For a second consecutive year, an International Week of Solidarity with the People’s War in India will be held from January 14 to 22. Various actions will happen in several countries to support the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the popular revolution against imperialism it currently leads.

Here in Canada, the Revolutionary Communist Party is calling for a rally outside the Indian Embassy in Ottawa, on Saturday, January 21 at 1pm. The rally will show our solidarity with all those who are fighting for freedom and the emancipation of our millions of brothers and sisters in India. We will loudly condemn the complicity of the Canadian imperialist state in aiding India in the brutal suppression of the aspirations of the people. We will also take the opportunity to honour the memory of Comrade Kishenji, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), who was recently tortured and murdered after being lured into an ambush.

–> Read the solidarity statement signed by a dozen of organizations including the PCR-RCP Canada (French only).

–> A rough translation of the statement is available on the Signalfire blog.

–> Download the campaign poster.

Comrade Kishenji’s life was well-spent, dedicated to building the peoples’ war in northern and eastern India as a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Peoples’ War). He also worked toward building unity among his party, the Maoist Communist Centre of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Party Unity), separate Maoist parties with whom the CPI(ML)(PW) often fought, and his work culminated in the unification of these three groups into the CPI (Maoist), known also as the Naxalites, the group now waging this heroic peoples’ war.

The authorities claim that the capture and killing of comrade Kishenji followed a two-hour gun battle. While this story is almost certainly false, given that there was not one reported casualty on the government side, it is telling that even in slander the tireless fighting spirit of this revolutionary hero shines through. The only believable story these murderers could concoct is that comrade Kishenji died fighting to the last breath for the liberation of his beloved people.

The allegation of torture came from his niece, P. Varvara Rao, who identified the body as her uncle’s and noted the presence of clear indicators of torture.

In retaliation for this affront, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has called for a week of protest, including meetings, rallies, road blocks and strikes across the country. His final rites, which also happened during this week, was attended by thousands to whom Kishenji was a friend, comrade, and beloved inspiration.

This is not the first time the authorities have resorted to such underhanded tactics in their fight against the legitimate interests of the people. In July 2010, a similar ruse was used to ambush comrade Azad, another senior member of the CPI-Maoist’s Central Committee and Politburo.

That the heroic struggle of the Naxalites continues its forward march despite significant losses such as these shows that their strength, their source of power and inspiration is truly rooted in the people. It is the people and the people alone who can forever defeat the capitalist predators and establish a new society, a socialist society based on mutual liberation and solidarity. It is this power, the power of the working class and oppressed people to revolutionize society which the PCR-RCP is working to harness and organize into a force capable of making history. To comrade Kishenji, we offer up our most solemn red salute.

Lal Salaam!

–> Excerpt from the Partisan newspaper, published by the PCR-RCP Information Bureau.

–> Read the solidarity statement from Maoist parties and organizations.

The PCR-RCP Political Information Bureau

–> Read the press release in which the 17 co-accused explained their decision.

–> Read the full report.

Throughout the following statement, we’ll do our best to keep things short and concise. It’s been a tumultuous few days and even now piecing together a narrative out of the events that transpired is difficult. Nonetheless we’ll try and do the following: 1) give a background to our own involvement in Occupy Ottawa; 2) give a narrative of the difficulties we faced; and 3) offer constructive suggestions as to what needs to be fixed in the camp.

–> Read the whole statement from the uOMSA and Ottawa’s PCR-RCP.

All around the world our societies are in crisis. This is something obvious. On the one hand, the economy is collapsing; on the other, outraged peoples of the world are rising up en masse. From one continent to another, a righteous anger rises and spreads.

The conditions for a social explosion are ripening —a rare opportunity for those aspiring towards a better world.

What kind of movement do we need?

The first obstacle rearing itself in the wind of popular protest is the possibility of being led astray, into dead ends. Several have suggested that we —the oppressed and indignant of the world— take part in a moral crusade against the “abuses and excesses” of those in power. Fundamentally, this view dismisses the idea that the problems are deeply structural; rather the solution lies in removing a few bad apples!

