T.O. 94: SPECIAL ANTIWAR ISSUE – U.S.-NATO Backed Counter-Offensive by the Ukrainian Army Has Begun

Stop the War NOW! End the U.S.-NATO Arms Shipments to Ukraine! All Troops Out of Ukraine NOW! Immediate and Unconditional Ceasefire!

Presentation:

 As these lines are written, a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army, supported and equipped by NATO, has begun, and fighting is continuing, particularly on Russian territory. The consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam as you will read below, are dramatic.

The Washington Post (June 8) featured this story: “The Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive has begun … . Ukrainian troops include specialized attack units equipped with Western weapons and trained in NATO tactics.”

For The Economist (June 7), this counter-offensive is “picking up speed.” The Financial Times (June 8) points out that, “Ukraine is sending Western tanks into the battle,” in particular the powerful Leopard tanks.  This counter-offensive is accompanied by fighting on Russian territory, in the Belgorod region, where mysterious “anti-Putin Russian militias, numbering some 2,500 fighters” are leading the charge.

This offensive could well mark a major turning point in the war. As The Guardian (June 7) reports, former NATO Secretary General Rasmussen has issued a threat: “I would not rule out the possibility of Poland becoming even more heavily involved, followed by the Baltic states, with perhaps the possibility of sending troops into the field.”

NATO troops in Ukraine, and tomorrow in Russia? This would be another step in the escalation threatening humanity with all-out war.

On June 6, the Kakhovka dam* and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River were destroyed. Russian-born writer André Markowicz (a supporter of Zelensky and NATO) describes the dramatic consequences:

“Yes, Kherson is flooded. The most catastrophic destruction is on the left bank, which is lower and entirely occupied by the Russians. … The Russians have lost dozens and dozens of soldiers next to the dam, who were the first to be swallowed up.

“For the civilian population, nothing, absolutely nothing has been done. … The drinking water situation is critical for everyone … , but the worst to come is in Crimea, where the water supply depends entirely on the canal built from this dam. … This disaster beckons another: if a solution is not found very quickly, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant will no longer be able to cool down and will eventually blow up.”

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians deprived of drinking water, a nuclear power plant threatening to blow up. It’s urgent to stop this war now: immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of all troops, halt to the arms shipments!  — Dominique Ferré

– – – – – – – – –

Endnote

* Regarding the dam, Putin accused Zelensky, who returned the accusation. Exactly as they did when the NATO-backed operatives sabotaged the German-Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on September 26, 2022. In this regard, the Washington Post reveals the following, concerning Nord Stream: “The CIA had been informed in June (2022) … that a six-member team of Ukrainian special forces was preparing to sabotage the German-Russian natural gas transportation project.”

(Down with war!

In Our Next Issue of The Organizer

[Note: In our next issue of The Organizer we will publish an important document by Russian socialist activist Andreï Roudoï, who has gathered all the relevant materials demonstrating how the Putin and Zelensky regimes have used the war as a pretext to intensify their budget cuts and other measures to attack the working class. It’s a document that Roudoï concludes as follows:

“Nothing unites Russia and Ukraine more than the oligarchic bourgeois nature of their regimes, which seek to solve their problems on the backs of the workers. Soldiers on both sides of the front are asking: ‘Is it worth sacrificing our lives for these people?’ We’re slipping back into the conditions of 19th-century capitalism, with the overexploitation of a servile workforce.

“We’ve seen how French workers – certainly not always successfully, but with determination and organization – are defending themselves against their government’s anti-social attacks. But what about us? Even if the war has dug trenches between us, it shows the extent to which workers in Russia and Ukraine are facing the same problems.”

-* * * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, War Against China Is Brewing

On the agenda for the NATO summit in Lithuania on July 11 and 12 is the opening of a NATO office in… Japan!

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has just doubled his military budget, wants to contribute to U.S. preparations for war against China. According to numerous media outlets (June 7), numerous U.S. warships “are to be ‘transferred’ to the Indo-Pacific zone, where China is a threat.”

Or rather, where the Biden administration is constantly threatening China, in the best interests of Wall Street. According to Le Canard Enchainé, French Navy Chief of Staff Pierre Vandier has “urged his European counterparts … to fill these operational gaps.”

Biden needs to concentrate his fleet in the China Sea, and Vandier proposes that European navies play the role of assistants. Explanation: “It is among the Western navies that we find the strongest supporters of NATO and its armed wing, the Integrated Command under the authority of U.S. general officers.”

