Israel and Palestine, two nations in one land

The State of Israel and the new State of Palestine both share a divided nation. Although the State of Palestine is not yet accepted by all members of the UN, most people of the world are ready to accept a Palestinian state, the State of Israel however is not!

For almost 1000 years, religious people have fought over the lands of Israel/Palestine. The Ancient Egyptians ruled it, so did the Greeks and Romans. In the medieval period, Christian kingdom were founded to ensure Christian rule over the ''holy land''. The Arabs were not happy with this, especially when the brutal Knights of the religious orders started to murder Islamic pilgrims. Arab leader; Saladin fought a long war with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was able to capture Jerusalem in 1187!

After the decline of the Arab Islamic Caliphate, the Turks took power in the middle east. Their Ottoman Empire ruled for almost 600 years. Meanwhile the supporters of the Jewish religion were exiled. Since the days of the Roman Empire, the Jews have been hated and prosecuted. Christians also hated the Jews because they believed that Jews were the ones who betrayed Jesus Christ to the Romans. So in medieval Europe, the Christian kings were very anti-Semitic. Blaming the Jews for almost anything that went wrong!

In the Ottoman Empire the Turks were a little less hostile to Jews, but they too had their hatred for the people of this religion. Arabs who lived in Ottoman Palestine were very hostile to the Jews who started to settle in what is today Israel/Palestine. The Ottoman Sultan banned the Jews from living in Ottoman Palestine in the year 1892. As the Jewish religion grew so did anti-Semitism in Ottoman Palestine!

During World War 1 the anticommunist White Armies in Russia, used anti-Semitism against the Bolsheviks. Although Vladimir Lenin was not Jewish, Leon Trotsky was born in a Jewish family and Karl Marx was also of Jewish parents. The anticommunists murdered at least 150.000 Jews in Ukraine, with the help from many Christian peasants who hated Jews. As the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1920, Jews were targeted by opponents of Mustafa Kemal. They blamed the Jews for the collapse of their empire. But Mustafa Kemal won the struggle and in the secular Republic of Turkey, Jews were not prosecuted!

Turkey lost Ottoman Palestine to the British. They created the British Mandate of Palestine. For 28 years, Palestine would be a colony of the British Empire. The Arabs who lived in Palestine opposed British Imperialism and felt betrayed by the British. They were told that Great Britain would grand them independence if they fought against the Ottoman Turks. But the British betrayed the Arabs and took possession of the middle east!

Between 1936 and 1939 there was a revolt among Arabs. During this uprising the Jews of Palestine supported the British. They feared the anti-Semitic Muslims who never liked the Jews. By supporting the British the Jews were even more hated by the Arabs. Jewish police men and British soldiers were able to slaughter 5.000 Arabs and execute more then 100. In the four years of the Arab uprising 300 Jewish police men were killed. British Imperialism was able to suppress the revolt and jailed 12.000 Arabs. The hatred towards the British was so high that some Arabs joined forces with another great anti-Semitic leader; Adolf Hitler!

When Nazism was defeated in 1945, the United Nations wanted to create a Jewish state in British Palestine. This was opposed by the Arab nations who did not wanted a Jewish state. The United Nations wanted to create two states, one for the Jews and one for the Arabs. But Arab nations opposed this so much  that they decided to invade British Palestine to prevent the creation of the State of Israel. On May 15 of 1948, Arab forces from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon invaded Israel/Palestine. But the Jews were not about to give up their new state, 100.000 men and woman joined forces to fight the Arab invaders!

After 9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, the war was over. The State of Israel was able to defeat the Arab invaders. The Arab Palestinians were forcefully removed from the their homes. Some Israeli soldiers even committed mass murder against them. We know today that Israeli soldiers committed 24 massacres against the Arab population. The reason why they did this was out of revenge and hatred. Arab forces also committed crimes against innocent Jews, but on a far smaller scale then the Israeli. This is because Arab forces never captured many Jewish towns and cities. It was the Israeli Defence Force that conquered all Arab towns and settlements. But the West-Bank and the Gaza Strip were still in Arab hands. The Kingdom of Jordan took control of the West-Bank and annexed it in 1950!  

This first defeat at the hands of Israel was the beginning of a long and bloody conflict. Hatred towards Israel soon turned anti-Semitic as Jews across the middle east were bullied and intimidated by Arabs. Meanwhile in Israel, the supporters of the Jewish state ( called Zionists ) replaced Arab towns with Jewish towns. Many Jews from Europe migrated to the State of Israel. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jews outgrew the Arabs who in 1948 were still the majority in Israel/Palestine!

Fearing the Egyptian leader; Gamal Abdel Nasser, the State of Israel launched an attack on the Arab world called the Six Day War. On June 5 of 1967, Israeli air planes destroyed 2/3 of the proud Egyptian Air Force in an surprise attack. More then 400 Egyptians planes were destroyed, most on the ground, Israel only lost 46 planes. But the State of Israel did more then just destroying the Egyptian Air Force. Their invasion force also conquered the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank ( held by Jordan ). Now the State of Israel was bigger then it ever was!

This surprise attack humiliated the Arabs. In the United Nations the attack of Israel was condemned and they were told to leave the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank. Israel refused saying they needed those lands to protect themselves. The United States of America and most Western European nations supported Israel in this. They totally ignored the needs to the Palestinian people. Win-out any support from outside, the Arab Palestinians started to use terrorist methods to put fear into the minds of Israel. Leftist nationalist groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP ) were created in 1967 to oppose Israeli Imperialism!

The PFLP became known for their aircraft hijacking in the late 60's and 1970's. Many of these young nationalists belonged to the middle-class. They were educated in the Marxist Leninist ( Stalinist ) ideology yet for many nationalism was the motivator not communism. They also got support from western leftists, who after 1968 sided with the PFLP against Israel!

Meanwhile the bourgeoisie of the world supported the State of Israel. They said that Israel was only defending themselves and that the PFLP was a ''dirty communist terrorist group''. That was also said about the African National Congress and their jailed leader Nelson Mandela, who was also called a ''dirty communist terrorist'' by the capitalist politicians in the western world!

The Arab world took their revenge on Israel in 1973. Egyptian forces under president Anwar Sadat invaded the Sinai Peninsula and recaptured it for Egypt. Although the Yom Kippur War was a Israeli tactical victory, Egypt regained its lost honour. Anwar Sadat became a hero in the Arab world for attacking the State of Israel during their Yom Kippur holiday. But Sadat went in another direction when he started to talk with Israel about peace. In 1979 the Camp David Accords were signed between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel. These accords were signed win-out the Palestinians and the UN condemned them for it. Also the Arab world was furious at Sadat who made peace with Israel. The Arab League suspended Egypt because of this!

