The following article is fascinating from many sides.
First, it reveals that current warming is reaching points unseen in hundreds of years.
Second, it lays bare for us cultural rituals and details of pre-Columbian empires and class society in the Andes (which has been made more difficult because of the lack of a written language at that time).
Five hundred years ago, three Inca children were left to freeze high in the cold Argentinian Andes as a religious sacrifice. In time, their bodies mummified, having been swallowed in snow and entombed within the glacier, lost to time. But centuries later, in a warmer world, their perfectly-preserved corpses were discovered beneath the melting snow — an increasingly common sight. Experts say that as glaciers continue to recede throughout the world, more of their long-guarded secrets will be revealed in the warm grip of a changing climate.
Our sister site, Revolution in South Asia, has now passed over half a million page views. Together our two sites have now attracted 3.5 million page views.
We salute our readers and supporters. We should all together salute the site’s hardworking new moderating team.
But above all we salute the revolutionary fighters of Nepal and India — who through complex conditions, through the twists and turns of real life, are pressing forward to liberation and socialism.
We urge you to think about creative ways to promote this site — to help these powerful revolutionary Maoist movements become part of the political landscape of global society.
Nepal's repulsive deposed King Gyanendra -- in days when he still had power
“Revolutions elsewhere in the world also bring back memories of our own from 2006: Call it the April Uprising, the Rhododendron Revolution, or the Janaandolan II. There is the same spontaneity of the revolution, the brutal police repression, and the public enthusiasm.”
“…it is a relief to learn from the Wikileaks cables that even the staunchly anti-Maoist American ambassador to Nepal Mr James Moriarty refused to budge from his stance of restoring the parliamentary system despite our then Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey’s veiled threat of Nepal turning into another Burma….
“No doubt, American strategic interests in Tunisia and Nepal vary greatly – while the ‘war on terror’ is its focus in Northern Africa, checking the power of China is its primary interest in Nepal.”
“We only need to remember the protests against the Labor Day protests by the Maoists in May 2010 in Nepal, where texting (and to a lesser degree, other ‘new media’) played a significant role forcing the headstrong Maoists to abandon their program.”
The following is quite a conservative commentary — marked by its hostility to the Maoist revolutionary forces in Nepal.
But it reveals (in an interesting way) how tightly our world is connected now — and how the knocking down of a dictator in Tunisia provokes thoughts about the toppling of the King in Nepal — and reveals (from the musings on possibilities) how various forces look at the still-unresolved turmoil and stalemate in Nepal.
This piece obviously doesnot reflect the views of our site, but we share it because it is of interest to our readers. It first appeared in Nepal’s newspaper My Republica.
Reflections on the Jasmine Revolution
By DAULAT JHA
Popular revolutions are hard to predict. We can never tell when a movement will reach its tipping point, whether it will then succeed or be repressed, and if it succeeds, what path it will take: Will it consolidate the gains of the revolution or slide into anarchy, will a civilian government takeover or the military intervene. And so, when a 26-year old Tunisian frustrated at not finding a job despite his college degree and, more humiliatingly, disallowed from selling his wares on the street without an official permit immolated himself, few knew that this would culminate in the Jasmine Revolution. This single act of desperation has sent a dictator who brutally held power for 23 years into the arms of like-minded rulers in Saudi Arabia. It has sent tremors of revolt throughout the nations on the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea – from Jordan to Morocco, with Egypt, Libya and Algeria in between.
Clay Claiborne has blogged a number of reports on the events in Tunisia and Egypt, and shared them with Kasama. He recently wrote to Kasama:
“I think communists have a lot to learn from the whole hacker movement, particularly the Anonymous/WikiLeaks political action developments but communists also have a lot to teach.
“I also think that the North African revolts would not have achieved the victories it has, had these dictators been completely successful in 1) denying the movement the use of the Internet and 2) unfetter use of the Internet to track and imprison activists. It was unsuccessful in both of those goals because of the intervention of hackers on the side of the people. In that sense I think it can be argued that Anonymous has been the decisive factor in this struggle. I know that is a hell of a statement but there it is.
