Fifty Years Later, Black Panthers’ Art Still Resonates

The Black Panther Party was founded 50 years ago in Oakland, on Oct. 15, 1966, and within two years it had chapters across the country. The New York Times is taking this opportunity to explore the Black Panthers’ legacy, through their iconic use of imagery and how they were covered in our own pages.

The Black Panther Party is often associated with armed resistance, but one of the most potent weapons in its outreach to African-Americans in cities across the country was its artwork. In posters, pamphlets and its popular newspaper, The Black Panther, the party’s imagery was guided by the vision of Emory Douglas, its minister of culture.

His art came from many sources. As a teenager in San Francisco during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mr. Douglas found himself incarcerated at the Youth Training School in Ontario, Calif., where he got involved with its printing shop. He went on to study graphic design at San Francisco City College, where he developed a deep interest in the Black Arts Movement, the artistic arm of the Black Power Movement.

The People–Not the System–will solve the Problem of White Supremacist Murders

The Zimmerman Verdict is a Reflection of the Times.   WE CHARGE GENOCIDE!

The People Must ORGANIZE!

Statement by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, July 13, 2013

Trayvon Martin was never going to get justice from a courtroom of the United States government. Justice for Trayvon and for the hundreds of other Black women, men, and children executed by someone employed or protected by the US government on a daily basis will only come from our people and the power we are able to wield through the strength of our organization and the resolve of our will. Zimmerman was only put on trial because millions of our people took to the streets in early 2012 and threatened to disrupt the system. The trial was a means to divert our energies and return things to the status quo.

Obama’s statement that a “a jury has spoken” encouraging what he called, “calm reflection”, is just another effort to lure Black people to sleep and keep us accepting the status quo. The status quo of white supremacy has never and will never work for Black people.  As W.E.B. DuBois stated, “a system cannot fail those who it was never meant to protect.” White supremacy and the systems that support and reinforce it like capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy must be defeated and dismantled. We must always keep this in mind and be prepared in concrete, organized ways to ensure that there will be no peace if there is no justice. Now is the time for direct action in the form of organized Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns that disrupt the status quo systems of the US government through massive non-compliant resistance.

We must also be clear that the Zimmerman verdict is a reflection of the times. 17-year old Trayvon Martin was the 31^st Black person executed by someone employed or protected by the state in 2012. As we demonstrated in Operation Ghetto Storm, 313 Black women, men, and children were executed without trials by the police, security guards or certified “neighborhood watchmen” in 2012. These extrajudicial killings have by no means stopped or slowed down, as witnessed by the execution of Kimani Gray and dozens more Black people in the first six months of 2013. With the Zimmerman verdict justifying and setting new precedent for the disposal of Black life, we should expect the number of extrajudicial killings to increase. It is now more imperative than ever for us to strengthen the organization of our communities and defend ourselves.

New Release “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: A Handbook on Organizing New Afrikan and Oppressed Communities for Self-Defense”

[We have received the following message from the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, announcing and detailing the release of a new organizing manual for community self-defense.  When many reform activists continue to appeal to oppressive institutions to solve the problems of repression and oppression, the manual charts a different path where matters are taken into the hands of the people, both in response to specific attacks they face from government and reactionary aggression, but also in building the struggle to end those oppressive powers once and for all.  Well worthy of study and broad distribution and active organizing, Frontlines offers it here (see link at end of announcement), encouraging responses.  — Frontlines ed.]

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Oppressed peoples and communities can and will only be secure in this country when they are organized to defend themselves against the aggressions of the government and the forces of white supremacy and capitalist exploitation. “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: A Handbook on Organizing New Afrikan and Oppressed Communities for Self-Defense”, is the latest contribution of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and the Every 36 Hours Campaign that seeks to strengthen organizing initiatives within Black or New Afrikan communities for self-defense, by presenting these initiatives with a comprehensive analytical framework and practical organizing tools to ground and unite them.

