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Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

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These next few months will be highly charged.  From the Olympics to the elections. . . from the two wars for empire now grinding and boiling on in Iraq and Afghanistan to a possible third one—in Iran—being threatened. . . from food riots in the third world to brutal police murder, savage immigration raids, and the growing specter of increased impoverishment in America itself. . . from the permeation of religion into every sphere of society to the—very related—reassertion of oppressive patriarchal values in U.S. society. . .the turmoil continues.

Big questions are being posed:

What kind of society do we want to—and are we willing to—live in?

What kind of future will we have?

And what kind of change is required?

Is it a matter of making adjustments to what already exists—tinkering, to be blunt, with the blood-soaked arrangements of empire?  Or do we urgently need fundamental and radical change?  And is a better world—a future really worthy of human beings—possible? 

Do we still dare dream of revolution?

And is there a viable vision of what that is, and a leadership to point the way?

This fall, a series of high-profile initiatives, as well as the ongoing work of this newspaper, Revolution, will speak to those questions.

Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy

RCP Publications announces a major new work by Bob Avakian!  Today, the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy are widely hailed—to the point where even many who think of themselves as radical or revolutionary worship at this “chapel of democracy,” and almost every demand for social change seems to come “packaged” in those terms.  In fact, this expresses a poverty of analysis that has seriously fettered the vision of the movements of today—a poverty of analysis that demands to be subjected to serious criticism.

In the face of this, Avakian takes on the ideals of Jeffersonianism, and convincingly locates even its “loftiest aspirations” in social relations of exploitation and oppression—the social relations out of which those ideals grew, and which they served and continue to serve.  In doing so, he draws on a wide range of scholarly research and polemically takes on major contemporary defenders of Jeffersonian democracy.  Avakian demonstrates why and how these ideals of democracy co-existed with—and, indeed, arose on the basis of—the enslavement of Black people and the deep embedding of white supremacy into the body politic and ideological psyche of the U.S. 

But he goes further: not only showing why events turned out that way, but why those ideals themselves could only and can only generate and serve relations of exploitation and the division, and polarization, of people into antagonistic classes. . .into oppressor and oppressed.  Moreover, he convincingly points the way to a vision and future that is truly emancipatory—to a vision of freedom far more radical and thoroughgoing than anything imaginable within the constricted horizons of Jeffersonianism.  In doing this, Avakian includes a devastating critique of the “free marketplace of ideas,” contrasting it to a genuinely unfettered search for the truth—and he shows what kind of economic and political system would be necessary for that to flourish.

During the frenzy of the election campaign and the particular hopes—and damaging delusions—being raised by the Obama candidacy, Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy must circulate widely throughout society.

The Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

            This August, RCP Publications will publish the new Constitution of the RCP, USA—one that lays out the mission and vision of a new stage of communist revolution, informed by Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communist theory.  The constitution will put forward this vision in a very accessible way, as well as laying out the principles of organization and the theoretical foundation of the Party.  This will include an important appendix on communist theory as a scientific and revolutionary theory. 

            This constitution will serve as a bold declaration that there is indeed a party, in the belly of the imperialist U.S., with the determination and strategic analysis to make a revolution. . . and the vision, method and understanding of society and history to ensure that it is a revolution worth making.

Revolutionary Communism at a Crossroads:
Residue of the Past. . . or Vanguard of the Future?

This fall, the RCP,USA will issue a major statement, a manifesto for our times. 

The past several decades have witnessed truly unprecedented changes in the world.  The reversal of the revolution in China following the death of Mao in 1976. . . the fall of the Soviet Union and rise of the U.S. as the sole superpower in the world. . . the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism as a major contending force in the world, ideologically and politically. . . and the radical reactionary transformations of the U.S. world role, and domestic politics.  All these have posed major challenges for the international communist movement, and struggle has arisen in the movement over how to meet them. 

Will the movement rise to those challenges?  Or will it become a residue of the past, either locked in fading dogma or in thrall to the horizons of bourgeois democracy?  This new manifesto will draw out and sharply contrast the contending roads before the revolutionary movement, go deeply into the direction and implications of each, and clearly put forward a line that can lead to a revolutionary future.

If you have any hope, any aspiration, for fundamental and radical social change, you must read this statement and help us get this out to every corner of society.

Broadsheet on revolution and the liberation of Black people

From the holds of the slave ships to the locked-down penitentiaries and desperate street corners of today, the bitter oppression of Black people, and the struggle against that oppression, has been central to the history and current-day reality of this society.  But now some claim that this is all a question of the distant past.  Others may acknowledge the desperate straits of the majority of Black people, only to then blame the masses themselves for this situation.  Some go so far as to say that the nomination of Barack Obama signals the “transcendence of race” in America.  And, meanwhile, the grinding and horrific oppression of the African-American people continues.  To take but one outrageous example, one in nine young Black men are locked down in prison—while crises like the collapse of the housing market and the new epidemic of homelessness hit hardest in minority communities.

In the midst of all this, Revolution will publish a special issue on the emancipation of humanity and the struggle for the liberation of Black people.  This will go deeply into the history and present-day reality of Black people in America, and will include a major statement by the Party that deals head-on with the main questions facing this struggle today, making the case for the necessity. . . and the possibility. . . of revolution.

Publication of Revolution newspaper in a politically and ideologically charged time

As we noted at the outset, this fall will be a highly charged time, ideologically and politically.  It will demand the continued weekly publication of Revolution newspaper, and a real expansion of its reach.  Funds are urgently needed to carry forward and heighten the work of this newspaper. Funds to send reporters to cover major events in society and the world. Funds to expand the distribution of the paper, including to prisoners.  Funds to maintain and expand our ability to print in color and have better photos.  And more.

* * * * *

The dangers of the situation today are extreme and stark—but it is far from hopeless.  Many people are raising their heads and, in one form or another, engaging political questions.  And it is no exaggeration to say that the current volatile situation holds the potential for things to politically burst open.

Of course, all that can go in a very good direction—or a very bad one.  The question is whether those thousands and millions who begin to question the way things are, who begin to seek a way to understand the world and to resist the outrages, who are driven to ask why when hopes are shown to be illusions. . . will those millions be able to find these revolutionary ideas and a way to connect with this movement?  And will the whole larger discourse of society be changed by a project of liberation that is NOT locked within the complicitous so-called “politics of the possible”?

The answer to that is up to you.  All these initiatives require your urgent and immediate support.  Many people gave generously to our fund-drive last year; but this major effort to boldly put forward “a different way,” and the particular initiatives within that, require major new funding.   Help make sure this happens.  Give generously to RCP Publications.

