Have your cake, and eat it too

Today was the pan-Canadian day of action against Imperialist war, more specifically Afghanistan.

I attended in the city of Victoria, and it was a pretty good turn-out. It was refreshing to see people focus on Afghanistan for once, the "forgotten war.".

My only problem with this march was that the air of this march seemed to be even more reformist than usual. I mean, I'm no stranger to marching alongside Social Democrats and Liberals, but usually there is some sort of revolutionary presence at these events.

But this time, it was very different.

I was presented with a petition to sign, and told that I could cross off parts that I didn't agree with. This proved to be quite useful, as I found that I didn't agree with most of what was being presented to me. This petition, while calling for immediate removal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, also had a favourable position on the Canadian military in general, advocated
"Peace Keeping", and continued to label the Afghan resistance "Taliban insurgents."
Needless to say, I signed the petition, but crossed out more than a few lines in the wording of it.
I do NOT agree with "peace keeping", and I support the Afghan peoples RIGHT to fight heroically against all occupiers of their nation.

I picked up a copy of the Trotskyist magazine "Socialist Worker" (printed by the international socialists), and low and behold, it was filled with flattery directed towards Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party of Canada! I mean, I expected this sort of thing from the NDP's token trots in Fightback, but it seems that other organizations masquerading as revolutionaries are now falling under the spell of social democracy as well.

I think what did it for me though, was when I witnessed protestors chatting casually with police forces who had been sent to monitor the demonstration!

This was the biggest outrage of all! The state police forces, the tool of the Canadian bourgeoisie
and suppressor of all things revolutionary, were not at all threatened by a mob of citizens calling for the immediate removal of the Canadian military from the quagmire of Afghanistan.

Why is that? While anti-war protesters in Montreal and Quebec city are faced with tear gas and riot police, we are faced with a handful of friendly bicycle cops, lightly armed and heavily outnumbered. Why is the state not acting with hostility to opposition to the war in Afghanistan?

If you talk to any of my comrades, especially the ones who lived through the seventies, they will tell you stories of police brutality, the likes of which would appall the modern demonstrator. Most of my Comrades have been arrested and beaten, cuffed and tear gassed, etc. My point is, cops are agents of the state; They are the enforcers of the state. Because of this, whenever the state has a problem, cops deal with it swiftly. To paraphrase Chairman Mao, if the state police forces are not trying to wipe you out, then you are no longer revolutionary; you have sunk to the level of the bourgeoisie.

In the eyes of the capitalist class, I think that protests such as this are a "necessary evil".
By allowing the populace to demonstrate in a superficial way, they give the masses a superficial outlet for their anti-war sentiments, and the war effort is therefore not threatened.
I wouldn't be surprised if these protests were not organized/controlled by the state itself.
If not, at least they are controlled by the most incompetent and reformist individuals in the left wing community.

Consider the following: At this demonstration,we marched to a Canadian armed forces recruitment building. We waited outside, for a little while, made a few speech's, and left.
This is exactly the way the reformists planned it; A revolutionary would have taken this protest and created a barricade around the recruitment center, blocking anyone from getting in and out, attracting media attention and bringing the anti-war fervor to the masses in a tangible way.
Of course, this revolutionary and everyone in his protest would have had their asses stomped by the state police for this action, but it would be worth it. Also, if the people who attended the demo knew that there was a possibility that they would be disobeying the police and might get hurt or arrested, most of these social democratic waverers would never have come in the first place. To these people, everything,even a social revolution, has to be comfy and over by supper time. Pathetic.

Demonstrations like this one help to propagate the idea that the Canadian state is "Democratic";
In actuality, these demonstrations are heavily regulated by the powers that be, and are a barely tolerated necessity by the Canadian bourgeoisie. I have seen Comrades thrown down and handcuffed right in front of me, for no apparent reason, so I know that the state is certainly NOT democratic!

The only good thing I got out of this entire protest, was meeting other revolutionary individuals, and collaborating with them. I go to these events now, not just for solidarity purposes, but to separate the revolutionary from the reformists, and to join with them. At least there are some out there who want revolution, rather than superficial reform.

Remember Kent State, comrades! The State is NOT democratic!