In 1981 Anwar Sadat was murdered by Islamic extremist soldiers in the Egyptian Army. During a parade the soldiers opened fire on the president. He was killed while vice president Mubarak was injured. After the death of Sadat, vice president Mubarak became president. His government was able to persuade the Arab world into accepting peace with Israel.

The State of Israel made sure that the occupied Palestinian lands would become Jewish in time. Radical Zionist colonists took up residence in the West-Bank. They claim that all of Israel/Palestine belongs to the Jewish people. These Jewish extremists hate Arabs and with the support from the Israeli Army, they bully and intimidate Palestinians till this day. In the United Nations the call to leave the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank was put into a motion in 2002. But the State of Israel did not accepted this motion. They claim to this day that they have the right to control Palestinian lands!

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a new force became a danger to Israeli Imperialism. Until the 1980's, Palestinian nationalism was secular and leftist. But a new ideology would emerge, one more extremist and totalitarian. This ideology is called Islamism and based around the Islamic religion. In 1987 the Islamic Resistance was founded. ''Islamic Resistance'' or Hamas, was able to rally poor people around the banner of Islam and strict dogma's. Unlike the middle class PFLP, the militants of Hamas were able to rally poor people with the Islamic religion. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was never able to rally the working class, due to their believe in guerrilla warfare instead of class struggle. The poor were easy recruited by Hamas, who also gave social security and medical aid!

By the year 2000, the secular nationalists were losing the fight for support. Hamas was growing very fast. They also started to use suicide-bombers against Israeli civilians. Their terror attacks fueled the anger of the State of Israel, who used brutal methods to hunt down the Hamas terrorists. Even Palestinian young teens ( 12-18 years old ) were jailed and assaulted by Israeli Defense Force soldiers. The Palestinian National Liberation Movement ( Fatah ) was by now the leader of the secular resistance. Between 1987 till 1993 they launched the first Intifada against Israel. This Intifada was an uprising that was met with huge brutality. Israel lost 160 soldiers, but slaughtered 1.000 Palestinians. Most tried to fight the Israel Defence Force ( IDF ) with stones but were shot at by tanks and machine guns!

Supporters of Israel claim that the soldiers did their job while defending Israeli citizens. We revolutionary socialists say that is no excuse. Israel has no right to occupy the West-Bank. They had no right to take it as their own in 1967 when they invaded lands that were never theirs to take. The UN plan for a Jewish state did not include the era's we call the Gaza Strip or the West-Bank. Revolutionary socialists support a socialist Israel and a socialist Palestine that are both secular and free from Jewish and Islamic dogma's.

In 2005, Israel left the Gaza Strip. Many Jewish extremists opposed this and there were many demonstrations against leaving Gaza. But Israel did it and left Gaza to the Palestinians. Unfortunate it was Hamas who was able to win the minds of the people. During the elections of 2007 it was Hamas who got total control over the Gaza Strip. In response to this the Israeli's blocked the strip. They also destroyed the airport and prevent any ships from entering Gaza. Hamas retaliated by firing unguided rockets at Israel causing very little damage. But the Zionists use these attacks as proof that the IDF has the right to attack Gaza and kill Palestinians!

Since the victory of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the two Palestinian territories are govern independently. The State of Israel has granted the Palestinian Liberation Organisation ( PLO ) limited self management in the era's of the West-Bank that are not under control of Jewish colonists. Yet the IDF is still the only military force allowed in the West-Bank. The PLO is the organisation that launched the second Intifada in the year 2000. During this second Intifada  more then 1.000 Israeli's ( 2/3 were civilian's ) died. The IDF responded very harsh by killing 3.000 Palestinians in total. They claim it was all self-defense and that the ''terrorists'' were responsible for the killings of Palestinians. Again the State of Israel plays the victim, while they are the ones who occupy lands that don't belong to them!

The second Intifada ended in 2005 with the removal of IDF forces from the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Resistance( Hamas ) was able to win the elections in 2007, leading to sectarian violence between the secular nationalists and Islamic nationalists. Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority is deeply divided and losing support. In the year 2012 they appealed to the United Nations to recognize them as the State of Palestine. Most supporters of the State of Israel ( including the USA and the Netherlands ) opposed the idea of a State of Palestine. The PLO declared a State of Palestine back in 1988, but no nation recognized this state. Even in the year 2013 the Palestinians still have no state. This is because the USA and their allies block any UN attempt to recognize a Palestinian state! 

Hamas is still in complete control of the Gaza Strip. Turning the only free part of Palestine into a Islamic theocracy. Freedom is speech is limited, criticism is not welcomed. Hamas is fuelling anti-Semitism among children, at schools and on television children learn to hate Jews. Anti-Semitism remains very strong among the Arabs, it is also a weapon of the State of Israel. Because the Israeli's claim that anyone who opposes Israel must be anti-Semitic. People who support the Palestinians are easily called anti-Semitic by the media of Israel!

Revolutionary socialists stand in solidarity with the Palestinians. But we give no political support to Hamas or Fatah. We say that Palestinian workers must build a party for themselves on a socialist program. Workers in Israel must do the same thing. Only a workers party on a revolutionary socialist program can break the wall of lies spread by the ruling class of Israel and Palestine. We understand that workers in Israel want to defend their freedoms against Hamas. But supporting the State of Israel is as wrong as supporting Hamas. The ruling class of Israel wants war and conflict. They want to divide people into sectarian groups fighting each other. This is why workers of both nations must build workers parties. Only a secular socialist Israel and Palestine can lead the way to peace and true freedom!

The loss of Palestinian lands to Israel

Statement for Kshama Sawant for Seattle City Council Position 2

In yet another election flooded with candidates eager to serve corporate interests, I'm running to represent working people, who have no voice in city government. 

For many of us, Seattle is becoming an increasingly unaffordable place to live. As we face out-of-control rent, the city gives handouts to billionaire developers like Paul Allen. 

While we struggle with low wages, council members pay themselves 120,000 dollars a year, more than any other city except L.A. 

As a council member, I will only take the average worker’s wage, and donate the rest to social justice movements. 