 

GIVE GENEROUSLY If you want these ideas, this world-view, this Party, this leader, and this paper out there . . . if you see the potential difference this can make, on many different levels. . . then we need your support and assistance, now. TO CONTRIBUTE: Donate online with Visa or MasterCard or at revcom.us/fund_en.php. Or, send checks or money orders made out to “RCP Publications” to: RCP Publications Box 3486 Merchandise Mart Chicago, IL 60654 Contributions or gifts to RCP Publications are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. At the present time, RCP Publications cannot accept any contributions or gifts from readers who reside outside the borders of the United States.

 

Send us your comments.

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Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry

What Is Happening and What It Might Mean
PART 3: THE EUROPEAN UNION AS A POTENTIAL RIVAL TO U.S. DOMINANCE

by Raymond Lotta

Great shifts are taking place in the balance of economic strength among the major powers. New faultlines can be discerned in the world economy. U.S. imperialism is still the primary economic and military power in the world imperialist system. But its position is eroding. And potential rivals are emerging.

The enlargement and consolidation of the European Union is a defining feature of this changing economic landscape—with the rise of China perhaps the most dynamic of the big tectonic shifts taking place in the world economy (see Part 2 of this series).

The European Union (EU) is a highly developed economic bloc of imperialist and capitalist countries on the European continent. In the last 15 years, the EU has achieved higher levels of economic and financial integration and strengthened its international position. The euro, which is the currency used by 15 EU members, is playing an increasingly important role in world trade and finance. The EU has been more forcefully asserting itself internationally and enhancing military capabilities.

The nature and possible implications of the expansion and strengthening of the European Union in relation to great power rivalry are the topic of Part 3 in this series.

I. THE END OF THE COLD WAR AND EU ENLARGEMENT

The EU has operated in partnership and alliance with U.S. imperialism in military affairs and in international forums like the World Trade Organization. There are huge inflows of U.S. capital into Western Europe, and huge inflows of West European capital into the U.S. At the same time, the EU represents a major, and growing, competitive challenge to U.S. imperialism within an international framework dominated by the United States.

How the EU challenge further develops will be influenced by the interplay of economic and non-economic factors:

• There is the question of the evolution of NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance of which major EU countries are a part.
• There is the dynamic element of the EU’s relations with Russia and China, both of which are rising powers in the world economy and both of which are becoming ever more significant trading partners with the EU.
• There are the wars for empire in the Middle East and in Afghanistan—where West European imperialism is heavily involved with the U.S.—and whose outcomes are far from determined. 
• There is a clash globally between an outmoded world-dominating and world-exploitative imperialism and an outmoded Islamic fundamentalism—which has thrived in response to the onslaughts of imperialism but which offers no real and liberating solution to imperialism. And within Europe reactionary Islamic fundamentalism is gaining ground and influence among sections of immigrants.^[1]
• There are the effects of social struggles in Europe today and around the world, and the potential for revolutionary struggle to emerge and to impact the situation in the EU countries and the world as a whole.

Background: The European Union

The European Union is not a single state…but neither is it a loose or informal coalition of powers. It is a unique union of imperialist states in Western Europe that has forged political and administrative and legislative structures to regulate its functioning as a bloc. Its leading core is made up of the major West European imperialist powers: Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Germany and France are the main political-economic drivers of the bloc.

In 1991, the EU had twelve member states. But the collapse of the imperialist Soviet Union and its bloc in 1989-91 opened new possibilities for West European imperialism. West Germany, already the major economic power on the European continent, absorbed East Germany. The EU looked eastward and incorporated countries like Poland and Hungary, as well as countries in the Baltic region.

This was the dialectic in the 1990s: U.S. imperialism brought most of the East European countries of the former Soviet bloc into its military-led alliance, NATO; the West European imperialists brought most of these countries into the EU’s economic orbit.

The EU still consists of distinct economies with distinct class structures and distinct imperialist or capitalist ruling classes. But the EU has become a more cohesive and powerful bloc. It has created diverse institutions to coordinate policy and exercise powers across the countries making up this bloc. Since 1995 it has grown from 15 to 27 countries; emerged as a market rivaling the U.S. market in size, and developed a currency that has the potential to challenge the U.S. dollar internationally.

Taken individually, the Western European states are not able to compete economically with U.S. imperialism in terms of size. But as a single, highly integrated entity, the European Union can compete on a global scale. In short, with the expansion and consolidation of the EU, the U.S. now faces a large and formidable political, financial, and industrial center. ^[2]

Culturally, the EU projects itself as an enlightened, civilized, cosmopolitan capitalism. And this is part of the EU’s ideological arsenal as it seeks to strengthen its political-economic position internationally.

Meanwhile, the EU tightens controls on immigrants, parries with U.S. imperialism in Latin America for economic advantage, utilizes its historical colonial ties, and forges new neo-colonial relations of dependency, to serve its international needs—for instance, investments and military operations in Africa to secure energy and raw material supplies. And the EU has also been party to the subcontracting of torture by U.S. imperialism and its “war on terror.” EU member countries have been the sites of secret CIA prisons. ^[3]

II. THE EU STRENGTHENS ITS COMPETITIVE HAND

The EU has moved to extend and further unify a common market, and, in close connection, to raise profitability and increase the competitiveness of EU-based capital in the imperialist world economy.

A. Competitiveness Agenda and “Flexible Labor”

This has involved a wave of neoliberal “reform.” Neoliberalism refers to policies that further open national economies up to the freer flow of capital, that privatize state-administered industries, that deregulate labor markets and remove restrictions on the terms of exploitation and employment of wage labor, and that cut back social benefits, etc. This has been going on in the United States since the 1980s.

In the Third World, U.S.-dominated international financial institutions, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, oversaw a sweeping and brutal neoliberal restructuring of economies. This cleared the way for the deeper penetration of imperialist capital, including from Western Europe. It also undermined local agriculture in large regions of the Third World and accelerated an unprecedented process of massive and chaotic urbanization. ^[4]

West European capital has been carrying out its own agenda of neoliberal reform since the 1990s: seeking more flexibility in hiring and firing, wider use of temporary labor, and repression of wages.

In France, efforts have been underway to extend the legal workweek beyond 35 hours. In Germany, various forms of “co-participation” by unions in factories—designed to serve the increase in worker productivity—have been scaled back. Germany is the world’s leading exporter. It has maintained this position in part by driving down unit labor costs, and real wages declined for seven straight years (1998-2006). ^[5] In France, government support for education and job placement has also been cut, and such policies have been a major trigger of protests. Social welfare benefits, including pensions for the retired, have been rolled back in much of Europe.