Subliminal South Park

For many years now, from the birth of rock and roll music, to video games, to violent TV, to the present, the various talking heads of bourgeois political analysis are always trying to divert the people from the root causes of social problems by blaming various media sources. Violence in Movies and television, video games, rock and rap music, and other pop-culture media sources are blamed for every social problem in our society, from violence to drug use, suicide, etc, etc.

Of course, I would say that this is mostly rubbish. While certain media can be influential to young people, this is a cop out to avoid the system itself assuming any responsibility for the social alienation of the youth, and the breakdown of the society. This is a smoke-screen to bale out the system itself, propagating the fairy tale that "Capitalism works".

I will agree, though, that certain media is having an adverse effect on our society. The media that I speak is not a symptom of the decay of capitalism, but rather one of the agencies used to prop it up. In all forms of propaganda, the agenda of capitalism is promoted, more so now than ever before. Of course you would expect nothing less than the propagation of the official line of the capitalist class from bourgeoisie news sources ( FOX, CNN, BBC, CBC, etc...). The problem, however, is not only coming from the news sources; it is coming from the entertainment sources.

Of course, the infamous television show, "South Park", comes to mind. Granted that South Park can not seem to win, as the political right wing has been mercilessly blaming them for every sort of problem affecting the nation. Of course, now some of the right wing are a little more sympathetic to South Park. This makes more sense to me anyway, because I have never seen South Park as anything but a backwards neo-conservative mouthpiece.

The American right wing is finally starting to embrace South Park as the conservative mouth-piece that it is. This is the new way to spread their message to the youth; rather than coming right out and saying it, they serve their reactionary tripe to the masses in the form of humour and entertainment. Of course, as I have said, the political right-wing are masters of the art of propaganda; the best kind of propaganda is the kind of the subliminal nature.

Of course, South Park creators deny that they are right-wing, and indeed many South Park episodes feature moderately progressive themes , such as stem-cell research, gay marriage, and they took a some-what progressive stand on the post-9/11 hysteria, commenting on the situation in Afghanistan. Still, a few liberal stances are not enough to redeem them of the recurring agenda of the series.

Of course, the show preaches recurring denial of the existence of global warming, scoffs at any possibility of 9/11 being a conspiracy (without providing any rhetoric,), bullshit lampooning of the the Cuban government in the Elian Gonzales incident, lampooning regime change in Cuba,
taking an stance in favour of rain forest de-forestation, taking a stance similar to the conservative rags like the "Western Standard" on the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, not to mention re-curring homophobia and anti-semitism.

South Park is more dangerous than the news. The news presents the line of the bourgeoisie up-front; South Park cloaks it in entertainment. As always, who benefits? Who is benefiting from the on-going opposition to the existence of global warming on South park? Sounds pretty similar to the line of George W Bush and the oil barons. Of course, if an oil baron came on TV and said it, you would be skeptical. Who is benefiting from the opposition to 9/11 conspiracy theories (South Parks take on the conspiracy theories are that they are propagated by the government of the US to maintain the illusion of control; this is the exact same theory used by UFO enthusiasts.)?
If the government wanted to propagate the line of 9/11 conspiracy theories, they would flood the media with it, rather than constrict it.

Of course, South Park isn't the only culprit. "The Simpsons" is also guilty, with their wonderful
episode on China, where they assert that Mao "killed 100 million people" and made many references to Tibetan nationalism, which is a recurring theme on the show. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Communism works!...In theory!" Don't even get me started on "King of the Hill", with their propagation of regime change in Cuba, resistance to feminism, continuing portrayal of their only aboriginal character as an adulterer, and staunch support of Bush during the 2000 election, etc, etc(What can you expect from a FOX program?).

In films, you have "Team America: World Police" (Also by the creators of South park),
which defends aggressive American foreign policy and ruthlessly slanders the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. As always there are the James Bond movies, invented to attack communism, one of the most recent features both the DPRK and Cuba as the villains.

As I have said before, in it's many clashes with the forces of revolution, capitalism has gained experience; it is smarter. While in the 50's the US media would accuse communists of worshipping Satan, they now have to accuse them of human rights violations. While in the 50's
the line of the reactionary class was presented in full to the masses, now they are disguised in media and popular culture.

