Debate and discussion: imperialism and the war on Iran.

As peace and anti-war activists build for the October 6th rally against war on Syria or Iran, Rebel Youth is providing the following article and commentary for discussion about the looming military threat on Iran. A lot of critical analysis is being given to this danger, and as youth and student activists we need to make the link with the day-to-day fight for peace in our communities, campuses, workplaces, unions, and other organizations. 

What is a good approach?

The main article below presents one way of approaching this question. The article is by the website Global Research published by the Canadian-based Centre for Research on Globalization. To get discussion started we are also presenting a commentary reply, by a writer for People's Voice newspaper on international issues. You can read more about the protest events against the war here and we provide some more links at the end of this article.

From Global Research:

According to U.S. officials, Israel is training and supporting Iranian terrorists who are trying to topple the Iranian government. Those Israeli-funded terrorists have faked documents to falsely indicate that Iran is building a nuclear bomb.

Israel has admitted to previous use of false flag attacks to justify war against Middle Eastern nations.

For example,   Israel admits that an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind “evidence” implicating the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to identify the bombers, and several of the Israelis later confessed).

Please read the rest of the article on Global Research, which presents a series of facts to support this claim.

Commentary reply:


The article "Will Israel Launch a False Flag Against Iran to Start War?" (Global Research, Sept. 28h 2012) presents an interesting speculation, but really, why would Israeli Prime Minister B. Netanyahu think he needs a "false flag" incident?  He and other warmongers in the Israeli leadership, and the most belligerent sections of the U.S. ruling class, have argued that they have all the evidence they need to launch pre-emptive strikes against Iran.

In a region overflowing with deadly weapons and conflicting interests, there are constant clashes and military confrontations. Any such incident could be seized upon by the war hawks to attack Iran. Could the constant chatter about "false flags" divert people from the difficult but necessary task of mobilizing against the drive to militarism and war?

That's a problem some anti-war activists have with those who are often predicting "false flags" at any moment. Just in the past couple of months, this included failed predictions about the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, the closing ceremonies, the 9-11 anniversary, and various others. We cannot become mesmerised by trying to guess which date will see some type of provocation, or else we will become immobilized observers.

Yes, there are conspiracies at the highest levels of the ruling class, and always have been. But this is not what drives imperialism. A meteor from space could hit the next Bilderberg meeting and the capitalist system would carry on as usual after the mess was cleaned up.

That said, the danger in the Middle East is very real. War could break out before the US Presidential election, but not necessarily. Will be too late to protest the day after it begins, considering the ability of Iran to strike back against the U.S. and Israel with unpredictable consequences? Clearly the answer is yes. That's why now is the time to do everything we can to mobilize in the streets for Oct. 6th.

For discussion:

1.  What did you think about the Global Research (GR) article? What is a "false flag" attack? What do you think of the main idea? What do you think of the sources and documentation? Have you ever read similar articles on the internet? Who is the intended audience and what does the author want to achieve in terms of action?

2. The "Commentary Reply" is written from a different point of view. How would you characterize the main argument? Unlike the GR article, the Reply does not site any sources -- do you think that weakens its argument? Who is the intended audience and what does the author want to achieve in terms of action?

2. What do you think? Both writers claim that conspiracy exists, but one author emphasizes that conspiracy does not "drive" imperialism. What is a conspiracy theory? How is it different from (or similar to) a class-based analysis of imperialism? What does drive imperialism?

3. Thinking more broadly from this concert example, how theory and analysis connected with action, strategy and tactics?

4.  In your community, is there a mobilization against the threat of war on Oct. 6th? How could you, a youth organization you are involved in, or your YCL club, help build for this mobilization? How does this connect with the YCL's strategic goal of fighting the Harper Conservative government and building unity behind a Charter of Youth Rights?

5.  What ways can we make the struggle against war and for peace stronger in the youth and student movement in Canada?

Read more: http://www.canadianpeacecongress.ca/

Victories in Quebec, but struggle must continue warn social movements

J. Boyden

In one day, the newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) minority government led by Pauline Marois swept away most of the keystone austerity policies of the previous Charest Liberals. The new Quebec government, brought to power on winds of change generated by historic mass mobilizations, also realized victories for the environmental movement.

The PQ government cancelled the proposed massive tuition fee hikes; repealed the repressive Bill 78 drafted against the student protests which put severe restriction on civil, labour democratic rights; and announced the cancellation and reimbursement of the new $200 health tax. The action satisfied three out of four of the main demands of the student-labour "Red Hand" Coalition that was at the core of the extended student strike mobilizations last spring. "The abandonment of these measures, criticized by large sections of society, demonstrates that popular mobilization bears fruit," said social housing activist Véronique Laflamme who is also a spokesperson for the Coalition.