* * * * * * * * * *

REPORT ON THE JUNE 4 EUROPEAN ANTIWAR RALLY IN PARIS

Take to Your Screens!

The report below on the June 4 Paris antiwar rally sponsored by the Democratic Independent Workers Party of France (POID) reflects a wide diversity of speakers from various European countries. For reasons of space, we can only publish brief excerpts from their presentations.

The entire rally can be viewed on the website of La Tribune des travailleurs / Workers Tribune at https://youtube.com/watch?ve=47hSKIUS 1Ts&feature=share7

1,800 workers and young people gathered at a European anti-war rally, but not a word about it was mentioned on the French radio and TV channels that bombard us daily with talk of war.

Watch this meeting, tell people about it, invite them to visit the website.

* * * * * * * * *

A Great Success!

On this sunny Sunday, crowds flocked to the Espace Charenton. 1,800 participants joined the rally. Opening the rally, Daniel Gluckstein, POID national secretary, reminded us that this meeting gives us the privilege of hearing activists from different countries, at a time when preparations for war are accelerating across Europe.

“Ours is not a platonic declaration for peace, but an effective struggle to stand in the way of war, and to prevent governments from taking harmful action.”

The speeches were punctuated by applause for the militants’ determination and booing in the face of attacks on workers’ rights. Attentive, enthusiastic and indignant, the audience gave a warm ovation to all 13 speeches. The British militant spoke of the struggle in France to preserve the gains of civilization. The message was repeated with the Italian activist’s denunciation of his government’s responsibility for the deaths of immigrants near the coast.

Rally participants agreed with the activist from the Mouvement pour la Paix (Peace Movement) that the fight against war is the finest revolutionary struggle.

The gathering saluted the union activists standing up against government attacks. Activists rose to welcome the Afghan militant. They cried out with shouts of “bravo” when Christel Keiser, national secretary of the POID, slammed [Interior Minister Gérald] Darmanin, who has been engaged in the hunt for immigrants. Christel Keiser asserted that there is only one working class.

The crowd cheered the German Amazon trade unionist wearing his AWI anti-war and anti-exploitation T-shirt. Rally participants also cheered the representative of the Federation of Young Revolutionaries, who called for support to the international youth conference next August, while pledging to organize the fightback against the Universal National Military Service.

Applause broke out when the Russian militant spoke out in favor of a future without war and capitalism. “War poses the problem of world revolution,” asserted Daniel Gluckstein, concluding the meeting with a rousing singing of the Internationale, the hymn of the international working class. — by Catherine Girard

* * * * * * * * * * *

Audrey White Speaks Out

[Audrey White is a British trade unionist, organizer of “Liverpool Against the War”]

In Britain, where retirement is set to rise to 68, we have much to learn from your struggle in France. Capitalism corrupts everything, and war is one of the ways it imposes its domination.

Liverpool still bears the scars of the bombings of the Second World War. In this developing totalitarian world, we are a long way from the words of the song Imagine by John Lennon, a child of this city. You can be arrested for shouting “No king,” in the name of laws dating back to Henry VIII.

A witch-hunt developed in the Labour Party against activists who spoke out against the war. Whole groups of activists were suspended or resigned, while others cowardly withdrew their signatures from anti-war texts. The Trade Union leadership supported the war budget, but despite this, the working class is regaining confidence and a wave of strikes is shaking the country. No to NATO, no to NATO expansion, no to fascism, our country must welcome all those fleeing war, especially Africans.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Elmar Roustamov Speaks Out

[Elmar Roustamov is a Russian activist with the Coalition of Socialists Against War]

“Our sister Ukraine”

The comrade greeted the participants, including those “from our sister Ukraine”. He continued: “It’s easy to call yourself a communist, a Marxist, a Leninist or a Bolshevik. But implementing a policy corresponding to that is another matter.

Communists and the left in Russia are divided into three camps: (1) The CP of the Russian Federation unconditionally supports the war. (2) The Left Front, the Workers’ CP, the United CP support it with reservations. (3) The Socialist Movement of Russia, the Revolutionary Workers’ Party and the Marxist Tendency condemn the war.

Anti-war activists have been expelled from the CP and its youth organization. Among them were local and regional deputies and three Duma deputies. The Communist Party and the Left Front dare to speak of an alleged left turn by Putin and the Russian capitalists in an attempt to rally the workers behind the bourgeoisie.

