by Nebojsa Malic, March 27, 2003Two weeks ago, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was shot and killed by a sniper bullet. His successors immediately declared a "state of emergency" - in effect, martial law - of undetermined duration, and launched a massive police operation to crack down on alleged crime syndicates suspected of Djindjic`s murder. Djindjic was given a full state funeral and numerous eulogies in the Western press, before news of His Most Democratic Majesty`s invasion of Iraq pushed Serbia out of the limelight.As Imperial forces, confident after terror-bombing Serbia into submission in 1999, fought against unexpectedly stiff Iraqi resistance, Djindjic`s successors reaffirmed Serbia`s vassal status by expelling Iraqi diplomats. Meanwhile, at home, they reveled in power over … [read more]

Statement by Sloboda (Freedom Association)Yesterday and today, several members of SLOBODA, SPS and YUL have been arrested. For some of them, home apartments and offices have been searched by the police. At least three of them have been kept in detention. After SLOBODA reacted today with the statement bellow and with a press conference, and some electronic media started quoting our position, the regime ordered all such reports to be stopped. Than, this evening, the police appeared with its statements, announcing that "Mira Markovic is in Russia" and informing that some comrades have been kept in detention. They gave no real explanation. In the case of Bogoljub Bjelica, chairman of SLOBODA they said "Continuing the investigation of the hardest crimes and collecting the evidence in order to … [read more]

By WaWa, 29 March 2003, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaOn 29 March 2003, the wave of mass resistance against US & their allies imperialist war on Iraq again happened in Malaysia.Two big anti war protest and rallies happened in capital Kuala Lumpur, one led by the Anti War Coalition- comprised of the NGOs, Student Groups and Opposition Parties at KLCC-tallest twin towers at downtown. Another one led by the ruling party led Coalition of party & NGOs. (call AMAN- Peace) at national square-Dataran Merdeka.The Aman- Peace was fully supported by all the state mechanism, even their rally was protected and allowed to be gathered & happened by police. Only 1,500 people gathered. By yet got all the media coverage!However, the Anti War Coalition led by the opposition was not given permission by polices to … [read more]

By Harsh ThakorThe agrarian Struggles taking place in Punjab have great political significance. Through the Punjab Agricultural Labourers Union, the Poor peasants and agricultural workers have been organized, while through the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) the landed and small sections of the rich peasantry have been organized. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Unity) has a long history of leading secular anti-Imperialist peasant struggles. It has been a major base to launch an agrarian revolutionary movement. In Punjab in the green revolution period it was propagated that agriculture was revolutionized as new machinery was imported and loans were awarded to farmers. However only rich farmers benefited from the mechanization and loans. In Punjab today there is an economic crisis as a … [read more]

Mr Hasan Hamdar, a Lebanese citizen who has lived in Germany for many years and who is married to a German was arrested at the Airport in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday 13 of March. Today it is his sixth day of detention. He was part of a Berlin delegation of Human Shields on their way to Bagdad.The delegation was kept at the airport as long as ten hours and was forced to stay there. When they left they tried to contact Mr Hamdar but were unable to get any information about whether he was still retained at the airport or possibly moved to the omnipotent Jordan secret service.The Lebanese Consul in Amman has confirmed that Mr Hamdar is being retained at the airport. She said he would soon be released but she could not say whether he would be able to move freely in Amman or whether he would be … [read more]

Interview with a leader of the Bolivarian Movement, Rome, 10 January 2003What is the situation in Venezuela after 42 days of general strike by the Opposition Coordination?These 42 days have deeply affected the Venezuelan economy which is mainly based on oil. Nevertheless, the PADVSA, the national oil company, did not succeed in its plan to overthrow president Chavez and stop the Bolivarian process.Just in these days the government is removing from the PDVSA those officials belonging to the merit-reward system based oligarchy; it is an important change within the PDVSA structure.Actually, the subversive plan was conceived by Luis Giusti, former PDVSA president, who announced in an American newspaper, the Miami Herald, how it was possible to destabilize and overthrow the Venezuelan … [read more]

