Civil Rights

When Exactly Was the “Fascist Coup” ?

/ redfireonline / 4 Comments

January 6, 2021 – the march on Washington. Image from http://www.dailymirror.lk

17-01-2021: The USA is once again divided, this time over the events of January 6 in the capital of Washington DC. A protest called by President Donald Trump possibly drew up to 300 000 supporters, all of them rightly enraged by blatant electoral fraud[1] in the November election which the corporate media called for Joe Biden and the Democrats. In circumstances that remain under a cloud, a very small section of the crowd was either allowed or forced their way into the Capitol Building where the Congress was deciding whether to accept the electoral college votes, the final process which elects the Presidency. During some clashes with police and security, one woman was shot dead, while three others died from “medical emergencies” at the Capitol grounds.[2] The woman who lost her life was Ashli Babbitt[3], a Trump supporter and Air Force veteran of some 14 years. She was totally unarmed, and was shot at close range while there were police in front and behind her.

Hypocrisy of the so-called left

Without a hint of irony, some on the so-called left, such as the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), immediately labelled the protest a “fascist coup”.[4] The Internationalist Group (IG) breathlessly claimed the protest contained “white supremacists” and “racists” alongside “fascists”.[5] They were joined by the liberal corporate media who raced to label it the “worst day in American history”[6], and claimed that the protesters “stormed” Capitol Hill and resorted to political violence. Really? Out of a crowd of hundreds of thousands, a handful of them managed to get into the Congress, tip over some furniture, take selfies sitting in the halls, before being led back out? What about the violence of the police who shot dead Ashli Babbitt? Protesting outside the seat of power or a parliament in an effort to force representatives to listen to some demands is as old as the hills. And what was the demand? The main demand was “Stop the Steal” of the election, and perhaps also “Audit the Vote”. These demands are entirely legitimate, and under the circumstances – when there are videos showing suitcases full of ballots being pulled out from under a table in Georgia[7] – rather moderate.

Who was it that started the real political violence? Wasn’t that the so-called left during the fake pandemic of 2020? Ostensibly in response to the alleged murder of African American man George Floyd at the hands of police, the circumstances of which are disputed[8], much of the so-called left went on a rampage of political violence that went for months. Led by Black Lives Matter (BLM), Antifa and the lockdown left (Union officials and self-proclaimed “socialist” parties who enthusiastically joined with the capitalist state to help enforce scientifically groundless lockdowns), throngs of youth burnt, looted and destroyed buildings across the USA. In Minneapolis, the mobs attacked and burnt the police precinct to the ground, set fire to cars and 16 nearby buildings, and destroyed a bus stop.[9] More than 1500 businesses in the city were damaged, looted or destroyed by BLM/Antifa.[10] In the aftermath, many stores and even childcare centres were boarded up with signs pasted on them pleading with BLM/Antifa not to attack them. Many of the shops and businesses that were damaged or destroyed by the “anti-racist” mobs were in fact owned and run by African Americans or other minorities.[11]

In Portland, Oregon, the city was under siege form BLM/Antifa mobs for 47 days straight, while local Democrat politicians refused to take effective action against them.[12] Federal agents were deployed to protect the courthouse from being burnt to the ground. BLM/Antifa had wooden shields, and were armed with spray bottles filled with bleach, along with firecrackers which they fired at police. Explosives were launched at the courthouse, while people who disagreed with the violence were roughly shoved aside.[13] Courthouses are a part of the state as much as Capitol Hill, but liberals excused or strongly supported a daily violent assault on a courthouse in Oregon for five weeks, but condemned a rowdy protest for a couple of hours on Capitol Hill on January 6?

A short two years ago, liberals were protesting the appointment to the Supreme Court of Brett Kavanaugh, over unproven allegations that he may have inappropriately dealt with a woman some 35 years ago. At that time, liberals marched to the very same Capitol Hill and occupied part of the Hart Senate Office building.[14] No one from the so-called left at that time complained one whit about a “storming” of the home of democracy. Or, how about the establishment of the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in the middle of Seattle in June last year? Six city blocks were occupied by BLM/Antifa and supporters, barricades were set up and police were expelled. The Democratic mayor of Seattle refused to act against the occupation until such time as an unidentified shooter shot someone dead – who happened to be a black man.[15] Riots, occupations, burning down police stations, laying siege to courthouses – this is all supposedly a protest against racism. Yet marching on Capitol Hill to demand the votes of an election be audited, where a handful breach police lines – is “domestic terrorism”[16] ?

Big Tech censors….the President

Using the spurious claim that President Trump is “inciting violence”, Twitter has permanently deleted Trump’s account, and Facebook has suspended him. This came when Trump actually called on his supporters on January 6 to “go home and go home in peace”.[17] Some incitement to violence!  Whistleblower Edward Snowden, from exile in Russia, correctly noted that Twitter and Facebook banning or suspending the President of the United States of America will go down as a turning point in the battle for control over digital speech.[18] Many have observed that if the “leader of the free world” can be deplatformed, then free speech itself may well be at an end.[19] Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. If one of the most powerful political office holders in the world can be prevented from speaking in the town square, ANYONE can be silenced. What is more, they are being silenced by Big Tech giants headed by liberals, which gives the impression that the “left” is instituting a global power grab. We must stress, repeatedly, liberals today are not left-wing in any practical sense. In fact, liberalism at the apex of some the most powerful corporations in the world, is nowadays much more dangerous to working people than conservatism.

It has happened in the past that the liberal wing of the ruling class can occasionally be more right-wing than the conservative wing. Today, however, we can observe that the liberal flank of the world bourgeoisie is consistently more reactionary and more right-wing than its conservative counterpart. Examples abound. Not only do Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg regard themselves as progressive liberals, but so does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and billionaire financier and funder of umpteen colour revolutions, George Soros. These types personify the liberal bourgeoisie, and probably its project ever since 2016 was to depose Donald Trump using any means necessary. Arguably, the “fascist coup” began at that time, and only culminated with the BLM/Antifa riots throughout 2020 followed by the almost limitless electoral fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election.

We have no illusions that Donald Trump supporters, and whatever movement may follow, can fully represent the interests of working people. However, liberalism has moved so far to the right over the last twenty years that it can now appear that the “right-wing” Trump supporters are fighting the system which is dragging us all down into a pit of staggering inequality. Even if Trump supporters and QAnon and others identify as politically conservative, what they are actually doing in practice is at least confronting capitalism as it declines into decay. To some extent, they are preventing capitalism from further encroachments on the lives of working people. They certainly did this when many of them stridently opposed the scientifically groundless and medically absurd “Covid” lockdowns, mandatory facemask wearing and the threat of a mandatory “Covid” vaccine.

The end of liberalism

There is no political space for liberalism when capitalism cannot dole out any reforms. This is why liberalism today cannot allow any debate or discussion like it did in the 1960s and 70s, and why it degenerates into “cancel culture”. In the 1960s, 70s and even in the 80s to some extent, capitalism was still profitable enough for big capital to allow minor reforms here and there. Now, capitalism cannot allow even a small reform, because economically it is at a dead-end. The SEP, IG and the lockdown left understand this, but they still operate politically as though it is the 20th Century, i.e., liberals and social-democrats are partial allies, and conservatives are enemies. In the 21st Century, due to the exhaustion of the capitalist economic system, the roles have been reversed. So the SEP, the IG and the lockdown left and fellow travelers label Trump and his supporters as “fascist”, even though today the liberal corporate dominators of the world help enforce measures which would make a 20th Century fascist blush. No 20th Century fascist would have contemplated lockdowns in their wildest dreams.

To describe the January 6 protest in Washington, which had the central demand of “Stop the Steal” (or even Audit the Vote), as “fascist” or “white supremacist” is to misinterpret and misanalyse the basic political factors which led to the election of President Trump in the first place. Firstly, the so-called left had moved so far to the right from the year 2000 onwards, that it was barely capable of reaching working people. It had to use identity politics (the vast and almost singular overemphasis of the problems of racism, sexism and homo and trans phobia over and above the centrality of class issues) in an effort to still appear left-wing. This backfired spectacularly, as many workers correctly saw that no overblown rhetoric would solve their day to day issues. It is not “racist” or “white supremacist” to reject the class betrayal of identity politics. But neither is the answer to move to the conservative right. Nevertheless, Trump rejected identity politics, was seen as an outsider to the Washington political elite and appealed (perhaps demagogically) to the “forgotten man” and “forgotten woman”.

Trump also railed against unending regime change wars (e.g. Libya and Syria) which the Democrats had prosecuted under entirely false “humanitarian” grounds. Trump spoke his mind, did not speak with typical corporate politician spin, and gave it straight – even if this meant some level of crudity. There was certainly a history of racism in Trump’s business activity, and he no doubt used it to “build the wall” with Mexico. Even so, many working-class Americans were prepared to look the other way on such things, in order to have someone shake up the establishment. The other option was clearly not viable – the Democrats would continue tyrannical capitalist austerity with a sprinkling of deceitful “anti-racist” and “progressive” verbiage. 21st Century liberalism such as this has absolutely nothing to offer the working class. This is the basis for the popularity of Trump – not overt racism, or white supremacism or, mercifully, fascism.

Offer workers a real left

The lockdown “left” have politics upside down. Workers are not under a fascist threat from conservatism, but on the contrary, are under the threat of what might be termed liberal lockdown fascism. Liberalism has merged with the various states of capitalist imperialism to become the greatest threat facing workers today. All of its components – Big Tech, Big Pharma, the Union officials, the social-democratic bourgeois parties (Democrats in the US, Labour in the UK, Labor in Australia), liberal academia, “progressive” professionals and the lockdown left (self-described “socialist” organisations e.g. the SEP, the IG) – willingly implement the dictates of the state representing the smallest and richest minority in world history. Arguably, liberals throughout this pandemic of lies have demonstrated that they are far more aggressive and far more hostile to ANY dissenting or differing political views than the Nazis of the 1930s ever were.

