The almighty ’’bastion of freedom of speech’’ has just exposed itself as not so free. Across the western world, students are demanding that their universities cut ties with Israeli institutions. The response from their government is that of mass arrests and police violence. In the USA over 1500 students have been arrested for protesting at university campuses. Right-wing politicians call for mass arrests and even (capitalist) social-democrats and greens use the power of the state to crush the brave students who stand up for Palestine.
Student protests at Dutch universities
Dutch students have joined their American comrades in starting massive protests at Dutch universities across the Netherlands. The response of the state is that of violence and mass arrests. While the right-wing media (De Telegraaf, PowNed, WNL) calls them ’’extremists and violent thugs’’, the reality remains that the Netherlands (like all EU nations) keep friendly relations with Israeli universities and institutions. Meanwhile the terrorist: State of Israel is ready to attack Rafah, the last free Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, which has not been attacked yet.
Western imperialism claims that Rafah is the red line Israel should not cross. But reality is that the terrorist regime is ready crossing the line, with no consequences. Western hypocrites like Joe Biden have said that Rafah is the red line and all military aid to Israel will stop, but it is unlikely that western imperialism suddenly has a change of heart. Dutch students understand the hypocrisy of the countries like the Netherlands. They are radicalised by the injustice and mass deaths caused by Israeli terrorism against Palestinian men, women and children.
GreenLeft mayor of Amsterdam in service of Israel
Femke Halsema is the mayor of Amsterdam from the GreenLeft party. She belongs to the right-wing of the liberal greens in the Netherlands. Halsema used to be party leader and moved GreenLeft away from its leftist green politics, towards accepting capitalism and western imperialism. Femke Halsema became mayor of the Dutch capital and has proven herself to be a supporter of the State of Israel. She ordered the police to crush the students, who had barracked themselves in the University of Amsterdam in protest of its friendly relations with Israeli institutions.
While the Dutch: Party of Labour is mostly pro-Israel, the GreenLeft remains divided. Its leaders are all pro-Israel, but a large percentage of its members is not. Many younger members reject the actions of the State of Israel and they have clashed with the party leadership, often getting their voices silenced in undemocratic moves to silence pro-Palestinian opinions.
A socialist alternative is the only solution
Many students favour the idea of one democratic secular country for Jews and Arabs. But the problem is that this is not possible. Even a unified socialist nation for both communities is an illusion, as Israeli workers do not feel any connection to ”Arabic” Palestine. On the other side, the Palestinians will not easily forgive the Israeli’s for the massive deaths, racism and oppression. This is why we say that Israel and Palestine must become socialist countries on the 1967 borders. Socialism will not end the hatred in one night but it can start a process of healing, if the economy is run for the majority and not a capitalist few!
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of the few European countries, were Labour Day or 1 May is not a free day. Despite that social-democrats participated in Dutch governments, the first of May was never declared a free day for workers. This is mainly because the Party of Labour is not radical nor revolutionary. In coalition with liberals and conservatives, the Dutch social-democrats behaved moderate and in line with the power structures of capitalism.
Capitalism in the Netherlands
Despite what many think, the Netherlands is not a liberal leftist paradise. The country does tolerate a lot of personal freedoms, but its economic politics are driven by politicians in the service of capitalism. No Dutch government has ever dared to oppose big business, not even the government of Joop den Uyl, who is called the most leftist prime minister. After Wim Kok became leader of the social-democrats in 1986, the Party of Labour embraced the neoliberal third way and became a typical party of the bourgeoisie. Today Dutch social-democracy is no longer seen by workers as their voice in politics.
The capitalist left-wing in the Netherlands
The Party of Labour is not the only pro-capitalist ”leftist” party in the Netherlands. They have joined up with the liberal greens of GreenLeft, a party that was founded in 1991. GreenLeft is a party of liberal greens, who call for a naive mixture of eco-capitalism with Europeanism, meaning they love the European Union and its undemocratic capitalist institutions. GreenLeft is popular among the progressive bourgeoisie, but it has nothing to offer ordinary workers. The Dutch liberal greens are too willing to join a capitalist government to proof their loyalty to the establishment.