Contribution for the Anti-imperialist Camp in Italy, 2003The forthcoming camp is scheduled for the first week of September1-6.The US and their allies are about to unleash an inferno over Iraq. It will mark a new climax of the ongoing genocide against the descendants of the demiurges of civilisation. In a delirium of omnipotence they no not bother much to cover their intentions. The credibility of their arguments such as human rights and democracy justifying their aggression vanished as it was the US to drive the appalling embargo and to support dictatorial puppet regimes in the entire region. Their main concern seems to be to preserve their monopoly for holding and using arms of mass destruction. In order to keep their supremacy they have threatened to apply them – and history shows … [read more]

We have recently received an appeal by Prof. J asking us to help him. Prof. J is an anti-fascist fighter who opposed Pinochet´s regime and for this reason he is still being prosecuted by the Chilean military police which accuses him of having killed general Urzua, one of the most important leading figures of Pinochets junta. Because of this charge Prof J is also prosecuted by the Interpol. During the Anti-imperialist Camp in Assisi, last year, he was arrested by the Italian police and expelled to South Africa. He suffered there imprisonment and for many days the South African authorities denied his presence in their country. Thanks to our massive campaign denouncing the unjust prosecution of Prof. J by the Chilean military, the South African authorities denied Chile request for Prof. … [read more]

by Harsh Thakor On March 10th 1996 a historic event took place in Selbrah village of Bhatinda district in Punjab. It was the founding day of the Lok Morcha, a revolutionary democratic front formed as a mass revolutionary platform to build the revolutionary movement. This front had it´s origin in the Front against repression and communalism, which was formed to combat the Khalistani terrorism and the State terrorism in the days of the Khalistani movement. The main purpose of founding the Morcha was to project a democratic revolutionary alternative in the present rotten set up. The Morcha vowed to discredit the anti-people ruling class parties. In India the people fed up with the autocratic ruling class parties who failed to answer their burning questions like unemployment, … [read more]

12 March 2003 - Press Release by AddameerPolitical prisoners in Jericho Central Prison begin open-ended hunger strike in protest of arbitrary proceduresAddameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association views with great concern new developments that have taken place against Palestinian Authority political prisoners being detained at Jericho Central Prison. Beginning 11 March 2003, the administration of the prison launched a series of arbitrary and inhumane measures against the political detainees, including: - banning visits to the detainees, including family visits; - banning recreational time outside of prison cells and outdoors; - banning daily newspapers, mail and telephone use for detaineesThe detainees were informed yesterday that the prison administration, based on … [read more]

by Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights AssociationAddameer welcomes the release of Abla Sa`adat, while 65 Palestinian women remain in Israeli prisons on International Women`s DayAddameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association welcomes the release of Mrs. `Abla Sa`adat, arrested on her way to the World Social Forum on 21 January 2003 and subsequently given a 4 month administrative detention order. She was released on the morning of 7 March 2003 and, just as her arrest, was not given a reason for her early release. However, as we also commemorate International Women`s Day today, we also remember the remaining 65 Palestinian female detainees currently being held by Israel in the Neveh Terzah section of Ramleh Prison. Of the 65 Palestinian women being detained, 10 are … [read more]

Discussions whether to protect civilian or strategic targetsSome hundred people from the Western world followed the call to serve as human shields in Iraq. As the US aggression is approaching there are intensive discussion among the participants about the scope and aim of the mission. As the group is highly heterogeneous it different opinions prevail.There is an important mainly Anglo-Saxon tendency which combines naïve pacifism with an overestimation of their own role. O´Keefe, ex-marine who apparently has kept the behaviour of American soldiers, is their protagonist trying to impose himself as leader of the entire movement. They retain that the human shields would be able to detain the US from attacking and that the war still can be averted. Therefore, according to them, the human … [read more]

BaghdadWe would like to inform the public that on Monday March 3rd 2003 an international group of 5 Human Shields composed of 2 Italians, 1 Sardinian, 1 British citizen and 1 Austrian have deployed to the Al-Mamoun Communication Centre in Baghdad. Important services located in this building such as post and telegraph which are of vital importance for the population. An air strike against this communication centre would endanger the lives of Iraqis as well as the international activists. The Human Shields at the Al-Mamoun Communication CentreBaghdad, March 5, … [read more]