As the extrajudicial killing of Kimani Gray and the more than twenty other Black women and men by the police in the first two months of 2013 clearly illustrate, it is imperative that New Afrikan communities get organized and defend ourselves. As the real economy continues to contract, corporations become more vicious and exploitative, our communities are gentrified and displaced, public goods and services continue to be eliminated or privatized, and the national security state continues to grow and become ever more invasive, the attacks on New Afrikan and other oppressed and exploited people are only going to escalate. We must defend ourselves, and we have every right to do so by any means necessary.

“Let Your Motto Be Resistance” draws on the long history of New Afrikan peoples struggle to realize self-determination and defend our persons, our rights and our dignity from the assaults of the oppressive settler-colonial government and the forces of white supremacy. Building on this history “Let Your Motto Be Resistance” provides in summary form a vision of how we can (re)organize our communities from the ground up to defend ourselves and reassert our fundamental human rights to life, dignity, and self-determination.

Tumultuous 60’s: an announcement of a forthcoming book on revolutionary Maoism in the US

[While many other books on the movements of the 60’s and 70’s in the US have either ignored or dismissed/denounced the role of Maoism in the United States, this announcement of a forthcoming book, “The Heavy Radicals: The Revolutionary Union/Revolutionary Communist Party 1968-1980”  by Aaron Leonard (to be published in early 2014), promises a detailed look and critical assessment of revolutionary Maoism (as practiced by the Revolutionary Union and the Revolutionary Communist Party-USA) and its impact on a variety of politically radical movements and popular struggles, from campuses to workplaces to anti-war, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist campaigns in those tumultuous times.  We expect the difference of this approach will stimulate much interest, which we look forward to, and debate, in which we expect many will engage.  — Frontlines ed.]

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Announcing “The Heavy Radicals: The Revolutionary Union/Revolutionary Communist Party 1968-1980”  by Aaron Leonard

The Revolutionary Union / Revolutionary Communist Party was the largest Maoist organization to arise in the United States in the tumultuous period of the late 1960s early 1970s. This is acknowledged not only by other Left political trends, but also by the Federal Government, which had it as subject of no less than four Congressional Hearings in its key years. Oddly though it largely stands outside established histories of the period; it is not taught in the academy, appears hardly at all in academic papers, and is passed over in the more popular books of SDS and sixties radicalism.

The reasons for this are manifold. The organization is victim of its own discipline that had little interest in promoting its history beyond whatever campaign or controversy it was involved in at the moment. Further those leaving the organization were circumspect in talking about their time there — either out of standing respect for the group’s discipline, a desire to move on with their lives, or the belief that a return to “the mainstream” necessarily involved disassociating themselves from their sixties revolutionary past, or some combination of each.

There was also a penchant for the established media and other institutions to promote more sensational trends. Group such as the Weathermen — while more marginal, were ideologically more amenable as emblematic of the ‘madness’ of extremes or despair of fighting for lost causes. It is also the case that the dominant culture in the United States has no interest promoting the concept of domestic revolutionaries embracing Maoism and undertaking the long term work of preparing for insurrection in a highly developed capitalist country.

A Community Forum — Every 36 Hours a Black Person is Killed in ExtraJudicial Killings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elevating Housing to a Human Right in May Month of Mass Action

PRESS RELEASE

Groups Take Back the Land During May 2010 Month of Action

May 3, 2010- Today, the Take Back the Land Movement (TBLM, www.takebacktheland.org) announced a May 2010 Month of Action in direct response to the ongoing economic and housing crisis. The month of action commemorates the 50^th anniversary of the first Civil rights era sit-ins in Greensboro, NC. Thousands from across the country will participate in “live-ins” to demand the fundamental human right to housing. Groups in over a dozen cities across the country will move families into vacant government-owned and foreclosed homes, without permission, or physically defend families from eviction and foreclosure.

The objective of the coordinated civil disobedience campaigns is to build a national movement to elevate housing to the level of a human right and gain community control over land.

