*----------------------------------------------------------* | | | x x x x x x x xx xxx xxx xxx | | xx xx x xx xx xx x x x x x x Issue #10 | | x x x x x x x x xx x x x xx xxx | | x x x x x x x x x x x x 03/21/85 | | x x x x x x x xx x xxx xxx | | | |----------------------------------------------------------| | Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement | *----------------------------------------------------------* REMEMBER SHARPVILLE! APARTHEID REGIME SHAKING; FEARFUL OF DIVESTMENT In an attempt to save capitalism in South Africa, the business community is calling for the apparent dismantling of apartheid. The American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa now advocates the abolition of pass laws that require the 80% Black population of South Africa to carry identity cards and to live outside the urban areas. The Chamber of Commerce also criticized the forced resettlement of Blacks to so-called homelands, which are reservations of the worst land in South Africa constructed as dumping grounds for Blacks not working in the white cities and mines. (Christian Science Monitor, 3/19/85, 12) Meanwhile a coalition of 80% of South African industry, mining and commerce called on Botha to lead South Africa with a "visible expression" of long-promised reforms for Blacks. It said this would have a "positive impact" on overseas opinion and the divestment debate in the U.S.. Thus, business in South Africa has shown a remarkably public fear of U.S. withdrawal of investments. (Ibid.) According to the Christian Science Monitor, "the strategy of South African businesses, says one official with one of the country's largest companies, is to let U.S. companies do the lobbying in Washington, and to focus local efforts on pressuring the government into faster and more fundamental reform of apartheid." (Ibid.) The South African ruling class demonstrates that it is aware that its lobbying in the U.S. against divestment has backfired. In the past, it had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the effort to keep Massachusetts from divesting for example. So extreme is the pressure, the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce has resigned in order to take a more active role in lobbying against divestiture. Furthermore, the apartheid regime admits that it must find a more coordinated strategy of communication to oppose divestment. (Ibid) Part of the window-dressing effort concerns the government budget. Military spending increased 8% for 1985-86 compared to 23% the year before. Education increased 19%; although, at best one fifth of the education budget goes to the "four million black pupils who make up two-thirds of the country's school population outside the tribal homelands." (New York Times, 3/19/85, "Pretoria Plans to Cut Arms Spending and Raise Education Budget") Undoubtedly the militant school boycotts have been dysfunctional for the ruling class. Recently, 20,000 students boycotted school in Johannesburg, where six people had been killed. (New York Times, 3/12/85) Hundreds of thousands of students in the very places where they have been massacred over the years--Sharpeville and especially the Soweto area--continue to expose the lie of apartheid. Over the past 13 months, over 220 people, all but one Black, have been massacred by the police, yet the rebellion continues. (Ibid.) It is truly inspiring to realize that repression does not work even in one of the most efficient fascist states in the world. ISRAELI OCCUPIERS LOSING Amal Shiites and even garrisons of the Lebanese Army resisted an Israeli occupation and massacre in a town in Lebanon. 37 Lebanese died in Zrariyeh. (Chicago Tribune 3/14/85; New York Times 3/12/85) Pro-Israeli hard liners amongst Gemayel's Christian militia supporters have rebelled to take open action that Gemayel can not as head of the Lebanese puppet government. The Christian hard-liners want to protect their interests without going through Gemayel. Gemayel appears helpless to prevent the actions of his supporters. He may no longer serve the U.S./Israeli interests. The Christian reactionaries are on especially thin ice because their Israeli backers are having to pullout of Lebanon sooner than expected. The Israelis have suffered heavy casualties as unwanted occupiers of Lebanon. IMPERIALIST-BACKED WAR IN MID-EAST SACRIFICES PROLETARIAT Iranian and Iraqi reactionaries continued their war against each other sacrificing their people in the process. In the latest round of bombs dropped by the two air forces, over 100 people in the cities of the two countries have been killed. (New York Times, 3/12/85) The oppressed are thus forced to bear the cost of the war. Hopefully, the debilitating war will create an opportunity for revolution by the oppressed of the countries against the war makers. REAGAN FIGHTING NON-SOVIET NATIONALISTS Acknowledging the success of the New People's Army in the Philippines in its struggle against U.S. imperialism and its puppet Marcos regime, Reagan has called for $275 million in aid for the Philippines. (New York Times, 3/13/85, 9) U.S. GOV'T FOR SALE The Supreme Court ruled on March 18th that money talks. In a 7 to 2 decision the court said that political action committees could spend as much as they like in presidential elections. There had been an unenforced $1,000 limit. Upholding lower court decisions, the Supreme Court said that the $1,000 limit "'is much like allowing a speaker in a public hall to express his views while denying him the use of an amplifying system.'" (Ibid.) Thus, the highest court admits that people with a $1,000 or less to spend on the presidential election are effectively denied their supposed free speech. At the same time, the amplifying system of the ruling class--by definition those who can rule and have the money to--drowns out all views except those of the people who own the means of communication. In 1980, the bourgeoisie gave Reagan $12.2 million against Carter's $45,000 through political action committees (PACs). In 1984, it was Reagan's $15.3 million against Mondale's $621,000. (Ibid) This is not to mention that neither candidate opposes the property system that denies effective speech to poor people. Nor is this to raise the issue that third parties received only scant funding and