Come along and meet up with the various cpgb-ml / red youth contingents over the weekend at these events in London.
Save the NHS – London Demonstration
18 May 2013 (12noon)
Jubilee Gardens (near the London Eye), London SE1 Demonstration called by a wide variety of campaign groups opposing the cuts and planned closures of services across the captial.
Come and join the CPGB-ML contingent on the demonstration.
More info: http://www.savelondonnhs.org.uk/
Picket of the US Embassy
18 May 2013 (2.00pm – 4.00pm)
US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London W1A 2LQ Support the Syrian people, headed by President Assad! Oppose imperialist interference!
Stalin Society: Film showing – Chapaev
19 May 2013 (2.00 – 5.00pm)
Kings Cross Neighbourhood Centre, 51 Argyle Street , London WC1H 8EF The film is based on the book with the same title by Dmitri Furmanov, a Bolshevik commissar who fought together with Chapayev during the civil war in Turkestan. It is a striking example of how people were transformed in the Soviet Union. It details, with tenderness and humour, the life of Chapayev – from a bandit with an disorganised band of followers into a responsible leader within a disciplined Red Army force.
Made in 1934 this film became one of the most popular of Soviet films. In Russian with English subtitles.
ALL WELCOME
More info: http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk
According to reports from RT.com Kofi Annan, a miserable (but very willing) stooge of imperialism, today declared that “The longer we wait the darker Syria’s future becomes…the time to act is now”. Any anti-imperialist will know precisely what kind of action Annan and his backers will be prepared to unleash when their not-so-covert attempts at regime change in Syria fail. Thankfully the anti-imperialist Syrian government, headed by President Assad and backed by a number of communists and progressive forces inside Syria are also well prepared for any provocation.
In reports which worryingly point towards an escalation in the crisis and desperation on the part of imperialism, Russia Today writes that Syria has shot down a Turkish military jet. If these reports turn out to be true it would appear that Turkey, in connivance with imperialism, may be in the final stages of preparing for all out war with Syria. It is equally possible that such news is an ongoing part of the propaganda campaign waged by imperialism against Syria with the purpose of preparing western audiences for open intervention :
“The plane crashed into Syrian territorial waters earlier today, according to reports. A missile shattered it to pieces after which the missile plunged into the Mediterranean Sea. The two pilots were later saved off the shore of Hatay, a south eastern province bordering Syria.
Syrian vessels have joined a search operation, which was launched immediately after the Turkish military lost radar and radio contact with the jet. The planes took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya at 10 a.m. local time.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Syrian defense forces had been shooting at two foreign planes.
“Witnesses spotted two jets flying in from Turkish territory. One of the planes went down in Syria’s territorial waters, while the other one made off,” says Ihab Sultan, a local correspondent in Syria, told RT.
Relations between Ankara and Damascus have been marred by Turkey’s open support of the Syrian opposition, which is seeking to topple the government of President Bashar Al-Assad. On Friday, Turkey denied the Syrian government’s accusations that it is supplying rebels with arms.
Still, Turkey remains a NATO member, which means that in the event of an attack it could summon the aid of all the alliance members. In April, Turkey already called on NATO to protect its borders as cross-border fire from Syria hit a refugee camp on Turkish territory. These statements were condemned as “provocative” by Assad’s government.
International relations expert Mark Almond says in the event of a NATO intervention scenario, Turkey might launch a probing flight to assess Syria’s capabilities.
“If the NATO countries were really thinking of some kind of intervention to assist the rebels against Assad’s regime, the first thing they’ll want to do is to knock out Syria’s air forces and defense systems. So some kind of a probing flight testing Syria’s responses would be possible. But it is also possible this is a tragic mishap,” Almond told RT from Bilkent University in Ankara.”
StW still not stopping any wars
Regardless of whether the latest news reports turn out to be true, support for Syria in its life-and-death confrontation with imperialism is an acid test for the working-class and anti-war movements. Yet in its call for an anti-Nato protest outside the US embassy, the ineffectual and rapidly declining Stop the War Coalition (StW) has once again avoided any mention of this frontline country.
This is because those who have hijacked the anti-war movement in this country – misleaders like ‘left’ Labourite Jeremy Corbyn and Trotskyite John Rees of Counterfire – actually support imperialism’s aim of ‘regime change’ for Syria, differing only in the methods that should be used to bring it about, and the revisionist CPB cravenly goes along with them.
A principled anti-war movement is desperately needed – one that will organise workers in a mass movement of non-cooperation with imperialist war crimes and call for:
“Imperialists and traitors – fear us!” was one slogan made at a demonstration by members of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) as thousands rallied to oppose the preparations being made by imperialism for war on Syria. On the road to Hatay in southern Turkey, protesters were stopped and arrested in Adana by police and state forces who were desperate to prevent the voice of the workers and oppressed from being heard. Members of the TKP unrolled a banner bearing the words “Hands off Syria!” and proceeded with an impromptu demonstration.
It is absolutely imperative that we in Britain step up our efforts to avoid the same horrendous fate befalling Syria as that which was inflicted on Libya. The workers parties and anti-war activists need to clear their heads of all the muddled thinking and get straight one single truth – “imperialism strives for domination, not democracy!”