My opponent Richard Conlin, a 16-year incumbent, is a poster boy for out-of-touch politicians. Behind a progressive veneer, Conlin has proved himself a loyal friend of big business. 

He was the only council member who voted against paid sick leave. He voted to criminalize panhandling, while piling obstacles in the way of providing shelter for the homeless. 

I'm campaigning for a citywide 15 dollars an hour minimum wage, rent control, and a Millionaire Tax to fund mass transit and education. 

Unlike my opponents, my campaign is entirely funded by grassroots contributions. 

I'm an economics professor and activist in my union, AFT Local 1789. 

Last year, I ran as a Socialist Alternative candidate against Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp, and won 29% of the vote. Over twenty thousand people voted for a socialist because they're fed up with inequality and relentless cuts to social services. 

It's time we take a stand. Get involved at Vote Sawant.org. Let's make history together.

Bulgarians and their capitalist politicians

Angry Bulgarians have done something that shocked the ruling class of the Republic of Bulgaria. Almost 2000 people entered the parliamentary building in Sofia and kept the politicians hostage. On July 24 of 2013, the angry demonstrators entered the building and prevented some ministers and politicians from leaving. They are angry and they have all right to be. Since the collapse of stalinism in 1990, Bulgaria has been ruled by capitalist politicians, who only cared about the new ruling class!

The Republic of Bulgaria was founded in 1990, it replaced the People's Republic of Bulgaria founded in 1946. For almost 43 years the Bulgarian Communist Party ruled the nation, its leader for 35 years was Todor Khristov Zhivkov, who's nepotism and Bulgarian nationalism was mixed with stalinism. He gave his own family leading positions in the Bulgarian Communist Party ( BCP ). Zhivkov promoted his children, daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova and son Vladimir Zhivkov, in the Bulgarian Communist Party hierarchy. Both of them would live a life in luxury and wealth, while most workers were forced to obey the ruling caste. 

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Romanian Revolution, Todor Khristov Zhivkov was forced out of office. Two months later the People's Republic of Bulgaria became the Republic of Bulgaria and his BCP renamed itself into the Bulgarian Socialist  Party ( BSP ). This new party was not revolutionary socialist. The new BSP turned social democratic and accepted capitalism. Zhivkov died in 1998, just before his death he showed the world how anticommunist he truly was by calling Marxism ''nonsense''!

The new Bulgaria became a capitalist hell on earth. Poverty and crime rose, so did political corruption. The first elections in ''democratic'' Bulgaria were always a fight between the right-wing; Union of Democratic Forces and the capitalist left-wing; Coalition for Bulgaria, a group of capitalist leftists around the BSP. The first election under the new democratic constitution gave the Union of Democratic Forces 34,4% of the votes. The Coalition for Bulgaria got 33% of the votes!

By 1994 the capitalist democrats destroyed so much, that voters turned massive to the Coalition for Bulgaria ( led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, ex-stalinists ). The social democrats won 43% of the vote, leaving the Union of Democratic Forces with only 24%. But the social democratic government did not changed anything. The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party did not limited capitalism, they did not even created a welfare state like the Scandinavian social democrats did! 

Angered by this social democratic betrayal the people fell for the anti-leftist propaganda of the Union of Democratic Forces. In 1997 the Bulgarian rightists won 52,3% a clear majority. Now they were able to rule unopposed. Yet their rule was good for the new rich and those with big money, workers and poor people got nothing. Anger rose again and by 2001 most people hated both the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition for Bulgaria!

Then an old ruler offered something different. The National Movement Simeon II was created around the former king ( czar ) Simeon II. He was the son of the king who ruled Bulgaria until 1946. As a political liberal democrat Simeon II was not infected with all the bad things people knew of the other politicians. So during the 2001 elections, the National Movement Simeon II won 47% of the vote. Leaving the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition of Bulgaria far behind. Simeon II became prime minister of Bulgaria and ruled for four years!

The revolutionary left was nothing in Bulgaria after the collapse of stalinism. People who called themselves Marxists, were either old Stalinists, still dreaming about their People's Republic of Bulgaria. Soon the elderly realized that their life in capitalist Bulgaria was worse then under stalinism. So they started to idealize their former life in the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Poverty among the elderly is very high, but the ruling class does not care at all. Their target is the youth of Bulgaria. Most young people had no interests in the Stalinist past, they were blinded by the propaganda of the capitalists. Many teens who lived between 1990 and 2000 were told that capitalism would mean a bright future for them. The market was God, competition was King! 

But as the 21st century began, most young people realized that there was no good life for them in Bulgaria. So many choose to work in other European nations. As Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, many Bulgarians left home to find work in western EU nations. Not all western Europeans were happy with all those Bulgarians searching for work. In 2008, the capitalist crisis erupted as the stock market collapsed. Now many people in western Europe were losing their jobs to cheap Bulgarians, this fueled racism and hatred.   

The National Movement Simeon II did not brought change to Bulgaria. As a liberal capitalist party, they too supported the rule of the markets against workers and poor people. The elections of 2005 were a big defeat for the former king, who's movement lost 67 seats in the parliament. Winner was the Coalition for Bulgaria, but they needed a coalition partner to form a government. The social democrats were told that the financial markets demanded a stable capitalist government. So after much debates and compromises a capitalost government was created between the Coalition for Bulgaria, the National Movement Simeon II and the liberal; Movement for Rights and Freedoms. 

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is the liberal democratic party of Bulgaria. While the Union of Democratic Forces is conservative and nationalist, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is mainly liberal and supportive of neoliberalism. With these three parties a stable government was created. The markets were pleased, but workers would soon find out that this government was again no government of the people. 

Again there was no socialist alternative. This is mainly because the Bulgarian Socialist Party is called ''socialist'' by the Bulgarian media. They fool the workers into thinking that the BSP is leftist and pro-worker. The BSP is getting their voters from workers based communities. But these workers are not helping themselves with a vote on the BSP. The lack of a socialist alternative is the reason why many still choose to vote for the Bulgarian Socialist Party and their Coalition for Bulgaria!

As the story grows very familiar, the government was defeated in the elections of 2009. Again a new capitalist formation promised to change everything. This time the Bulgarians were told to trust in the European Union and European capitalism. The Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria was created in 2006 by pro-EU populists who love the European Union and its free market dogma's. They won 39,7% during the elections in 2009. But for the supporters of Simeon II, the elections were a huge defeat. In 2007 they changed their movement's name to National Movement for Stability and Progress, but the people voted them out of the parliament. Simeon II's movement is reduced to nothing!