It is therefore a huge waste of good will to moralize over this corrupt politician or that greedy speculator. This moralistic approach is akin to mitigating the symptoms rather than correctly diagnosing and curing the disease. Rescuing capitalist society through reforms will not help us shed the illusion of “democracy” embodied in these woeful parliamentary spectacles. The pillars of our so-called civilization are crumbling. Let us stop supporting them and hasten their collapse. We can aim for and achieve much better than a reformed capitalism.

Behind the symptoms are the root causes of injustice and crisis.

We live under capitalism. This seems an obvious statement, but there are grave consequences for the people. The entirety of our society is organized according to a blind and tyrannical objective: the rapacious accumulation of profits. This race to accumulate capital is fueled by the exploitation of workers and the squandering of natural resources. Capitalism ultimately benefits a minority —a social class composed primarily of bosses, bankers and politicians.

Capitalist accumulation determines the rates of employment and unemployment (through the creation of a vast reserve army of labourers), wages, forced migration, state budgets and so on. It disregards the livelihoods of our friends and families, breaks up strikes and unions, lays industrial waste in our rivers, triggers wars and colonizes peoples. Since 2008, this system of capitalist accumulation painfully and violently plunged the world into deep economic and social crises.

The laws of capitalism —not simply the excesses of this or that institution or individual— are the true sources of injustice from which we need to free ourselves. Our future lies in their disappearance.

We want a future where working people collectively determine a planned economy through truly democratic processes. In other words, we want a society not where production is geared towards the accumulation of capital, but production geared toward the needs of the entire human population instead. This will ensure that everybody will enjoy the right to decent living conditions, where everybody can develop their creative capacities. Only Communism can bring about such a society.

How to break with the capitalist system?

Like all outdated modes of production and political regimes, capitalism will also disappear. Historically, it has had its day and that is why it is everywhere overwhelmed by increasing difficulties. Unfortunately, capitalism cannot simply be reduced to a system of abstract and anonymous economic laws. It is not just an outdated idea that we can simply refute in our minds. It is also the real domination of a powerful ruling class —the bourgeoisie— that owns the means of production and they are ever more determined to avoid being swept away from the stage of history. This reactionary ruling class will inflict on us every possible crisis rather than give up its privileges.

The basis on which we will crush capitalism and its injustices is necessarily that of the class struggle. History cannot progress until the final defeat of the bourgeoisie by the proletarian class, the workers subjugated under capitalist domination and exploitation.

The revolution is to be built by the action we are taking today.

Despite being engulfed in economic crises, the bourgeoisie remains a tough opponent. This class controls production, finance, and corporate media. Above all, the bourgeoisie relies on a state that is shaped by and defends its interests. And despite what many would like to believe, even though it is minority class, it is certainly more than 1% of the population and has many faithful servants! Only a socialist revolution can isolate, disarm, and get rid of such a parasitical class.

A revolution does not just happen, nor does it triumph by chance. A revolution is the product of a conscious and long-term struggle led by thousands of proletarian people, people that are as ordinary as they are heroic. People who make the first decisive action to engage in the struggle.

Some proposals we can uphold right now are:

1) To discuss and share our collective problems and to convince those around us of the necessity of class struggle in order to radically transform society. We need to combat systems of oppression, such as sexism, racism, and all forms of chauvinisms aimed at dividing the camp of the people.

2) To organize in our workplaces, our schools and our neighborhoods by establishing committees for socialist revolution. Such committees could serve as the basis for circulating revolutionary ideas: by distributing newspapers and leaflets, by organizing events and actions, for example denouncing public services cuts, acting in solidarity with strikers, occupying a factory, responding to racial profiling by the police and ‘justice’ system, acting against a polluting industry, etc.

3) To build the revolutionary organization capable of uniting the proletariat and leading the fight for socialism.

