.” The 16 percent of Europeans living in poverty—according to official figures—amounts to 80 million EU citizens.

In every EU country the main victims of unemployment and poverty are children and young people. Another section of the EU report reads: “In the EU children face a higher risk of poverty (19 percent) than the total population. The situation has not improved since 2000.” In March 2009 the unemployment rate for under 25-year-olds was about 18.3 percent across Europe. In Spain, more than one third of this age group is without job. Increasing numbers of high school graduates are unable to find adequate work and are forced to take two or three cheap wage jobs in order to survive.

These averages statistics, however, fail to describe the full extent of the social misery, which prevails in large parts of Europe. If one examines the poverty in individual countries, individual regions and even individual cities, then an enormous geographical divide between rich and poor is evident. In every European country there are regions that are sinking into bitter poverty: southern Spain, southern Italy, East Germany, and large regions in all other countries. Entire regions are plagued by mass unemployment, with social welfare and poverty levels averaging 25 to 50 percent.

Entire suburbs of major cities and former industrial centres in Europe have fallen into ruin. In cities like Paris, Athens, Warsaw or Rome, in the former workers’ and immigrant quarters of Amsterdam, London, Berlin or the German Ruhr district, unemployment and poverty is often two or three times higher than national figures.
Wealth

While whole regions sink into poverty and misery, a small layer has been able to profit. The figures given by Eurostat on income distribution in Europe are outdated and of limited validity.

National statistics are more reliable, even though they culminate in the year 2007. According to the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), in 2007 the richest 1 percent of Germans possessed 23 percent of all social assets; the richest 10 percent possessed over 61 percent. Half of the German population either lacks any wealth or is in debt.

This still does not reflect the entire extent of social inequality. Within the richest 1 percent (82,000 citizens) there are a handful of mega-rich. According to one wealth distribution researcher, if wealth were measured on a chart in which €100,000 corresponded to two centimetres, then the average annual income wealth of all adults in Germany (i.e., €88,000) would measure a distance of 17.6 millimetres. In contrast, the wealth of Germany’s richest man, Karl Albrecht, owner of the Aldi retail chain, would measure exactly four kilometres on this scale.

This situation finds a similar reflection in every European country. There are currently a total of 196 billionaires in Europe, 52 of whom reside in Germany.

The rich and their companies have been able to profit mainly from interest and shareholder di

vidends. Basically they have been able to profit from the growing pauperisation of the European continent. In particular, the big concerns use the nationalism of the trade unions to play off workers in the individual countries against one other and force through the pro-business measures passed by national governments and the EU bureaucracy. As the crisis deepens and the assault on jobs and wages intensifies the trade unions line up even more closely with their respective governments and company managements.

When was the last time one heard the traditional slogan “The same wages for the same work!” from the mouth of a union official or a works council? In the past few decades, the wage differential in Europe has grown enormously. One working hour in Scandinavia, Germany, Britain and France costs between €25 and €30; in Poland, €5; in the Baltic States and Slovakia, €4; and in Bulgaria, which entered the EU at the beginning of 2007, just €1.40.

This wage differential is to be found across a small geographical region. From the German capital of Berlin it is only 100 km to the Polish border and slightly more than 1,000 km to the Latvian capital of Riga. There exists a wage differential of over 90 percent over a distance of 1,000 km.

The widespread social decline has created conditions in which rightist political tendencies seek to stir up racism and win influence. In Italy, Spain and Germany, but particularly in Eastern Europe, there is a growing wave of violence directed against foreign workers and socially disadvantaged layers.

In the new Eastern European, members of the EU, former Stalinist bureaucrats, have cooperated with major Western companies to expropriate all former socialised property and accumulated outrageous fortunes, while the population sinks into mass poverty and increasing misery. Further attacks on democratic rights and pervasive corruption create conditions in which openly fascist forces are able to gain influence.
Socialist perspectives

The resistance against mass redundancies, plant closures and social pauperisation is increasing in all European countries. In Lithuania, Iceland and Belgium the economic crisis has already led to the fall of national governments.