The new pro-EU government of Bulgaria was again pro-capitalist and anti-worker. After another four years of capitalist rule the anger exploded. Many Bulgarians choose to demonstrate against the corrupt government and their pro-capitalist agenda. The elections on May 2013 were a defeat for the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, but they remained the biggest party in the nation. Winners were the social democrats of the BSP who were able to mask themselves as progressive and leftist again! 

Thanks to the support from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms the BSP was able to form a ( capitalist ) government. The EU populists were forced into the opposition. But they have nothing to fear. The BSP is pro-EU and will not stop the European demands for free markets and freedom to exploit workers. Because that is very common in Bulgaria. The minimum wage is €158.50 and prices are rising. 

Soon the new government made another huge mistake that angered the people. They appointed a media mogul to be the leader of the secret police of Bulgaria. On July 24 of 2013, more then 2000 angry people attacked the parliamentary building preventing some ministers and politicians from leaving. The Bulgarian police was ready and after a few fights were able to clear the road for the ministers and politicians to escape.

But the anger is not gone. Many Bulgarians don't trust the government and they have a good reason to oppose it. Every government has been capitalist and anti-worker. This is because all political parties in Bulgaria are supportive of capitalism. Even the new Communist Party of Bulgaria supports capitalism, by joining the Coalition for Bulgaria under BSP wings. 

What Bulgarians need is a workers party. A party for workers, young people and the poor. This party must be build on a revolutionary socialist platform. Nationalizing the means of production and expropriate the rich and the corrupt politicians, who got rich behind the backs of the poor. Capitalism must be abolished and be replaced by democratic socialism. But this can only happen when the working class of Bulgaria wakes up from the nightmare the ruling class imposed on them since 1990!

Since 1990, Bulgaria is good friends with 

the capitalist class of the USA! 

Right-wing extremists in the US Army

The US Army is the tool of the ruling class of America. With huge propaganda they claim to fight for ''democracy'' and ''liberty''. These two words are used throughout the United States of America. Their propaganda values are high, because many Americans thinks they are genuine free. Just another big lie on which the USA was founded. Freedom only for the white race, freedom only for the white male and today there is only freedom for the rich. Because the NSA/CIA is spying on people just like the KGB did. While Americans were made paranoia about KGB stories, the CIA was doing the same thing! 

Serving in the army is a ''patriotic duty'' many Americans say. But we revolutionary socialists know how brutal and cruel US Army training is. Young boys are drilled into fighting monsters in order to kill and murder. You can see the drilling nature of the US Army and how their drill commanders act. Inhuman and brutal, their job is to destroy humanity in the recruits, so they can do their job win-out thinking. Shoot first and ask questions later, that is the American way! 

Now many say that there are no neo-Nazi's in the US Army. Wrong again, the Army is perfect for militaristic white boys who are racists. Since Nazi's love militarism and discipline they find a good home in the Army. Some neo-Nazi's are recruited in prison, serving the US Army instead of going to jail is what many right-wing extremists choose.  

After the attacks on 9/11, the US Army needed fresh recruits for their war against the Taliban. Since not enough boys wanted to join, they government searched for others who might wanted to join. The people they recruited into the Army were not at all supporters of the US Constitution. There is a book out that is telling you the story about how the US government used right-wing extremists in their own army!

''Since the launch of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars—now the longest wars in American history—the US military has struggled to recruit troops. It has responded, as Matt Kennard’s explosive investigative report makes clear, by opening its doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members, criminals of all stripes, the overweight, and the mentally ill. Based on several years of reporting, Irregular Army includes extensive interviews with extremist veterans and leaders of far-right hate groups—who spoke openly of their eagerness to have their followers acquire military training for a coming domestic race war. As a report commissioned by the Department of Defense itself put it, “Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism.”

Irregular Army connects some of the War on Terror’s worst crimes to this opening-up of the US military. With millions of veterans now back in the US and domestic extremism on the rise, Kennard’s book is a stark warning about potential dangers facing Americans—from their own soldiers'' 

This book should be a wake up call to Americans. But then again the warnings fell on deaf ears. Partly because of the massive war propaganda spread by the imperialist media. Fox News and CNN are the main pro-war news networks who poison the minds of the American working class. During the Afghanistan war and Iraq war, they portrayed the US Army as the good guys, fighting for ''democracy'' and ''liberty!''

US imperialism used the same trick in Korea and Vietnam. When the Democratic People's Republic of Korea invaded the Republic of Korea, the USA choose to defend the totalitarian regime of Syngman Rhee. This South Korean dictator was put into power by the Americans in 1948 and he already jailed 30.000 people by 1950. As the army of the DPRK invaded South Korea, Syngman Rhee ordered the execution of 150.000 people in the Bodo League concentration-camps  All were murdered right under the nose of the new CIA, who reported the killings to the US government! 

But the Americans kept silence. Because they told their soldiers that South Korea was a democracy and that American soldiers came to defend ''liberty'' and ''freedom''. More then 36.000 US soldiers died to save the totalitarian anticommunist dictatorship of Syngman Rhee. The cruel dictator would rule for another seven years, before students forced the old men to flee South Korea. He was replaced by a military junta that would rule until the partly democratic elections in 1987.   

Right-wing extremists joined the fight against the ''communist'' North Koreans. Some Dutch who fought for the Waffen SS during World War 2, joined 819 Dutch soldiers send to Korea in 1950. Also the racist anticommunist South Africans would send 800 soldiers to fight the ''communists''. 

After the Korean War, a Demilitarized Zone was build separating the Stalinist North and the capitalist South. Both the DPRK and the ROK would remain dictatorships. A partly democracy was created after 1987 in South Korea, but revolutionary socialists are still getting jailed for opposing capitalism and US imperialism in Korea! 

Neo-Nazi's were part of the US forces stationed on the DMZ. Why do we know this? Because there are stories and pictures of US soldiers with right-wing extremist symbols. In the picture below this report, you can see US soldiers in Afghanistan with the flag of the Waffen SS. The lower picture shows a soldiers with a neo-Nazi flag. The flag is put on an armored vehicle, while the US flag is on another vehicle. This picture seems to be taken in South Korea or South Vietnam, we are not sure!