In Montréal: To discuss or get involved, comme see the PCR-RCP comrades at the Maison Norman Béthune bookstore (1918, rue Frontenac, near the Frontenac metro station), or write at info (at) pcr-rcp.ca.

We strongly condemn the most recent repressive offensive by the Montreal police (SPVM) whose aim is to criminalize, intimidate and isolate several political organizations. We also condemn the formation of a political police squad (entitled “GAMMA”), which is a unit of the SPVM’s organized crime division.

We are not preoccupied about whether the formation of GAMMA was planned long in advance, or whether it’s just another police blunder. We know very well that political profiling did not begin with the GAMMA squad, and it won’t end with its abolition; just as we know that the Eclipse squad1 does not target “street gangs” as much as youth of colour.

In a context of the tightening grip of capitalism and the deepening marginalization of social movements and political groups, it’s essential to take action against all attacks against our communities. If we let them attack one community, they will have free reign to target all social movements. Against the strategy of divide-and-rule, we must unite!

Our freedom of association, demonstration and speech is not only legal but legitimate. Our freedom to dissent is not something we beg for, but something we assert daily.

Whereas:

- the economic and political elites hide behind a bankrupt pseudo-democratic system to profit themselves at exponential speed;
- this parasitic elite must justify its antisocial policies by increasing repression;
- that the various police agencies act as barrier to the mobilization and revolt of people against an unjust system;
- that the various police agencies not only protect their own abuses, but are political actors in destabilizing social movements;

• We denounce any political role by the SPVM and other police agencies.
• We denounce the criminalization and stigmatization of political dissidence and our opinions.
• We denounce all forms of political, racial or social profiling.
• We denounce all efforts to smear our movements.

By signing this statement, we are also engaging not to collaborate, in any way whatsoever, with police agencies in their tactics of division, profiling, snitching and dividing political movements.

Initial list of signatories:

[Organizations] Association de défense des droits sociaux du Montréal-métropolitain (ADDS-MM); Association facultaire étudiante de science politique et droit de l’UQAM (AFESPED-UQAM); BASICS Community News Service-Toronto; Centre d’appui aux Philippines / Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC); Centre de ressources éducatives et communautaires pour adultes (CRÉCA); Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs (CFIA); la Coalition Justice pour Anas; Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP); Comité des sans-emploi (CSE); Comité pour un Secours rouge canadien; L’En-Droit de Laval; Fédération de l’Union communiste libertaire (UCL); Fédération des locataires d’habitations à loyer modique du Québec (FLHLMQ); Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU); Groupe de recherche et d’intérêt public (GRIP-UQAM); Illusion-Emploi-Sherbrooke; Immigrant Workers Center (IWC-CTI); Librairie anarchiste l’Insoumise; International League of People’s Struggles – Canada; Mouvement Action-Chômage de Montréal (MAC-Montréal); Mouvement autonome et solidaire des sans-emploi (MASSE); Mouvement d’éducation populaire autonome et d’action communautaire du Québec (MÉPACQ); No One Is Illegal-Montréal (NOII); Pointe libertaire; POPIR Comité logement; Projet accompagnement et solidarité Colombie (PASC); Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP Canada); Red and Anarchists Skinheads - Montréal (RASH Montréal); Réseau de la Commission populaire (RCP); Réseau du Forum social de Québec Chaudière-Appalaches; Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes (RQGE); Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia; Société bolivarienne du Québec; Solidarité populaire Estrie; Solidarité sans frontières (SSF).