Beware comrades. As Mao said "In the world today, all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines." Beware even the most frivolous media, Comrades. I assure you, all media is monopolized by a handful of capitalist magnates, and is used to reinforce the system. This is why I write my blog. I try to present a view of the world, un-tainted by bourgeoisie political analysis and propaganda.

I' m not saying that South Park should be shunned; I'm only saying, take it with a grain of salt; It is very entertaining, but it is a mouthpiece of the bourgeoisie. In the meantime, support the truly independent press, and look for many perspectives on all issues.

Free your minds, comrades!

Hands off Korea!

So, the UN resolution on the DPRK has passed, and it is arguably one of the most fascist peices of legislation to come out of the world in the year 2006.

I looked over the resolution myself, and a few parts caught my eye: Among other things, this bill is imposing economic sanctions on the DPRK, on weapons and military items, but also on vaguely identified materials. There are sanctions on so called "luxury goods", which is once again vague and open to interpretation, and persons who support the right of the DPRK to possess nuclear technology are now banned from travelling to the DPRK.I am especially furious at that last part, because it is so convenient for the imperialists; now, people can not even go to the DPRK to see things for themselves, and form their own opinions about it.

This whole thing is pure aggression against the DPRK. The slander against this nation has been tripled within the last few weeks, and aggression steeply escalated.

In order to counter this slander, I'm posting some links to articles from the North Korean perspective:

http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2006/D36150.htm#3
http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2006/D36150.htm#4
http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2006/D36150.htm#9
http://cpcml.ca/Tmld2006/D36150.htm#10

Please distribute these articles as widely as possible.

Glory to the Workers Party of Korea!
Soveriegnty to the DPRK!

The sheep,and their shepherds.

As some may recall, in a recent post, I talked about the various liberal/social democratic left that were the front line in criticism of Hugo Chavez for ridiculous allegations of patriarchy.

In another post, "Ignorance is bliss", I talked about the ignorance that is being promoted among the masses by the mainstream media.

I think that these two initiatives are symptoms of a larger problem.

As a Marxist-Leninist, I believe in the power of the masses. I believe in the masses as the first line of defense against the bourgeoisie and reactionary forces. However, from my experiences in
Canada, especially with the Peace Region Leftist Coalition, I have learned that in countries under the influence of bourgeoisie ideological hegemony, it is the masses who are the first line of defense for reaction and bourgeoisie oppression.

Take, for example, an incident that happened in my high school years ago. The teachers at my school shut down the internet, used commonly by all students. We felt that this was fascist, as the school was stamping out the communication tool of the students, under the guise of students using the internet inappropriately, without pursuing any kind of alternatives. Because of this, the PRLC, of course, lead the protests against these measures. We put posters all over the school, and we tried talking to people. We, of course, were all disciplined by the school for daring to exercise all those democratic rights that capitalism boasts about having, and all of our posters were torn down.

What really made me sick though, was that most of our posters were not torn down by the teachers; they were torn down by our fellow students. When the leaders of the PRLC demo were hauled to the principals office, the students crowded the windows to mock us for daring to participate in politics.

As Lenin said, "Imperialist ideology also penetrates the working class. No Chinese wall separates it from the other classes".

Always, it is the masses who are mobilized to stamp out anything even remotely progressive/democratic. It is the overwhelming power of the masses, who are under the sway
of capitalist ideological hegemony, who force conformity of ideas among all of their peers.
To these masses, it is perfectly fine to be "democratic" during an election period; You go, you vote, you don't talk about politics for the rest of the year. I get scowls from people for being a communist, but I also get scowls from people just for talking about politics in general. Being as this country is so "democratic", why does every one sigh when anything even remotely political comes up in the conversation.

This is the genius of capitalism; the concept of a self-enforced dictatorship.
The education institutions, the media and the society in general propagate intense individual centrism, in every way possible. Citizens who are financially well off become totally self-obsessed by coveting currency, and products that the media tells them that they need;
The lower classes of bourgeois society are forced into individual centrism by way of harsh dog-eat-dog economics and the false hope offered by drugs, alcohol and intoxicants.
In this way, the masses are encouraged to not worry their pretty little heads with yucky stuff like politics. The masses are taught from a very early age to either consume themselves with their own pleasure and hedonism, or to completely consume themselves with the harsh realities of their social-economic situation; either way, they are actively discouraged from anything but the most superficial demonstrations of political participation.