The EU’s competitiveness agenda has involved mergers of large enterprises into larger enterprises, as in the steel industry. And it has involved support for strategic industrial sectors and the promotion of leading enterprises. For example, the EU created EADS, the European-wide aerospace company. It manufactures the Airbus and is a global competitor with Boeing.

This “competitiveness” agenda has also entailed efforts to restrict the freedom of movement of U.S. capital in Europe’s more open and integrated market. Microsoft, for instance, has been charged with monopolistic practices. European capital has sought to check U.S. capital internationally. This has taken complex and often disguised forms, such as battles between the U.S. and the EU over environmental standards or controls on imports of bio-engineered agricultural products.

B. Special Role of Eastern Europe

The incorporation of the East European countries into the EU has been a source of competitive advantage of West European capital in the world market. The East European economies are ruled by fully developed capitalist classes—and some of these economies invest capital in the Third World. But they stand in a subordinate relationship to the larger and more powerful ruling classes of the EU. Strategic sectors of these economies, like transport, finance, and telecommunications, are dominated by foreign capital, particularly Western European capital. Low labor costs combined with high-skills levels carried over from the Soviet period are an important magnet for investment.

The EU has restructured and integrated the East European economies into larger region-wide and global production chains. East European workers face poorer working conditions and lower pay scales, along with less generous social programs, than do the populations in much of Western Europe. In Slovakia, wages in the auto industry are one-eighth of those in Germany, while productivity in the auto industry (led by VW and Peugeot) is soon expected to be the highest in the world. ^[6] In these ways, the absorption of East Europe into the EU has enhanced the bloc’s competitiveness and profitability.

The EU—more particularly, German imperialism, which has a special interest in East Europe and the Balkans—has invested heavily in rebuilding the transport, energy, and other infrastructure of East Europe. This has been costly and played a significant part in dragging down growth rates in Germany. But this retooling is also a key part of a longer-term strengthening of a more integrated and competitive continental market in which Germany is the economic anchor of an increasingly cohesive EU bloc.

Strategically, East Europe is also important to EU geopolitical ambitions. It is geographically closer to Russia, which provides much of Western Europe’s energy needs—and so Eastern Europe is also a kind of buffer zone. In addition, West European economic penetration provides a certain counterweight to U.S. military dominance in East Europe. ^[7]

C. Migrant Labor in “Fortress Europe”

With more open economies requiring both high and low skills and increasingly “flexible” workers (shifting in and out of jobs and sectors of the economy with less job security), immigrant labor plays a particular role in restructured labor markets.

An estimated 5 to 6.5 million undocumented workers currently live and work in Europe. They are an “illegalized transnational labor force”—working in such sectors as agriculture, construction, domestic services, etc. Some of these sectors would, as a recent study by three progressive scholars observes, “likely collapse without access to cheap and unregulated migrant labor.” ^[8] These undocumented workers are often not able to gain minimum wages or work with labor contracts.

Immigrants are now being threatened with special ID cards and databases with biometric details. France will be using DNA testing on new immigrants coming into the country. Chauvinist hysteria against immigrants in the post-9/11 atmosphere often takes an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic form. And this is part of the official discourse as well—Nicholas Sarkozy, president of France, was elected in part on a “get tough” with immigrants platform in the wake of immigrant youth rebellions against police brutality and social discrimination in 2005. ^[9]

EU officials glow with pride about new means to fortify borders against “illegal” immigrants. The results? Spanish authorities alone reported that in 2006, 6000 drowned in the Atlantic, trying to reach the Canary Islands (part of Spain) from West Africa—where European commercial fleets have emptied out fisheries and destroyed livelihoods of local fisher people. Hundreds more immigrants in 2006 suffocated in containers and trucks and cargo boats in ports.

III. THE EU’S GEOPOLITICAL AMBITIONS

The EU has been expanding—and faces a compulsion to expand its international reach and competitiveness—if it is to thrive as a geoeconomic power in a world economy now still dominated by U.S. imperialism and with other new competitors and challengers arising within the world system. It is also possible that this U.S.-dominated international economic framework could suffer major jolts. Such jolts, in combination with other factors (like military setbacks), might create new openings for rising powers such as China and the EU to vault to significantly stronger positions.

Geopolitically, the EU is playing a more assertive international role. It has been a partner to Middle East talks. The EU oversaw elections in Congo in 2006. It took over the UN mandate of occupation in the western Balkans.

The bulk of the EU’s global, strategic military capability is contained within NATO. But one of the unexpected outcomes of the collapse of the Soviet Union was that “the triumph of the West” led to a Western Europe less militarily dependent on U.S. imperialism—since there was no longer a powerful and militarized Soviet bloc abutting Western Europe in the context of intensifying conflict between the U.S.-led and Soviet-led blocs. As Dominique Moisi, a French geopolitical scholar and policy adviser, described it: “the Cold War configuration of one West and two Europes” is being replaced by “one Europe but two Wests.” ^[10]

The EU has established or expanded a number of multinational “intervention forces”—a benchmark goal is to have 60,000 soldiers available for overseas missions of up to a year. The EU has been enlarging its military industry, investing in the Eurofighter combat jet and long-range aircraft. It has developed a European satellite navigation system (Galileo). These are all EU-wide, joint initiatives. And the EU has also been attempting to develop an overall command structure.

None of this can match, it does not even come close to matching, the military weight of U.S. imperialism right now. But this greater assertiveness is occurring at the same time that the U.S. is downsizing forces in Europe—while more ambitious EU plans for military deployments are unfolding, especially on the part of Germany. Moreover, the EU has the “industrial assets” to undergird rapid militarization.

There is yet another element: Russia. The EU would have significantly greater geopolitical strength in alliance with Russia, with its still formidable military power. This is a wild card of sorts, but quite real—all the more so, given Western Europe’s increasing dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Russia already supplies more than a quarter of the natural gas consumed in Western Europe, and this share is growing. On the other hand, Russia is highly dependent on the European market: the EU accounts for about 75 percent of Russia’s export earnings. ^[11] German capital is the major supplier of credits to Russian gas and oil giants (and former chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schroder, is now chairman of the supervisory board of a subsidiary of Russian natural gas giant GAZPROM). ^[12] At the same time, European transnational firms have been seeking an independent presence in Central Asia to bypass Russia.

The question is posed: will the energy relationship with Russia—which is rocky—lead to a more general repositioning and collaboration of these two powers on the world stage?