An announcement by the PQ on the Coalitions fourth major demand, stopping the increase in Hydro fees, is expected soon. However, as a statement by the Coalition said, "in the context of a minority government, the fate of some [PQ] measures depend on the support received by the Liberal Party or the [ultra-right] Coalition Avenir  Québec (CAQ), two parties that openly advocate user-fees and the privatization of public services, and austerity measures [...] the business community and think tanks use the right-wing media platforms they have to decry tax measures that require greater contributions from big business and the wealthy."

"Mobilization remains necessary now, not only to avoid setbacks but to go further in the implementation of a better redistribution of wealth in order to address growing social inequalities," said Régine Laurent, President of the FIQ Nurses Union and a spokesperson for the Red Hand Coalition.  The PQ is proposing the idea of retro-active taxation on high-income earners, making more than $130,000 and more than $250,000. The tax readjustment will also apply to businesses, and has engendered opposition from pro-corporate forces.

Student organizations have cheered the announcements, while noting that the PQ is planning a mass-consultation with the people of Quebec in the coming months, and that it will likely advocate for a tuition increase at a slower rate. The ASSÉ and its broader CLASSE alliance are heading to convention to determine strategy and if the CLASSE formation should continue. One proposal is to embark on a cross-Canada campaign against the Harper Conservative policy on education and youth issues.

Marois' new cabinet members also made announcements realizing victories for the environmental movement, stating that they will scrap a loan to revive Quebec's last asbestos mine, raise royalties on mining, re-draw the Plan Nord, close the widely criticized Gentilly-2 nuclear power station, and continue the moratorium on shale gas and the procedure of Hydraulic fracturing, widely condemned by scientists and greens alike.

"I don't foresee a day when there will be technology that will allow safe exploitation [of shale gas]," Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet told CTV news before her first cabinet meeting, adding: "Our position is very clear: we want a complete moratorium, not only on exploitation but also on exploration of shale gas." Although public outcry and widespread mobilizations forced the former Liberal government to halt shale-gas exploration last year (to conduct more studies on the ecological risks) the PQ leader distanced herself from Ouellet's remarks but said she would close down the Gentilly-2 nuclear plant.

In the 1960s the Gentilly stations, located in Becancour close to Trois-Rivières, were to be the flagship of over thirty nuclear plants in  Québec. Public pressure helped block those plans and today Gentilly-2 is the only nuclear power station in  Québec and generates less than 4% of provincial electric power.

Environmentalist point to studies showing higher rates of cancer, not just five kilometers from the center, but up to 70 km away. While a potential shut-down will be very costly and will be strongly opposed by the Liberal and CAQ parties, it is made much easier by the fact the power station remains under the control of the public corporation Hydro-Québec.

"We support this closure fully but the people can not again fall into the trap of healthy environment or jobs," said Marianne Breton Fontaine, leader of the Young Communist League of  Québec. "Labour, environmentalists and youth must stand together and demand the workers at Gentilly-2 maintain their jobs at Hydro-Québec with no loss in pay or benefits, through Green Jobs that preferably allow them to remain in their current community. Hydro-Québec is hardly in a financial crisis and Québec in general needs to pursue new, environmentally sustainable power sources like wind energy," she said.

THE DISASTER IN JAPAN AND A VISIT FROM A FRIEND

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

“THE DISASTER IN JAPAN AND A VISIT FROM A FRIEND”

Today I had the pleasure of greeting Jimmy Carter, who from 1977 to 1981 was the President of the United States, the only one, in my opinion, who had enough serenity and courage to tackle the issue of US-Cuba relations.

Carter did what he could to reduce international tensions and to promote the establishment of Cuban and US Interest offices. His administration was the only one that took a few steps towards easing the criminal blockade imposed against our people.

The circumstances weren’t exactly favorable given the complexities of our world at that time. The existence of a genuinely free and sovereign nation in our hemisphere was incompatible with the ideas of the fascist rightwing in the United States. This faction maneuvered to cause President Carter’s plans to fail; plans that would make him worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Nobody gave it to him for free.

The Cuban Revolution always appreciated this brave gesture. In 2002 we gave Jimmy Carter a warm welcome. Now I take this opportunity to reiterate our respect and appreciation.

Will the oligarchy that governs this superpower ever be able to give up its insatiable drive to impose its will on the rest of the world? Can this even occur in a system that increasingly produces presidents such as Nixon, Reagan and Bush W. who have ever more destructive powers and ever less respect for the sovereignty of nations?