Needless to say, even though the conservative right are today in some ways more left-wing than liberalism, their politics is not what workers urgently need. What is required, in the US and internationally, is a socialist movement which seeks to defend the basic interests of working people across the board – on bread and butter issues right up to and including firm opposition to imperialist war. This movement must NOT alienate or turn away any worker with identity and/or “moral” fronts, but should seek to bond the plethora of critical issues to the class struggle of labour against finance capital. Workers are prepared to fight for a movement which respects them for who they are. Vital for such a perspective is the assembly of internationally linked Leninist vanguard parties which seek to guide workers towards public ownership of the means of production and a planned economy.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

 

[1] https://pjmedia.com/election/tyler-o-neil/2020/11/30/explosive-michigan-illegally-counted-or-ignored-500k-ballots-lawsuit-claims-n1181826 (12-01-2021)

[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supporters-us-capitol-4-dead/ (12-01-2021)

[3] https://www.unz.com/ghood/her-name-was-ashli-babbitt/ (12-01-2021)

[4] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/07/pers-j07.html (13-01-2021)

[5] http://www.internationalist.org/capitalist-democracy-falling-apart-2101.html (16-01-2021)

[6] https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-07/The-worst-day-in-American-history–WRiuVgnwZi/index.html (13-01-2021)

[7] https://rumble.com/vbkkuj-video-footage-from-georgia-2020-election-shows-suitcases-full-of-ballots-pu.html (13-01-2021)

[8] https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/06/19/george-floyd-was-not-killed-by-police/ (13-01-2021)

[9] Minneapolis police precinct burned to ground in third night of racially charged violence | amNewYork (amny.com) (13-01-2021)

[10] https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-st-paul-buildings-are-damaged-looted-after-george-floyd-protests-riots/569930671/ (13-01-2021)

[11] Many black-owned businesses in Minneapolis were completely destroyed during George Floyd riots – do black lives really matter to leftists? (violence.news) (13-01-2021)

[12] Federal officers move in to take on ‘violent mob’ holding Portland ‘under siege’ for 47 days – The Sun (13-01-2021)

[13] BREAKING: Portland Antifa and BLM Launch Explosives at Federal Building While Barricading Agents Inside (thegatewaypundit.com) (13-01-2021)

[14] MSNBC on Twitter: “JUST IN: Anti-Kavanaugh protesters take over the Hart Senate Office Bldg. atrium on Capitol Hill. https://t.co/jCIbxhTKeu https://t.co/DkOgzngMh4” / Twitter (13-01-2021)

[15] Lessons from the ‘Seattle Autonomous Zone’ – American Renaissance (amren.com) (13-01-2021)

[16] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-slams-capitol-rioters-domestic-terrorists-don-t-dare-call-n1253335 (13-01-2021)

[17] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/twitter-locks-trump-account-threatens-permanent-suspension (13-01-2021)

[18] https://www.mintpressnews.com/edward-snowden-warns-against-trump-twitter-facebook-ban/274088/ (14-01-2021)

[19] https://journal-neo.org/2021/01/07/america-under-censorship-biden-s-presidency-certified-free-speech-may-be-no-longer/ (14-01-2021)

Free Brisbane! For a Permanent End to Lockdowns!

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Masked Brisbane City Council worker Image from elmoudjaweb.com

10-01-2021: Greater Brisbane is currently enduring a three day lockdown – due to ONE “case” of the alleged “UK strain” of Covid-19.[1] Labor Party Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk gave little notice of the abrupt decision, which was accompanied with set of “rules” that beggar belief. Facemasks have been made mandatory under the threat of a $200 fine, and are supposed to be worn every time anyone leaves their house. Incredibly, the government has issued edicts that facemasks must be worn in workplaces, at weddings and funerals (and other restrictions apply there), at shopping centres and supermarkets, and using any form of transport. Testing the outer limits of rationality, facemasks are also mandatory while exercising and while driving alone in your vehicle.[2] Needless to say, these measures are a transparent physical and health and safety threat to both individuals and other members of the public.

Logic thrown out the window

Scant evidence about the “UK strain” of Covid has been provided.  One online commentator quipped: “So is the Covid vaccine now out of date?”. Logic does not apply and is not intended to apply. The pack of lies about Covid that governments the world over have been spouting grows larger and larger. Facemasks restrict the flow of oxygen to the brain, and there are some nerve cells in the hippocampus that cannot survive for longer than 3 minutes without oxygen. Depriving the brain of oxygen, especially for children and adolescents – whose brains are still developing – can cause permanent neurological damage.[3] Big Tech giants such as Facebook relentlessly “Fact Check” posts which present scientifically based arguments and findings which indicate facemasks have no effect on the prevention of the transmission of any respiratory virus.[4] These days, being “fact-checked”, deleted or de-platformed by Facebook, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Apple etc is a very firm indicator that what is being removed is actually the truth, or close to it. State censored information these days holds some keys to logic.

Even mainstream commentators are now complaining about Australia’s mishmash of state border openings and closures,[5] which allegedly claims to be “containing” Covid-19 to “hotspots” or “clusters”. Yet this has led to serious problems with some people not being able to access proper health care at hospitals across state borders, which may have the only equipment needed to treat a certain condition. Tourism and hospitality venues across the country have been driven into near bankruptcy due the lack of travel between states, and especially during the peak summer season. Some small business owners in Brisbane expressed bitter frustration with the state government for closing them down at extremely short notice[6], while huge supermarket chains like Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings never have to close down, being judged to be “essential”, and can keep trading regardless.

This was never about a virus

The concern for socialists, however, is not the petty-bourgeois small business owners who are being crushed by infinitely larger sections of capital. The main concern is not only for the welfare of the working class, but to aid and assist this class in fighting off the assault from finance capital that comes under the false façade of “Covid-19”. It is the working class alone which has no material interest in the maintenance of the system of private profit based on private ownership of the means of production. And it is the working class that is suffering the most from the deliberate shut down of whole sections of the economy. Millions upon millions of workers have been thrown out of work through no fault of their own. Big capital is attempting “The Great Reset” of the capitalist economies, which means the destruction of certain sections of capital. This can mean a boon for finance capital, but bankruptcy for small business, and a loss of livelihood for the working class.

It is not outside the realms of possibility that Queensland Labor politicians were reacting to recent events in Washington DC, where a “Stop the Steal” rally called by President Trump led to intrusions into the capitol building where Congress was sitting.[7] Federal Labor and Liberal politicians led a chorus of condemnation of the “violence” of the Trump supporters and labelled it an effective “insurrection”.[8] If only it was! Capitalist politicians may have been concerned that the fraudulent “transition” to Joe Biden and the Democrats may have been derailed if people’s eyes were fixed on the developments leading to the last days of the Trump Administration. Supporters of Donald Trump and those who can see through the diabolical Covid nonsense somewhat coincide. Hence, one sure fire way to stop the mobilisation of not only supporters of Trump, but the entire anti-lockdown movement – is to move back into a state of lockdown. With workers effectively under house arrest due to “Covid”, and bars, restaurants and churches closed down, little or no public or private political activity can occur.

Urgent need for political leadership

The limitless hypocrisy of the Union officials and the lockdown left continues – whether the issue is the political situation in the US or the locally enforced lockdowns. Make no mistake, workers in Australia and internationally would scarcely be facing scientifically groundless lockdowns and medically absurd facemask mandates IF Union officials and so-called left parties mobilised against the capitalist class on Covid. Yet workers have experienced a betrayal from these false friends of labour that defies description. Almost every top Union official and virtually every “left” organisation have acted as willing foot soldiers of corporate politicians they hypocritically claim to oppose. Overnight, they have become vassals of big capital as it introduces a form of fascism through the parliamentary system they constructed over 150 years ago. Betrayals do not come any larger than this.

The critical key missing factor is working-class leadership. At the moment, this has to be constructed from the first strivings of the anti-lockdown movement – the only movement currently pushing back against the political terror of the ruling elite. Politics in the 21st century is in some ways the reverse of politics in the 20th century. Even if the anti-lockdown movement does not explicitly identify as pro-working class, Marxists must work within it to begin to locate the bravest and most class-conscious elements amongst them. They then must be forged into a party which can lead workers directly toward the establishment of elected workers councils – incipient organs of a new state power. Lockdown fascism will only be permanently defeated with the liquidation of capitalism and the erection of a publicly owned and democratically planned economy. Publicly owned land, banks, and infrastructure must form the basis for humanity’s liberation from lockdowns. Essential for this leap is the piece by piece assembly of a workers’ party which fights for a workers’ government.

 

WORKERS  LEAGUE
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

 

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-covid-brisbane-lockdown-single-case-new-coronavirus-uk-variant/ (10-01-2021)

[2] What are the rules around Greater Brisbane’s coronavirus mask mandate? Your questions answered – ABC News (10-01-2021)

[3] https://www.sott.net/article/442455-German-Neurologist-Warns-Against-Wearing-Facemasks-Oxygen-Deprivation-Causes-Permanent-Neurological-Damage (10-01-2021)

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy_7a8GNN4Q (10-01-2021)

[5] https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/australia-e2-80-99s-covid-19-border-closures-are-confusing-inconsistent-and-counterproductive/ar-BB1cv9XL (10-01-2021)

[6] https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/brisbane-businesses-frustrated-over-short-lockdown-notice-20210108-p56sqn.html (10-01-2021)

[7] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/trump-supporters-rally-in-washington-to-protest-election-results.html (10-01-2021)

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/07/scott-morrison-refuses-to-condemn-trump-for-inciting-distressing-violence-in-us-capitol (10-01-2021)

Free Sydney! No State Border Shutdowns!