The EU is also taking advantage of its historical ties of domination and exploitation in Africa to meet its energy requirements and to reduce its dependency on Russia. European transnational firms have recently accounted for 60 percent of new investment in West African oil and gas enterprises. Royal Dutch Shell is the leading foreign producer in Nigeria. It has been the object of protests and armed attacks by local residents in response to its drilling activities which bring few benefits to the surrounding communities but enormous environmental destruction. ^[13]  

IV. THE EURO AND THE DOLLAR: RIVALRY AMIDST FINANCIAL TURMOIL

The euro has been playing a bigger role as a world currency. EU market enlargement and regional currency integration have provided an advantage in scale and efficiency for globalized West European capital. And since its inception in 1999-2000, the euro has become the biggest and only currency to rival the U.S. dollar as the world currency. The growing importance of the euro stems from the strength of the EU as well as from erosion in the U.S. international financial position. The dollar has been under huge downward pressure as a result of the tremendous deficits incurred by the U.S. and the more recent financial turmoil in the U.S.

The potential world impact of the euro is captured in the introduction to a collection of articles on the euro by mainstream analysts: “As the currency bearing the brunt of the U.S. dollar’s decline from its overvaluation of the late 1990s, the euro’s value and management is critical to the successful adjustment of international imbalances. And as a long-run competitor and collaborator with the dollar, the euro creates the potential for a bipolar international monetary system, offering unprecedented challenges and opportunities to economic policymakers.” ^[14] Already, the euro has surpassed the dollar as the world’s chief currency in the international bond market.

This does not rule out the possibility of the dollar being reinvigorated.  And it is important to keep in mind that the strength of the dollar and its role as the world’s reserve and transaction currency are not simply a function of U.S. imperialism’s economic strength. “Confidence in the dollar” is also linked to the global military dominance of U.S. imperialism, to military-security linkages between foreign holders of the dollar and U.S. imperialism (as with a country like Saudi Arabia), and to the overall stability of U.S. capitalism and its highly developed financial markets relative to economic and political risk elsewhere.

On the other hand, a more gradual, long-term trend towards a “bipolar monetary system” does not rule out the potential for a massive flight from the dollar and sudden eruption of financial chaos, perhaps of a magnitude not seen since the 1930s. Such an attack on the dollar could be triggered by a combination of economic events and political developments. For example, China could stop financing U.S. Treasury debt on the scale that it has been and diversify its foreign exchange holdings away from the dollar.

Financial institutions and financial markets in Western Europe have been hit by the financial crisis that erupted in the U.S. in early 2008. But this much seems to be clear: the euro is gaining competitive ground on the dollar and being increasingly looked to as an international reserve and transaction currency.

V. CONCLUSION: THE TRANS-ATLANTIC ALLIANCE IN TRANSITION?

In the aftermath of World War 2, U.S. imperialism shaped state structures in Europe and deeply penetrated the social formations on the continent, including culturally. In the expansion of the post-World War 2 period, U.S. and West European trade and investment links grew deep, and the larger geopolitical framework dominated by the U.S. constrained strategic challenges by West European imperialism. This continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, the United Kingdom, which is a member of the EU, has a “special relationship” with the United States. And this influences the jockeying between the EU and the United States.

But the current world economic and political arrangements are not written in stone. They can evolve in new directions and radically change in connection with major geoeconomic and geopolitical shifts. Again, the Russia factor looms large. The EU may find itself torn between those within its imperialist ruling classes calling for a more robust European military capacity and those that still want to rely on the NATO alliance. The pathways towards a greater or lesser EU international geopolitical role would be profoundly influenced by a major move by China to wrench more initiative in the world economy and/or to forge closer alliance with Russia.

In June 2008, the French government announced a reorientation of French security policy towards deeper relations with NATO. But note closely: this was presented as a turn towards NATO and the EU—along with bolstering the EU’s capacity to plan and conduct its own military operations.

Contradictions between France and Germany, core forces of the EU, and the U.S. over the war in Iraq have been very acute. And there have been other contradictions; for instance, a dispute broke out in 2005 when the EU lifted an arms embargo imposed on China after the 1989 Tiananmen uprising of students and workers. And even where there is more (apparent) unity, as in putting pressure on Iran, it is also the case that rivalries are playing out within the NATO alliance.

The EU has necessity and freedom. The overall EU strategy seems to be one of “biding time”: promote further institutional integration within the EU bloc, seek out closer partnerships with other major powers, and take advantage of difficulties and setbacks of U.S. imperialism. But the pace, direction, and assertiveness of the EU will be influenced by underlying global trends and by unforeseen developments—internal and external to this bloc.

NEXT, Part 4: A Resurgent Russian Imperialism

 

NOTES

1. On the conflict between Western imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism and the ways in which they oppose but also reinforce each other, see Bob Avakian, Bringing Forward Another Way, revcom.us. [back]

2. For more on the development and nature of the EU, see Peter Dicken, Global Shift, 5th Edition (New York: Guilford, 2007), chapter 6; and Jozsef Borocz and Mahua Sarkar, “What is the EU?,” International Sociology, June 2005, Vol. 20 (2), pp. 153-73. [back]

3. See Dick Marty, Secret Detentions and Illegal Transfers of Detainees Involving Council of Europe States: 2nd Report (June 7, 2007), assembly.coe.int. [back]

4. For a Marxist analysis of the origins and logic of neoliberalism, see David Harvey, Neoliberalism (London: Oxford: 2005). [back]

5. Perry Anderson, “Depicting Europe,” London Review of Books, 20 September 2007, lrb.co.uk. [back]

6. Anderson, “Depicting Europe.” [back]

7. On the EU and Eastern Europe, see Dorothee Bohle, “The EU and Eastern Europe: Failing the Test as a Better World Power,” Socialist Register 2005: The Empire Reloaded (London: Merlin, 2004), pp. 300-12; Jozsef Borocz, “How Size Matters: The EU as a Geopolitical Animal,” 2005, web.uvic.ca/europe. [back]

8. Markus Euskirchen, Henrik Lebruhn, and Gene Ray, “The Changing European Border Regime,” Monthly Review, November 2007, pp. 41-42; [back]

9. On biometrics and “immigration control,” see “Special Report on Migration,” The Economist, January 5, 2008, pp. 8-10 [back]

10. Dominiqe Moisi, “Reinventing the West,” Foreign Affairs, November-December 2003, foreignaffairs.org. On growing EU-U.S. rivalry since the Kosovo war of 1999, see Kees Van Der Pijl, Global Rivalries From the Cold War to Iraq (London: Pluto, 2006), pp. 287-90. [back]

11. Quentin Perret, “Wither Gazprom? The EU and Russia’s Gas,” diploweb.com, November 1, 2007. [back]

12. John Vinocur, “For Schroder and Putin, Linkup No Coincidence,” International Herald Tribune, January 3, 2006. [back]

13. On EU energy investments in Africa, see Michael T. Klare, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2008), pp. 155-57. [back]

14. See summary, Adam Posen, ed., The Euro at Five: Ready for a Global Role? Special Report 18, Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2005, iie.com. [back]

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Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

From A World to Win News Service

On the proposed U.S.-India nukes pact

July 21, 2008. A World to Win News Service. The proposed U.S.-India nuclear treaty represents a significant and dangerous development for the people of the region and the world.