But an open letter from socialists and communists against the war has been signed by 600 activists, including members of parliament. In Novosibirsk (Siberia), on May 1, 2023, an internationalist rally against the war took place. The left and communists must carry out resolute anti-war propaganda and present a program for a world without war, without capitalism.

Long live a new Communist International, for a new Zimmerwald! The audience rose to its feet and applauded at length.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hasina Sadet Speaks Out

“Bread, work, school and freedom”

[Hasina Sadet  from Left Radical of Afghanistan]

Receiving a standing ovation, Hasina Sadet asserted that “the Afghan people, especially women, are victims of the U.S.-NATO war and can never forget the killings. Children are still suffering the devastating effects of the use of the “mother of bombs.”

No perpetrator of these crimes has been brought to justice, just as the families of the 119 victims of the Australian military have not been heard”, she deplored.  “The imperialists are increasing their military budget and reducing social benefits. Let’s not be blinded by sacred union [between labor and capital] and nationalism. 

The struggles of the French people have given confidence to other movements around the world against war and exploitation”, she continued, to a loud ovation. Under the guise of food aid, the misogynist Taliban regime receives $40 million a week from the United States and the international community.

Despite the repression, the Afghan women’s movement in Kabul continues to expand throughout the country. They are counting on you to support our slogan: ‘Bread, work, school and freedom’.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Camille, a Youth Activist, Speaks Out

I’m an activist with the FJR, the Federation of Revolutionary Youth, and I’m also a Trotskyist activist with the Fourth International.

My comrades and I are preparing an international conference of young revolutionaries in the Paris region from August 25 to 28.

I’d like to call on everyone at this meeting to organize it together.

This meeting will bring together young people from all over France and from countries all over the world.

While they would have us believe that young people in Russia are our enemies, at this youth conference we will hear from a young Russian who will tell us about the struggle of young people and workers in his country against the war provoked by Putin and NATO.

We’ll be talking to a young woman from Afghanistan, who will tell us how the men and women of her country are fighting against the obscurantist, misogynist Taliban regime.

We’ll talk to a young man from the United States, who will tell us how he is organizing and mobilizing against his own government, which is waging war both abroad and at home, against workers and young people.

And as bombs continue to fall on Gaza, in the deafening silence of the media and political parties in France, we’ll meet a young Palestinian woman who will tell us about her people’s struggle against Israeli colonization.

A comrade from Azania, South Africa, will tell us how young people in his country are organizing against policies of powerlessness in the service of the white minority and capitalists.

And we’ll be able to tell them about the struggle of young people in France against Macron and his government.

To all the young people present here today, please sign up.

Why do we think it’s necessary to organize such a meeting?

Because today, when you’re young, the capitalist system offers you only one prospect: a future of war and misery.

In France, Macron and his government are making sure of this.

Parcoursup, destruction of our diplomas, precarious contracts, reform of vocational high schools, measuring time to turn us into boss fodder.

And when we’re not being handed over to the bosses who overexploit us, we’re being used as cannon fodder for the army.

We don’t want this future.

And since this is the only perspective offered by capitalism, we urgently need to overthrow this system, right now.

This is the aspiration expressed by the thousands of young people in France who took part in demonstrations against pension reform, brandishing placards bearing the slogan “revolution.”

The young Trotskyist activists of the Fourth International share this aspiration and are organizing themselves in this direction.

We are convinced of the need to overthrow the capitalist system, convinced of the need to replace it with socialism, convinced of the need to build the world party of revolution to achieve this.

This is what we’ll be discussing at the conference.

We’ll be discussing the revolutionary perspectives of our struggles in our respective countries, all of which pose the problem of ending the capitalist system.

We’ll be discussing this on an international scale, because youth, like the working class, knows no borders.

This conference takes on its full meaning in the context of the war in which we live.

To imperialist chauvinism and war we counterpose internationalism and the unity of young people the world over.

Organizing together to fight our war-mongering governments and overthrow the capitalist system is a real prospect for young people.

Take part and support in the meeting of young revolutionaries.

You don’t know us?

Let’s get to know each other.

Reluctant to sign up?

Come and see us.

Do you have questions you’d like to ask the young internationals, or topics you’d like to discuss at the conference?

We’d love to hear from you.

We’re talking to all the young people here today, because they all agree with our call for “Out with Macron, Down with war”.