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The Northern Beaches of Sydney currently under lockdown. http://www.abc.net.au

02-01-2020: The Northern Beaches of Sydney are currently under lockdown. The Gladys Berejiklian Liberal New South Wales (NSW) government makes unbelievable claims that a “cluster” in Avalon has the potential to “spread” throughout Sydney. Day after day, corporate politicians make outlandish statements, like claiming three “cases” detected in Avalon on December 16 ended the state’s 12 day streak with no “locally spread infections”.[1] Stay-at-home orders – otherwise known as house arrest – are now in place for northern beaches residents north of the Narrabeen Bridge until January 9.[2] One unlucky couple who went ahead with their wedding – which had already been postponed twice due to Covid – were publicly shamed by the authorities for “breaking the rules”.[3]

State border closures from other states to NSW, and at least from Victoria (VIC) allegedly due to the Sydney “cluster” of “cases” are being reimposed, causing travelling chaos during the holiday season.[4] NSW politicians, other state Premiers, and Health Department spokespersons are descending into unimaginable levels of totalitarianism – such that would scarcely have been attempted even by the Nazis during the 1930s. With a straight face, Berejiklian banned the traditional New Years Eve kiss at midnight, saying extra police will be patrolling the streets from 11.30pm. Those found kissing would be hit with a $107 fine.[5] If this wasn’t enough, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant indicated that kissing would be allowed – for those who kept their facemasks on! “You can still kiss through the fabric of the facemask. I acknowledge it may not be as enjoyable as a normal kiss. But these are not normal times”, she said.[6]  It followed “advice” from Berejikilian to avoid hugging and kissing as much as possible!

The lies must stop

Almost the entire Covid-19 narrative is a mountain of lies. Another political agenda is clearly at play. The attempts to limit or block human interaction points to a system which portends disastrous ends. The endless and ever-changing rules imposed by capitalist politicians are only applied to working people. The millionaire and billionaire elite will never be arrested or fined for breaking a lockdown, for leaving quarantine, or for not wearing a facemask. Only workers, and perhaps some members of the petty-bourgeoisie who try to keep their shops open despite closedown orders, will be subjected to this type of repression. Despite some small business owners being driven into bankruptcy, “Covid-19” is primarily an offensive of big finance capital aimed against the proletariat. The intensely oppressive and logically absurd rules are a part of the humiliation of the working class by the super elite. As CJ Hopkins astutely observes, the ruling class knows we know the rules don’t make sense. “GloboCap”, (global capitalism) as he names it, is engaging in a truly vulgar display of power.[7] They are pushing the limits to see how far they can go, and how much they can get away with, before triggering a working class fightback. The ruling classes are seeing if they can get working people to follow their dictates, no matter how nonsensical or illogical. Like being able to leave your house, when you can go to the shops, what you can do, when you can go to a pub or restaurant, when you can work, if you can have human contact with your family and friends, and so on. The establishment is saying to working people: we control you, we can remove political leaders you elect (e.g. President Trump), we can throw you into quarantine and make you pay for it, and we can even kill you – because we have power and you must do as we say. Yet for this, both science and medicine must be almost totally falsified.

Kiwi fruit tests positive for Covid-19

On and off lockdowns, and on and off state and national border shutdowns, are “justified” with the flimsy claim about the discovery of new “cases” of Covid-19. This is based on the misuse of the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) “test”, which only detects fragments of viral genomes, not necessarily a live and intact virus.[8] It does not determine who is sick, or who will ever get sick. The PCR process amplifies genetic material many times over, so much so that anyone – or anything – can test “positive”. Some scientists estimate that 97% of PCR tests produce false positive results.[9] Recently, some Italian scientists tested a Kiwi Fruit for SARS-CoV-2 – the virus which allegedly causes Covid-19 – and it tested positive.[10] Earlier in the year, scientists in Tanzania tested a paw paw, a goat, a quail and engine oil for SARS-CoV-2. The three animals and one mineral substance all tested positive.[11] Despite this, due to an unprecedented propaganda campaign from almost all governments and the corporate media, some people in Sydney are being misled into voluntarily lining up in long queues to be tested.

The people of Sydney – and the world – must be released from lockdowns, and the threat of further lockdowns, immediately. Workers and their Unions must mobilise on masse to defeat this nefarious agenda, which is an open class attack. Unfortunately, virtually all Union officials and ostensibly “left” parties (the “lockdown left”) have openly backed the corporate governments they claimed for decades to oppose. The lockdown left[12] has not only betrayed workers and their own members, they have become a key pillar of the capitalist state as it descends into the most repressive political phase in its history. In this sense, the lockdown left has forfeited any claim to be “left” at all.

What is required is a determined and relentless anti-lockdown movement which unites all those opposed to scientifically groundless lockdowns, forced facemasks, forced vaccines and all restrictions and rules which are medically illogical. While this step is vital, lockdowns can only be finally defeated when its ultimate cause – the system of production for profit – is removed. Key to this aim is a Marxist political leadership which can aid workers in their efforts towards liberation from private capital.

WORKERS  LEAGUE
www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704?nw=0 (01-01-2020)

[2] https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7069047/nth-beaches-lockdown-stretches-into-2021/?cs=14231 (01-01-2020)

[3] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9101645/Bride-broke-Northern-Beaches-lockdown-marry-Sydneys-CBD-breaks-silence.html (01-01-2020)

[4] https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/victoria-puts-up-hard-border-to-nsw/ar-BB1cmHkg (01-01-2020)

[5] Covid Crackdown: Gladys Berejiklian Announces New Year’s Eve Kissing Ban – Double Bay Today (01-01-2020)

[6] NSW Chief Health Officer Urging People To Keep Face Masks On If Sharing A NYE Kiss – Double Bay Today (01-01-2020)

[7] https://consentfactory.org/2020/12/16/year-zero/ (01-01-2020)

[8] https://uncoverdc.com/2020/04/07/was-the-covid-19-test-meant-to-detect-a-virus/ (01-01-2020)

[9] https://www.globalresearch.ca/worthless-pcr-tests-covid/5733045 (01-01-2020)

[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgcmmQhvDFw (01-01-2020)

 

[11] https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/05/08/pawpaw-bird-goat-engine-oil-test-positive-for-coronavirus/ (01-01-2020)

[12] https://redfireonline.com/2020/08/25/the-labour-lieutenants-of-lockdown-terror/ (01-01-2020)

Theses on Lockdowns and Political Tasks for Socialists

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Adopted by the Workers League  29-12-2020

1.After almost a year of lockdowns imposed by the ruling classes of the West, it is becoming more and more clear to many workers that the lies used to justify brutal totalitarian measures will continue throughout 2021. It is no longer credible, if it ever was, that the world is faced with a deadly plague which threatens humanity. This was never about a virus. Rather, “Covid-19” is part of a civil war launched by finance capital against workers and oppressed people.