The debate in the Indian parliament, one of the most bitter in recent years, bringing the Congress Party-led government to face a vote of confidence set for July 22, has been thoroughly reactionary on both sides. Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Party is salivating at the prospect of further tying India’s destiny to the U.S. The Hindu fundamentalist (or Hindu fascist, as it’s often called) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) argues that the treaty might hinder India’s ability to use its nuclear weapons as it sees fit. The formerly pro-Soviet so-called Communist Party of India (Marxist) cloaks its arguments in terms of opposing subservience to the U.S., and might be more open to similar deals with European powers, but it is no less enthusiastic than the BJP in supporting a nuclear-armed Indian expansionism. The U.S. has intervened by baldly proclaiming: this is the best deal you can get, and you’d better take it or you’ll be punished.

Under the proposed accord, which the Bush administration has pushed for relentlessly, Washington would give India access to American nuclear power plant technology and fuel. This is supposed to be strictly limited to civilian nuclear projects, but the agreement is being voted at a time when the U.S. is threatening that “all options are on the table” to keep Iran from pursuing its own uranium enrichment program, correctly stating that there is no wall between civilian and military nuclear technology. Further, while Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and is therefore subject to international inspections, India has refused to do so. The new agreement would allow for inspection of India’s nuclear power plants but shield its military installations from prying eyes. Experts have pointed out that providing India with nuclear fuel for its power plants would allow it to concentrate its resources on enriching uranium for military use. Most importantly, India has nuclear weapons; Iran does not.

There is big-power bullying in this arrangement, since the U.S. is seeking to impose its terms on India. This is the political importance of the unequal arrangements whereby the U.S. would have the right to inspect and rule on India’s nuclear programs (no one is allowed to inspect the U.S.!), and generally have the last say on the options enjoyed by its very junior partner. India would depend on U.S. fuel and be tied to contracts with American companies. Such business is highly lucrative and the object of high-pressure international competition between the big powers. It would increase India’s structural economic dependence. But the proposed treaty is part of a bigger picture, involving American efforts to draw in India as a major regional military ally, as India’s regional ambitions more fully converge with those of the U.S. empire.

India has long acted as a regional gendarme for the imperialists, for instance, in Sri Lanka and potentially against Nepal. Increasingly, the U.S. has been organizing India as a military ally, not only against the smaller countries of South Asia which India has habitually bullied, but further. India’s long-standing rivalries with Pakistan and China are being given new content, with the U.S. wielding India as a threat to keep the regimes of those countries in line with current American interests. There is not necessarily any conflict of interest between Indian subservience to the U.S. and Indian expansionism. For instance, India’s helping itself to major influence in Afghanistan is both directed at surrounding Pakistan, whose regime has lost its status as a trusted defender of American interests, and a big help to the U.S.-led occupation.

The U.S. has led 13 sets of war games involving India since 1995, when India, formerly allied with the Soviet Union, began to be enlisted in the American empire. The maneuvers in the past two years—each bigger than the last – have been particularly important. 2007 saw the first muscle-flexing of the newly-formed Quadrilateral Initiative, a military alliance bringing together warships from the U.S. (not just any ships, but the carriers Kitty Hawk and Nimitz), India, Japan and Australia. (Singapore also took part.) Although India has also carried out joint exercises with China and Russia in the past, the spearhead of this alliance is specifically and unabashedly aimed at China. A year earlier, American, Indian and Japanese warships carried out joint maneuvers in the South China Sea. U.S. Special Forces troops also conducted joint work for three weeks in India’s northeast, where the Indian army was supposed to give the American soldiers tips on waging counterinsurgency warfare.

This framework makes the proposed U.S.-India nukes pact especially ominous. Why does India have nukes in the first place—and why is the U.S. aggressively seeking an agreement whose real effect would be to ensure that India can have more nuclear weapons? The purpose of this treaty is aggression: American aggression in pursuit of its imperialist interests, and Indian aggression as a U.S. partner—no less nasty and lethal for being a junior partner, and a very big and strategic one.

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine (aworldtowin.org), a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world’s Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

Send us your comments.

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/138/torture_part_2-en.html

Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

Torture Techniques at Guantánamo: “Communist Inspired” ...or Developed, Refined, and Exported by the USA?

Part 2: The U.S. Roots of Waterboarding

by Li Onesto

A July 2 New York Times article titled, “China Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo,” reported that in December 2002 military trainers at Guantánamo Bay based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of torture techniques that include “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.” The article says this chart was copied from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions from American prisoners. And the New York Times then goes on to claim that this chart is “the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency.”

But the real truth is that historically, the United States has been NUMBER ONE when it comes to developing, refining, and exporting torture techniques—like electroshock and waterboarding that have been used by U.S. interrogators against suspected “terrorists.” And with regard to the actual policies and conduct of Maoist China towards U.S. POWs during the Korean War, the facts are utterly different than what has been propagated and repeated by the U.S. government, the mainstream media and standard histories. The approach of the Chinese communists towards POWs, far from being one of torture, so-called “brainwashing,” and inhumane treatment, centered on political education. This will be addressed in the next part of this series.

Part 1 of this series (Mad Scientists and Criminal Laboratories) exposed how the CIA and the U.S. military directly conceived of, funded, and utilized cruel and inhuman experiments, using human guinea pigs, to develop cruel and inhuman torture techniques—such as shock treatment, sensory deprivation, and the use of hallucinogenic drugs. Part 2 discusses how, at the turn of the 20th Century—before the existence of any communist government—the U.S. routinely carried out what is now called waterboarding, in the Philippines.

Panic and suffering is induced by tilting a victim’s head back and pouring water into their mouth and nose. The person is unable to breath or cough out water, the lungs collapse, and the sinuses and trachea are filled with water. In this way, the subject is “drowned from the inside.” The chest and lungs are kept higher than the head so that coughing draws water up and into the lungs while avoiding total suffocation.

This is a description of waterboarding, the torture technique U.S. interrogators have used against suspected “terrorists” in the years after 9/11, at the turn of the 21st Century.