The rebellion against the European Union and national governments requires, however, an international socialist perspective. In the European election the German Socialist Equality Party stresses: “The PSG fights for the unity of the international working class. In order to meet the attacks of globally operating companies workers must unite internationally. We decisively oppose all attempts to drive a wedge between German and foreign workers or to incite German workers against their fellow workers in Eastern Europe or Asia.”

The present crisis cannot be overcome by reforms or repairs to the nation-state system as proposed by the German Left Party, or the French NPA (New Anti-capitalist Party) and its European allies. The only viable solution is a transformation of social relations and the building of a socialist society. In Europe this requires a struggle against the European Union and its institutions, and for the United Socialist States of Europe. This is the perspective put forward in the current European election by the International Committee of the Fourth International and its German section, the Socialist Equality Party.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/euro-j01.shtml

It sounds as though the EU could be that rope which Lenin alluded to.

Has the Fourth International manned the barricades yet or are they waiting to be asked?

It sounds as though the EU could be that rope which Lenin alluded to.

Has the Fourth International manned the barricades yet or are they waiting to be asked?


It is interesting. Support for EU is upside down. It should be stronger in the more powerful European Economies (Germany, France, the Low Countries, etc.) where EU provided a modicum of insulation from the Americans (look at what happened to the U.K. without that), and it should be weaker in Eastern Europe where the EU "development policies" have just about bombed them into the stone age. Instead, the opposite is true. The richer countries are convinced that the Eastern Europeans are an albatross around their neck while the East Europeans are grasping at the EU because, no matter how nasty it may be, it is still a greater source of "HOPE" than their own corrupt regimes and their versions of "rubble millionaires", who were in prison just a minute ago. Most of East Europe was in the process of conversion to the Euro, and that is another time bomb... currency "stability" at the price of nothing being affordable.

Meanwhile, the Southern tier (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece) had been off to the races and they just want this recession shit to end.

The whole thing is a mess.

As far as the Fourth International goes, they are occupying the Fourth Dimension and see all of this as a disturbance of the space/time continuum: no sooner do they dig up some 1920s bullshit, than it is "actualized" - but only in their own virtual space.

The whole thing is a double mess.

Still, I'd rather be there than here. Their confusion would count as clarity, here.

http://kunaljanu.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/confusion.jpg

Music has changed massively in the last 10 years (or 15 depending on how tech savvy you were back then)..used to be underground music was a mysterious, hard to discover thing. If you found an indie label that you liked you pretty much ordered stuff from their catalogue based on the "recommended if you like" and the confidence that they were putting out quality albums

Now between myspace, soulseek, mediafire/rapidshare/megaupload, torrents you can pretty much find anything you want and find other people with similar niche tastes (lastfm) and so on.

Funny how it should be a golden age, given how accesible music is and how (relatively) cheaply you can record, produce and distribute it..yet all you hear right now is doom and gloom..the "industry" can't survive, the "business model" is fatally flawed, people who want to listen to music are "thieves"..

Just like the news ,media in general,and even medicine.I would never have learned about the nuances of mitochondrial disease,let alone learned where to go to get a diagnosis,were it not for the web.A lot of doctors see the web as a big a threat to their power as big media does.

We used to have this debate all the time at a Google "classical recordings " group that just blew up last week.Only there,it involved file sharing of live concerts,and 1930s 78s.It doesn't matter if it's rap or Rachmaninoff,the old model is history,artists will sell their CDs/downloads/or vinyl direct to the consumer.I'm such an old fart.90s indie rock is about as "modern" as I get.But I recently started buying these cool brand new Lps of unissued German Rafael Kubelik radio concerts from the 50s-70s,for the Euro equivalent of $30-50 a pop off this labels website in Germany.

The web has also killed obscurity.Take look at some of the vinyl blogs I frequent.

http://belgarock.blogspot.com/
http://hasilatemyjerky.mypodcast.com/
http://analogafrica.blogspot.com/
http://www.damians78s.co.uk/

There are thousands of these out there,more than any sane person can keep track of.
To say nothing of old standbys like:

http://wfmu.org/playlists/AP
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/31553

The trouble is,it is doing just the reverse to political activism,turning everybody into mindless Diggers,Kossacks,and Twits (http://zippittydodah.blogspot.com/2009/06/twitter-and-life-in-shitter.html).