Please join us.

Thank you.

* * * * * * * * * *

Andreas Gangl Speaks Out

[Andreas Gangl from Germany is a member of the International Amazon Workers’ Committee (AWI)]

“Back to the fight for socialism”

The motto of AWI, which unites Amazon employees internationally, is “against war, exploitation” and precarious work. We are faced with escalating arms budgets, leading to the devastation of public services, inflation and falling real wages.

The leaderships of our organizations support this policy through jointist [labor-management cooperation] action, the form taken by the “sacred union” today in the face of war. We must return to the fight for socialism.

In each of our countries, we must fight to ensure that the leadership of our organizations breaks with this policy of submission to the needs of capital and the demands of governments.

Now is the time to fight for the construction of genuine independent workers’ parties, combined with the fight for a Workers’ International.

* * * * * * * * * *

Christel Keiser Speaks Out

[Christel Keiser is a co-National Secretary of the Democratic Independent Workers Party of France (POID).]

“War abroad and war at home, two sides of the same policy.”

At the International Conference of Working Women in October 2022, it was decided to set up an International Committee for the Defense of Afghan Women. After a request for an audience with Macron in December, the file was handed over to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna. It’s time to call on the Minister again to receive the committee and respond to the requests for asylum from Afghan women activists, some of whom face death threats in their own country.

The question of war has always been a dividing line in the labor movement. A party that claims to defend the interests of the working class, that calls itself a supporter of peace, cannot legitimize a war whose sole function is to defend the interests of capitalists.

The enemy is our government, which is pursuing a policy of war abroad and war at home. War at home, when Minister Darmanin unleashes repression against workers and trade unionists.

War at home when this government organizes the hunt for immigrants.

There is only one working class, made up of all those who are exploited in France, immigrants or not.

War at home when this government refuses to take measures to protect women, starting with those who are victims of domestic violence.

War on the outside and war on the inside are two facets of the same policy. You can’t fight one without fighting the other.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Benjamin Gluckstein Speaks Out

[Benjamin Gluckstein is a trade unionist with the City of Paris.]

“Forming a unity committee”

In March, colleagues and I decided to organize ourselves as part of the mobilization to withdraw the pension reform, and we wrote to the unions.

For two months, we held weekly meetings with colleagues and the three unions CGT, FO and SUD, which had responded positively. Trade union unity is all the stronger and more effective when combined with employee representatives.

We took the position that the union confederations should call a general strike and set up a general strike preparation committee made up of the three unions and representatives elected by the general assembly.

After May 1st, discussions took a more political turn. With colleagues, sympathizers or activists from different political currents (PCF, Parti de gauche, POID) and union members, we drafted an appeal, titled: “Dehors Macron, à bas la Ve République, pour une Constituante” (“Out with Macron, Down with the Fifth Republic, for a Constituent Assembly”). We explained that we should set up a committee to unite around this political perspective.

* * * * * * * * * *

Djamila Speaks Out

[Djamila is a nurse in a hospital in Marseille’s northern suburbs.]

“We made management back down.”

As POID activists and readers of La Tribune des Travailleurs, we decided to help our colleagues take up the fight against pension reform and the dismantling of our hospital.

At a general meeting in February, a strike preparation committee was set up, including delegates from 15 hospital departments and representatives from FO and CGT.

The committee became a strike committee on March 7, and contacted the union confederations, asking them to call for a united general strike. When it became clear that they would not call for a general strike, we proposed that it should become a unity committee to fight against the 1.5 million euro cost-cutting plan involving department closures and dozens of job cuts.

A meeting convened by this committee in mid-May called for a rally against the closure of a hospital ward during the summer. Management immediately backed down.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Melchior Speaks Out

[Melchior is a student in Amiens]

“At 15, it’s school, not the army!”

The Federation of Young Revolutionaries (FJR) is campaigning against the Universal National Military Service (SNU). We were told that the compulsory SNU was being withdrawn, but the army is still promoting it in 25 cities.

In early May, the army arrived in Saint-Quentin (Aisne). Activists from various organizations, including the FJR, and student unions, organized a rally to shout: “Ni chair à patrons! Neither cannon fodder!” and “At 15, it’s school, not the army!

In barracks, young people are subjected to sexual assaults and racist remarks. It’s not in the army that young people can emancipate themselves, but in school and college!