The point of this story is that right-wing extremists are in the US Army. People who hate Muslims, Jews, secularists and above all; they hate tolerance and love. This hatred towars tolerance and love is why they choose the US Army. Because there is no tolerance in the army of the USA. Militarism, discipline and brutal training, that is the nature of the US Army. They claim it is all in the name of ''democracy'' and ''liberty'', but tell that to the 150.000 South Koreans murdered by a dictator you fought and died for. Tell that to the students and left-wing activists who were arrested and tortured while you guarded the DMZ. The enemy of freedom and democracy was not only North Korea, but also South Korea!

50.000 US soldiers died to defend the military junta of South Vietnam from 1963 till 1973. The South Vietnam was no democracy but a military junta, since the Army of the Republic of Vietnam staged a coup and killed the civilian president in 1963. South Vietnam murdered 89.000 people including many farmers, left-wing nationalists and those who simply opposed the corrupt rule of the military!

Almost 4.500 US soldiers were killed in 8 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Afghanistan the US Army lost about 2.300 soldiers. Since US imperialism invaded these two nations, more then 200.000 people have been killed. Most of them were civilians killed in the war between US forces and the resistance. Some supported of the war claimed that America brought ''freedom'' to Afghanistan and Iraq. But when we look at these nations today in 2013, we see that US imperialism only achieved one thing. They have privatized those economies  opening the doors for US capitalists to steal the wealth from both Afghanistan and Iraq. The new ''democratic'' governments of these nations could not oppose the demands of US capitalists! 

Corruption is high, elections are a fraud. In the Islamic Republic of Afganistan, females have been reduced to second class citizens.  Male superiority is supported by the Hamid Karzai government, called ''democratic'' by the supporters of US imperialism. The puppets of the USA in Iraq are now in complete control of the nation. But anger and hatred towards the Iraqi government is rising. In Baghdad, fresh water is not restored even after 10 years. Electricity is not rebuild, the rich and government leaders have their own generators. The working class is left with a destroyed infrastructure. All because of corruption and inefficient government!

US forces with right-wing extremist symbols! 

A victory for the whole working class

On Sunday July 14, Liv Shange was able to return to South Africa. She had been threatened to be kept out of the country because of the political role she played in the mineworkers’ struggle. The Workers and Socialist Party launched the Liv Shange Defence Campaign to put pressure on the authorities against this threat. So far they had to back off and let Liv and her three children back in.

By the Democratic Socialist Movement ( South Africa )

Background
On Tuesday June 11, shortly before Liv left South Africa for a family visit to Sweden, African National Congress (ANC) General Secretary Gwede Mantashe stated to a business forum in Sandton that foreigners from Sweden and Ireland were behind what he described as “anarchy in Marikana”. This was followed by an attempt to throw leading Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) activist, Liv Shange, a Swedish citizen married to a South African, out of the country.

Mantashe was referring to the role the DSM and Liv amongst others were playing in the mineworkers’ strikes last year. They helped the mineworkers to set up their own strike committees and coordinate them in the National Strike Committee. The Workers and Socialist Party, which will stand in the next general elections and aims to unify workers and community struggles was born out Marikana and the committees. Both the mineworkers and WASP seem to be a constant pain in Mantashes neck, which he tries to overcome with repression.

But the attack on Liv Shange was not an isolated act. There is a low intensity civil war going on in the mines including suspension of shop stewards, harassment of trade union activists and court proceedings against trade unions. Additionally the expulsion of the Tlokwe ANC Councillors who ousted a corrupt major shows how the ANC government deals with political opponents inside and outside the ANC. Thisdefeat of the repression against Liv Shange is a victory for everybody facing repression in the country.

Liv Shange Defence Campaign
The Liv Shange Defence Campaign collected hundreds of signatures from different organisations, activists and trade unions. Many signatures were collected on the mines of Rustenburg and Carletonville. Well known people like the author Don Materra declared their support for Liv Shange. People from all over the country and internationally sent letters to the Department of Home Affairs. Among them was also a letter by the Irish Member of the European Parliament who also replied to Mantashes allegations.

On Sunday, after a long and nervous wait, a large group of WASP comrades, community and trade union activists, gave Liv a warm welcome. During the jubilant celebration of this victory, Liv was even hoisted up in the air by members of the Amplats workers committee.

The concession that has been won is that Liv was allowed back into SA, for now on a three-month visitor’s permit. She is engaging with Department of Home Affairs to resolve the issue of her immigration status. The struggle to counter the threat of abusing the powers of the Department of Home Affairs to exile Liv will continue.

The authorities have made a u-turn in the last few days, after saying I would have to wait in Sweden for them to approve my return to SA, and that is thanks to the pressure of the campaign, says Liv

''I’m not intimidated and will continue to together with my comrades support the struggles of the mineworkers and working class communities''
An injury to Liv is an injury to all was written on the posters at the airport. Thus a victory for Liv is a victory for all. The left, trade unions and communities must now unite against all repression confronting them and discuss a strategy how to fight the governments and mine-bosses policies!

 Liv Shange is back in South Africa!

Racist nation USA

The USA is still one of the most racist nations in the world. Blacks are still discriminated against. The trial of George Zimmerman proofs that. Zimmerman is de killer of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old boy who was shoot to death by Zimmerman. He was found not guilty because he claimed to acted in self defence. In the US state of Florida you are allowed to shoot and kill somebody in self defence. Young Trayvon Martin was unarmed and not the aggressor. George Zimmerman was the one who chased the boy and finally shoot him after a struggle. Yet the all female jury found him not guilty of murder! 

Some blacks believe that racism was at work during the case of George Zimmerman. Because if a black male would shoot a white teenage boy, we all know who will be blamed. The right-wing media and George Zimmerman fans claimed that Trayvon Martin was a street criminal, that he was just another black thug. On Fox News this story is told at lot of times. The Fox News propaganda machine will be very happy that Zimmerman was found not guilty. Now they and the mighty National Rifle Association will use this victory to attack leftism and opponents of guns!

But in the end a 17 year old boy is death, shot to death by a man who cased him. Yet the US Justice think Zimmerman acted in self defence and they spoke him free of murder. This will only fuel the right-wing propaganda machine and their racist attacks on black people and workers. How many black kids are save now from people with guns? George Zimmerman proofed that it is legal to case a black boy and to shoot him if you think he is a danger to you! 

But even win out this latest case, racism is still very strong in the USA. Racism started when slaves were brought to the American colonies of Great Britain. Millions of black workers were sold into slavery to white farmers who saw them as inferior people. The USA was founded in 1776, after 13 British colonies declared their independence from the United Kingdom. After the American Revolutionary Wars, the USA became an independent nation!