Now read this description:

“A man is thrown down on his back and three or four men sit or stand on his arms and legs and hold him down; and either a gun barrel or a rifle barrel or a carbine barrel or a stick as big as a belaying pin,—that is, with an inch circumference,—is simply thrust into his jaws and his jaws are thrust back, and, if possible, a wooden log or stone is put under his head or neck, so he can be held more firmly. In the case of very old men I have seen their teeth fall out,—I mean when it was done a little roughly. He is simply held down and then water is poured onto his face down his throat and nose from a jar; and that is kept up until the man gives some sign or becomes unconscious. And, when he becomes unconscious, he is simply rolled aside and he is allowed to come to. In almost every case the men have been a little roughly handled. They were rolled aside rudely, so that water was expelled. A man suffers tremendously, there is no doubt about it. His sufferings must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown. ...”

This is a quote from U.S. Lieutenant Grover Flint over 100 years ago—at the turn of the 20th Century. He is describing the “water cure”—a torture technique used by U.S. soldiers in the Philippine-American War that started in 1898.

A U.S. War for Empire

In 1896, after 300 years of Spanish colonialism, the Philippine Revolution broke out against Spain and when the Spanish-American War began in 1898, armed guerrilla struggle against Spanish colonial rule intensified. Spanish power collapsed throughout most of the archipelago. But meanwhile, U.S. imperialism was maneuvering to become the new colonial masters in the Philippines. Secret diplomatic negotiations were conducted between the U.S. and Spain, and on August 13, 1898, a mock battle was staged in order to justify Spain turning the Philippines over to the United States. After a few token shots were fired, Spain surrendered, and on December 18, 1898, the U.S. “bought” the Philippines from Spain for 20 million dollars.

Less than two months later, U.S. troops made a surprise attack on Filipino revolutionary forces near the capital of Manila and at least 3,000 Filipinos were killed. This was the beginning of the Philippine-American War. The masses of Filipino people waged a determined struggle to resist U.S. imperialism. But the U.S. won this war in 1902, after sending over 126,000 U.S. troops to the Philippines. Filipinos who refused to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag were persecuted, sometimes imprisoned. Filipino rebels were tortured and organizations of workers and peasants were suppressed. For every U.S. casualty, 50 Filipinos died. It is estimated that anywhere from 250,000 to one million Filipinos were killed in the U.S.-Philippine War.

U.S. Soldiers and the “Water Cure”

Some of the U.S. officers who led the U.S. invasion of the Philippines had taken part in the 1891 massacre of 350 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee. And the conquest and “pacification” of the Filipino people was carried out with the same racist thinking and justification that had been embedded in the genocide of Native Americans. U.S. forces referred to the Filipinos as “niggers,” “barbarians,” and “savages.”

As historian William Lorenz Katz put it: “From the White House and the U.S. high command to field officers and lowly enlistees the message became ‘these people are not civilized’ and the United States had embarked on a glorious overseas adventure against ‘savages.’ Officers and enlisted men—and the media—were encouraged to see the conflict through a ‘white superiority’ lens, much as they viewed their victories over Native Americans and African Americans. The Philippine occupation unfolded at the high tide of American segregation, lynching, and a triumphant white supremacy ideology.”

What did this mean when U.S. soldiers implemented this on the ground?

U.S. General Franklin Bell ordered the destruction of “humans, crops, food stores, domestic animals, houses and boats.” General Jacob Smith, who had fought at Wounded Knee, defined the enemy in the Philippines as anyone “ten years and up,” telling his men:  “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me.”

In a speech in the U.S. aimed at drumming up support for the War, U.S. General Frederick Funston openly bragged about how he had personally hung 35 Filipinos, who were suspected of supporting rebel forces, without trial. U.S. Major Edwin Glenn reported that he had forced a group of 47 Filipino prisoners to kneel down and “repent of their sins” before he bayoneted and clubbed them to death. General William Shafter in California declared that it might be necessary to kill half the Filipino population in order to bring “perfect justice” to the other half.

And as part of all this, U.S. soldiers routinely used what they called the “water cure” on prisoners—which was documented in Congressional testimony, letters from soldiers, court martial hearings, and newspaper accounts.

Letters from U.S. soldiers to their families back home, detailing the horrific details of the water cure, were sometimes published in hometown newspapers. In one letter that became public, a soldier wrote of how he used the water cure on 160 people and only 26 had survived.

Sergeant Charles S. Riley, one of the U.S. soldiers who entered the Philippine town of Igbaras on November 27, 1900, later described what happened. In a letter back home, published in the Northampton Daily Herald, Riley described how Tobeniano Ealdama, the presidente of the town, was tortured using the water cure.

Riley said Ealdama was bound and forced full of water. His throat was “held so he could not prevent swallowing the water, so that he had to allow the water to run into his stomach.” The water was then “forced out of him by pressing a foot on his stomach or else with [a soldier’s] hands.”

A group of five or six U.S. soldiers administered two rounds of this water torture to Ealdama, who then confessed to serving as a captain in the insurgency and helped U.S. soldiers search for rebel forces. The town of Ibgaras, of 400-500 houses, was ordered burned to the ground. Riley explained this was “on account of the condition of affairs exposed by the treatment.”

After public outcry against this war crime, the U.S. military was forced to hold a court-martial trial for Captain Edwin Glenn, the officer who had been in charge of the U.S. soldiers in Ibgaras. During the trial Glenn defended the use of the “water cure” saying it was “a legitimate exercise of force under the laws of war,” being “justified by military necessity.”

Glenn was sentenced to a one-month suspension and a fifty-dollar fine.

*****

This is the real story of how the U.S. developed and adopted the use of water torture. This is the real history of the roots of waterboarding used by U.S. interrogators in the so-called “war on terror.” This is the real origins of this horrific torture technique—that has been given the green light by the U.S. White House, the U.S. Attorney General’s office, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress.

Sources:

Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, by Stuart Creighton Miller, 1982

“U.S. Water Boarding, 1899 Style,” by William Loren Katz, November 6, 2007

Secretary Root’s Record: Marked Severities In Philippine Warfare: An Analysis Of The Law And Facts Bearing On The Actions And Utterances Of President Roosevelt And Secretary Root, by Moorfield Storey and Julian Codman

“The Water Cure. Debating torture and counterinsurgency—a century ago,” by Paul Kramer, The New Yorker, February 25, 2008

Send us your comments.

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/138/Mumia-en.html

Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

New Developments in Ongoing Railroad of Mumia Abu-Jamal

At every point in the tortuous case of framed former Black Panther and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, he has been denied the most basic legal rights supposedly afforded to all those brought before the courts. This is one reason why his case so highlights the nature of the oppression of Black people and the fundamental nature of the “justice” system under the dictatorship of the capitalist class.