This individual-centric obsession, when coupled with general ignorance of the world situation, as well as the lies and propaganda sown by the media/education institutes, produces an apathetic population of subjects, who will not only stay out of politics completely, but will attack any person who tries to participate in them. Diabolical.


The trick to capitalist politics, is to learn how to manipulate the masses. Keep them ignorant,
marginalize them from the political process, and convince them that the system that they live under is the best. Media scape-goating turns the population into informants for the state, ratting out any enemies of the capitalist class, and blind patriotism makes the masses support any initiative put forward by the ruling class.

If a capitalist regime has done it's job right, the system is basically self regulating.

Of course, this system isn't fool proof. Some citizens simply won't sit down, and shut up.
To counter these individuals, there is the mechanism of the of the state political parties:
the "left wing" and the "right wing", two hands of the same monster. Those that refuse to be sheep are swept up by the bourgeois political parties, who confuse them with diversions
and prevent them from doing any damage to the status quo. Those that form/join political parties that are not under the sway of the state, are severely marginalized and defamed at best,
penalized and executed at worst.

If nothing else, the capitalists have become smarter from their many battles with the forces of revolution.

Of course, capitalism is only buying itself time. Ideological hegemony is one thing, but capitalism can not deny material conditions. Capitalism can not deny the inherent contradictions and crisis
within the system. They can only buy themselves time.

At this time, there are signs of cracks in the wall of capitalist hegemony. New resources of information are making it easier for the progressive forces to spread information, for the masses to counter propaganda and educate themselves. As I have stated earlier when referring to the many blunders of the present American capitalist class, the masses are waking up from this system. Apathy is being disintegrated by the conditions of an occupation of attrition in the middle east, the economic crisis in most of the capitalist world and the growing fascism of the system itself. It will take nothing less than the full blown creation of a police state in the United States and elsewhere to jar the masses into finally abandoning this state of passive compliance with capitalist "democracy".

This is a waiting game. The capitalists can only push the envelope so far, and the masses will only tolerate so much. How much longer is it going to last? How much more punishment can the planet earth take to satisfy the material whims of capitalist over-production? How much more abuse are the exploited workers of the world going to take? What is it going to take for people to start asking questions, to resent the elite thinking for them, and to become genuinely furious
with the status quo?

The capitalist class is a man in a sinking row boat, trying to bail it out with a bucket; The masses are the ocean that once held the boat up, but are now sinking it. The bailing of the boat may buy the man time, but in the end he can not win. It will take more than media propaganda, state police and ideological hegemony to stop this boat from sinking.

I heard it through the grapevine....

Last night, from several of the bourgeoisie news sources I have heard that the DPRK
has tested a nuclear weapon.

I'm still trying to sort out my stance, as the news on this missile test is sporadic and conflicting.
At this point, mostly I am analyzing the news footage for contradictions, and doing my own research.

First off, I noticed right off of the bat that every news network that was showing this story keeps running the same file footage of North Korean military marches and Kim Jong Il waving to crowds, as they did when the DPRK tested missiles over the sea of Japan. From the very beginning, the news sources have been trying to paint the typical image of "Stalinist" Korea.
Every online article is sure to mention that Korea is a "reclusive communist nation", a "hermit kingdom", or some other such rubbish, to try and subtly influence public opinion. CNN was especially devious, as they managed to somehow work in propaganda about 2 million North Koreans starving to death into their news coverage of the alleged missile test.

I found CNN's coverage to be especially slanted (surprise, suprise). CNN had a panel of speakers on North Korea, from many countries, and of course NONE OF THEM WERE NORTH KOREAN. Also, CNN insinuated things like "North Korea has mini-nukes", but then would admit that the United States government can not even be sure that a nuclear test did in fact take place in the DPRK. Very contradictory.

I am not sure that I am even convinced that the DPRK did have a weapons test. While the possibility is very probable, the news is too contradictory, and the details are too scarce at this time. To try and get a balanced out look, I even checked the KCNA, the official news source of the DPRK. I noticed that the KCNA has not made any new posts in two days. Now this does not disprove that a missile test took place, but it doesn't necessarily prove it either. If the DPRK was being as boisterous about their missile test as the capitalist news sources claim they are being, why haven't they made any mention of a missile test on their official news source?