Unlike many nations of the world at that time, the USA was the first ''democracy'' since the time of the Greeks and Romans. But this so called free democracy was only a democracy for white males. Black slaves and females were not allowed to vote. Black people were still slaves to their white masters and they remain that until 1863. Racism was part of the American way of life and because of that, the early USA was no genuine democracy. It was a democracy for whites only, male whites only!

The American Civil War was partly a war about racism. The northern states wanted to abolish slavery by 1860. But the southern states were depended on slave work and needed blacks as slaves. So they opposed the abolishment of slavery. Yet slavery was not the only reason for the civil war to start. Political differences also arose between the north and the south. Northern states were supportive of the Republican Party, while the conservatives in the south supported the Democratic Party. Unlike today, the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln was not radical right-wing and could be called progressive at that time. The Democratic Party in 1860 was dominated by white supremacists, who opposed free trade between states. Southern Democrats supported protectionism and were mostly Catholics, while the north was Protestant Christian. 

So the American Civil War started because of racism, religion, politics and economics. In 1860 the southern US states left the union and created the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Finis Davis became the first and only president of the CSA in 1861. After four years of bloody conflict the American Civil War ended in a victory for the USA, the CSA was defeated and forced back into the union. White farmers lost their black slaves and this angered them. Even today many whites in the south still have racist views on black people!

After the collapse of the CSA, the USA wanted to re-educate the southern states. Teachers and political idealists were send to the south, but they soon were confronted with racism and deep hatred. Many white farmers could not survive win out slaves, many of them went out of business fuelling racism and deep hatred. One group created by that racism was the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. This racist group started to attack free slaves and soon put fear into the minds of many blacks. 

In the south the KKK became a organisation many whites supported. But the government of the USA responded fast and the first Klan was defeated in 1870. But this did not ended racism in the south. Racist Democrats soon won the elections in all southern states. The first KKK supported the racist Democratic Party and tried to intimidate black voters who voted Republican. Yet by 1870 the first KKK was gone, but racist groups would still dominate the former CSA!

After 40 years the second KKK was founded in 1915. This second KKK grew very fast, with the support from anticommunists and the fear of socialism, the KKK grew to 3.000.000 members after the end of the first world war. Many supporters were white protestants and the new KKK opposed the Roman Catholic Church. Also they hated immigrants who came to the USA from Europe. The Klan opposed people who came to the USA and wanted to give priority to white protestant Christian Americans. 

Anticommunism became a new tool for racists in the USA. After the Russian Revolutions in 1917, the ruling class feared the Socialist Party of America. That is why the New York Police arrested five socialist members of the New York Assemble. Also the leader of the Socialist Party of America was jailed for opposing World War One! 

Racists found a new ally in their fight against blacks and leftists. The USA government, once an enemy of the racists turned out to be very cooperative. Since the opposition to racism and apartheid came mostly from leftist people, the US government choose to support right-wing people. After the Second World War, the US government started their witch hunt against leftists and anti-racists. People who opposed racism and apartheid were called ''Marxists'' or ''Communist infiltrators''. A famous victim of the Red Scare was Charlie Caplin who fled to Switzerland, knowing that the anticommunist paranoia in the USA, would attack him too!

But the anti-racists fought back. After 1968 many youth joined their ranks to fight apartheid in the USA. The government called them ''traitors'' and ''anti-patriots'' because almost all opposed the Vietnam-War. But racism did not die after 68. It became stronger as the United States of America started to decline in the 80's. The Republican Party, once the party that abolished slavery, turned massive to the right-wing. In a surprise move the former racist Democratic Party turned liberal and started to support black people in their fight for equal rights! 

By 1990, the Republican Party was the main conservative party, while the Democrats became the liberal party of the USA. 23 years later in 2013, things have changed again but only for the worse. The Republican Party has become almost as racist as the former Democratic Party was. Republicans work very hard to oppose black people, sure they have some black conservatives but their political agenda favours the white ruling class. The Democratic Party with president Barack Obama has become conservative liberal, they differ only a little with the Republican Party when it comes to supporting capitalism!

Almost all racists in the USA support the Republican Party now. It is ironic that the south of the USA, that once supported the Democratic Party, now puts their faith in the party that abolished slavery in 1863. But with today's Republicans, we can argue that Abraham Lincoln would not have joined the ''Grand Old Party''. Today's Republican Party is far away from the moderate Republican Party that existed before the rise of anticommunism! 

The United States of America remains the most racist nation in the world. Hatred towards blacks, latino's and immigrants is still strong among many. Anticommunism, American nationalism and a declining economy has made racism strong again. The ruling class has also done good work at brainwashing the American working class. With a false picture of socialism and communism in their minds, most Americans would never vote for a person who supports workers rule and democratic socialism. Most Americans follow the line of the Republicans and Democrats. Why? Because that is what they see in the media. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and other US media networks only broadcast the propaganda of these two parties. Very little propaganda from third parties are shown, limiting the American democracy! 

That is why revolutionary socialists fight racism, nationalism and capitalism. Racism is part of capitalism and used by the ruling class to split the workers. There is no American people, the USA was founded as a white British colony, it brutally conquered the rest of North America and by 1860 it controlled 9,826,675 km2. Native Americans ( Indians ) were discriminated against, like blacks and latino's, they were seen as inferior to the white race. Many native Americans lost their lands as new US states were founded. But the racist claim that whites are the true Americans is bullshit. Today's Americans are a mixture of British, Dutch, Germans, Irish, Spanish, native Americans and people brought as slaves from Africa!

Many think that the USA as overcome its racist past. But that is a lie, racism is still strong and it is growing. That is why American workers must unite and rise up against those who spread hatred. But racism cannot be destroyed win-out destroying capitalism. Its is the greedy system of capitalism that is fueling racism  They did it in the south in 1860, they also did it during the Red Scares. Win out the support from the ruling class, the racists would be nothing, they need support from mighty people. The Tea Party was created by mighty right-wing Republicans to oppose Obama, only because he is coloured. This conservative racist group claimed that Barack Obama was not American and that he was born in Kenya. Most members of the Tea Party are white workers, who after a life time of anticommunism strongly believe that Obama is a Marxist.

Revolutionary socialists must oppose the racism that rules our western world. We must destroy it and not stop until it is destroyed for good. Fox News will try to stop us and claim that we are the enemies of ''democracy''. But their democracy is based on racism. Just like the original USA in 1776. When only white males were allowed to vote, when females had no voting rights and blacks were still slaves to the white race. That is the USA, Fox News loves! 