At the initiative of the FJR, a rally was organized on May 31 in front of the Administrative Building to denounce the war credits, the break-up of the Lycées Pro and the SNU. There’s no money for pensions, but there is for recruiting high school students into the army! The SNU as an instrument of social cohesion? What social cohesion can there be with Macron, the army and the bosses?

* * * * * * * * *

Antoine Brunet Speaks Out

[Antoine Brunet is a vocational high school teacher in Isère.]

“Taking matters into our own hands”

The vocational high school reform is paving the way for the privatization of vocational education. Two days of strike action were called by our unions, in October and November. When silence fell over the reform, we formed a unity committee for its withdrawal, which today includes 48 correspondents in 25 school sites.

Six school delegations met with the regional rector on May 24. It was surprising to be received by the rector himself.  Usually, they deal only with union representatives. Things don’t get out of hand that way. Here, they understood that we weren’t about being controlled. That’s the very nature of the unity committee, which starts with colleagues and their demands, without depending on anything else.

We drafted a call to “prepare a national initiative at the Ministry of Education” and “strike until withdrawal”. The aim is to take matters into our own hands.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Constantin Cretan Sends Message from Romania

[Constantin Cretan is President of the National Labor Federation in Romania. He was imprisoned for four years in 2005 for his trade union activities.]

“Let us fulfill the historic mission of the proletariat.”

Romania is suffering because the government, enslaved by NATO, is taking part in the war in Ukraine. Resources are being channeled into arms production. Food prices have doubled or tripled, and food production has been reduced.

Despite anti-union legislation, protest actions in recent weeks have brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. Education unionists launched a general strike for decent working conditions and wages, and to save education, as more and more young people are dropping out of school. Action has also been taken in the health sector, where there is a shortage of medical staff.

Capital is attacking democracy, with more and more laws limiting the right to demonstrate, strike, trade union association and freedom of expression.

In these conditions, we are trying to fulfill the historic mission of the proletariat, with our organizations: bread, the right to work, peace. The victory of our struggle means not just a victory for workers, but a victory for humanity!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Pierre-Olivier Boyard Speaks Out

[Pierre-Olivier Boyard, national secretary of the Mouvement pour la paix (Peace Movement): thanks to the POID, “a faithful partner.”]

“Peace: the greatest, most beautiful revolutionary struggle”

War is a reality, with some 40 conflicts worldwide. We need to kill more to sell more weapons. Capitalism and imperialism mean war. In Ukraine, it’s Gazprom’s gas war against ExxonMobil’s shale gas.

Arms dealers are merchants of death. They are ready to kill the last Ukrainian. Yesterday cannon fodder for the European Union, today cannon fodder for NATO. 25 billion euros a year go to arms billionaires.

Down with the arms trade, abolish nuclear weapons, reject all this propaganda for a wartime state. Macron wants to impose universal national [military] service, militaristic brainwashing.

We must wage war on war! Peace is the greatest and most beautiful of battles. It’s a revolutionary struggle. The class struggle is the struggle for peace.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lillo Fasciana Speaks Out

[Lillo Fasciana is an Italian school-teacher and member of the CGIL trade union federation.]

“Their interest is a long war“

Neither financial imperialism nor the Russian oligarchy want peace. Their interest is in a long war, which will guarantee increased profits.

Left in the hands of war-mongering capital, scientific and technological discoveries such as artificial intelligence represent a danger to humanity, making the socialization of the means of production all the more necessary.

In Italy, the ruling neo-fascist right-wing takes measures in favor of the wealthiest and leads the charge against immigrants. Near the coast, 94 migrants died because they were not rescued. Following in the footsteps of previous governments, the government is increasing arms spending at the expense of social budgets.

Left-wing parties are struggling to reorganize. The unions, when they don’t join in, are on the defensive. But mobilization is growing in all sectors. Our aim is to turn it into a general mobilization.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Daniel Gluckstein Speaks Out

[Daniel Gluckstein is a co-National Secretary of the POID]

“Macron, Biden: not you, not that, no morality lessons.”

All peoples risk being dragged into war, the front is closing in.

Of course, we must condemn and fight Putin. But what about the heads of State of the world’s richest capitalist countries, who have just gathered in Hiroshima? There’s something indecent about President Biden’s presence there.

How can we forget the 250,000 dead in Hiroshima? The U.S. administration decided to drop the bomb even though it had no military justification, but they needed to terrorize the Japanese people. Just like when the bombs fell on Dresden at the end of the war: They needed to terrorize the German proletariat.