media attention. Each candidate of the two private-property parties received $40.4 million of the taxpayers' money. Each also received $6.9 million from their party committees. (Ibid) Both candidates were personally millionaires. It is little wonder that neither candidate attacked private property even remotely. Both supported increasing military expenditures at the expense of the world's poor and hungry. Electoral politics in the U.S. is a game for rich people. The propertyless remain disenfranchised. The National Conservative PAC and the Fund for a Conservative Majority gave Reagan $5.5 million and $2.5 million respectively. We ask our reformist and electoral activists: How are you ever going to compete with that? One must either be a yes-man to millionaires or not participate effectively in electoral politics. The choice of nearly half of the electorate is not even to vote in the debate of the millionaire's clubs. ABC BOUGHT FOR $3.5 BILLION Capital Cities Communications Inc bought the American Broadcasting Companies (ABC). (NYT 3/19/85, p. A1) The purchase continues a trend toward the concentration of media resources under one management. An ordinarily boring spate of syndicated papers and radio stations can only continue its self-perpetuating and incestuous tradition with the merger to television. A handful of Big Brother syndicated columnists and reporters are extending their monopoly of communications under ever more central control. Under socialism, the government as opposed to the corporations decides and attempts to control news reporting within certain bounds. This is not a wonderful arrangements for all time that communists seek. The communists recognize only that political issues should be decided through the application of Mao's mass line. That is to say that the opinions of the masses (as opposed to the corporate executives) are collected up to be reported in centralized fashion. What the media says and what the government does is not a matter of who can spend the most money under socialism. Rather, the disenfranchised poor, minorities and women--the working masses mobilize continuously until they succeed in running society in their own interests. With their final victory, the formerly disenfranchised masses will enjoy stateless democracy and freedom because they themselves will be the state. They themselves will have eliminated the classes, nations and patriarchy that make a repressive apparatus necessary in the first place. Socialism is a transition stage in which the disenfranchised try out one and only one strategy at a time until they liberate all of humanity. GOVERNMENT OKs ABORTION CLINIC BOMBINGS FBI boss William Webster said that his agency would not investigate harassment of abortion clinics. The Justice Department has said that there have been no civil rights violations in the threatening phone calls, demonstrations and bombings that abortion clinics have received. (Detroit Free Press 3/13/85, p. 16A) The 32 bombings since 1982 are overlooked by the ruling class that is trying to repress women. Abortion is not so much a question of the so-called rights of women against fetuses. Rather the right-to-life movement is a messianic movement that supports the sexual repression of women and the return of women to the family to raise kids. This is how the ruling class disciplines women for work and terrorizes and disenfranchises women socially and economically. U.S. TEEN PREGNANCY OVER TWICE THAT OF OTHER COUNTRIES The American patriarchy has succeeded in making abortion necessary through restriction of contraception education. The hypocrites of local school boards denounce sex education and then wonder why teensages have so many abortions. Countries with slightly different historical conditions from those in the U.S.--Canada, England, France, Sweden and the Netherlands--have teen pregnancy rates ranging from 14 to 45 per thousand of the 15 to 19-year-olds. In the U.S., the figure is 96. (Detroit Free Press 3/13/85, p. 6A) In the world's greatest bastion of capitalism and imperialism, it is not surprising that the women's movement has had the greatest obstacles to overcome among the Western imperialist countries. Luckily their opponents in the U.S. now face a deteriorating post-WWII hegemony that forces women into economic and political life. OHIO BANKS GO UNDER As of Mar. 20, 71 banks in Ohio had to remain closed for a fifth day. They had experienced a run on their deposits. They are not federally insured, but state insured. The train of events was triggered by the failure of the Home State Savings Bank. (NYT 3/17/85) The bank failure demonstrates once again that capitalist competition generates crisis. Smaller capitalists fail and are gobbled up by the capitalists with bigger profits. Property falls into the hands of fewer and fewer people or capitalist institutions. PENTAGON ADMITS PLANS TO BLOCK SUN: FREEZE EARTH The Pentagon admits that the detonation of existing nuclear weapons could cause a "nuclear winter." Smoke and dust from the explosions would block the sun--perhaps for six months by some predictions. Temperatures could drop 75 degrees. (NYT 3/2/85, p. A1) Human life would be wiped out along with most if not all species. The TTAPS study by scientists including Carl Sagan shows that scientists can make progressive contributions to the understanding of social problems. Communists recognize that there are no guarantees in the struggle against imperialism and militarism. The prospect of "nuclear winter" only increases the responsibility of politically conscious forces. CHINA REQUIRES SOCIALIST COVER Deng Xiaoping reined in speculations about an open repudiation of Marxism by the Chinese Communist Party. "There are people who fear that China could become capitalist." "This fear is not without foundation. We must address their concern in deeds, not just empty talk." (NYT 3/17/85) Deng has been forced to admit that economic crimes are so rampant that it was necessary to attack "capitalist thinking." In 1984, $1.2 billion in crimes turned up in state enterprises. (Ibid) Although in actions China is clearly state capitalist already, Deng is required to say that "the ultimate goal is to implement communism." Genuine communists oppose this socialism in words as "revisionism."