[Individuals] Janik Bastien Charlebois, professeure de sociologie (UQAM); Francis Dupuis-Déri, professeur de science politique (UQAM); Eric Pineault, professeur de sociologie (UQAM); Alain-G. Gagnon, professeur de science politique (UQAM); Marie Nathalie LeBlanc, présidente, Société canadienne d'anthropologie/Canadian Society for Anthropology (CASCA), professeure de Sociologie (UQAM); François Gauthier, professeur de sciences des religions (UQAM); Lawrence Olivier, professeur de science politique (UQAM); Eve Paquette, professeure de sciences des religions (UQAM); Marc-André Éthier, professeur (Université de Montréal); Michel Seymour, professeur de philosophie (Université de Montréal); Laurent McFalls, professeur de science politique (Université de Montréal); Rémi Bachand, professeur de sciences juridiques (UQAM); Christian Vanasse, conseiller municipal, St-Jude; Hans Marotte, avocat; Jacques Beaudoin, avocat; Sibel Ataogul, avocate; Dominique Caouette, professeur de science politique, directeur, Centre d’études de l’Asie de l’Est (CETASE) Université de Montréal.

An updated version of the list of signatories is available at www.clac-montreal.net/node/223.

[1] [Ed.] The Eclipse squad was established in 2008 by the SPVM with the official objective of fighting street gangs. It rapidly became notorious for its systematic racial profiling practices.

Update (07/18/11): The four defendants appeared again this morning at the Montreal Palais de Justice. As expected, the prosecution has requested —and won— a hardening of their release conditions. The defendants will have to abstain to take part in any 'non-peaceful' demonstration or leave any demonstration that would become illegal. They will also have to refrain from carrying placards, flags or sticks. Two of them will also have to refrain from wearing a scarf, a mask or carrying a backpack if they participate in a demonstration. The next court date was set for Tuesday, September 20.

Update (07/13/11): The four individuals who have been arrested and charged went in court this morning. The Crown disclosed its evidence to the defendants. It also asked for a hardening of their release conditions. The hearing was then postponed to Monday, July 18.

-> Arrestations politiques à Montréal (version française).

-> Arrestaciones políticas en Montreal (versión en español).

-> Arresti politici a Montreal (versione italiana).

Montréal, July 5th — On June 29th, 2011, the Anti-Gang unit of the Montréal Police Service’s Organized Crime Division arrested four political activists —including Patrice Legendre, a communist worker and supporter of the RCP. The police searched their homes and arrested them in connection with the most recent May First demonstration, organized by Montréal’s Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC). Nearly 30 officers were involved in the operation, which occurred early in the day.

According to the investigator who headed the whole operation, nine officers were injured, some seriously, during an altercation at the May First demonstration. More on the demonstration is available in issue 3 of the communist newspaper Partisan. The four activists who were arrested were detained and then released on a promise to appear on July 13 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse in Montréal. They have been charged with a number of offenses, from “assault with a weapon” to “assaulting a police officer,” “obstruction of justice” and “possession of a weapon with intent to cause harm.”

During the May First demonstration in the streets of Montréal, at which nearly 1,500 people were in attendance, the police provoked an altercation by trying to arrest, for reasons unknown, a militant who was widely known as the photographer for Partisan newspaper. As one would expect, dozens of protesters responded by confronting the police, telling them to release the activist they were trying to arrest. Obviously unprepared, the police chose to retreat.

The operation on June 29th was clearly carried out with very little basis. The content of the interrogation to which the arrested activists were subjected as well as the presence of an investigator from the “Integrated National Security Enforcement Team” suggests that there were other motives behind the operation.

First, we can assume the arrests were motivated by revenge, as the police will always want to “get back” at those who cause them to suffer a defeat —as was the case at the May First demonstration, where demonstrators stopped them from arbitrarily and inexcusably arresting one of the activists involved. The cops had egg on their faces and somebody needed to pay for it. Without any evidence to go on, the police decided to go after a few well-known activists, some of whom express their views openly. The demonstration was used as a pretext to criminalize their political involvement and, what’s more, the communist views they defend. Recall that in recent weeks, the RCP began publishing a bilingual, biweekly newspaper, Partisan, and has been distributing it in major cities in Ontario and Québec, and has also started organizing workers in the Revolutionary Workers Movement (Mouvement Ouvrier Révolutionnaire, MRO). Its struggle against capitalism and exploitation is taking new forms and is moving forward, and the police, we can assume, are not fond of that.