When U.S. imperialism condemns Putin’s crimes, workers the world over have every right to say: “Not you, not that! Not you, the man responsible for the Hiroshima massacres, not you, the man responsible for the millions of deaths in Vietnam, for the use of napalm and for all imperialist wars!”

This is true of Macron. When he condemns Putin’s crimes, how can we fail to remember that the Fifth Republic he presides over was born of a military coup in 1958 fomented by the colonialist-backed French army in Algeria?

How can we fail to remember that this Fifth Republic was born in the blood and torture of the Algerian people fighting for their freedom? Those who are the heirs of this Fifth Republic have no lessons in civilization to give to anyone!

How can we fail to recall the massacres of Sétif and Guelma in Algeria on May 8, 1945? By massacring tens of thousands of Algerians, the colonial power meant that the Algerian people had nothing to celebrate in the victory over Nazism. How can we forget the massacres during the anti-colonial uprising in Madagascar?

How can we not remember the infamous Indochina War of French colonialism? So no, Macron, Biden and all the others, not you, not that, no lessons in morality, no lessons in civilization or de-civilization. Barbarism is your system and your administrations!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Interviews with Some of the Participants

“I’m going to find out more.”

Thierry, 55, postal worker: “I agree with most of what he said, particularly that “claiming to be Marxist is good, applying it is better.” That said, I think there were too many attacks on the other left-wing parties, but I’m going to find out about the amendments that these parties proposed to the military programming law.”

“It can be galvanizing!”

Julien, 25, sports educator in training: “Great, all these activists from different countries with common goals. It’s galvanizing! It would be good to know the list of organizations you’re writing to about the ceasefire. For example, are the anarchists among them?”

Too bad…

Jean, 40, project manager: “It’s encouraging to hear all this, but it’s a pity it’s not publicized. It’s with people like that that we can put an end to war and live in a world of peace.”

The rubble of NATO

Iliès, 31, and Juliano, 32, musicians: “What the Afghan militant says is incredible! When NATO goes somewhere, there’s always rubble. It’s nice to hear a Russian talking fraternally about Ukraine. A very interesting meeting.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Urgent need to meet

On June 5, the POID sent a letter “To organizations claiming to be for workers, peace and social justice”: “In the last 48 hours, a new notch has been passed in the war. The imminent Ukrainian offensive, supported by NATO, on the one hand, and the probable general mobilization that Putin’s regime will, a little sooner, a little later, decree, on the other, will provoke new massacres …. We are ready to take part in a joint initiative in unity with no other conditions than this single demand: “Immediate and unconditional ceasefire!” We propose to meet with you as soon as possible.” — POID statement

* * * * * * * * * * *

A First Tour of Women Afghan Activists in France, Belgium and Germany – from 5 to 9 June

Press release no. 6 – 13 June 2023

Women workers, lawyers, trade union activists, politicians and community activists took part in the five lectures given by our friend Hasina Sadet, an activist with the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, during the first European tour organised by the International Committee for the Defence of Afghan Women, from 5 to 9 June.

In Metz (France), Brussels and Liège (Belgium), Erfurt and Berlin (Germany), our friend Hasina Sadet recalled that “the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women was created in Kabul on 22 September 2021, after the Taliban took over power in August 2021. It is an independent movement that is not linked to any political party and brings together democrats, nationalists, intellectuals, feminists, secularists, and members of civil society, journalists, teachers, students and housewives“.

She explained: “Present in Kabul and in many provinces, the movement operates in extremely difficult conditions: the Taliban regime reinstated by the US administration has eliminated all democratic freedoms and increased the number of measures excluding women from social life (education, employment, NGOs, public places, etc.).

The Taliban regime has banned access to school for girls after the sixth form. One of the movement’s demands is therefore the reopening of all schools, universities and educational centres for girls.

At the same time, it has organised a network of clandestine schools to take in girls who have been driven out of school: these are dozens of secret educational centres that enable several hundred girls to receive a free education, given by volunteer female teachers“.

As well as clandestine activities and meetings, the movement has also organised public events, such as demonstrations and rallies, in particular for the reopening of schools and universities to women. It has seized every opportunity to do so: 8 March, May Day, etc.