  1. This attack, which may well have been planned and premeditated, is primarily aimed at lowering the cost of labour power. That is, it is a method used to increase capital returns of the largest private corporations at the expense of working class. This is carried out through massive job cuts and the deliberate shutting down of whole sectors of capitalist economies. While the operators of small and medium sized capital are also dramatically affected or driven out of business, this is another brazen assault on workers employed in these industries.
  1. The vast increase in unemployment is used to frighten and cower workers still employed into playing along with the false coronavirus narrative. Unemployment incorrectly attributed to “Covid-19” takes the focus away from the real culprits – the collusion between big capital and the politicians and governments who serve them. The creation of poverty through the intentional shutdown of whole sections of the for-profit economies is used to prevent the remaining employed workers from demanding decent wages and conditions – which had been under siege for the last 30 years through the “normal” functioning of capitalism in any case.
  1. The unprecedented assault on workers’ jobs, wages and working and living conditions under the guise of a “pandemic” requires the virtual elimination of elementary and basic bourgeois democratic rights. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement as well as written and unwritten constitutional rights have in many cases been ignored or abolished. In some states, entire parliaments and elections were suspended. The right to invite friends and/or family into your own home is now subject to governmental approval. The right to go to a pub/tavern, to a restaurant or to a church is often prohibited or likewise subjected to a dictate. Lockdowns and other restrictions are enforced by the capitalist state – either by the police or military, or both. This is a new and particular form of fascism.
  1. Even if lockdown measures are temporarily lifted or suspended, the imperialist states can re-apply them at any time. Tracking and tracing, and a litany of ever changing and illogical rules are imposed on all apart from the wealthy elite, trashing any semblance of civil liberties. Scientifically groundless social-distancing and facemask rules are enforced and are used as another threat against working people. Workers are also being threatened with a “Covid” vaccine, “Covid” passports and national and state border closures which have no medical or scientific justification whatsoever.
  1. The main political reason for lockdowns, social-distancing, the shut-down of venues, “health” directives, the prevention of physical and social human interaction, the prevention of gatherings of any kind etc., is to prevent working people from resisting the tyrannical onslaught of big capital. The imposition of draconian dictates backed by pseudo-science has removed some political and protest movements which provided some level of systemic challenge from the streets almost entirely, e.g. the Yellow Vest movement in France. In some cases, lockdowns and other “health” restrictions have been found to be illegal and unconstitutional even by judges interpreting bourgeois law. Political parties and workers’ Unions cannot effectively operate if they are prevented from gathering by the capitalist state – arguably one of the express intentions of the ruling elite. The capitalist ruling classes want workers to become accustomed to no longer enjoying the fragments of democratic rights they enjoyed in the 20th
  1. The Union bureaucracy – largely overpaid officials – have betrayed workers on a scale which has no precedent. We do not know of any Union officials who have opposed capitalist politicians or any part of the mainstream media on the irrationality of lockdowns. In fact, Union officials have been the most ardent enforcers of the ideology and physical dictates of the capitalist state. They, above all, are aware that capitalism in crisis today requires extraordinarily repressive measures such as lockdowns – and so they are more than happy to enforce them. Due to this, Union members are split: some Union members follow the ultra-conservative leadership, while others are dissatisfied and/or confused as to why their Union leadership is openly siding with the authorities.
  1. Almost all ostensibly “socialist” parties have carried out a betrayal of workers on Covid which arguably surpasses that of August 4, 1914. At that time, socialist parties the world over – apart from the Bolsheviks – automatically backed “their own” ruling class as it led the charge into the slaughter of World War I. Today, almost all so-called left parties virtually in unison have signed up enthusiastically with “their own” capitalist governments and the entirety of world imperialism, to aid the driving of workers into the dust through brutal lockdowns and mass unemployment. They accept the bourgeois ideology of lockdowns, social-distancing, facemasks and forced vaccines without question, and act as police auxiliaries by doing everything they can to prevent workers from questioning the suppression measures. The “lockdown left” join with the Union officials in openly serving billionaire capital.
  1. The betrayal of workers by the Union officials and the lockdown left is more than matched by the conservative and nationalist political leaderships of the deformed workers’ states. The partially “communist” and “workers” parties which have usurped political power from the proletariat in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR) and the Republic of Cuba (RoC) have not hesitated to assist US/EU (European Union) imperialism implement near worldwide lockdowns. They have not apologised for politically aiding the same US/EU led imperialism which seeks to overthrow and destroy them, in a classical example of the betrayal of “peaceful coexistence” and “socialism in one country”. These distorters and vulgarisers of Marxism have not even blinked while assisting the ruling classes of the West implement a savage attack on “their” workers. While they have not fully imposed the same attack on the proletariat domestically, they have played up to a scientific and medical fantasy to deceive and mislead working people within their borders.
  1. With a few exceptions (e.g., Belarus), the governments of the non-imperialist states have also betrayed their own workers by allying directly with US/EU imperialism on the fake coronavirus narrative. The governments of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran have entertained lockdowns, facemasks and even vaccines in the same way as US/EU imperialism has spun the deception. While operating on a different political basis to the deformed workers’ states, the political leaderships of Russia and Iran have played a role which is just as treacherous as that of the allegedly “Marxist-Leninist” administrations of the five remaining deformed workers’ states.
  1. The attempt by the government of the deformed workers’ states and the non-imperialist states to mollify and appease US/EU imperialism by proclaiming and implementing the same coronavirus lies has increased, not decreased, the extreme danger of imperialist war being launched against them. Imperialism will strike no permanent bargains or permanent deals with any state and will continue to seek to destroy non-imperialist states until and unless it is overthrown by the workers of the world. While there may be some minor disagreements amongst the ruling classes of the US and the EU, they still seek “regime change” in Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela etc. – and are prepared to risk world war to do so.
  1. The “election” of Joe Biden/Kamala Harris and the Democrats in the US – through monumental fraud – has likewise vastly increased the danger of imperialist war being launched by the Pentagon. This may be a continuation of the regime change war against Syria, or a new regime change war against a smaller non-imperialist state, or it could be a global confrontation with Russia and/or China. Liberal pillars of imperialism such as the key leaders and organisers of the lockdown left, Black Lives Matter, Antifa and the officials of the conservative Union bureaucracy are extremely likely to defend the instigation and prosecution of these wars on behalf of US imperialism, even while claiming to be “progressive” and “left-wing”.
  1. To indulge the ideology of a “pandemic”, or facemasks, or social-distancing, or tracking and tracing, forced vaccines or any Covid restriction, is the ultimate betrayal of the working class. To attempt to ensure that other workers “follow the rules” is to assist billionaire capital maintain its death grip on the world’s workers and oppressed. For alleged socialists to capitulate in any way to the fictitious Covid narrative is an open and irrevocable rupture with the basic tenets of Marxism. No socialist can claim to be left-wing in any sense while doing the bidding of the imperialist ruling classes, their politicians and the corporate media.
  1. Therefore, the position of anti-lockdown versus pro-lockdown is the class line between labour and capital. Moreover, given the dire circumstances of world capitalism, the anti-lockdown movement can be characterised as anti-fascist, while the pro-lockdown position can be characterised as pro-fascist. This remains the case irrespective of the appearance of the anti-lockdown movement largely consisting of the “right-wing” and “conspiracy theorists”, while the irrational pro-lockdown fanatics are predominantly composed of “left-wing” and liberal elements. In reality, pro-lockdown fanatics are not in any way left-wing or progressive. They have simply found themselves in a position of being more right-wing than the “right” due to liberalism politically moving to the right over the last 20 years.
  1. This is why Marxists have the perspective of building the anti-lockdown movement as deeply and as broadly as possible. Despite appearances, the vanguard of the insurgent working class is currently contained within those forces who are prepared to go to great risk to publicly defy the entirety of the ideology and politics of lockdown fascism. This is even despite large sections taking up politically misguided notions such as nationalism, spiritualism, “globalism”, and “anti-socialism/anti-communism”. Despite the prevalence of these and similar ideas, the political direction of the anti-lockdown movement directly and powerfully confronts the political and ideological decay of capitalism as it descends into lockdown fascism.
  1. Hence, the Workers League urges the building of the anti-lockdown movement as a united front. That is, we advise workers to energetically assist and participate in all meetings, demonstrations and mobilisations of the anti-lockdown movement shoulder to shoulder with all those opposed to lockdowns, forced facemasks, forced vaccines, nonsensical restrictions, economic shutdowns, border closures, state surveillance and so on. Within this united front, all political and semi-political organisations and parties should have the right to distribute their material and win others to their viewpoint and perspective. However, by no means should socialists or any other tendency subordinate their politics to any other grouping within the bloc. The united front is built for the achievement of common aims, not the political perspective of component groups or individuals.
  1. At the same time, Marxists within the anti-lockdown movement have the task of seeking out and winning over the most class aware elements to socialism. This is difficult, and must be carried out with tact, given the unfortunate fact that many workers confuse socialism with Stalinism and/or confuse globalism with socialism. The United Nations (UN), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and so on, are multi-national capitalist institutions, and do not have one iota of pro-working class content. The Stalinist political apparatuses of the deformed workers’ states – principally the PRC – distort socialism beyond recognition even if they partially defend their socialist economies at home. It is vital to impress upon anti-lockdown proponents that socialism does not in any way mean political repression (a la Stalinism), but in fact means the liberation of the working class from tyranny.
  1. No united front is permanent, and socialists should not view the anti-lockdown movement as permanent either. At each stage, Marxists need to assess and evaluate its political direction and political achievements. If, at any moment, the anti-lockdown movement adopts radically anti-working class positions (overt racism, overt anti-Union views, overt anti-China or anti-socialist positions), then socialists should confer and decide on whether to combat the development of such views within the movement, or to leave the movement altogether.
  1. Currently, there are no significant indicators of the anti-lockdown movement developing in an anti-working class direction. Most participants come from varied political backgrounds and are motivated by anti-war and peace issues, civil liberties and democratic rights, freedom of medical choice issues, for the restoration of common law rights, for freedom of movement and so on. However, there is a possibility that the anti-lockdown movement could at a certain stage split into left and right (or more than two) wings under the impact of political developments or through repression from the capitalist state. If this were to occur, again socialists should assess the political reasons for such a split and proceed from there.
  1. For working people, there will be no permanent escape from lockdowns, or “The Great Reset” or “The New Normal” without the overthrow of capitalism in the imperialist centres, combined with proletarian political revolutions in the deformed workers’ states. At the very least, this will require the establishment of democratic workers’ councils. After a year of hammer blows from a declining and thus lawless and dangerous capitalism, there is a dire need for a working class offensive.  A vital task to help provide working class leadership now and for the coming period is the forging of internationally linked Leninist vanguard parties, sworn to uphold Permanent Revolution. To help form a bridge to workers’ councils, the Workers League will continue to propagate three demands:

(i) A six-hour work day
(ii) Public ownership of energy, infrastructure, banks
(iii) A workers’ government.

WORKERS  LEAGUE
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

Free Chan Han Choi from Lockdown!

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   24-12-2020: Chan Han Choi is undoubtedly a pro-socialist class war political prisoner. The Australian government imprisoned Choi under high security for almost three years in 2017 without charge. Choi is the first person ever to be charged in Australia under the Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act.[1] After nearly three years behind bars and being subjected to cruel restrictions – such as having to speak to his wife in English only and having his conversations with his lawyers listened to by authorities – Choi has been released from prison only to now be engaged in a form of house arrest until his trial takes place. Chan Han Choi originates from South Korea, (Republic of Korea – ROK) but has lived in Sydney and worked as a cleaner for over 30 years. He views the political system in North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – DPRK) as one which protects and acts in the interests of working people – which indeed it largely does.

Unjustifiable sanctions

His only “crime” was to allegedly organise some trade deals which – if they had actually occurred – would have enabled a small measure of relief from the crippling sanctions imposed on the DPRK effectively by US imperialism. During his period of detention, Choi stated his belief that the sanctions administered by the United Nations (UN) on the DPRK are fundamentally unjust and unfair.[2] Workers of the world can only reaffirm this basic truth. The UN, acting as a cat’s paw of the US Empire, imposes sanctions which themselves could be a form of genocide against the people of the DPRK. The sanctions forbid any sailing vessel or aircraft from transferring goods directly or indirectly from another country to the DPRK. An exhaustive list of materials, goods, equipment and technology are simply prohibited from reaching the DPRK. Many basic necessities are listed under “luxury items” or are listed as “dual use” – meaning they COULD be used for the DPRK’s nuclear or ballistic missile weapons programs.[3]

In reality, any electrical goods and equipment could be used for military purposes. Obviously though, they could also be used for straightforward domestic industrial and commercial purposes, and for the basic functioning of the economy. The DPRK – a heavily deformed workers’ state – has the express right to defend itself from invasion from US imperialism. This is a daily and ongoing reality for all Koreans, as a result of the repelling of the US led war on Korea in the early 1950s. The DPRK has seen what has happened to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya if a state does not possess nuclear weapons and other ballistic missiles: it will be invaded and destroyed by Washington. The DPRK would much prefer not to have to build ANY weapons of mass destruction. Alas, it has no choice but to do so.