“We are defending families facing eviction and moving homeless people into people-less homes,” said Max Rameau of Take Back the Land. “While banks enjoy bailouts, executive bonuses and record profits, human beings and entire communities are suffering. The government does not appear interested in helping poor people, so we have no other choice.”

The TBLM is a network of community organizations or initiatives committed to community control over land and housing as a human right. The Movement receives national staffing and administrative support from the US Human Rights Network (ushrnetwork.org) and is organized in conjunction with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) (economichumanrights.org), an organization with a long history of housing takeovers and defenses.

MLM Revolutionary Study Group Message to 7th Conference of the Communist Party of Greece (m-l)

Dear Comrades  of the Communist Party of Greece (marxist-leninist) ,

The Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Revolutionary Study Group of the United States sends our greetings and salutations  on the occasion of The 7th Conference of your Party!

You meet at a time of extreme crisis—of both great opportunity and ominous danger. As we move forward in the 21^st Century, we take a moment to reflect on the legacy of the 20^th, which gave us the launching of great revolutionary ventures worldwide.  The experiences  gained from the communist-led projects of socialism and new democracy and struggles for liberation are bountiful, and give us much continued inspiration and lessons—though, it must be said, much of this  experience has not yet been adequately summed up, and many of the problems which arose and were confronted have not yet been solved.

In the closing decades of the 20^th Century, the overthrow of socialism and the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union and in China have provided openings and resources for the world imperialist system.  Yet even this revisionist gift to the imperialists has run its course, and today the worldwide imperialist crisis is shaking the system deeply, amplifying the schisms in the recently “monopolar” (US hegemonic) imperialist world.

Worldwide, the revolutionary struggles of the people have marked important advances.  In several countries, revolutionary forces, many with a significant mass base, have united on a revolutionary basis and have taken the initiative leading the people’s struggles against horrifying conditions.  Revolutionary leadership has moved to clarify the pathways forward toward the revolutionary seizure of power, as applied to the various conditions the people face in different countries.  But in all countries, the path forward depends upon maintaining the independence and initiative of the revolutionary proletariat and its allies.

At every turn the people’s forces are confronted by apologists, defenders and promoters of bourgeois rule.  Revisionists in various disguise, social democrats, liberal and “humanitarian” imperialists, “populist” compradors, fundamentalist religious movements, and theocratic regimes continue to distract and confuse many of the people’s forces.  And that is not all:  the people’s forces are directly attacked, jailed, beaten, and murdered without respite, on a massive and unconscionable scale.

Yet the revolutionary  forces continue to resolve to meet these challenges, step by step.  And our efforts are joined, illuminated and guided, by the internationalism we share, and which is brought to the thousand battles waged every day.

We also share problems that need solution, and as we, in every country, work to contribute our share, we dedicate ourselves to reaching the most complete understanding through comradely exchanges of experience, investigations and analysis.  Among these are the ideological and political and strategic problems of revolutionaries in advanced capitalist and imperialist countries, who for many decades have suffered from the influence of revisionism and social-democracy and the corrupting “sugar-coated” bullets of imperialism as a whole, as well as from various idealist ventures and schemes.

In the US, we see this most dramatically in the ongoing effect of “Obama-ism”.  Similar magnets for capitulation of people’s forces exist all over the world.  “Maintaining independence and initiative” is the key, as revolutionary political forces are gathered and launch wave upon wave of struggle.  We look forward to hearing the summations of your experience through the recent struggles which have shaken the ground in Greece.  Your advanced experience enriches the classroom of us all.

As the saying goes, “the road is tortuous, the future is bright.”  We are proud to share with you the tortuous road and the bright future.

Our comradely salutations to the CPG (m-l)!

Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Revolutionary Study Group in the US

www.mlmrsg.org

Building the Anti-Imperialist Movement After Obama’s Election

On the November Elections and the Next Steps in Building the Anti-Imperialist Movement in the US

November 25, 2008

On November 4, 2008, millions of new voters stepped into political life with the hope that the traditional (as many put it) rich-white-male-Christian cultural monopoly on political power would no longer determine the conditions of life in the United States. These millions who stepped forward to be counted — young, poor, women, people of color, the wronged and abused, the falsely accused, sick and disabled, atheists, Moslems, Buddhists, and progressive Christians, displaced, evicted, and laid-off, and other “outcasts” and have-nots — were repelled by that de facto oligarchy, which had, they felt, excluded them. The Bush regime had arrogantly and unsuccessfully led that traditional elite for 8 years of widening wars and monstrous economic crises, which drew widespread domestic and global anger and condemnation. With high hopes, the millions of new voters were joined by millions of others who were trying to find a way out of the mess that this system has been making of their lives and of the world. Black people, Latinos, other people of color, workers, and youth stepped out of the shadows of solitude and “making do” and into political life, albeit within the confines of a presidential election.

By and large, these millions are responding to the promise of access, of open doors. They bring with them the worries and concerns and angers of their lives—of the wars being waged on false pretenses, of the worsening conditions of life. These are the issues they bring with them, though solutions to these issues were not on the electoral table.

On the night of November 4, hundreds of thousands in cities around the U.S. celebrated their success in electing the first Black president and the fact that millions of whites moved past the racist fears and codewords that have habitually set the boundaries of political life.

But to move forward, celebrations must turn to sober, straight talk.

The interests around which Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership have coalesced, despite the campaign banner of “change”, are the interests of the rich and the privileged, even as more wars are looming and the economics of the capitalist system here and worldwide are dragging the lives of millions into deeper crisis.

Resistance Guide from Refuse and Resist

[Refuse & Resist!, the once-promising network of resistance produced the following “pocket guide”  (and other useful materials). This document is shaped by the climate and changes immediately following 9/11 — but its core advice and thrust remain relevant. This guide is available as a printable PDF.  If we were to produce a piece today (years later) what would it contain, what would its focus be?-ed]

Stopping a Police State: A Pocket Guide from Refuse & Resist!

We have seen the round-up and secret detention of those from Muslim and South Asian countries. We have seen the President order the military to seize citizens and hold them incommunicado and without charges. We have seen free speech marginalized and protest banned from public spaces. We have seen the FBI questioning people planning protests at the political conventions. We have seen the Patriot Act give police agents vast new powers of secret search and surveillance. We have seen a campaign to impose fundamentalist religious social norms. And we have even heard government agencies talking about plans to postpone national elections. For many in this country, police state conditions are not new. And since 9/11 millions more are threatened. It won’t do to count on others to do something and hope that it will all go away. No! We see where things are heading. The time to resist is now.

1. Build Communities of Resistance.

All across the country, local governments are refusing to cooperate with the Patriot Act and people are beginning to organize. Hang-outs, house parties, book clubs, film series, discussion groups, open mics and other cultural scenes build communities of trust as well as the networks to read the alternative press, discuss current events, raise money, organize defense committees, and promote active resistance.

2. Stand with Those Under Attack.

The government seeks to scapegoat whole sections of people and go after the leadership of any real resistance to their plans for empire. Yet all across the country people went to the aid of their Muslim neighbors and stood watch at local mosques after 9/11. The government’s plan is to pick us off one at a time. Our response must be to recognize that it’s all one attack and give aid and shelter to all those under attack.

3. Don’t Talk.

Never answer the questions of police or government agents beyond identifying yourself where required by law. You should then state that you do not consent to any search and that you wish to be represented by an attorney. Do not say anything else, even if agents threaten you with a grand jury subpoena or promise to leave you alone if you cooperate. Recently activists at Drake University were called before a Grand Jury to give testimony about an antiwar conference on campus. They refused and public outcry forced the government to withdraw the subpoenas.

4. Defend Every Legal Right.

At the same time that the government invades other countries in the name of democracy, there is a constant chipping away at every legal right in this country. Follow the example of those who have videotaped and exposed beatings by police. Every denial of a permit, every arrest, every police raid on dissenters, every wire-tap, and every grand jury subpoena must be fought both in court and in the court of public opinion. This is part of the battle. Don’t let the police and media decide what is legitimate protest and who are legitimate protesters.