Of course, if the DPRK does have nuclear weapons, it makes little difference. The United States has enough nuclear weapons to turn our planet into a barren radioactive wasteland, and now they are criticizing other countries for building their own? This is the most glaring hypocrisy of all, as I have mentioned several times in several other articles on the DPRK.
Now, don't get me wrong; I am not some sort of nuclear weapons advocate. Nuclear weapons are a clear and present threat to the human race, and they should be destroyed accordingly.
However, most countries, especially imperialist countries, are not willing to do that, so my current opinion on nuclear weapons is if one country has them, ALL countries should have them. A nuclear hammer is a terrible tool of tyranny, and should never be allowed to exist.

I have to wonder, with this whole missile test hysteria, who is benefiting?
How are the imperialist powers benefiting from filling the peoples minds with fear of nuclear attack? What are their plans? How is the DPRK benefiting, by risking weapons production in the face of crippling economic sanctions? How is China benefiting, by turning on North Korea after years of supporting them economically and diplomatically? What does this change signify?

As I said, I'm still sorting out the facts on this missile test; there aren't many.

Commie toon, Oct.5/2006

Right to bear arms

So Venezuela is under political pressure(again.).

The Imperialists have raised alarms about Venezuela purchasing $3 Billion dollars in arms from
Russia. They say that this is obvious proof of Venezuela's planned aggression against the US, neighbouring nations, etc.

Of course, this $3 billion dollar arms purchase is pocket change compared to what the US spends on arms and warfare in one year alone.

Anyways, Venezuela has insisted that these weapons are only for self defense, and President Chavez has many times spoken of American imperialism's intentions to invade Venezuela, which the American imperialists immediately dismiss as rubbish.

The American powers that be are prone to convenient spells of amnesia, you see. Apparently
Donald Rumsfeld, the warmonger raising most of these allegations against Venezuela, has completely forgotten about the coup that the United States sponsored/supported against Hugo Chavez. Apparently the American aggression against Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution in the past are not relevant to whether or not America would do the same in the future.

Now, in addition to the Coup attempt, the American bourgeoisie incited their media puppets and talking heads against Chavez, and the Bolivarian republic. I seem to recall last year, shortly after returning from Venezuela, when the pseudo-fascist religious zealot, Pat Robertson, was openly calling for the assassination of Chavez.

Now, some may interpret this as an unrelated event, outside of the control of the American government, but this just isn't so. Media is heavily monopolized in Capitalist countries, especially the US and Canada. It is through lunatic mouth pieces like Robertson, that the bourgeoisie of the United States spreads notions and ideas beneficial to their agenda, in addition to testing the waters of public opinion. Is it any coincidence that Newspapers in Canada not only reported Robertson's comments, but put them on the front page? And of course, when the public reacted against this instigation, it was Pat Robertson, not the American bourgeoisie, who took the criticism.

This was not some off-the-record statement made by an insane religious zealot. This was a direct provocation against the government of Venezuela, given the blessing of the Anti-Venezuelan forces who own the media outlets. This was a deliberate attempt to try and gather public support for aggression against Venezuela.

If I heard someone on the street saying they wanted to kill me, I would probably stay inside for a little while. If I heard someone in another country talking about killing me, by way of the international media, you better believe I would buy a gun.

Is Chavez so different? Is Venezuela so different?
It is the same as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Iran, and all other countries that are building up to defend themselves from the un-relenting threats of American imperialism.
The anti-imperialist countries of the 21st century have learned well from the down-falls of past anti-imperialist states that tried to defend themselves against American imperialism.
Albania comes to mind. Was Comrade Hoxha so wrong when he said that the Imperialists
wanted to conquer Albania? I think the un-democratic coup of Sali Berisha pretty much proved his "paranoia" to be correct.

Any country that ever makes the mistake of believing the United States has honourable intentions, and means them well, will find a bullet in their presidents brain faster than you can say "regime change.".

Imperialists don't play nice. Ever. There can be no cooperation with American Imperialism, or any other kind of Imperialism, because cooperation with imperialism is the road back to subjugation by imperialism. Remember the lessons of the old socialist camp.

Let every Venezuelan be vigilant and armed, for Imperialism will never sleep.

Hasta la Victoria Siempre!