“For a militant global women’s movement in the 21st century”

BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)

by Ashley Matthew & Pet Cleto

August 16, 2010 now marks the formation of the International Women’s Alliance. On that sunny historic day in Montreal, over 300 women representing some 130 countries together declared the creation of a global anti-imperialist alliance of feminist and women’s groups. Through the International Women’s Conference workshops that were held over the course of that weekend, avenues were opened for delegates to discuss several topics, and then convened to declare the birth of the alliance, agree on its bases of unity, and form an action plan.

...and mobilize against Berlusconi regime’s attempts to criminalize their work

BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)

by Steve da Silva

What are people supposed to do when fascist and racist gangs are multiplying in society, at the instigation, and with the tacit approval. of the political regime? Is this not the prelude to fascism, the political regime experimenting with blends and species of racism and bigotry to see which best achieves the reactionary mobilization of the population behind war, state terror, repression, and xenophobia?

This is the situation in contemporary Italy (and of course, many other countries), where the racist and reactionary political regime of Silvio Berlusconi - Italy’s billionaire Prime Minister - has utilized racist, criminal, and fascist organizations to split the ranks of working-class at a time when their interests are under serious attack. One such manifestation of this brewing fascism was the recent emergence of fascist anti-immigrant patrols throughout Italy.

BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)

by Jeremias DeCastero

Since 1946, Colombia has been in a state of civil war. Violence is routinely deployed against trade unionists (since 1996 almost 3000 unionists have been killed), left-wing political parties (well over 3000 people including 3 Presidential candidates were killed from one party alone), indigenous, Afro-Colombians, women, peasants, students, workers, community organizers, and of course, the guerrillas in the countryside. In 2009, a mass grave of civilians was discovered that is without a doubt the product of killings committed by the military (see photo).

Recently, Colombia signed an agreement with the U.S., granting it usage of 7 Colombian bases, supposedly for the ‘War on Drugs’, but most certainly to be directed against the guerrilla groups and any future war with Venezuela.

BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)

by Noaman G. Ali & N. Zahra

One cannot deny that the floods that have devastated Pakistan since July 2010 have a basis in nature. However, to ascribe the death and displacement of tens of millions of people to something ‘natural’ obscures how American imperialism and the Pakistani ruling classes’ objectives have influenced the situation.

A scandal has recently emerged in Pakistan as reports claimed that in order to save a U.S. airbase in Sindh province, flood waters were diverted, consequently displacing 800,000 people and destroying hundreds of homes. According to reports, Pakistan’s Minister of Sports, Mr. Ejaz Jakhrani, along with soldiers and provincial government officials, entered the area in the middle of the night between August 13 and 14 in order to divert the flood waters from the base that has been in U.S. military hands since the so-called ‘War on Terror’ began in 2001.

Pragash Pio - BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)

The August 13 arrival of the MV Sun Sea, with 492 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka—380 men, 63 women and 49 children—has been met by a wave of racism and xenophobic hostility in Canada. Unfounded accusations of terrorism and human trafficking spread by the Government of Sri Lanka and regurgitated by Canadian officials have further confused the matter, leading many to question the legitimacy of the refugees’ claims.

However, Canada has a long history of racism against all types of asylum seekers and migrants of colour (for one example, see Sikander Panag’s article on the Komagata Maru on pg. 3), which is now being played off by the Sri Lankan government.

Last year, the MV Ocean Lady arrived with another group of 76 Tamil asylum seekers. The Sri  Lankan government accused them of being Tamil Tiger militants, a claim parroted by Canadian authorities. All these accusations were discredited as unfounded after a series of long and costly legal battles. The refugees were cleared by Canadian authorities and allowed to begin their refugee claims.

By Charlie Hinton and Kiilu Nyasha

BASICS Online - August 2010

by Eric Ribellarsi, Reporting from Nepal - BASICS Issue #20 July/Aug 2010

(Reprinted with permission from author - Originally printed at firecollective.org)

Going into May, Nepal’s Maoist movement put forward a series of demands, particularly the resignation of Prime Minister M.K. Nepal. He represents a corrupt party called the Unified Marxist Leninists (UML), a status quo party with Indian backing and Marxist-Leninist in name only. This man, who lost two elections and came to power through a coup d’etat, has seen to it at every turn that the peaceful restructuring of Nepal’s society would be impossible. He has stood in the way of the peace process by blocking the restructuring of the Nepal Army, denying federal autonomy to Nepal’s oppressed nationalities, and ensuring the protection of India’s interests in Nepal.

The Maoists and their supporters prepared for the possibility of insurrection, “a final conflict” as the Maoists put it, if those demands were not met and if the conditions for revolution were there. Nepal was shaken as nearly a million people took to the streets in the capital city alone, and the economy came to a grinding halt during the following general strike. Demonstrators moved with incredible discipline and organization, systematically shutting down the city, sometimes in celebratory ways.