Investigators also said they had started monitoring Maison Norman Bethune —a bookstore run by the Information Bureau of the RCP— the day after the May First demonstration. Many activists frequent the bookstore, attending events and getting involved in the cause of revolution. It seems as though the police wanted to “go on a fishing expedition” to find somebody guilty of something so they could draw attention away from their own petty and provocative behavior at the May First Demonstration.

Further, information collected by the RCP Information Bureau suggests the police who carried out these arrests tried to implicate the RCP, and Patrice Legendre in particular, in three previous incidents, including one that happened a year ago in Trois-Rivières, where an explosive device shattered the doors of a recruitment office for the Canadian Forces. A group calling itself “Résistance Internationaliste” claimed responsibility for this act and since it happened the police have not solved the case.

Curiously, the day after the arrests in Montréal, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team installed a command post for three days in Trois-Rivières across from the recruiting office in order, they said, “to collect new information and validate some leads described as ‘very serious’.” The police then presented pictures of the four arrested activists to the people of Trois-Rivières, hoping somebody could implicate them in one way or another.

The operation on June 29th was no accident. It comes at a time when the bourgeois state in Canada is on the offensive in criminalizing political struggle and the activists who are involved in it. We need only look at the G20 summit in June 2010 in Toronto, where over a thousand people were illegally arrested, to verify this. In recent years, dozens of activists, among them some from the RCP, have been harassed at home and work by the infamous “Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.”

The Revolutionary Communist Party harshly condemns this cowardly operation, which was politically motivated. It is doomed to failure and will backfire on those who planned it. The RCP is actively campaigning to denounce the arrests and obtain full and unconditional release of those arrested. We thank the many individuals and groups who have already expressed their outrage and solidarity following the June 29th arrests.

Denounce political intimidation! Defend our right to fight against the bourgeoisie and its state! Solidarity is our weapon!

The RCP Information Bureau

> English version.

> Version française.

> Versión en español.

> Versione italiana.

This year, May 1st will take place in a context where capitalism has gone through one of its worst crises, which has claimed thousands of victims in Canada and millions worldwide. The bourgeoisie and their politicians now say the crisis is over and capitalism has indeed recovered. But the only thing that is growing right now is the exploitation of workers and oppressed peoples. This, along with the increasing of profits for the capitalists. That the economic elites say there has been a “recovery,” shows how ignorant they are of the continuing burden of oppression on our backs.

But this May 1st will also happen in a context where all is not well for the capitalists. The inter-imperialist contradictions are growing and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the major imperialist powers to make their interests prevail. Worse for them is the fact that resistance and the desire for revolution are heard more and more strongly in the streets, as we have seen since the beginning of the year in North Africa and the Middle East. The hope expressed by the millions of oppressed people who dare to rebel against the political and economic elites is also ours!

In Canada, May 1st will take place on the eve of another meaningless election. Let’s take this opportunity to loudly express our rejection of the bourgeoisie and its unjust system! Supporters of the RCP will be in the streets all day with their slogans and their red flags, to express this desire for a new world without exploitation and oppression. Join us in the streets on May 1st!

> Toronto

> Kingston

> Ottawa

> Montréal

> Québec City

The Social Revolution Party, which aimed to bring attention to the need for a true social revolution to abolish the exploitation of working and oppressed peoples, eagerly welcomes the buildup of revolutionary forces and mass movements across eastern Canada, and hopes that 2011, the year of another meaningless election, will herald even greater returns for the communist movement.

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In India the people’s war is intensifying day by day. Led by Communist Party of India (Maoist) it involves and has the support of millions of poor farmers, women, masses of untouchables, and now controls about ten States of the Confederation of India. That’s a people’s war against poverty, feudal capitalistic exploitation, in the regions where most acute are the contradictions produced by the turbulent development of plundering resources, caste oppression and exploitation, by the Indian capital linked to imperialism.