5. Handle Information Responsibly.

Choosing to keep your personal information and that of your organization confidential does not mean you have something to hide. It means you know what kind of country we live in! Librarians in California now destroy the records of what books people read to protect their patrons from government snoops. Unnecessary records should be destroyed, the audience at meetings should not be videotaped, e-mail should be encrypted with PGP, and vital information should be duplicated and stored in a secure location.

6. Oppose the Climate of Fear and Compulsory Patriotism.

It is the policies of the U.S. government that have put the American people in harm’s way. The leaders of the new Rome constantly seek to ensnare us in a devil’s bargain: a false promise to keep us safe if only we will give up all our rights to privacy and dissent, and hand over to them our allegiance for their war plans. In Madison, WI, the local school board refused a call from the federal government after 9/11 to compel school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in unison.

7. Be Part of the National Resistance Network.

In Refuse & Resist! some of us strongly believe in the principles and values to which this country has historically aspired, while others of us find oppression and injustice to be rooted in those same principles. But we are united as one in our determination to build a culture, climate and community of resistance against the current Ashcroft police-state measures with its imposition of Christian fundamentalist social norms. Join Refuse & Resist!

November 2008 RCP Letter to UCPN(Maoist)

“Our comrades in Nepal are caught in a swamp and in dire danger of drowning. And what has been the reaction of RIM comrades in other countries to this emergency? While a few have tried to assist as best they can, unfortunately some others have thrown flowers to the floundering comrades when what they critically need is a strong rope to pull themselves out of the swamp. The necessary rope exists: it is nothing other than the revolutionary communist ideological and political line, its stand, viewpoint and method….The current two-line struggle within the CPN(M) is taking place within the context of the greater question of whether, and on what basis, a whole new wave of world proletarian revolution can be brought forward….[T]he belief that the advanced practice of the Nepal revolution has made it unnecessary to learn from advanced understanding from other comrades is part of the pragmatism and empiricism that has, unfortunately, been a growing part of the CPN(M) leadership’s ideological orientation for some time now. Any effort to resolve the crisis in the CPN(M) only “on its own terms”, and on nationalist or empiricist grounds to ignore or resist the advanced revolutionary communist understanding developing elsewhere is to severely handicap the struggle for a correct line. In particular, we sincerely hope that the comrades of the CPN(M) will give serious attention to engaging with the body of work, method and approach, the New Synthesis, that Bob Avakian has been bringing forward.”

Letter from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (Nov. 2008)

To the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and all Parties and Organizations of RIM

Dear Comrades,

On March 19, 2008, our Party sent a circular letter to the comrades of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) as well as to the other parties and organizations of RIM expressing our deepest concern over the political and ideological orientation of the CPN(M) and the basic path it has been following for the last three years. The central point in that letter was our belief that despite the great struggle and sacrifices of the ten years of People’s War and its tremendous achievements, the state system being established and consolidated in Nepal is not New Democracy, the particular form of the dictatorship of the proletariat appropriate in countries like Nepal, but rather a bourgeois state, a “federal democratic republic” which will preserve and enforce the existing capitalist and semi‑feudal relations of production prevalent in Nepal.

The People’s Liberation Army is to be destroyed through “integration” into the reactionary state army and/or dissolved by other means, land distributed by the revolution to the peasantry is to be returned to previous owners, Western imperialist powers and reactionary states such as China and India are being hailed as great friends of the Nepalese people, and astounding theoretical propositions are being put forward such as the “joint dictatorship of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie”.[i] Instead of arguing for a program of carrying forward the revolution, CPN(M) leaders and government officials have loudly advocated positions and policies that so flagrantly go against the principles of proletarian revolution and the interests of the masses in Nepal and around the world that any genuine communist is shocked, saddened and angry to hear them on the lips of comrades of our Movement.