We urgently call on all Human Shields coming to Iraq to bring with them many medications needed to treat children afflicted with leukemia as a result of the use of depleted uranium during the Gulf War and the continuous bombings. This weapons component becomes a long-lived radioactive dust upon use and attacks unborn children, when their mothers breathe this dust while pregnant. The medications needed to treat children are permitted under the U.N. 661 sanctions committee but cannot be obtained in a timely manner. Impediments and delays have been written into the procurement procedures, largely by the United States, so that when the medications are finally cleared for use the are already near or at their expiration date. Before the Gulf War 75% of Iraqi children were cured of leukemia by … [read more]

by Communist Workers Peasants Party, PakistanKarachi, Feb 28: A big rally was brought out in Karachi today against American aggressive war on Iraq under the smokescreen of "disarming Saddam Hussein". Thousands of people including women, children, students, writers, film and TV artists, journalists, social workers, doctors, lawyers and political activists, trade union workers and leaders participated in the demonstration for their venom against US imperialist design in the Middle East. The rally was organized by several organizations under the auspicious of Citizens Committee Against War, in which Communist Workers-Peasants Party, Pakistan (CMKP), Communist Party of Pakistan, Labor Party of Pakistan, National Workers Party, Pakistan People´s Party (Saheed Bhutto), Tehrek-e-Insaf, Irtiqa … [read more]

Interview with Ahmed Karim, National Democratic Communist Movement of IraqAuthorised interview with Ahmed Karim, leader of the National Democratic Communist Movement founded in 2001. Karim is of Kurdish origin and has been member of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) since 1954. Most of his life he has been representative for the party in Eastern European countries leading the party´s radio broadcasting services.Q: How would you characterise the Iraqi Communist Party of today? The ICP is an opportunist party indirectly helping imperialism. Its leadership has switched sides and want the war in order to topple Saddam. But you cannot say that it has turned altogether into a reactionary force. The leadership is not prepared to guide the membership. They do not function as a party, they are not … [read more]

by James BrooksFebruary 12, 2001: In the war-ravaged neighborhoods of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a barrage of collective punishment after soldiers were shot at by Palestinian gunmen. Machinegun fire and tank shells rained down on the refugee camps, a fusillade that lasted long into the night. But the Israeli army chose that afternoon to introduce a new and mysterious gas weapon to a defenceless population. To ensure its delivery, the soldiers fired the gas canisters into the streets, courtyards, and houses of the Khan Younis and Gharbi refugee camps.The people of Khan Younis are utterly familiar with teargas; their neighborhood has long been known as one of the most heavily teargassed areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). But … [read more]

The Islamic regime of Iran executed Sassan Al-kanan(m), aged 35, in the prison of Sanandaj , the capital of Kurdistan province on 19 February 2003. On 5 Jaunary 2003, Branch 1 of the Islamic"Revolutionary" Court in Sanandaj sentenced Sassan to death on various charges, including "acting against state security" and "supporting Komala Organisation. Sassan denied all the charges during interrogation and hearing. On 16 January , a well informed judicial official in Sanandaj announced that two armed members of Komala visited Sassan while they were in town. He added that they were about to be arrested but could run away by the help of Sassan and two of others.The sentence upheld by Supreme Court on 10 February 2003. Sassan was not given a chance to appeal and his lawyer was not informed about … [read more]

KMU News Release, February 22, 2003The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today raised strong alarm on the imminent participation of US troops in direct combat operations against the ragtag kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and said that this could effect far more destruction on the Filipino people`s lives and the failing economy. The labor group also blamed the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government and her blatant patronage to the US-led war of aggression as the primary reason for the comprehensive deterioration of the country`s social conditions."KMU Secretary for Federation Affairs Joel Maglunsod strongly argued that Abu Sayyaf is not the real target of US military presence in the country. "The so-called pursuit operations against the ASG is just a grand cover-up … [read more]

On February 8 and 9 more than 200 Iraqi oppositionists gathered in Paris. Among them Baath break-away groups, numerous communists including the leader of the "National Democratic Communist Movement" founded in 2001, and also Kurdish and Islamic forces. They all share the view that facing the impending US aggression on their country it is necessary to be on the side of their country, to defend it. They are searching for national reconciliation without dropping their opposition to the Baghdad regime.By the end of last year a delegation of "Iraqi National Coalition" conducted talks with the authorities agreeing on a three point programme to be implemented from now on: preparations for a new constitution, a new party law providing for a multi party system and a new press law. The congress … [read more]