On July 22, ten judges of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed without comment the request by Mumia Abu-Jamal for a rehearing of his federal appeal before a panel of all the judges of the circuit. Mumia’s appeal had been rejected in May this year in a 2 to 1 vote by a three-judge panel reviewing the case.

This decision continues the 27-year railroad of a Black revolutionary writer and activist, framed by the infamous racist court system of Philadelphia. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been held in isolation on Pennsylvania’s death row since his 1982 trial that was a travesty of justice.

This has occurred in spite of the mountain of new evidence that has been developed since Mumia’s original trial in 1983, where Mumia was denied the right to represent himself and was barred from the courtroom during most of his own trial for protesting this injustice.

For example, recently discovered photographs by a free lance photographer, who stumbled upon the scene just after the shooting of a police officer for which Mumia was convicted, show that police rearranged the evidence at the scene and there are no marks on the sidewalk where Mumia allegedly repeatedly fired down at the fallen officer.

But, as the U.S. Supreme Court has pointed out, the federal courts are not in the business of correcting bogus prosecutions and convictions; they content themselves with protecting federally guaranteed procedural rights. In fact, the Supreme Court has actually stated that it is legal for a state to execute an innocent person as long as correct procedures were followed!

Yet for all their interest “protecting procedural rights,” the recent 3rd Circuit Court decision had to ignore its own precedents where it has repeatedly overturned convictions for exactly the same reasons raised in Mumia’s case.

In a spirited dissent to the earlier May ruling, Judge Thomas L. Ambro reviewed similar cases in which the 3rd Circuit had granted a new trial for reasons of racist jury selection and then remarked that “I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents.”

No matter how much new evidence is brought to light, Mumia will not get another chance to present it in federal court unless his current appeal succeeds. Under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, each criminal defendant can apply one time and one time only to the federal courts. Mumia’s attorney announced he will now appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court accepts very few such cases.

The 3rd Circuit appeals court did uphold a federal district court ruling which threw out Mumia’s death sentence because of misleading instructions to the jury. But in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court fails to grant Mumia a new trial, the state of Pennsylvania is free to convene a new jury to do the sentencing phase of his original trial all over again. That is, the state will get yet another shot at sentencing Mumia to death.  

Send us your comments.

Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/138/Check_it_out_138-en.html

Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

Check It Out

Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Children of Children”

We received the following “Check It Out” from Michael Slate:

Someone recently called my attention to a poem I watched come to life in a living room in Riverside, California many years ago. It was “Children of Children” by the late poet, lyricist and singer Oscar Brown Jr. Oscar was writing, performing and rewriting this one piece all afternoon. He was on fire. He was working from something he had written before but he told me that it wasn’t quite there yet and he really needed to get it right. He thought this was something that had to be said, something that needed to be done and brought into the world, the quicker the better. Oscar talked about needing to say something about an emergency situation. Oscar loved young Black people; he loved their style, their bold defiance, their insight and daring and he especially loved the way hip hop brought all this together with a love of words and music. But he was worried about what was happening with Black youth in America—he always talked about the horror that life had become for these youth. And he was especially worried- actually angry- about all these people blaming the youth and preaching personal responsibility as the key to changing the situation. Oscar was a firm believer that these youth were trapped in an unjust system they needed to get out of.

So he wrote—like a fiend. He read it again and again. Some of my favorite lines were: “The children of children, while still young and sweet, all damned and programmed for future defeat./ The children of children are trapped by adults who fail them and jail them to hide the results./ The children of children, unable to cope with systems that twist them and rob them of hope.”

And when he was done he laughed and said that if this poem ever got out big there were going to be a whole lot of people mad at him and, maybe, a whole lot more loving what he said. Oscar wanted this poem to be a slap in the head, a wake-up call to get things right. And as the years went on he would often shout it out to the world. Check out his performance of the poem on Def Poetry Jam by searching YouTube for “Children of Children” and “Oscar Brown Jr.” In times like today where it is so broadly pronounced that Black youth are the problem and not the victims of the problem, Oscar’s poem speaks louder than ever before.

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Revolution #138, August 3, 2008

"Hook up with the Revolution"

Events at Revolution Books

New York

212-691-3345
146 W. 26th Street, between 6th & 7th Ave
revbooksnyc@yahoo.com
revolutionbooksnyc.org

July 30, Wednesday, 7 pm
Salon discussion: OBAMA: The Best Hope OR A Deadly Trap?--Obama’s Foreign Policy.

July 31, Thursday, 7:30 pm
Discussion and Expedition: "FREEGANISM for Beginners". Information session on the rescue of safe, usable food from the refuse of supermarkets. Followed by a trash tour.  Refreshments in form of rescued food, come hungry.

August 3, Sunday, 3 pm
Reading and Discussion: Fr. Luis Barrios reading in Spanish from his new book: COQUIANDO: Meditaciones subversivas para un mundo major.

August 4, Monday, 7 pm
Staged reading:of a play by Jeni Mahoney: “The Feast of the Flying Cow… And Other War Stories”

 

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Chicago

1103 N. Ashland Avenue
773-489-0930
revbookschi@yahoo.com
chicagorevolutionbooks.blogspot.com

Sunday, July 27, noon,
Secular Sunday conversation: "There is no such thing as Unchanging, and Unchangeable, Human Nature." Is it just "Human Nature" to be selfish or sinful? Inspired by the book Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, by Bob Avakian.

Wednesday, July 30, 7 pm
 Re-Envisioning Revolution and Communism: WHAT IS BOB AVAKIAN'S NEW SYNTHESIS?
More on the dictatorship of the proletariat as a liberating transition to communism.

Friday, August 1, 7 pm:
Film Showing - Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games. The dramatic black-gloved, fist-held high black power salute by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the victory stand at the 1968 Olympic summer games in Mexico City. 1 hour.

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Los Angeles

Libros Revolución
312 West 8th Street  213-488-1303  
librosrevolucion.blog.com

July 30, Wednesday, 7:30 pm
What was Stalin all about?  Should revolutionaries uphold or reject Stalin?  Join us to listen to a recorded interview with Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, by Revolution correspondent and KPFK host Michael Slate on the question of leadership and Stalin. (This interview originally aired on KPFK on 1/25/05 and can also be accessed under "radio shows" at www.redfuture.com and "Other Audio" atwww.bobavakian.net).

July 31, Thursday, 7:30 pm
Join us for bilingual discussion of the 3rd installment of Raymond Lotta's "Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry—What Is Happening and What It Might Mean" currently appearing in Revolution.  Part 3: The European Union, Russia, Japan and India.