Yes, we have heard that the assurances from some that all of this is but a “transitional state” that can be transformed into a genuine people’s state – or, sometimes we are told, it is but a clever ploy to “deceive the enemy” while preparations continue to bring the revolution to a victorious conclusion. But in fact each step taken down this road is making it more difficult ideologically, politically, organizationally and militarily to get back on the revolutionary path. Today many more communists, in Nepal and elsewhere, are coming to recognize that the formation of the “federal democratic republic” is not a “stepping stone” toward achieving the communist objectives but a giant step backwards, away from revolution and away from the achievements of the People’s War, and a giant step toward firmly reconsolidating Nepal’s position in the reactionary world imperialist system.

Eric Mann’s 10 Reasons to Vote for Obama

Eric Mann (of the LA Community/Labor Strategy Center) is a well known veteran activist who advocates a strategic engagement with American elections.

Ten Reasons We Should Turn Out the Vote for Barack Obama

Eric Mann

This article was written to encourage strategic and tactical discussions about the election. The author strongly encourages comments to be posted at the end of this article.

For those of us who are in the Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights, Women’s Liberation, Environmental Justice, and Anti-War Movements, for those of us on the Left, the election of Barack Obama is of the utmost urgency. Voting for Barack Obama is not enough. In the next two weeks we need to put all our energy into getting out the vote to elect Obama and defeat McCain.

Because of his brilliant organizing, the possibility of an Obama victory is palpable. Because of the racism of this country and the strong reactionary elements of the general population, the threat of a McCain victory is only too real.

The stakes leave no room for passive support. The Republicans coalescing against Obama are carrying out a calculated strategy to preserve and extend the victories of Reagan and Bush. If it can be imagined, they intend to take the country even further to the right. They want to destroy what is left of democratic liberalism, destroy the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements, destroy the Immigrant Rights, Women’s Liberation, LGBT, Anti-War movements, to destroy the Left.

Workers World Supporter Defends its Position on Iran–and a Reply

From http://kasamaproject.org

Kasama received the following piece from Greg Butterfield (aka Redguard). Greg is a longtime supporter of the Workers World Party and contributor to their newspaper WW, and has been engaging with the Kasama Project  from its beginning.

Given the criticism that many have made here of  these politics, it is helpful to hear them articulated and defended well.

By Greg Butterfield

“That struggle is desirable which is possible, and the struggle which is possible is that which is going on at the given moment.’ This is precisely the trend of unbounded opportunism, which passively adapts itself to spontaneity.”
–Lenin, What Is To Be Done?

A great deal of criticism has been leveled at Workers World Party over its position on the Iranian elections. Not surprisingly, the critics frequently couple this with a denunciation of WWP’s position in support of the Chinese government’s actions to halt the Tiananmen Square protest movement in 1989.

It must be said straight away that, even if the uprising in Tehran had clear, anti-imperialist leadership, it would still be the principle responsibility of the movement in the U.S. and Europe to oppose imperialist intervention — military, political, economic, covert, etc. The fact that those who are rushing to support this movement do not in most cases even raise the issue or speak about the dangers of U.S. intervention says volumes about the sorry state of these “revolutionary” forces.

Revolution and State Power in Nepal

http://www.mlmrsg.com

By the MLM Revolutionary Study Group in the U.S.

The central question in Nepal today is state power and the means by which it can be conquered and wielded in the service of the overwhelming majority of the people of Nepal.  Does the present unstable Maoist-led coalition government represent the beginnings of a process leading to socialism, and a beacon and valuable resource for the worldwide struggle against capitalism and imperialism?  Or is a disorienting  political strategy being implemented that is unprepared for the next challenge and is blocking further advance of the revolutionary process?

At present, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is the largest party with a powerful mass base.  It occupies leading positions, including Prachanda as Prime Minister, in what is essentially a bourgeois/feudal state backed by the 90,000 strong Nepalese Army and tens of thousands in the police force.  While the Nepalese Army is confined to barracks, 19,000 PLA members have been housed for the past 2 1/2 years in cantonments (military camps), their arms are being held in the camps under UN inspection, and they are slated to be “integrated” with the Nepalese Army under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2006—the precise terms of which are still in dispute.