Music has changed massively in the last 10 years (or 15 depending on how tech savvy you were back then)..used to be underground music was a mysterious, hard to discover thing. If you found an indie label that you liked you pretty much ordered stuff from their catalogue based on the "recommended if you like" and the confidence that they were putting out quality albums

Now between myspace, soulseek, mediafire/rapidshare/megaupload, torrents you can pretty much find anything you want and find other people with similar niche tastes (lastfm) and so on.

Funny how it should be a golden age, given how accesible music is and how (relatively) cheaply you can record, produce and distribute it..yet all you hear right now is doom and gloom..the "industry" can't survive, the "business model" is fatally flawed, people who want to listen to music are "thieves"..

Just like the news ,media in general,and even medicine.I would never have learned about the nuances of mitochondrial disease,let alone learned where to go to get a diagnosis,were it not for the web.A lot of doctors see the web as a big a threat to their power as big media does.

We used to have this debate all the time at a Google "classical recordings " group that just blew up last week.Only there,it involved file sharing of live concerts,and 1930s 78s.It doesn't matter if it's rap or Rachmaninoff,the old model is history,artists will sell their CDs/downloads/or vinyl direct to the consumer.I'm such an old fart.90s indie rock is about as "modern" as I get.But I recently started buying these cool brand new Lps of unissued German Rafael Kubelik radio concerts from the 50s-70s,for the Euro equivalent of $30-50 a pop off this labels website in Germany.

The web has also killed obscurity.Take look at some of the vinyl blogs I frequent.

http://belgarock.blogspot.com/
http://hasilatemyjerky.mypodcast.com/
http://analogafrica.blogspot.com/
http://www.damians78s.co.uk/

There are thousands of these out there,more than any sane person can keep track of.
To say nothing of old standbys like:

http://wfmu.org/playlists/AP
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/31553

The trouble is,it is doing just the reverse to political activism,turning everybody into mindless Diggers,Kossacks,and Twits (http://zippittydodah.blogspot.com/2009/06/twitter-and-life-in-shitter.html).


Hey Eats, good to see ya around.

Ya know, besides me being something of a technophobe with a dislike of this constant deluge of gadgets(another expression of capitalist overproduction) there's something else which bugs me about all of this. I think we listen to too much music, that we cheapen and trivialize the experience through overindulgence.

Used to be I had something playing constantly, classical or jazz on public radio, choice rock(including punk) and blues on recorded media. Then about four years ago I decided my life didn't need a sound track. I'm much more selective nowadays, mebbe one cd a night. It's no longer a drone behind my thoughts, wallpaper, I pay closer attention. I do hear more live music though, birdsong.

Despite the recent proliferation of indie recordings and labels I think recorded music has stiffled music creativity, particularly on the local level. I believe a lot of musicians are driven into established channels because they want to be heard, other give up. Though as I only play the radio I am hardly an expert. But mebbe it's not the technology, mebbe it's just capitalism.

I'm one of those people who can sit in silence (or just listening to the birds outside the window) for hours. The first thing I do when people leave the house is turn off the blessed teevee. When I do listen to music it's old favorites or I search for new artists on myspace. Most of the radio stations are owned by one or two big conglomerates and all the songs sound the same. It's no wonder people are confused with all the noise they are subjected to on a daily basis.

What,if anything,do y'all make of this (http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/its-time-for-a-second-american-revolution-in-the-spirit-of-perestroika-20090609-c25z.html?page=-1) ?

What,if anything,do y'all make of this (http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/its-time-for-a-second-american-revolution-in-the-spirit-of-perestroika-20090609-c25z.html?page=-1) ?


The last general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union turns into a liberal, and then has these brilliant insights and says "the dogma of free markets, deregulation and balanced budgets at any cost was force-fed to the rest of the world" and that the "model was an illusion that benefited chiefly the very rich" and "the current model does not need adjusting; it needs replacing."

Uh, no shit.... comrade.

If this is all some shocking revelation to him, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that liberals here are so screwed up.

I guess we should get him to join SocIndy and we can straighten him out.

Strange times.