August 3, Sunday, 3 pm
Discussion of "Making Revolution, Emancipating Humanity" by Bob Avakian, featured in the new Revolution pamphlet: "Revolution and Communism, A Foundation and Strategic Orientation."  Call or check our blog for details.

August 6, Wednesday, 7 pm
Hiroshima/Nagasaki 1945 - who would ever do it again? Watch and discuss White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  On August 6th and 9th, 1945, two atomic bombs vaporized 210,000 people. Filmmaker Steven Okazaki revisits the bombings and shares the stories of the only people to have survived a nuclear attack.

August 13, Wednesday, 7:30 pm
Mahmud Ahmad of Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition (www.al-awda.org) speaking on the right of return, and why it is so important to the Palestinian struggle.  Palestinians call what happened to them beginning in 1947 the Nakba - Arabic for catastrophe. Come learn the truth about the right of Palestinians to all of Palestine, including the land currently occupied by Israel.

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Berkeley

2425 Channing Way near Telegraph Ave
510-848-1196
 www.revolutionbooks.org

July 29, Tuesday, 7:00 pm
Discussion of Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian.  Part Two (cont.): "Christianity, Judaism, and Islam — Rooted in the Past, Standing in the Way of the Future." Religious Fundamentalism, Imperialism and the "War on Terror" • Why is religious fundamentalism growing in today’s world? What does this have to do with capitalism’s fundamental contradiction?

July 31, Thursday, 7:00 pm
Discussion series on Barack Obama's Candidacy:“Obama: Anti-War Candidate or…Banboozling You into War and Empire,” with presentation by Larry Everest.

August 5, Tuesday, 7:00 pm
Discussion of Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian. Part Three: "Religion - a Heavy, Heavy Chain"

August 7, Thursday, 7:00 pm
Discussion series on Barack Obama's Candidacy:“Obama: New Day for Black People…or New Face on Same Setup?” Presentation by Sunsara Taylor

August 10, Sunday, 6:30 pm
In conjunction with the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: FAT MAN, LITTLE BOY, AND THE MUSHROOM CLOUD: Remembrance, Resistance and Revolution (Poets reflect on America's crimes of empire)

August 12, Tuesday, 7:00 pm
Discussion of Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian. Part Four: "God Does Not Exist - We Need Liberation Without Gods" (pg. 155-199)

August 14, Thursday, 7:00 pm
Discussion series on Barack Obama’s Candidacy: “Our Best Hope, or a Deadly Trap?” Presentation by Sunsara Taylor

August 19, Tuesday, 7:00 pm
Discussion of Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian. Part Four (cont.): "God Does Not Exist - We Need Liberation Without Gods" (pg. 199-239)

Revolution Club meets Mondays at 6:30 pm

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Honolulu

2626 South King Street
808-944-3106

August 3, Sunday, 3 pm
Discussion of Part 4 of Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian.

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Cleveland

2804 Mayfield Rd (at Coventry)
Cleveland Heights  216-932-2543
revbookscle@hotmail.com
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 3-8 pm 

Wednesday, July 23 at 7pm
Film Showing: Persepolis read about the film at http://rwor.org/a/135/Persepolis_DVD-en.html.

July 30, Wednesday, 7 pm
Discussion of the Special Supplement to Revolution newspaper: “Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry, Part 1” by Raymond Lotta. Read the article at http://rwor.org/a/136/lotta_faultlines_pt1-en.html 

Sunday, August 3 at 6 pm
Continuing Book discussion of Away With All Gods: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, by Bob Avakian.  Part 3: Religion–a Heavy, Heavy Chain

Wednesday, August 6 at 7 pm
Concluding discussion of our series on Bob Avakian’s "Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity"

 

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Seattle

1833 Nagle Place
206-325-7415
seattlerevolutionbooks.blogspot.com

Thursdays, 7 pm, Starbucks at 1600 E Olive Way
Revolution Newspaper Discussion

Thursday July 31st:
Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry What Is Happening and What It Might Mean - Part 2 by Raymond Lotta

Saturdays, 3-6 pm, Hidmo at 2000 S. Jackson
Discussion Series on Re-envisioning Revolution & Communism: What is Bob Avakian's New Synthesis?

August 13, Wednesday, 7 pm, Hidmo at 2000 S. Jackson Street
Film showing: IRAN (is not the problem).  IRAN (is not the problem) is a documentary response to the failure of the American mass media to provide the public with relevant and accurate information about the standoff between the US and. Join us to watch and discuss the film and make plans for a larger screening in Seattle.

Revolution Books is mobile!
Revolution Books recently closed its Capitol Hill location due to the Sound Transit light rail project. We’ll be moving into our new, expanded location in January in the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle ! This summer, come browse our book table and join discussions and events at Hidmo, a vibrant Eritrean restaurant and community space in the Central Area of Seattle (2000 South Jackson St.). Revolution Books will be there every Saturday in August (3 pm-6 pm). You can pick up Revolution newspaper at Hidmo during the Revolution Books hours or from 5pm-12midnight, 7 days a week.

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Detroit

406 W.Willis (btwn Cass &2nd, south of Forest)
313-204-2906  rbodetroit@yahoo.com
myspace.com/rbodetroit

July 31, Thursday, 6: 30 pm
“Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry, Part 1,” Revolution newspaper article by Raymond Lotta

August 13, Wednesday, 6:30 pm
“Re-envisioning Revolution and Communism, What Is Bob Avakian's New Synthesis,” A Philosophy to Understand and Change the World, Part II.

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Boston/Cambridge

1158 Mass Ave, 2nd Floor, Cambridge  
617-492-5443  
revbooks@netzero.net  
revolutionbookscamb.org

 

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Atlanta

4 Corners Market of the Earth
1087 Euclid Avenue in Little 5 Points
404-577-4656 & 770-861-3339
rbo-atlanta.blogspot.com

Open Wednesdays & Fridays 4 pm - 7 pm,
Saturdays 2 pm - 7 pm 

August 2, Saturday
REVOLUTION BOOKS IS MOVING Into larger, quieter quarters next door. More space, more books, our own reading and meeting room! If you want to donate labor or money, give us a call or email.

August 3, Sunday, 6 pm
Continuing book discussion of Away With All Gods: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, by Bob Avakian. 

August 6, Wednesday, 7 pm
Concluding discussion of our series on Bob Avakian’s “Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity.”

Saturday, August 30 & Sunday, August 31
Look for Revolution Books at the Decatur Book Festival. We’ll be on vendors’ row on Ponce de Leon Ave. between Clairemont and Church in Decatur Square .

Send us your comments.