All lockdowns must be opposed

Without question, the campaign of solidarity to free Chan Han Choi has been organised and led by the left party Trotskyist Platform (TP)[4]. From the outset, TP have been the drivers behind the important demonstrations which help to break down the fierce anti-socialist hysteria directed against the DPRK, which in turn is a sub-set of the irrational antagonism against China (People’s Republic of China – PRC). At the same time, TP’s campaign in 2020 has a fatal flaw. TP is a card-carrying member of the lockdown left – ostensibly revolutionary left parties which allied with the very imperialist powers they claim to oppose on the fake coronavirus “pandemic”. As we wrote in August, so fervently does TP agree with the Australian government and all bourgeois politicians that the world is beset by a deadly plague of biblical proportions, TP actually make public calls for mandatory temperature testing in workplaces of more than two people, and for public housing residents to be locked down by health workers rather than police![5] Yet Chan Han Choi is himself subjected to a lockdown: prison and now house arrest. Does TP call for the release of Choi from lockdowns, but for all other workers to be locked down – due to Covid?

The lockdown left tries in vain to separate the lockdowns from all other political activity. They would have us believe that the response of the capitalist governments to a virus which is most likely one of the many coronaviruses which circulate every winter[6] is simply a “health” issue. With TP at the forefront, the lockdown left mumble about the job losses, poverty, depression, domestic violence and economic destruction – but echo government lies that this is all caused by a virus. TP would have us believe that the removal of free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and the most elementary civil and democratic rights are necessary to “save lives”. They rally workers against the same politicians who are inflicting cruel punishment on Chan Han Choi – but also want us to strongly back these politicians when they prevent children from going to school or playing with their friends! The lockdowns themselves take lives[7], as that is a part of the civil war that finance capital is waging against the working class. For TP though, lockdowns enforced by cops and/or the military is actually the state trying to save your life![8]  Years of TP’s warnings about the dangers the capitalist state pose to workers have vanished into thin air.

The ideological and political Covid prostration of TP before the very bourgeois forces which not only are detaining Choi but are threatening the DPRK and the world with nuclear war, is illuminating. Workers need a consistent message. They cannot be told, on the one hand, that capitalism is their enemy, but on the other hand, be asked to fully comply with the same capitalist system when it locks them down under house arrest – with the threadbare Covid excuse. If the Prime Ministers and Presidents of the West are allies on Covid – why would they not be allies on other issues?  Why be a socialist? Why join a Union or any left party at all – if, on Covid, all we should do is obey “our own” corporate politicians and the mainstream media?

Workers should strive to support the campaign to free Chan Han Choi. But it is crucial to oppose all lockdowns and ALL aspects of lockdown terror. Chan Han Choi and the working class can only be fully emancipated once EVERY part of bourgeois ideology is defeated – not just fragments of it. Therefore we urge workers to build the anti-lockdown movement as part of an initial struggle for the reclaiming of free speech, freedom of assembly and every other right that workers need in their battles against the rule of the private banks and the stock exchange. The most class aware workers amongst those resisting the draconian dictates of the Covidian state need to be welded into internationally linked Marxist vanguard parties, to help lead the struggle for liberation from lockdowns and other relics of class society.

 

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

 

[1] https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/korean-australian-chan-han-choi-appeals-for-fair-trial-as-a-political-prisoner (24-12-2020)

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/06/man-charged-over-alleged-north-korea-missile-deal-ordered-to-stand-trial-in-australia (24-12-2020)

[3] https://www.globalresearch.ca/north-korea-un-double-standards-pertaining-to-sanctions-and-their-devastating-social-impacts/5364484 (24-12-2020)

[4] https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2019/10/31/trotskyist-platform-fighting-to-free-australias-other-assange-political-prisoner-chan-han-choi-join-the-cause-191101/ (24-12-2020)

[5] https://redfireonline.com/2020/08/25/the-labour-lieutenants-of-lockdown-terror/ (24-12-2020)

[6] https://off-guardian.org/2020/12/15/the-covid-19-data-is-a-travesty/ (24-12-2020)

[7] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/seeing-the-invisible/estimating-the-true-magnitude-of-the-pandemic-and-lockdown-deaths-part-1/ (21-12-2020)

[8] https://www.trotskyistplatform.com/corporate-bosses-endanger-workers-lives-during-covid-19-epidemic/ (24-12-2020)

Stop The Great Reset!

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Bitcoin News

16-12-2020: Out of the carnage wrought by “Covid” lockdowns comes the next step in the offensive of finance capital against working people and the oppressed – the “Great Reset”. The Reset can be interpreted in different ways, but the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and “Transhumanism”, universal surveillance and constant tracking and tracing, which began under Corona lockdowns, are key components. Arguably, one of the key architects is Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) a talk shop and front of world capitalism. Schwab’s 2016 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and his 2020 work, co-authored with Thierry Malleret, Covid-19: The Great Reset are manuals which do not hide the particular form of fascism which lockdown mania has engendered.[1]

Transhumanism ?

The Covid-19 pandemic of lies has given Western ruling classes a convenient excuse to implement measures that would otherwise have provoked an uproar. Ever-changing rules and restrictions, lockdowns, house arrest, the forbidding of human contact with family and friends – these and other forms of scientifically groundless[2] repression were enforced by the police and armed forces of capitalist states the world over. Unfortunately, they were also mimicked by the authorities in the bureaucratically deformed workers’ states – e.g., the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). Yet to be implemented as part of the fake pandemic is the spectre of transhumanism, for which Klaus Schwab is the pre-eminent enthusiast.

Transhumanism is the implanting of the human body with various forms of technology, such as microchips, or perhaps even vaccines which can be read with scanners through human skin. In November, Schwab told the Chicago Council of Global Affairs that the 4IR would lead to a “fusion of our physical, digital and biological identity”.[3] This could result in scenarios out of the Minority Report sci-fi film, where law enforcement is used to arrest and detain people before they supposedly commit a crime. It could lead to a situation where people are prevented from crossing national borders following a brain scan that identifies their thought patterns as a security risk. Sounds beyond the realms of reality, but many things previously unimaginable became reality when the imperialist powers used a slightly different strain of a flu as a flimsy excuse for authoritarian terrorism during “Corona”.

Socialists are the last ones to oppose the use of technology to advance society, and in fact are its foremost advocates. However, as long as the working class does not have its hands on the reigns of state power, the capitalist ruling classes will use advances in technology for their advantage, and no one else’s. If technological advances allow capitalist state authorities to track and trace workers, to determine their ideological and political identities in an instant, to block “undesirables” (such as those who refuse what is most likely an extremely dangerous and experimental Covid vaccine) from accessing public transport or travelling overseas, then they will do it. The further the system of production for private profit drags society down, the greater the degree of political repression is required by the ruling elite. While technological improvements can make some aspects of workers’ lives easier, the agents of big capital can also use them for merciless tyranny.

Liberal capital leads the offensive

“Covid-19”, “The New Normal” and now “The Great Reset” are key elements of entirely bourgeois propaganda which shrouds the sustained and vicious assault by the stock markets and the banks on working and oppressed people. The driving of workers into poverty either through direct job cuts or driving down the remaining working conditions where jobs still exist, combined with political and psychological terror, are supposed to be accepted and even embraced as the way things are now. Under the guise of a virus so deadly 99.98% of people survive it, working people endure suppression and humiliation that would make even the Nazis blush. Yet the ruling class cannot rule without hoodwinking the masses into believing that their suffering is good for society. So it is with the Reset.

Thankfully, not all workers are fooled. Many of them are aware that the billionaires have vastly increased their wealth during Corona, exposing the pandemic as fraudulent once again. Billionaire wealth in fact reached a record 10.2 trillion dollars[4] during the 2020 lockdowns, while millions lost their jobs in the first world, and many more lost their livelihoods altogether in the third world. This staggering inequality will continue under the Great Reset, an extension of the nightmare of lockdowns. The Reset must be resolutely opposed by workers internationally, along with the lunacy of Covid restrictions.

The fact that the Covid lockdowns and now the Reset is being championed by woke or liberal capital, such as billionaire Amazon Fuhrer Jeff Bezos, does not at all indicate any trace of a socialist agenda – as some in the anti-lockdown movement mistakenly believe. While it is true that top Union officials, the Democrats/Joe Biden, liberal mainstream parties, Black Lives Matter, Antifa and the so-called left spearheaded the anti-working class Covid lockdowns, this is NOT politically progressive in the slightest. By a quirk of history, the forces of liberalism are now more reactionary than the forces of conservatism. In fact, one could argue that fascism today has abandoned conservatism and has employed liberalism as its vessel of choice.[5]

In addition, workers must not be drawn into the illusion that the Great Reset is “socialist” because it is being led by “globalists”, such as the United Nations. It only appears “globalist” because the capitalist ruling classes work together internationally with their class (such as coordinating lockdown terror) as a matter of course. Alas, it also appears “globalist” due to the betrayal of the governments of the deformed workers’ states (principally the People’s Republic of China) along with the governments of the non-imperialist powers (principally Russia) and the non-imperialist states (principally Iran). These governments (not their workers) have played up to the fear pandemic narrative, in a vain attempt to ingratiate themselves with imperialism itself. The Great Reset, however, is the continuation of the Covid-19 capitalist assault, and can only be countered through international resistance, including the forging of Marxist vanguard parties which fight against lockdowns and for workers’ power.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

PO  Box  66  NUNDAH  QLD  4012

 

[1] Klaus Schwab & His Great Fascist Reset – OffGuardian (off-guardian.org) (13-12-2020)

[2] Lockdowns Don’t Work. That’s What The Science Says. | News Talk 550 KFYI (iheart.com) (13-12-2020)

[3] Klaus Schwab: ‘Great Reset’ Will Lead to Transhumanism – Nwo Report (13-12-2020)

[4] We Just Witnessed the Greatest Transfer of Wealth In History Thanks to COVID – The Great Reset is Next (healthimpactnews.com) (14-12-2020)

[5] On liberalism and fascism – organic radicals (wordpress.com) (14-12-2020)

Release Julian Assange from Lockdown!