While the social democrats have embraced the capitalist system, there is a third party that claims to be leftist. This is the Socialist Party, founded in 1971 as a revolutionary Maoist party, promoting the idea of the Chinese Stalinist leader: Mao Zedong. It slowly abandoned Maoism and embraced a strange mixture of leftist populism before becoming more mainstream social-democratic by the late 1990’s. Today you can call the Socialist Party a social-democratic party with nationalist characteristics. Their propaganda is sometimes anti-capitalist, but their program is not. The leftist populists do not call for socialism nor fight for a socialist Europe. This is why the Socialist Party has not won an election since 2010.
Inequality growing due to inflation
Workers in the Netherlands were told by social-democracy not to fight too much. The Party of Labour tried to keep the workers in line by call on them to talk with their capitalist bosses instead of striking. After the rise of Wim Kok, the social-democrats told trade unionists that they had to accept austerity, deregulation and market based politics, because There Was No Alternative. This mentality wrecked the Dutch trade union movement as many workers came to the conclusion that unions did not worked in their interests. The capitalist media helped too, by portraying the unions as bureaucratic and elitist. Today only 870.000 workers are members of the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions.
After the Covid-19 crisis and the start of the War in Ukraine, the capitalist class started to increase prices for almost all products. They say that they have no choice, but we know that they just want to keep up their profits at all costs. Dutch workers are understanding that they need to fight back and the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions is willing to fight again. But what is lacking is a political vehicle as too many trade unionists remain influenced by the failed methods of social-democracy. The Netherlands also lacks a workers party on a socialist program, that fights for a socialist Netherlands as part of a voluntary European Socialist Federative Republic
The imperialist rivalry between the eastern camp (led by China) and the western camp (led by America) is getting more hot as the USA is declaring to defend the terror-state of Israel against a possible Iranian missile strike. After the Israeli’s attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria, the Ayatollah regime speaks of a retaliation strike. The regime of Benjamin Netanyahu has little regard for human rights, Israel killed over 40.000 Palestinians since the year 2000. It also attacked countries like Lebanon, Syria and Iran, with no sanctions or condemnation from western imperialism.
The position of the Iranian regime
The Islamic Republic of Iran claims to oppose western imperialism since 1979. Its opposition to imperialism led to the installation of a U.S trade embargo. Like Cuba, Iran is forbidden from buying western technology. The hypocritical move to install an embargo had nothing to do with human rights as the USA and western Europe, fully supported the Imperial State of Iran before 1979. It has all to do with the opposition of the Ayatollahs to the imperialist politics of Washington DC and their European puppets.
After the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the theocratic regime moved towards deregulations and privatisations, in the hope of better relationships with the west. Although Europe wanted to end the sanctions, it was Donald Trump to reinstalled them as Tehran kept opposing western imperialism and its ambition for global power. Iran opposed the imperialist attacks on nations like Afghanistan and Iraq. It also supports Hezbollah (Party of God) in Lebanon and arms Shia-Islamist militia’s in Iraq to fight against Islamic State, which is a Sunni-Islamist movement.
Israeli attacks against Iran
The State of Israel knows that it can attack any nation as long as the USA does not lift a finger. This is why any Israeli government could launch bombing raids against Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian positions. On 1 April, the Iranian embassy in Damascus was attacked by Israel, killing 16 people. This assault received little attention in the western media, despite this massive breach of international law. If Iranian planes would have attacked the American embassy in any nation, then the western media would have called for war.
But this is not the first time Israeli planes have launched attacks against Syria. For many years, the Israeli air-force has illegally attacked Syrian cities, killing members of militia’s who are armed by Iran. Often these attacks are met with harsh anti-Israeli propaganda, but as of this date Iran has not attacked Israel with rockets. Because they know that the USA is the real reason Israel can do what it does. America is the very reason why Benjamin Netanyahu is free to attack anybody who he says is an enemy of the State of Israel.