“I know a lot of people will dismiss that and point to the fact that the grass was really, really dry as the decisive factor but the grass has been try for a long time. Why is Cairo burning now?”
In a parallel thread, we have been discussing the impact of governments suddenly dropping an “electronic curtain,” denying the people access to modern communications (by cutting off mobile phones, internet, social media, etc.).
By Mike Ely
Just as a general principle, i think any revolutionary movement needs to employ an approach that combines:
High tech + low tech + no tech
Meaning:
We should exploit all the fresh opening that new technology affords us, but we should not strategically rely on it. And we should expect (to put it mildly) that determined opponents will seek to deny the revolutionary movements both internal and external communications exactly at those moments when they are needed.
There is discussion ( but not enough!) of the problems of online transparency: that the linkages of online networks makes ongoing unobtrusive surveillance easy, and brutal government countermeasures (like roundups) possible when conditions require it.
There is that other weakness of online communications:
It is a principle of warfare that your opponents seeks to deprive you of key logistics and command-and-control just when their loss is most damaging. And part of their strategy is to allow you the use of vulnerable media, and allow you to rely on vulnerable media in the preceding period — precisely in order to be able to decapitate and disperse your forces when the key tests of strength emerge.
A joint Muslim Brotherhood and Revolutionary Socialist protest against the Egyptian regime, August 14, 2005. (Nora Younis)
This piece originally appeared on MERIP’s site. Thanks to TNL for suggesting it.
Comrades and Brothers
by Hossam El-Hamalawy
Hossam El-Hamalawy is a Cairo-based journalist and blogger.
Emad Mubarak is a busy man. Director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, and a lawyer with the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the leftist Mubarak cannot hold a meeting without being interrupted by the ring of his cell phone.
The calls these days come from student members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the officially outlawed Islamist group that is Egypt’s largest political movement. The students call to report security service abuses against them on campuses, or to request his legal counsel while they undergo interrogation by university administrators.
“Each time I receive a call, I can’t help but remember the old days and what it was like being on campus with the Brothers,” Mubarak giggles.
The following exposure appeared on World Socialist Web Site. Thanks to Ehsivar for pointing it out.
WikiLeaks cable shows close US ties with new Egyptian vice president
By Joseph Kishore
31 January 2011 – On Saturday, the US-backed president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, announced that he was appointing Omar Suleiman, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, as his new vice president. Suleiman’s appointment to the long vacant position places him at the top of the line of succession for president if Mubarak leaves.
The news was greeted with contempt by the masses of Egyptian protesters who are demanding an end to Mubarak’s rule. In addition to having close ties with the military, Suleiman, as head of Egypt’s intelligence agency since 1993, has worked closely with the United States and Israel in suppressing the population of Egypt and the entire region.
A document released by WikiLeaks on Friday, reporting an April 21, 2009 meeting between Suleiman and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, further exposes the close ties between the US, Suleiman and the Egyptian government as a whole. The Obama administration continues to back the Mubarak regime because of the central role that he has played in maintaining US interests in the region.
Report on the rally at Utah State House, Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 24. Thanks to Gregory Lucero for suggesting this to Kasama. This article first appeared in Liberation.
Don’t let Utah become Arizona!’
Hundreds in Salt Lake City say no to anti-immigrant state bills
By Bill Wulle
In response to proposed racist, anti-immigrant state legislation, a rally coinciding with the first day of Utah’s legislative session was held at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City raising the demands “Don’t let Utah become Arizona!” and “Now is the time to stand up and fight back for immigrant rights!”
About 300 people gathered for the Jan. 24 rally organized by United for Social Justice, which focused on defending constitutional and workers’ rights. USJ demanded an end to the ICE raids and to the overall persecution of immigrant communities. The rally also promoted full equality in wages, jobs, voting, union rights, benefits, housing, health care, and education for everyone regardless of their immigration status.