The complexity of the world today leaves little margin for relatively recent memories. The farewell we gave to Carter today, Wednesday, coincided with worrisome news on the nuclear accident caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. These reports keep coming in and cannot and should not be ignored, not only for their importance, but also because of the practical and almost immediate repercussion they have on the world economy.

Today AP reported the following from Japan:

“The crisis at the Japanese nuclear plant that was damaged by the tsunami worsened on Wednesday after tests of nearby ocean water showed the highest levels of radiation detected so far.”

“In Fukushima, radiation has penetrated the ground, seeped into the ocean and turned up in vegetables, non-pasteurized milk and even in tap water in Tokyo, 220 kilometers to the south.”

“Meanwhile, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited for an hour with a group of evacuees in Tokyo.”

From Tokyo, Reuters reported:

“Japan said it would upgrade its safety standards for nuclear power plants on Wednesday, its first acknowledgement that norms were insufficient when an earthquake wrecked one of its facilities, triggering the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

“The announcement came as the government conceded that there was no end in sight to the crisis and a spike in radioactive iodine levels in seawater added to evidence of reactor leakages around the complex and beyond.

“Plutonium finds in soil at the plant this week had already have raised public alarm over the accident, which has overshadowed the humanitarian calamity triggered by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left 27,500 people dead or missing.

“Before the disaster, Japan's 55 nuclear reactors had provided about 30 percent of the nation's electric power. The percentage had been expected to rise to 50 percent by 2030, among the highest in the world.

“New readings showed a spike in radioactive iodine in the sea off the plant to 3,355 times the legal limit, the state nuclear safety agency said, although it played down the impact, saying people had left the area and fishing had stopped.

“Hundreds of engineers have been toiling for nearly three weeks to cool the plant's reactors and avert a catastrophic meltdown of fuel rods, although the situation appears to have moved back from that nightmare scenario.

“Jesper Koll, director of equity research at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, said a drawn-out battle to bring the plant under control and manage the radioactivity being released would perpetuate the uncertainty and act as a drag on the economy.

“’The worst-case scenario is that this drags on not one month or two months or six months, but for two years, or indefinitely,’ he said.

“A by-product of atomic reactions and a prime ingredient in nuclear bombs, plutonium is highly carcinogenic and one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, experts say.”

A third news agency, DPA, reported from Tokyo that:

“Japanese technicians continue to try to stop the nuclear crisis three weeks after the accidents took place at the Fukushima plant. Consequently, Tokyo authorities are beginning to consider taking extraordinary measures to stop the radioactive leak from the facilities.

“The idea is to cover the reactors with a sort of tissue. Recent high readings of iodine 131 in seawater indicate increasing radiation. The Greenpeace environmental organization warns of serious danger to the health of local inhabitants following its own assessment.

“Experts say that a process that would definitively rule out a possible fusion of the core may take months. Tepco has promised to improve the work conditions of the technicians, who are increasingly becoming more nervous and exhausted.”

While these events take place in Japan, the president of Venezuela is visiting Argentina, Uruguay and is on his way to Bolivia to promote economic accords and to strengthen relations with the countries of our hemisphere, which are determined to be independent.

At the University of La Plata, where the tyranny promoted by the United States caused the disappearance of many thousands of Argentineans, including 700 students —40 from the Faculty of Journalism--, Chavez was granted the Rodolfo Walsh award, named after one of the heroic and revolutionary journalists who were murdered.

It is no longer Cuba alone; there are now many peoples willing to fight to death for their own homeland.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 30, 2011
6:51 p.m.

Condolences to the Victims of Natural Disaster in Japan

World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) would like to express its deepest condolences and sympathy to all those affected by the multiple earth quake following devastating Tsunami and nuclear reactor explosion happened from 10 march, 2011 in Japan.

This quake of 8.9 magnitudes is one of the biggest earthquakes in world. The earth quake was worst following with other major quakes and multiple aftershocks. Most heart-breaking phenomenon is sweeping of people and settlements with devastating seven meter high Tsunami. To add much worst case scenario is that the explosion of two nuclear power reactor killing and injuring many people and further putting into danger the life of thousands of inhabitants around the area of Fukisima. Still other four reactors are reported to be in critical position. More than 200000 people are already evacuated from this area.

Till now at least 1957 people are confirmed to lose their lives and more than 15000 people are still missing with incalculable loss of property and damage of infrastructure. As 9500 people are missing in only the city of Minamisanriku the loss of life could reach more than ten thousand. Damaged and collapsed houses could be seen everywhere with burnt fire in many places. Bad weather is adding more complication over rescue efforts.

At this time of grief of Japanese people, WFDY concerns that natural disaster so terrible and devastating should be the great concerns of common humanity to deal such tragedies.