Read more...

–> Supported by the Revolutionary Communist Party.

April 8: Montréal event at the Maison Norman Bethune.

Canadian federal elections will take place May 2. As soon as the announcement came, each of the four big parties – Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois – began their campaign to “seduce” all the voters. We are proposing a radically different “electoral” campaign: we call on all those left out of the parliamentary charade, whether they be exploited workers and students, single mothers, migrants or indigenous peoples across Canada, to participate to the 2011 Boycott Elections Campaign.
–> Supported by the Revolutionary Communist Party.

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Supporters of the RCP invited the participants of this meeting to debate and establish some common revolutionary perspectives, for the purpose of unifying and mobilizing across the country in the coming year. This second congress took place in a comradely and enthusiastic atmosphere, gathering participants from Toronto and the GTA, from Ottawa, and from several regions of Quebec. Although concentrated in Ontario, it was nevertheless a significant breakthrough in organizing the revolutionary forces in Canada. In addition to unorganized individuals and members of the RCP, activists from far-left organizations attended the meeting, including supporters of the Revolutionary Initiative, and several activists of the Social Revolution Party, based in Ottawa.

> Read more...

> Read more....

> Version française.

> Versión en español.

In the tumult of events surrounding the G20 Summit, a certain segment of what is generally referred to as the “far left” found itself denouncing the Black Blocs and other masked militants who carried out apparently illegal acts. Some went so far as to claim that the various actions against the bourgeoisie and its state were carried out by agent provocateurs, even that they were planned by the police itself. One could read this kind of analysis from the pen of Trotskyist authors. The leader of the “Communist Party of Canada,” Miguel Figueroa, took his stand against the Black Block, too, calling for a public denunciation of “anarchists.”

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The Political Information Bureau is announcing the opening of the Maison Norman Bethune - unique in Canada, aiming to be both an information center and an organizing space to support the struggle for socialism and world revolution.

This project is especially important in the current situation, where capitalism is going through one of its worst crises and where more and more people are expressing renewed interest in struggling for a system based on the interests of the majority and workers' power.

Located in the heart of Montreal's Centre-Sud neighborhood, the Maison Norman Bethune will make a variety of documents available to those interested: the classic works of Marx, Lenin and Mao, works on revolutionary history, publications from contemporary revolutionary organizations such as the Revolutionary Communist Party (Canada), books and texts about current events and socialism, and in all languages... In short, the Maison Norman Bethune aims to distribute all that can serve the revolution.

The Maison Norman Bethune also intends to be a space open to workers and revolutionary and anticapitalist activists who hunger for knowledge and wish to organize themselves to not simply stir up new hope for communism and revolution, but a concrete and immediate project to make them a reality. It is also the place to contact the Political Information Bureau and to learn about the positions and activities of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

For the moment, the Maison Norman Bethune is open Wednesday to Saturday (see below). Over the coming weeks, the team which runs it will work to expand and improve the collection of books and publications available. Regular activities (speakers, video nights, etc.) will also be organized, and a schedule will soon be announced.

The opening of the Maison Norman Bethune itself represents an important victory in the struggle against the propaganda the bourgeoisie and the unitary vision that its acolytes have been trying to brainwash us with for so long now. It is up to us and us alone, workers and militants who wish to bring forward the liberatory voice of communism and to develop revolutionary action which will put an end to the capitalist system whose time is up, to make this a lively space and a tool in the service of the struggle of the proletariat and the oppressed masses in this country.

The Political Information Bureau calls on all revolutionary, progressive, and anti-imperialist militants to support the Maison Norman Bethune. You have books to give us? You know someone, an activist or former activist, who still has some ''hidden treasures''? You want to contribute financially to this project or to offer a bit of time to help out? Let us know, and a militant from the Political Information Bureau will contact you right away to follow up on your proposal.

And most importantly, come and drop by the Maison Norman Bethune, and spread the word!