Help wanted, white only

Very common in the USA

between 1776 and 1968!

Why socialists oppose the EU

From; The Socialist nr: 580, 20 May 2009

The RMT-led coalition for the European elections, No2EU-Yes to Democracy, is receiving a favourable response as a workers’ alternative to the rotten establishment parties. But some on the left have asked: Is it reactionary, and nationalist even, to say No to the EU? 

CLIVE HEEMSKERK looks at the arguments:

Many of the fundamental problems facing workers today, from the economic crisis to planet-threatening climate change, cannot be solved in one country alone.
A united Europe, bringing together in real solidarity all the resources and human talent in the different countries and cultures encompassed in the 490 million-strong European Union (EU), would be an enormous step forward in the struggle for a new world. But can the EU unite Europe, not in an artificial or imposed ‘unity from above’, but in a genuine coming together of the European peoples? The answer to this question is no.

The EU, from its inception to today, is an agreement between the different national capitalist classes of Europe, with the aim of creating the largest possible market for the big European multinational corporations. Each treaty, from the 1957 Treaty of Rome that created the European Economic Community, has developed and enhanced a Europe-wide market, with pan-European regulations and commercial law.

The latest treaty, the proposed EU constitution, has been repackaged as the Lisbon treaty after it was rejected, with big No majorities by workers, in referendums in France and the Netherlands. But it is still essentially the same document: a continuation and deepening of previous treaties, in particular the Single European Market Treaty, signed by Margaret Thatcher in 1986, and the Economic and Monetary Union Treaty, signed by John Major in Maastricht in 1992.

That is why the No2EU coalition has made rejection of the Lisbon treaty one of its ten core demands. This treaty would, if implemented, unleash a new wave of the type of neoliberal policies that have dominated world capitalism in the last three decades: attacks on the welfare state and workers’ rights, privatisation and deregulation, and the slashing of pensions, free education and public health services. That is reason enough to say no to it. But it is not sufficient to leave the argument there.

There are those who argue, like the Green MEPs in the European parliament, that while the Lisbon treaty is ‘in many ways unsatisfactory’ (Euro-Greens policy document, December 2007), it is better to support it and then fight to ‘change the EU from within’ rather than oppose it outright. Failure to agree new constitutional arrangements, the argument goes, could be the beginning of EU disintegration. Saying no to the Lisbon treaty or the euro (whose membership conditions also enshrine neoliberal policies) would only lead to the redivision of Europe into power blocs and competing nation states. Many trade union leaders in Britain have an essentially similar position.

This argument has to be addressed. Heightened national tensions and greater intra-Europe rivalries would be a blow to the interests of workers in Britain and Europe. But unfortunately, exacerbated conflicts between the nation states of Europe are an inevitable outcome of attempting to create an ‘ever greater union of Europe’ on the basis of capitalism, especially in the period of downturn and stagnation now opening up in the world economy. These could lead to countries abandoning the euro or even to a breakdown of the EU itself. The working class has to have its own independent position: not the bosses’ EU but a socialist Europe.

Nation state

Why can’t capitalism unite Europe? Fundamentally, because of the two pillars on which the capitalist system is based. Firstly, there is private ownership, exercised by an ever-concentrating circle of giant corporations, of the means of producing the goods and services we consume – ‘the hidden hand’ of the free market guiding society, as the capitalist economic guru, Adam Smith, described it 230 years ago.

Secondly, there is the nation state, the terrain on which capitalism first emerged, in Britain and then across the globe. The nation state is not only an economic entity but a social and political formation, with historically rooted features such as territorial boundaries, language, culture, etc, which are not mechanically created and changed by purely economic forces.

The EU has gone far in creating a pan-European market. The 170 EU-based companies among the world’s 500 biggest listed corporations now take almost two-thirds of their revenue from outside their home country, up from 50% in 1997. But west European countries still spend 86% of their income on goods or services made or provided at home and only 10% on goods from elsewhere in the EU. Fewer than 2% of Europeans work in another EU country, a product of cultural as well as legal differences between the EU nations, markedly different, for example, to the flow between the states of the USA.

There are pressures in the world economy pushing the national capitalist classes of Europe together, economically and politically, in particular to create an economic space big enough to rival the US and Japan (and increasingly, China). But not even the Lisbon treaty would change the character of the EU away from being an agreement between the different capitalist classes of the 27 nation states of Europe.

Global capitalism, including within the EU, is still organised on the basis of nation states as economic and political entities, and that creates counter-pressures to the drive for European unity. Even multinational companies, as they stride the globe, are still linked to their national base and often reliant on it.

The financial meltdown has revealed the limits of cross-border banking, with national governments intervening to prop up domestic banks at the expense of their rivals. The British government threatened to use anti-terror legislation to compel Icelandic banks to guarantee UK-held deposits!

This economic persistence of the nation state is linked to its political role. As even capitalist governments don’t control their economic destiny – when faced with the ‘hidden hand’ of the market making workers redundant, for example – they have to find other ways to maintain a social and political base within their respective nation states.

Moreover, the treaty negotiations aimed at ‘equality of competition’ throughout the EU have sometimes meant that the interests of one or another section of the capitalist class in a particular country have not been met, provoking some capitalist politicians to speak out against ‘Europe’. Such objections have been ridden out in times of economic growth, but they will not be so readily overcome in an era of recession. Given the reality of the existence of nation states there will always be some pro-capitalist politicians who will appeal to nationalism against the EU to build their support along with companies seeking their ‘own’ government’s protection against foreign rivals.

And if workers, and middle class voters, feel powerless, subject to ‘market forces’ they cannot control, they will be open to ideas of ‘putting our country first’, ‘British interests’, or even the slogan of ‘British jobs for British workers’, unless a viable force can offer a real alternative of workers’ solidarity and decisive socialist action against big business.

This would have to include a programme of nationalisation, for example of all companies threatening redundancies, under democratic working class control and management. But even public ownership of large sections of the British economy, in the hostile climate of a capitalist world economy, would only be a first step towards breaking the power of the multinational corporations.

International solidarity and international planning are necessary. But that does not mean support for the EU! ‘Internationalism’ does not mean workers supporting ‘their’ ruling class in whatever agreement is made with the capitalist classes of other countries. If it did, then supporting agreements like NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, would be ‘internationalism’.