But Hasina Sadet also pointed out that “because the ‘international community’ had failed to react seriously to the Taliban, in 2023 the latter were able to prevent demonstrations by resorting to repression, murder, imprisonment and torture. The Taliban killed dozens of women and imprisoned hundreds of demonstrators. Most of the families have been threatened with death, so that they will not speak to the media or human rights organisations“.

The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, she explained, has therefore opened clandestine “houses of protection” to house threatened women activists. Hence the importance of the campaign being waged in several European countries to demand that the authorities in those countries immediately and unconditionally take in all women and activists under threat.

Hasina Sadet also highlighted the fact that every week the Taliban regime receives 45 million dollars from the US administration, under the guise of “humanitarian aid”. However, she explained, “this aid does not reach the women who need it, and only strengthens the misogynist Taliban regime: it is a real betrayal of the interests of the women of Afghanistan. It is therefore necessary to build and strengthen independent organisations, such as the International Committee for the Defence of Afghan Women and the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women“.

We would like to thank the organisers, activists, trade unionists and lawyers who welcomed Hasina Sadet, as well as the Maison de la Famille Willy Peers in Brussels and the Ver.di trade union section at the Free University of Berlin.

In anticipation of the next tour of Afghan women activists, in each of her conferences, Hasina Sadet has launched an appeal to strengthen the International Committee for the Defence of Afghan Women, to continue the campaign for unconditional asylum for threatened women activists and to financially support the organisation, in Afghanistan, of “protection houses” for women and clandestine schools for young girls.

We need your financial support!

The two tours by Afghan women activists in Europe are entirely self-financed. You can now make your contribution to the International Committee:

– by Bank Transfer to the account “Comité international de défense des femmes afghanes” BIC/SWIFT: CMCIFR2A; IBAN: FR76 1027 8060 5000 0213 5650 174

– by cheque (for France) to be sent to Comité international de défense des femmes afghanes, 67, avenue Faidherbe, 93100 Montreuil.

Spread the word about the International Committee for the Defence of Afghan Women …

and its website to extend the campaign of solidarity : https://defendafghanwomen.org/

Save the dates: The next European tour will be led by Ranna Amani, an activist with the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women: in Lisbon (Portugal) on Monday 26 June; in Bilbao (Spain) on Tuesday 27 June; in Marseille (France) on Wednesday 28 June; in Turin (Italy) on Thursday 29 June and in Geneva (Switzerland) on Friday 30 June.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Greetings from Socialist Organizer to the POID Convention (France) held in early June 2023

We send you comradely greetings from the United States, wishing you a successful convention as you prepare for the next stage in your struggle against Macron and all the undemocratic institutions of the Fifth Republic, for a Sovereign Constituent Assembly.

Over the past four and a half months, the 2,263 readers of The Organizer newspaper have been receiving on a weekly basis your articles, interviews, and statements – all translated into English – urging support for the call for a continued general strike. The responses from our readers and active supporters have been overwhelming solidarity with your efforts.

We also have felt the need for us here in the United States, despite our different situations, to draw lessons from your efforts in terms of the promoting united-front struggles from above and below, and, most important, building the revolutionary party in the course of the fight for a general strike.

We applaud your fight against the ongoing and deepening war in Ukraine – a war largely provoked by the United States and fomented with ever-growing funding from Biden and the twin parties of Big Business, all in the service of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Your opposition to Macron’s high-school military plan is one we understand fully, as a similar program – the ROTC – exists in the United States, though it is not … yet? … compulsory, as yours is. Your constant warnings about the U.S. war threats against China are ones we share week after week in The Organizer.

Just two weeks ago, we helped to organize a national conference for an independent working-class party — a Labor Party – and for a Black Working-Class Party linked to the struggle for a Labor Party.

Eighty-six participants from across the United States participated in the LCIP conference and discussed for an entire day what it will take to forge working-class political independence at a time when the trade union leadership, Bernie Sanders, all the so-called “progressive” Democrats, and the virtually entire “Left” in the United States will be mobilizing in support of warmakers Biden and the Democrats – in the name of stopping Trump or DeSantis, the proto-fascist governor of Florida.

Our work is cut out for us – from France, to the United States, to all corners of the earth – which is why the work of the International Workers Committee (IWC) is so important, particularly in the fight to end the imperialist war and fund human needs.

Wishing you again all the best and looking forward to receiving a report on your deliberations and decisions.

Comradely,

The Editorial Board of Socialist Organizer (USA)