In this Minimum Security sequence, the characters Bananabelle and Kranti have been locked up with many others in a makeshift pen after being rounded up at a protest. The liberal Butterfly woman furiously blames those who, in her opinion, overstepped the bounds of peaceful protest by breaking windows.
This illustrates the reality of horizontal hostility in the movement.
Too many times, people who would be better off objectively considering themselves allies, and coordinating their work accordingly, instead attack one another on the basis of tactics, or because they draw incorrect lines between ally and enemy.
It’s contradictory, because political liberalism represents the economic position of the petit bourgeoisie, and as we know, this class is not known for being particularly loyal to proletarian revolution. Betrayals at turning points are inevitable, and we can anticipate that, but also understand that in the meantime, alliances are crucial.
China has blocked the word ‘Egypt’ from the country’s wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.
China’s ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.
A search for ‘Egypt” on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying,
‘According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown.’
The service has more than 50 million users. News on the Egypt protests has been limited to a few paragraphs and photos buried inside major news websites, but China Central Television had a report on its midday broadcast. China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the events in Egypt.”
The internet has connected people in unprecedented ways. All kinds of things go viral — and apparently even the overthrowing of governments (at certain moments).
Not surprisingly governments have also developed means of cutting of these connections at key moments. Israel “dropped an electronic curtain” when they attacked Gaza. In Iran and now Egypt, governments attacked the social media as people took to the street. In China, Internet control, segmentation and surveillance has been built in. The U.S. (which claims to be pro-freedom of information) tried to turn theWikileaks availability into a crime.
We need to deepen our understanding of how to use social media better (in preparation of forces for resistance and uprising). And (at the same time) we need to think strategically of what it will mean when the state cuts them off (as will inevitably happen at some point of struggle).
“In reaction to the Egyptian government crackdown on the Internet, the French non-profit ISP French Data Network set up a dial-up Internet access. This way, anyone in Egypt who has access to a analog phone line and can call France is able to connect to the network using the following number: +33 1 72 89 01 50 (login: toto, password: toto).”
Thanks to Gary for sharing this essay with Kasama. It also appears on Dissident Voice.
by Gary Leupp
January 29th, 2011 — I’m watching live coverage of the Egyptian revolution on Al-Jazeera TV. Cairo is swarming with hundreds of thousands, defying the curfew, hurling stones at the police. The images recall the Palestinian youth waging their Intifadas. The National Democratic Party headquarters is in flames. Downtown Suez has been taken over by the people, two police stations torched. The security forces are out in strength and shooting into crowds. But the people have lost their fear.
Reporters and commentators on Al-Jazeera and other channels have no choice but to note that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is widely hated, and that those in the street are seeking freedom from a dictatorship. But they also keep saying “The situation is getting worse.”
Worse?
I think of Mao Zedong’s response to critics of peasant rebellion in China in 1927. He noted that “even progressive people” saw uprisings as “terrible.” “But it’s not terrible,” he declared. “It is anything but ‘terrible.’ It’s fine!”
Watching the live coverage, I see the people of Egypt, fed up with their oppression, and inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, doing something very, very fine. It is inspiring. It is profoundly hopeful.
Here are the details of demonstrations called in various cities. (Some are listed on the ANSWER Coalition page).
Seattle: A rally in support of the anti-government protests in Egypt will begin at noon Saturday in downtown Seattle’s Westlake Park.
Washington DC: EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Saturday, January 29
12 noon In front of the Egyptian Embassy — 3521 International Court Northwest
Los Angeles Saturday, January 29 11:30am – 4:30pm
Federal Building 11000 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles Sunday, January 30 12:00pm
Egyptian Consulate 4929 Wilshire Blvd.