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12-12-2020 – Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing Wikileaks organisation, informed his supporters at the start of this year that he is “slowly dying”.[1] Guilty of nothing but journalism, Julian Assange remains in Belmarsh Prison in the United Kingdom (UK), in a wing reserved for those accused of the worst forms of terrorism. Years of detention inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London had already taken a severe toll, but this has been followed by prolonged solitary confinement for 22 or 23 hours a day. Solitary confinement is psychological torture[2] under any definition of the term, which is an open abuse of the rights of prisoners in supposedly democratic states. Julian Assange is a Walkley journalism award winner, but also the first journalist to be prosecuted as a spy by the US government under its 1917 Espionage Act. It is unfortunately no coincidence that this act was introduced by the US government for the prosecution of socialists and anti-war activists at the time of tremendous influence of socialism in the months prior to the October Revolution in Russia in the same year.[3] For, just over 100 years later, imperialism is once again driving workers towards revolution if only to free themselves from the state repression against which Julian Assange had issued dire warnings.

Intimidation the aim

The severe and prolonged physical and psychological torture being meted out to Julian Assange has the aim of intimidating anyone else who is considering exposing the blatant crimes of Anglo/US imperialism, at home and abroad. Another aim is to remind workers that “democracy” and all its trappings has extremely strict limits in the year 2020 and can even be removed if the super elite sees fit to do so. Some semblance of freedom of the press may have been tolerated by Western ruling classes to an extent during the 20th century – but these rights have only cursory observation today. The further world capitalism declines economically, the more it must increase the amount and the severity of political repression of “their own” working people.

During 2020, Anglo/US imperialism has utilised the cover of a fake pandemic to launch the most severe attack on the working class since the 1930s. We are expected to believe that the very same people who waged cataclysmic war on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria taking the lives of millions in the most brutal manner imaginable – are now primarily concerned with “saving lives”. We are expected to believe that the very same people who have subjected Julian Assange to inhuman torture for at least 10 years because Wikileaks exposed their criminality – are now doing their utmost to protect democratic and human rights. We are expected to believe that the very same people who have savagely defunded public healthcare systems for more than 30 years – are now most keenly concerned to avoid public hospitals being overwhelmed. More than anything else, Julian Assange was sickened by such boundless hypocrisy, and was prepared to risk his life to expose it.

Colossal hypocrisy of the lockdown left

The hypocrisy of finance capital and their governments which enforce its rule through Covid-19 fraud[4] is not only matched, but exceeded, by the hypocrisy of the lockdown left on the issue of the detention, i.e., lockdown, of Julian Assange. The lockdown left refers to “socialist” parties, Union officials and liberal social-democrats who swear blind that they uphold progress, humanitarian values or even socialism and Marxism – but in practice have moved so far to the right that they are today outflanked on the left by the entire spectrum of supporters of US President Donald Trump, QAnon followers, “anti-vaxxers”, and those concerned about the danger of radiation from 5G telecommunications towers. The lockdown left is oblivious to the fact that it has practically merged with the capitalist state as it descends into a tyranny which arguably exceeds that of the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.

In 2010, the lockdown left mobilised as one to defend Assange, for, at that time, Wikileaks was exposing the crimes of the US Empire in its wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the instant that Wikileaks began to expose the war of regime change on Libya, followed soon after by the war of regime change on Syria – the lockdown left dropped Julian Assange like a hot potato. According to them, exposing the war crimes of Republican President Bush was fine and dandy – but exposing the war crimes of then Democrat President Obama and then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton? Well, that was just too left-wing for them. For eight long years, the lockdown left said and did virtually nothing while Assange was held hostage in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Then, when Assange was expelled from the embassy and faced being extradited to the US to face a virtual death sentence – the lockdown left sheepishly and very cautiously found their voice again. That is to say, only when liberals outflanked them from the left, did the “Marxist” lockdown left change their tune.

Today, the lockdown left calls for the release of Julian Assange from lockdown, but strongly defends government lockdowns against almost the entire population under the ludicrous claim of a “pandemic”. They are not able to see that their own actions in defending lockdowns and facemasks has lent political legitimacy to the capitalist state – which has then used this endorsement to dramatically increase severe political repression against workers, and against Julian Assange above all. This is not just a matter of the political bankruptcy of the lockdown left, and most especially the overpaid Union officials who have basically not lifted a finger to help free Assange. What this also means is that the campaign to free Julian Assange will not succeed unless it opposes all facets of the imperialist offensive today; from the barbarous detention of Assange, to the Covid lockdowns, to forced Covid vaccines, to mass unemployment, to the abolition of the right of assembly, to the abolition of free speech via Big Tech censorship, to imperialist war provocations against Russia, China, Iran and so on. Freedom for Assange and freedom from lockdowns are therefore directly linked with a struggle for collectivised and planned economies, led by a vanguard party committed to working class rule.

WORKERS   LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

PO  Box  66  NUNDAH  QLD  4012     

[1] https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/01/julian-assange-says-hes-slowing-dying-in-prison-during-christmas-eve-phone-call-report/ (10-12-2020)

[2] https://www.michaelwest.com.au/torture-of-julian-assange-by-australian-governments-sends-powerful-message-to-whistleblowers/ (10-12-2020)

[3] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-congress-passes-espionage-act (10-12-2020)

[4] https://off-guardian.org/2020/11/17/covid19-evidence-of-global-fraud/ (11-12-2020)

No Forced Covid Vaccine! For Democratic Rights!

/ redfireonline / 2 Comments

22-11-2020: Governments the world over are bending over backwards to either produce or obtain an alleged vaccine which will supposedly inoculate the entire world’s population against Covid-19. After around 8 months of brutal and inhumane lockdowns, mandatory facemask orders and absurd social-distancing edicts, we are being offered the chimera of the end of this madness IF you subject yourself to a vaccine which has been produced at warp speed. Usually, at least 15 years of design, testing and assessment is necessary before a vaccine is ready for human usage, but the Covid vaccine will putatively be ready to roll in six months. Skeptical? You should be.

Has the virus been isolated?

We were already aware that the Covid “pandemic” is a nothing burger,[1] and the use of the term in relation to it a linguistic travesty. Yet now there is some evidence emerging that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may not have been isolated and purified.[2] If this is true, then not only does SARS-CoV-2 not exist as such, it also means there may be no Covid-19 respiratory illness which is allegedly one result of coming into contact with SARS-CoV-2. A stunning report from Spanish medical researchers reiterated that there cannot be a test for a virus without knowing the components of the virus trying to be found. The components for the virus are not known UNLESS it has been isolated and purified. There is no hard evidence that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been isolated and purified – therefore there is no test which can detect it.[3] The RT-PCR “test” which has been used to “detect” SARS-CoV-2 is likely to pick up fragments of numerous microbes. Under some circumstances, anyone can test positive!

This raises enormous issues for the design and production of a vaccine for Covid. If the virus has not been isolated, how exactly will a vaccine work at all? Moreover, is SARS-CoV-2 still circulating? As far back as May this year, the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute was concerned that there was a 50% chance of no Covid vaccine being developed at all. Why? Because even back in May, the virus was already disappearing![4] This follows the trend of virtually all flu viruses – it spreads by “infecting” many people for 5 to 6 weeks, it reaches a peak, and then falls away rapidly as natural or community immunity is obtained. It is becoming more and more apparent that SARS-CoV-2 may well be simply a part of the combination of cold and flu coronaviruses that come around each winter.

The difficulty with producing a vaccine for Covid also stems from the fact that influenza viruses shift and drift their genomes each year, so immunity from last year’s batch may not confer immunity from this year’s. Like the general flu vaccine which does not give you any guarantee that it will stop you from getting the flu, this means that a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is difficult to develop and probably ineffective in the best case – or completely worthless.[5]  This has not stopped Big Pharma from trying – seeing billions of dollar signs. Big Pharma mega firm Johnson & Johnson, however, had to pause its Covid-19 vaccine trials due to an “unexplained” illness in one of the trial participants. Johnson & Johnson of course refused to reveal the details, claiming the need to protect privacy.[6]  In the case of the Oxford-AstraZeneca trial, though, they could not hide the fact that one of the Brazilian volunteer trial subjects died during testing. Despite this, without breaking step, Oxford-AstraZeneca continued the trial.[7] Needless to say, rushing the development of vaccines, which necessitates cutting corners by Big Pharma corporations with a track record of deception and outright criminal conduct, is literally playing Russian Roulette with human health.[8]

For democratic rights

The Covid vaccine nightmare may become a reality – and it may be mandatory. The sheer absurdity of forcing people to be injected with a vaccine that is probably useless at its claimed intention should be obvious. Add to this the possibility of injury and death that may result, and the legal indemnity of the Big Pharma producers under any circumstance – and the farce becomes diabolical. Basic democratic rights state that all people should consent to any medical treatment at any time. Unfortunately, basic democratic rights have been the first casualty of the coronavirus fear pandemic, and working people are going to have to fight to win them all over again.

“Covid-19” is in practice a civil war launched by the billionaire class against working and oppressed people. In this sense, a Covid-19 vaccine is neither scientific nor medical, but ideological and political. A Covid vaccine may well be used for surveillance, and evidence of vaccination may be required to travel, to use public transport, or even to gain employment. The ruling class is deliberately fostering and fomenting conflict between the Covid believers and Covid skeptics, between lockdown fanatics and lockdown resisters. The class lines are now crystal clear – for Covid and with imperialism, or against Covid and with the resistance.