The UCPN (Maoist) announced in February 2009 that the Revolutionary People’s Councils in the liberated areas of the countryside have been disbanded.  According to recent visitors, basic party units have been replaced by commissions and mass organizations in many areas. There is no evidence that the party leadership is preparing its mass base and the party for an actual seizure of power.

The class struggle, particularly the anti-feudal struggle, has abated since the end of the people’s war in 2006.  The most intense and highest profile struggle has been the effort of landless peasants in the Terai to hold onto expropriated land during the people’s war, supported by Minister of Land Reform Matrika Yadav.  Lack of support from the central government and growing differences between Yadav and the UCPN (Maoist) leadership led to Matrika’s resignation from the government and then from the party in order to form a reconstituted CPN (Maoist).  While not widely reported, there are indications that a growing number of restless and rebellious forces are organizing outside UCPN (Maoist) authority due to the present strategy of the party.  Elements of the PLA have recently criticized directives of the central government, even Prachanda, to stop recruiting new PLA members in the face of renewed recruitment of 3,000 soldiers by the Nepalese Army.

This stagnation of the revolutionary process is the result of the strategic decision made by the CPN (Maoist) in 2005 to end the people’s war, unite with a broad spectrum of parties to carry the anti-monarchist struggle through to the end, and to center its work around elections to a Constituent Assembly with the goal of forming a Maoist-led government.  It has characterized this period as a “political offensive,” with a particular emphasis on strengthening the party’s base of support in the cities.
Though the Unified CPN (Maoist) has not issued any official strategic documents recently (The Red Star is not an official organ and The Worker no longer appears), it is clear that the Prachanda leadership is pursuing a path of attempting to transform the bourgeois/feudal state from within and by peaceful means.  The party’s formulation is that the main tasks for the party are continuing the “peace process” to its end and writing a new constitution.

Fact Sheet on the War in Afghanistan and Pakistan

This fact sheet was produced by the International League of People’s Struggle (Bay Area Grassroots Organizing Committee).

The War in Afghanistan and Pakistan:

A Brutal War for Empire—
not a “Good War”

Are the wars of the past six years finally behind us?  Consider these recent developments in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq:

•    In February, President Obama ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, in addition to the 38,000 U.S. soldiers and marines already there.
•    There are 22,000 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan. Adding 5,000 armed “civilian” contractors like Blackwater, there are over 80,000 US-NATO forces in Afghanistan now, with more to come.
•    The Afghan war is now a regional war, having expanding into Pakistan. In the past year, there have been 3 dozen missile attacks by unmanned CIA Predator and Reaper (as in “Grim Reaper”) drones based in northwest Pakistan, resulting in numerous civilian casualties—most recently 11 civilians were killed this week, as the Obama administration continues the Bush regime practice. Protests across Pakistan have become very broad and rebellious.

•    Since 2005, thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed by US-NATO forces, mostly by air strikes.

•    On August 22, 2008 in the village of Azizabad, 91 civilians were killed in a 6-hour air and ground assault by US forces, including 61 children and 15 women.

New Constitution of the RCP: Faltering Organization Marked by Avakianism

This article appeared at http://kasamaproject.org.

The Revolutionary Communist Party has finally published at least one final outcome of their v-e-e-e-e-e-e-ry long program process.

After publishing a draft version of their program in 2001 (!), the whole process came to an abrupt and long halt because of the intense struggle that imposed the appreciation of Bob Avakian as “the cardinal question” for communists. Now that new line is being enshrined in their new constitution — encapsulated in a number of revealing preoccupations, formulations and verdicts.

We will be discussing key developments of this document — including its abandonment of the term “Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.”

Note: For purposes of review, we have posted a few deliberately brief excerpts below. For full context and argumentation, we suggest people to examine the document itself — posted here for distribution on the RCP’s own website. When it becomes available for purchase, we urge  you to buy your own personal copy at your local Revolution bookstore.