Such an independent class approach is especially vital in the period opening up, with last week’s Eurostat figures showing France and Germany, Europe’s economic motors, suffering the most prolonged economic contraction since the second world war.

Workers’ parties

It is necessary to warn of the consequences of attempting to unite Europe ‘from above’, in the interests of capitalism, and instead say ‘No to the EU constitution and the euro’, while arguing the case for a real collaboration of peoples that can only be achieved on the basis of a socialist Europe.

In an era of economic and political crisis there will be a recoil from the EU. Forces that have promoted it will face the wrath of workers and big sections of the middle class. Instead of being urged to support the EU, ‘with reservations’ or otherwise, workers in each EU country should demand that their government defy the pro-market, anti-worker EU directives and rulings. In Britain, for example, that would mean refusing to implement EU directives to ‘liberalise’ postal services, of which the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail is another step. Why couldn’t the EU transport directives be defied and the railways re-nationalised, and other privatisations reversed? Why couldn’t the ‘race to the bottom’ under way in the EU be resisted, with European Court rulings on the posted workers’ directive defied, as the construction workers who struck for their jobs at the Lindsey oil refinery did?

What could stop the introduction of a 35-hour maximum working week, with no loss of pay, and a minimum wage of £8 an hour – the European ‘decency threshold’ – and the taking into public ownership of any company which threatens to withdraw from Britain as a result?

But such struggles, which would come up at each stage against the capitalists’ control of the economy and society, would raise the need for new mass parties to represent the working classes of Europe, given the 1990s transformation of the Labour Party, and the social democratic parties of the EU countries, into completely capitalist parties.

No2EU-Yes to Democracy is a coalition for the European elections, with a limited programme. While it has drawn around it representatives of the most combative workers in Britain today, from the Lindsey and Visteon workers to the RMT, it is a more tentative step towards independent working class political representation than, for example, The Left party (Die Linke) in Germany, the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) in France, or Syriza in Greece.

But working for the biggest possible vote for No2EU can be a first step towards building a force that can unite, in genuine international solidarity, with workers in Europe and across the world to fight for a better future.

President Morsi of Egypt removed from power!

Mohamed Morsi, president of the Arab Republic of Egypt has been removed from power by the Egyptian military. The president who came into office after the 2011 revolt against Mubarak is now facing the same crisis his predecessor faced. Morsi is a member of the Freedom and Justice Party, this Islamic party is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group banned by the secular dictatorship of Mubarak. Many Egyptians opposed Morsi because of his authoritarianism. He did not brought any genuine change to Egypt. We revolutionary socialists knew this and we told people not to vote for him. Unfortunate some leftists choose to support Morsi over the candidate of the military! 

Almost two years after the revolution that forced Mubarak out of office, Egypt is still unstable. Egyptians are using their freedom of speech to criticize the government, who is still run on the Mubarak system of fear and oppression. President Morsi changed some ministers and dissolved the hated Egyptian secret police. But he did not brought any genuine changes to the Egyptian government. Corruption and poverty remains as the Freedom and Justice Party remained loyal to the capitalist principals of the former National Democratic Party. 

The protests against Morsi started in November 2012. The reason for them was Morsi decree that would expand his powers. Now Egypt was already a presidential republic with much power for the president. Morsi wanted to expand his presidential rule and the power to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his acts. Because the judges refused to support the president, he fired them. Massive demonstrations erupted as secular, leftist and nationalist Egyptians took to the streets to demonstrate against this authoritarianism! 

Islamists choose to support the president and so the confrontation was set. On one side the youth who started the revolution against Mubarak, supported by the secular military and opposition forces, on the other side the Egyptian government and the Freedom and Justice Party supported by islamists. 

We revolutionary socialists oppose Morsi, but there are some of us who made the mistake of supporting him in 2012 against the candidate of the Mubarak elite. Those on the Left who supported Morsi in June 2012 in opposition to the Mubarak regime presidential candidate, Ahmed Shafiq, such as the Revolutionary Socialists (RS), served to spread further confusion. The development of independent action and organisation by the working class and poor is key, they need their own mass party to fight for their interests and democratic rights! 

The Revolutionary Socialists ( RS ) are a Trotskyist group in Egypt. They are linked to the International Socialist Tendency around the Socialist Workers Party in Britain. Like the SWP, the RS in Egypt thinks that supporting the radical islamists over supporters of a former dictatorship is better. The RS has indeed called for a vote on Morsi, a very counterproductive move. It would have been better for the RS to call people not to vote on either Morsi or Ahmed Shafiq. 

Yet the RS is the only revolutionary socialist ( and anti-Stalinist ) group active in Egypt. The old Egyptian Communist Party is still limited to bourgeois Stalinist principals. Other socialist forces are too weak and too divided. There are the Democratic Workers Party, the Socialist Party of Egypt and the Socialist Popular Alliance Party. Some have united into bigger coalitions like the Revolutionary Democratic Coalition or the National Salvation Front. But since some leftist parties like the RS joined both the Revolutionary Democratic Coalition and the National Salvation Front, it is very unsure if these coalitions serve any revolutionary ideology!

On July 3, the military of Egypt removed president Morsi from power. They followed the same path as they did with Mubarak in February of 2011. Morsi was giving an ultimatum to leave his office after he refused to step down. Outside, the demonstrations were growing bigger and bigger. More Egyptians joined the demonstrations against the president and his Freedom and Justice Party! 

As the military removed Morsi from power they also arrested two leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. State television went on black and the Egyptian Constitution was put on hold. With this move, Egypt is again in the hands of the military as it always has been since the Nasser revolution in 1952. Now the military are dictating the nation and its politics. Some secular Egyptians and revolutionaries support this and hope for democracy. But we revolutionary socialists oppose military rule. The Egyptian military is a very huge force, a danger to a future democratic government!

Morsi has told his supporters not to accept the coup of the military. Could this led to civil war? We revolutionary socialists have other proposals. Workers and poor of Egypt must not trust the ruling military or the Islamic; Freedom and Justice Party. The people of Egypt must do it themselves. They must build democratic councils that are elected by the people. Those democratic councils will run the state and the economy. Egypt is creating huge wealth each year. But the profits of this wealth ends up in the hands of the Egyptian ruling class and the military. Only a socialist workers council based democracy can spread the wealth and give power to those millions of people, who are still powerless in the Arab Republic of Egypt!

After two years, the Egyptians see little difference 

between Morsi and former dictator Mubarak!