Imperialism has employed rabid and willing assistants – some paid, some unpaid. Big Tech, Big Pharma, Union officials, liberals, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Hollywood, Extinction Rebellion, and left parties who unironically claim to be “socialist” – all now stand on the wrong side of history. Unfortunately, they are joined by the governments of the non-imperialist bloc (Russia, China, Iran, DPRK, Vietnam, Cuba etc.), who have likewise betrayed their own working class by entertaining Covid and even enforcing their own lockdowns. The Covid resistance, on the other hand, stands on the side of hope, progress, and the survival of human civilisation. Forced vaccines, lockdowns, facemasks, social-distancing – to say nothing of the millions of job cuts and the virtual abolition of democratic and civil rights – will not end until this particular form of fascism is overthrown. Real socialists must be a part of the Covid resistance, despite the heterogeneity of political forces involved. The stakes are too high to be concerned about unlikely alliances. NO FORCED VACCINE! FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS!

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://redfireonline.com/2020/06/06/covid-19-the-corruption-of-science/ (21-11-2020)

[2] COVID19 – Evidence Of Global Fraud – OffGuardian (off-guardian.org) (21-11-2020)

[3] The scam has been confirmed – Dsalud November 2020.pages (philosophers-stone.info) (21-11-2020)

[4] Project leader: Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine trial has 50% chance of success – Telegraph | Reuters (21-11-2020)

[5] The Rocky and Potentially Costly Road to a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine — Health & Wellness — Sott.net (21-11-2020)

[6] Coronavirus Vaccine: Johnson & Johnson Pauses Trials over Participant’s ‘Unexplained Illness’ | National Review (21-11-2020)

[7] UK scientists confirm efficacy of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, day after one volunteer reported dead in Brazil — RT World News (21-11-2020)

[8] Hazardous to Human Health Vaccines – Stephen Lendman (21-11-2020)

US Elections: Left-Wing or Right-Wing Coup?

/ redfireonline / 1 Comment

Pro and anti Trump demonstrators clash in Berkeley, USA. Image from dailymail.co.uk 

25-10-2020: The 2020 US Presidential Elections could well be the catalyst for more political violence, and some say a civil war. On the surface, it appears that both the “left” and the “right” are accusing each other of instigating mayhem. Yet if this year has demonstrated anything, it is that the so-called “left”, via Black Lives Matter (BLM), Antifa and the lockdown left (parties and groups which claim to be socialist while giving full backing to capitalist state enforcement of inhumane “Covid” lockdowns) are overwhelmingly the initiators and the perpetrators of verbal and/or physical violence against those who may have a different opinion to their own. They have been whipped into such a frenzy, that many of them do not now hesitate to use the threat of verbal or physical violence against anyone they perceive has differing political views, let alone opposing views. Unfortunately, it does appear as though BLM/Antifa/lockdown left are being prepped to unleash mass rioting, looting and chaos should US President Donald Trump and the Republicans win the election on November 3.

Political switch

The “right”, on the other hand, are only becoming increasingly more prepared to defend themselves and their community against the threat or actuality of violence from the “left”. This is only part of a response to riotous BLM/Antifa/lockdown left behaviour such as launching nightly raids on the Oregon Courthouse in Portland[1], vandalizing (or tearing down) statues of Abraham Lincoln,[2] and even desecrating a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.[3] There is no denying that Lincoln and Gandhi had their political contradictions, but Lincoln helped end slavery in the US, and Gandhi helped India win its independence from colonial British rule. This is lost on BLM/Antifa/lockdown left, whose extreme focus on the need to overcome racism has virtually turned into its opposite.

BLM, (that is, the organisation, rather than the movement), at least in 2020, is a defacto campaigning arm of the US Democrats. This is not only because donations to BLM were exposed as being funneled to the Democrats via “ActBlue”.[4] Their political agenda is transparently pro-Democrat, even if they try to deny it. In fact, BLM has been rolled out not just to campaign against Trump and the Republicans in an election year, but also as shock troops to reinforce the “Covid-19” attack on the working class on behalf of big capital.[5] Antifa and the lockdown left then work as back-up for BLM, providing them with “progressive” cover even as they riot, burn and loot their way across the US. These violent outbursts – which have the aim of electing Joe Biden to the White House – are then interpreted by whole swathes of the working class as the antics of the “left”. It drives some workers right into the hands of Trump and the Republicans, and almost permanently tarnishes the very mention of socialism and/or progressive politics.

BLM/Antifa/lockdown left continue to focus on campaigning against “racism” for two main reasons. Firstly, extreme identity politics (the prioritisation of gender, ethnic background, sexual preference etc., over and above the critical class divide) is one result of the liberalism of the so-called left. To actually be a real left, they would have to abandon identity politics and focus on uniting the working class against the assault from finance capital. In 2020, this assault has taken the form of a pseudo-pandemic. The Covid-19 plot has been used as a cover for the throwing of millions of workers into unemployment and the accompanying extreme levels of political repression.[6] BLM/Antifa/lockdown left, on the other hand, remain true believers that the world supposedly faces a deadly plague of biblical proportions. This leads to the second reason: BLM/Antifa/lockdown left campaign against “racism” in order to cover up their role as police auxiliaries of lockdown terror. That is, by campaigning on an issue previously associated with progressive politics (anti-racism), they obscure their actions in support of the lockdowns, and by extension, their ultimate backing of the capitalism they rhetorically oppose.

Anti-racism?

The claims of BLM/Antifa/lockdown left that they are carrying out a struggle for racial justice are disingenuous. The civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s was worlds away from their actions today. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, in their day, did not have anything like the corporate backing that BLM enjoy in 2020. The left cannot seriously expect the working class to join a movement which has the financial endorsement of some of the largest capitalist corporations on Earth. Corporations which are a part of this alleged “anti-racist” movement include: Amazon, Gatorade, Microsoft, Airbnb, Unilever, Nabisco, Dropbox and Fitbit.[7] A cause which has such unashamed backing of several billion dollar corporations cannot by definition contain a shred of pro-working class politics. In and of itself, the struggle against racism is legitimate and, in many cases, necessary. However, anti-racism can only contain progressive politics if it is integrated into the struggle of the working class against the rule of the banks and the stock market. A movement which attempts to unite all those who rhetorically oppose racism, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, and just about every bought and paid for politician, is plainly not interested in the liberation of workers and the oppressed.

Regardless of their intentions, BLM/Antifa/lockdown left are being used as cannon fodder to remove President Trump from the White House, by fair means or foul. While Trump and the Republicans are no friends of the working class per se, a Biden/Harris Democratic administration after November 3 could potentially be a far larger setback for working people, and would not even be a win for “Black Lives Matter”. For one thing, Joe Biden is an arch segregationist[8], and Kamala Harris willingly enforced the sending of African Americans to prison during her 27 year former role as a cop prosecutor.[9] The class structure of the US, which consigns at least 40 million of its people (black and white) to abject poverty, would not be altered in the slightest way. The marginalisation and deportation of migrants from decidedly non-white and under-developed countries – one real source of racism – may even get worse with the Democrats in the White House. It remains the case that the previous Democratic administration of Barack Obama deported more people from the shores of the US than the Donald Trump administration in its first term.[10]

Just who is planning a coup?

While working people should not be absolutely bound to the outcomes of bourgeois elections, socialists cannot currently ask workers to entirely disregard the results. Unless we are approaching a situation of dual power between something like elected workers’ councils and a capitalist parliament, the left will not be able to win workers to their cause if they enact riots when a “conservative” candidate wins office. Unfortunately, some on the left seem to be preparing their members and periphery to do just that. In the US, the Workers World Party (WWP) latched onto a resolution passed by the Rochester Labour Council which called for the AFL-CIO to call a general strike if Donald Trump refuses to leave office.[11] They wield the slogan “If Trump won’t quit, Shut It Down!”. Ominously, there is no mention of calling off such action if Trump and the Republicans actually win the Presidential election itself. Are they planning to strike and shut the country down only if the Democrats lose?

We know that ultra-reactionary Democrat and former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has stated that Joe Biden “should not concede the election under any circumstances”.[12] Is this a not-so-subtle call on the Democrats (and, by extension, BLM/Antifa/lockdown left) to simply ignore the results of the election if they do not win? It is not outlandish to imagine that the Democrats and even “Never Trumper” Republicans are colluding to prevent Trump from continuing the presidency even if he wins convincingly. In fact, there is even a body set up which appears to plan for a “transition” without Trump. The Transition Integrity Project (TIP) is co-founded by a Rosa Brooks, a former Pentagon advisor and the Hilary Clinton state department under the former Obama administration. She was also a previous leading member of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the body established by controversial billionaire George Soros. Zoe Hudson, a director of TIP, is likewise a former top figure of the OSF.[13]

The OSF has notoriously been heavily involved in orchestrating “colour revolutions” in the former socialist-type states of the former USSR, and others. Examples include the Bulldozer Revolution in Serbia in 2000, the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyrzstan in 2005.[14] The process involves funding and often creating an opposition, rallying people against a “dictator”, and then using international pressure from liberals and imperialist governments to force a leader to step down. Needless to say, the installation of capitalist “liberal democracy” in the former deformed workers states of the USSR and Eastern Europe has in practice been a disaster for working people. It now appears that the OSF, the Democrats and even some Republicans are determined to re-start the colour revolution playbook at home. The OSF itself even admits to recently funneling $220 million to “Building Power in Black Communities”.[15] It is barely conceivable that at least some of this funding will not find its way into BLM. To be sure, there would be many who are drawn into BLM/Antifa/lockdown left actions who do not receive a cent from anyone, and who are misled into believing they are “fighting racism”, or even “fighting capitalism”. However, unless they defy the politics of BLM/OSF, they are being tragically deceived.

Pseudo-Pandemic the critical class issue

Irrespective of the general right-wing politics of Donald Trump, ironically he remains a very partial ally of workers on the main issue – the ruling class attack under the guise of Covid-19. Trump has resisted some of the egregious lockdown measures demanded by big capital, and most enthusiastically carried out by the Democrats when in a position to do so. Even though Trump has gone along with the insane rush to fast track what will almost certainly be an ineffectual Covid-19 vaccine, he has made comments that Biden is going to “lock you down”. And it is Biden, not Trump, who is threatening US workers with a “national mask mandate” if elected to office.[16] It barely needs to be said, at this stage, that facemasks are useless at preventing transmission of respiratory viruses, and are in fact quite dangerous in a psychological[17] and physiological[18] sense. Facemasks, hand sanitiser and social distancing are measures which are meant to obscure the political repression that the ruling class is enforcing on workers. The lockdowns and house arrest of workers are used to prevent resistance to the largest assault – the termination of millions from their employment.