San Francisco Saturday, January 29 12:00pm – 3:00pm Market St & Montgomery St
Atlanta Saturday, January 29 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm In front of the CNN Center 190 Marietta Street Northwest
Chicago Saturday, January 29 2:00pm Consulate General of Egypt 500 North Michigan Avenue
Boston Saturday, January 29 12:00pm – 4:00pm Harvard Square
Houston: Sunday, January 30 · 2:30pm – 3:30pm — Egyptian consulate in Houston. Capital One Tower 5718 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77057
Demonstrations are happening across the U.S. today — in support of the people of Egypt and their struggle against the U.S.-backed Mubarak regime. Kasama has received the following details of the planned actions in New York City.
Time: Saturday, January 29 · 1:00pm – 3:00pm Location New York City
Created by Egyptian diaspora in support of demonstrators in Egypt – Jan 25 & beyond, Ayman El-Sawa
More Info
Demonstration this Saturday in front of the UN building in NY (1st Ave. & 47 St.) between 1-3 PM .. bring your flags signs and come an join us in supporting our sisters and brothers in Egypt ..
To All of our friends in Solidarity Movements
Please join us to support our sisters and brothers in Egypt in their uprising against the Egyptian Government brutalities and tortures.
…
On January 25th, more than 200,000 Egyptians took to the streets in a peaceful demonstration against the corruption of the Egyptian Government, poverty, torture and forgery, and were faced with an army of government police and special forces.
The police used teargas bombs, rubber bullets (and in some cities steal fire bullets), electric shock weapons, armored trucks, water hoses against an unarmed crowd of men ,women and children.
Come show your solidarity with the Egyptian people in their fight to regain their freedom, and against corruption and torture
Demonstration Location: In front of the UN building (1st Ave, 47 St.)
Date/Time: Saturday 29th, from 1-3 PM
Workers occupy Egypt's largest textile factory in El Mahalla in 2007.
The uprising in Egypt demands the attention of communists and revolutionaries in general. If we want to make sense of events there, however, we need some grounding in Egypt’s prior history of struggle. The following piece from Solidarity’s journal Against The Current covers some of the major points in that history and raises some issues (the role of Nasserism and the national question) that undoubtedly demand further discussion. As always, publication on Kasama does not imply an endorsement of the views expressed in this piece but is rather an invitation to discussion for suggestions of other useful readings.
According to a report published by Reuters on July 13, 2009 , 77 million of the 80 million Egyptians live on less than $ 1 a day. Around 30 % of the workforce is unemployed, 7 % of children miss schools because of poverty. There are no fewer than 100 thousand homeless/ street kids. While Egypt’s official foreign debt is around 12 billion dollars, several of Mubarak’s corrupt ruling elites have stolen almost half this figure from Egyptian banks without guarantees and left the country with this money.
THE EGYPTIAN WORKING class is one of the oldest in the region, with a long history of internationalist solidarity. Egyptian loading and longshoremen workers in 1947, for example, boycotted the Dutch ship in Canal Suez in solidarity with the Indonesian people’s independence struggle. The union of the workers issued a statement against colonialism in general. They did not allow the ship to service or go through the Canal despite the resistance and efforts made by English and French administrators. Read the rest of this entry »
“There is great disorder under heaven. The situation is excellent.”
By Gary
“A single spark,” Mao Zedong wrote in 1930, “can start a prairie fire.” He was referring to the potential of a peasant uprising somewhere in China to ignite a nationwide revolutionary conflagration.
A spark has been ignited in the Arab world, home to some 360 million people suffering under some of the worst dictatorships that exist today. A 26 year old college student and street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set a match to himself in front of a government building in a town in Tunisia, protesting the government’s policy on licensing street sales. His death immediately made him a hero and martyr and brought down a hated regime.
When I think of self-immolation as political protest, I think of Buddhist monks in Vietnam who could draw upon such scriptures as the Lotus Sutra to validate this form of protest. (In that text a boddhisattva anoints his body with fragrant oil and sets fire to his body, illuminating countless worlds, and the Buddha praises him.) But Tunisia is a Muslim country. Who could have expected this act of protest, and what it’s led to?
The following article is fascinating from many sides. 