We urge all internal communities and our member organization to stay with Japanese people to join all rescue efforts and all kind of logistic supports for those who are affected and threatened by natural and nuclear disaster in Japan. Water, food and fuel are now urgent need to be supplied.

We send our message of deepest sympathy to our member organizations, JLSY, KYLJ and DLYJ and affirm our moral supports and join their all efforts to support affected people in this hard time of disaster.

The CC Headquarter

World Federation of Democratic Youth

Budapest, Hungary

13 March 2011.

Video review: nuclear series 3

These two videos show just how much taxpayers money was around for war research.

IBM and Bell (AT&T) got in on the action. In many cases, the rate of return on investment in war industries became too good to resist. Many companies that started out as manufacturers of civilian goods soon became full time defence contractors. An example of this is collins radio. The military-industrial complex was born.

A happy little missile. For a happy little war.

Here is a cartoon that explains how guidance systems for missiles work. Why a cartoon? I hope this wasn't for showing in a school classroom.

a missile named mac-bell telephone (from 1962)

IBM and militarism

on guard SAGE (1956)

Note the first few lines about protecting resources, and showing an example of "resources" children, as in future workers. We see the corporate mentality of this film.

This movie is interesting in how government can spend a huge amount of resources on military technology and also as a snapshot of the latest and greatest in computers in 1956. Remember a laptop one uses to play war simulation games today is more powerful than the machine shown here. But the SAGE is as big a humvee, if not as big as a parking lot of humvees, and probably consumed as much power.

Can we spend resources to create green technologies?

As far as post war investment in education is concerned, that came partly in response to Sputnik in 1957. Fearing falling behind in the space race, and especially what that meant for the ballistic missile arms race, the American government became concerned in a perceived lack of engineers and physicists. More emphasis in math and science became the call in children's education.

There was even a National Defense Student Loan program, and those with loans under the program were required to "complete an affidavit disclaiming belief in the overthrow of the U.S. government." -wikipedia

So education can and is very politicized.

Video review-nuclear series 2

operation cue 1964 revision

Operation Teapot, was named "Operation Cue" for this film and most recently, elements of it were used in the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Watch for the refrigerator.

A review of this short film points out that it was "... hilarious that the male narrator would ... narrate the piece, and the woman would come on with silly female asides as 'being a mother and a house wife, I was quite interested about the food tests". Along with stating that there is a "simultaneously calming and menacing tone of the film", reviews shows that this film is a product of cold war propaganda and a male dominated society of 1955.

They seemed well prepared for nuclear war, but how about Hurricane Katrina?

the house in the middle (1954)

This film is produced by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. This film's goal is to scare us into painting. And to buy more paint. How low can one go to sell a product?

Among reviews for this film include such quips as:

• Just keep a clean, well painted house, and remember to put a newspaper over your head when under the table."
• "If it takes an orderly house to survive a nuclear blast, looks like I'll be dead."
• "I am thinking that if the white paint is good to protect the house, why don't I just pour a bucket of white paint over my head???... the answer to continuing life as we know it is in a Jones-Blair paint can!"
• "An alternative title for this film might be "Dr Stangelove... Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Repainted My House Instead."

Bored and want to see other films related to this one ? An megaton of them exist at the prelinger archives.

video review: Nuclear series 1

The bomb that started the Cold War and cost people dearly


August 6th is the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the Little Boy bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

On August 9th, this Sunday will mark the anniversary of the dropping of the Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki.

This is the first in a series of videos related to all things nuclear and cold war. We start of course with the bombing of Japan.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1946)

Graphically shows the destructive force of the bomb. Much about radiation sickness has been learned since, so the "black rain" was indeed harmful. Carefully chosen words that rationalize use of the A-bomb make this a propaganda film.







AN AUDIO BOOK OF THE OFFICIAL REPORT PUBLISHED 11 MONTHS FOLLOWING THE ATTACKS



Parts 1 through 8. Part 8 contains an eyewitness account-"The appendix is an eyewitness account, contrasting vividly with the dispassionate sang-froid of the report itself, written by a German Jesuit priest who survived the blast at Hiroshima, and whose order assisted in rescue efforts following the catastrophic attack."

BBC announcement of the Hiroshima Bombing.

Below: HARRY TRUMAN'S RADIO ADDRESS AFTER THE HIROSHIMA BOMBING
note that the "atomic bomb shortened the war and saved countless lives" argument first appears here. Speculation that Truman used the bombing mainly to scare the Soviet Union and to secure imperialist hegemony is another argument.





On August 6th 2007, a documentary movie titled White Light, Black Rain deals with the occurances of 62 years before.