This is why the defeat of the fear pandemic and the reversal of its abolition of basic democratic and civil rights is crucial. The working class will not be able to defend itself against the historically unprecedented attack inflicted on them unless and until all of its logic defying rules and restrictions are junked, from facemasks to the freedom to travel. Currently, the anti-lockdown movement is the only resistance to the onslaught of pandemic lies, and is the only factor preventing Western governments from triggering harsher and longer lockdowns. In some places such as Melbourne, the bravery of the anti-lockdown protestors eventually ended most of the severe restrictions. “Second wave” lockdown measures have been reimposed in Ireland – but even there anti-lockdown protestors continue to mobilise.[19]

Meanwhile, the notion of Trump launching a “fascist coup” to remain in power is little more than liberalism imploring workers to vote for the lesser evil.[20] The problem, though, is that in the 21st century, often the “social-democratic” bourgeois parties are more “evil”, or more right-wing, than the conservatives. The Biden/Harris team certainly fits this bill. While workers’ interests in the US are ultimately not served by the Republicans or the Democrats, workers may find themselves tactically allying with Trump supporters if the Democrats unleash BLM/Antifa/lockdown left riots after an unfavourable election result. This seemingly crazy situation may be yet more proof that liberalism is no longer progressive – if it ever was – and its bankruptcy pushes it towards lashing out with violence.

2020 has revealed itself as the year that capital waged arguably its most concentrated attack on working people in history, via a fake health scare. The good news is that a significant minority of workers have heroically resisted, and have vastly undermined bourgeois ideology by doing so. Marxists need to ensure that the anti-lockdown movement does not stop half-way, but continues on to eliminate the source of the ruling class onslaught – the anarchic and unplanned capitalist economies. The forging of internationally linked vanguard parties based on genuine Leninism is the key task for reversing lockdown terror, and guiding workers to erect states and governments of their own.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

PO  Box  66  NUNDAH  QLD  4012

[1] https://www.rt.com/usa/494519-portland-protest-street-barricade-courthouse/ (24-10-2020)

[2] https://www.sott.net/article/435862-Abraham-Lincoln-statue-vandalised-during-Londons-BLM-protests (24-10-2020)

[3] https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2020/jun/04/gandhi-statue-outside-indian-embassy-in-washington-desecrated-during-blacklivesmatters-protests-2152070.html (24-10-2020)

[4] https://redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2020/06/12/854023-n241617 (24-10-2020)

[5] https://redfireonline.com/2020/06/21/black-lives-matter-friend-or-foe/ (24-10-2020)

[6] https://redfireonline.com/2020/04/18/covid-19-savage-assault-under-the-guise-of-health/ (24-10-2020)

[7] https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/07/these-18-corporations-gave-money-to-black-lives-matter-group/ (24-10-2020)

[8] https://gellerreport.com/2020/06/biden-segregation-sponsor.html/ (24-10-2020)

[9] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-24/kamala-harris-california-crime (24-10-2020)

[10] https://thehill.com/latino/470900-deportations-lower-under-trump-than-obama-report (24-10-2020)

[11] https://www.workers.org/2020/10/51942/ (25-10-2020)

[12] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/hillary-clinton-says-biden-should-not-concede-2020-election-under-n1238156 (25-10-2020)

[13] https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/09/investigative-reports/bipartisan-washington-insiders-reveal-their-plan-for-chaos-if-trump-wins-the-election/ (25-10-2020)

[14] https://www.attac.hu/2017/06/george-soros-open-society-foundations-and-their-role-in-color-revolutions/ (25-10-2020)

[15] https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-society-foundations-announce-220-million-for-building-power-in-black-communities (25-10-2020)

[16] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-would-mandate-wearing-a-mask-as-president/ar-BB160f56 (25-10-2020)

[17] https://thebolditalic.com/mask-induced-anxiety-is-real-82a26b2dc7ec (25-10-2020)

[18] https://healthandmoneynews.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/brain-damage-from-masks-cannot-be-reversed/ (25-10-2020)

[19] https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/further-anti-lockdown-protest-held-in-dublin-city-centre-1.4390608 (25-10-2020)

[20] https://www.mintpressnews.com/specter-of-trump-fascism-coup-haunting-us/270514/ (25-10-2020)

Resist the Gas, Coal and Fracking Siege!

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The Condamine River is set alight to demonstrate the amount of methane present in the water, the likely result of fracking. Image from http://www.inhabitat.com

23-10-2020: If we were to believe the government, we are about to enter a summer which they variously refer to as “storm season”, “bushfire/flood season” or even “big weather” season – which now comes with its own TV series.[1] Working people are supposed to believe that the droughts, bushfires and floods which devastated swathes of the country last summer is just par for the course for living in Australia. Sometimes the corporate media will mumble something about climate change in connection with these catastrophes, but will generally just sensationalise it – it is quite easy to simply film the aftermath of a cyclone, bushfire or flood and stick a reporter in front of a camera.  Yet many demonstrators who took to the streets last summer while parts of Australia burned knew instinctively that these “weather” disasters are just one factor of the ecological collapse wrought not only by carbon emissions, but industrial scale corporate pollution of the seas, coasts, rivers and arable land.

“Gas-led recovery”

This year, the climate crisis continues in the shadow of lockdown terror – a vicious assault on working people under the guise of a supposed Covid-19 plague. The Australian ruling class used the fake pandemic to establish a “Coronavirus Commission” – a hand-picked body of CEOs allegedly tasked with overseeing “economic recovery”.[2] Not coincidentally, this non-elected CEO “government” immediately set about drawing the outlines of a “recovery” based on the vast expansion of coal-seam gas, using the method of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. Fracking blows apart rock formations underground while injecting carcinogenic chemicals amongst water supplies to extract oil and/or methane gas, much of which simply leaks into the atmosphere.[3] This is supposedly the government transitioning away from coal and onto “cleaner” gas ! Meanwhile, in the background the Adani coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin – the 10 million tonne per year monster[4] – has been given virtually full approval by state Labor and federal Liberal governments, and its construction is well underway.

While the struggle for a safe climate remains vital, this cannot be separated from the assault of big capital on the wages and living conditions of the working class. In fact, it is one and the same. The capitalist system has been waging a low intensity war against workers – and thus also against the natural environment necessary for human survival – for decades now. This year, the Anglo/US/EU Empire vastly expanded this war by using the cover of a fraudulent health scare to abolish elementary civil and democratic rights, and impose a fascism which in some ways surpassed that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Workers were subjected to house arrest, the right to protest was effectively abolished, human and social interaction was heavily discouraged and often punishable by police action, children were abused by not allowing them to attend school, and many of the aged perished from induced depression via lockdowns which forbade human contact even with direct family members.

The Covid-19 Trojan Horse

The ruling classes of the West used the cover of a “health emergency” to drive down the cost of labour power using any and all means at their disposal. “Covid-19” was seized on as an opportunity to throw millions of workers out of employment on spurious grounds. Near universal lockdowns were used to shutdown large parts of national economies, and some governments even ordered small and medium sized businesses to close, driving them towards ruin. Unprecedented political repression was required to prevent workers from protesting these soul-destroying attacks, and thus gatherings of virtually any kind were deemed a “health risk” and prevented by security forces. Unfortunately, Union officials enforced the false Covid-19 narrative wholesale, and effectively acted as police auxiliaries – pseudo-state authorities preventing their own members from resisting mass suppression.

What does this have to do with the environment? Unfortunately, almost the entire so-called left and those who make up the climate change movement also imbibed the Covid-19 narrative as good coin. This meant that they were neutered when the government announced the “Coronavirus Commission”. Regardless of the fact that the Coronavirus Commission was used to vastly expand coal seam gas and its attendant fracking, much of the environmental movement could scarcely speak out because it would call into question the reality of the “pandemic”. For, if one believes the politicians’ mantra that a coronavirus will kill “millions” unless we shutdown human civilisation, one can scarcely oppose the politicians setting up a Coronavirus Commission to deal with it. The fact that the government used the Coronavirus Commission to boost gas fracking rather than put in place measures which allegedly protect the health of the community contains very sober lessons in the mechanics of bourgeois rule.

Firstly, to combat the onslaught of finance capital against labour and the natural environment, it is necessary to consistently oppose every single aspect of bourgeois ideology, not just parts of it. One cannot demand the politicians disallow fracking on the one hand, while at the same time wholly agreeing with the very same politicians that it is necessary to surrender basic civil rights due to a “pandemic”. One cannot demand stand down pay for workers sacked with the excuse of Covid-19 on the one hand, while agreeing with employers that Covid-19 is a lethal threat on the other hand. Secondly, helping the government implement ANY of its nefarious campaigns, no matter what the claimed intention, vastly expands the political authority of the capitalist state. The state will then use the political endorsement it has received to mercilessly crush ANY working-class resistance. Witness the “Covid-19” police state lockdown nightmare inflicted on innocent people in Melbourne.

Workers need to fight for demands which light the path to immediate solutions – the collectivisation of the major means of the production and a planned economy. For:

1. A six-hour day

2. Public ownership of energy, infrastructure, banks

3. A workers’ government

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

PO  Box  66  NUNDAH  QLD 4012

[1] https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2020/09/14/abc-presents-a-new-3-part-factual-big-weather-and-how-to-survive-it-hosted-by-craig-reucassel/ (20-10-2020)

[2] https://redfireonline.com/2020/06/14/abolish-the-coronavirus-commission/ (20-10-2020)

[3] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/issues/fracking/ (20-10-2020)

[4] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/adani-mine-australia-climate-change-848315/ (20-10-2020)