Iran is not anti-capitalist
Because Iran is under sanctions it is forced to turn to the eastern imperialist camp for support. While criticising western imperialism, the Ayatollahs regime remains silent on the imperialist ambitions of Beijing. This show us that their anti-imperialism is just a smoke screen, to hide their inability to improve the lives of Iranian workers. Today over 40% of the Iranian economy is owned by capitalists and they are free to exploit workers. 1/3 of all working class Iranians live in poverty, due to the capitalist reforms carried out in the 1990’s.
Although the state keeps control over major means of production, we must not forget that the Iranian government does not work in the interests of working class people. The government works in the interests of Shia-Islamism, its religious leaders; the Ayatollahs. Although there are democratic elements in the Iranian system, the reality remains that those who reject Shia-Islamism are suppressed and are not free to speak out. Anyone calling for secularism, socialism or even liberalism is arrested by the religious police.
Western war with Iran
Western media propagandists have often debated what a war with Iran would look like. Although the USA has the better army, Iran is not Afghanistan or Iraq in 2003. The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces is better organised and armed compared to the weak militia of the Taliban in 2001 or the Iraqi Army of Saddam Hussein. Iran has the means to fight an imperialist attack by the western powers. A war with the Ayatollahs will result in destabilising the Gulf region and it will disrupt the trade routes. Now this is something the capitalists might not like, but then again if the Israeli regime has the freedom to assault embassies of nations they don’t like, then we should not be surprised if Israel is getting a pay back.
American imperialism will be forced to enter into a war with Iran, should Tehran choose to attack Israel. The position of revolutionary socialists in such an event is clear. We do not support any imperialist attack on Iran. At the same time we reject antisemitic attacks of Iranian proxies in the western world. We do not support reactionary groups like the Party of God (Hezbollah) or the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), who are armed by Iran. Revolutionary socialists reject the terror attacks by Israel on Shia-Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq. These attacks only destabilise the region and can lay the seeds for a bigger conflict to come.
Socialism as the solution to end capitalist rivalry and war
We reject both the imperialist camps of the west and the east. No support for the Ayatollahs, because we have seen how undemocratic, anti-feminist and pro-capitalist they govern. Our alternative is that of socialism from below. Democratic socialism means the nationalisation of the means of production under democratic control by workers councils. Democratic planning of the economy to meet the needs of working class people. Socialism however can only be build up by the working class, not by a sectarian minority. This is why we say that the working class needs a revolutionary party, that can lead the masses into revolution.
The youth of Iran have shown to have huge potential. There have been uprisings, demonstrations and massive protests by younger Iranians. What is lacking each time is the organisation of the working class. Iran lacks a workers party on a socialist program that acts as the vanguard of the proletariat at times when revolution is possible. Because demonstrations are not enough. In a dictatorship like Iran, the workers will have to arm themselves to fight the army and militia’s of the reactionary Ayatollahs.
This will require a class consciousness and the understanding that socialism is the only alternative. Young Iranians wish for an end to the regime and its repressive methods against women and minorities. This is why we say that the future belongs to the youth and that future can only be socialism.
Eastern Europe was not the first continent that broke with Stalinism. In fact China had started to embrace capitalism as early as 1978. It was the Chinese ’’Communist’’ Party that first started with Special Economic Zones, long before Mikhail Gorbachev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union (CPSU). The Chinese and many sectarian Stalinists had attacked the USSR for abandoning classic Stalinism after 1956. Now those sectarian Maoists were the first who embraced capitalism. The Vietnamese and Laotians followed with Doi Moi in 1986 and finally Eastern Europe under Soviet leadership slowly started to embraced the market dictatorship. Despite the promise of improvements, capitalism did not help working class people.
Stalinism as a failed political and economic model
From 1945 until 1990, Eastern Europe was ruled by communist parties, installed by Moscow as its puppets. These communist parties all followed the classic Stalinist system that Stalin had set up in the Soviet-Union around 1927. It was build on a single party state and the complete nationalization of all means of production. According to the Stalinists and their supporters, socialism was build and soon the communist society would set in. Revolutionary socialists from the Trotskyist tradition rejected this falsehood as we knew that a Stalinist society is build on top down centralism, bureaucratic planning and no democratic input from workers.
Yet even Trotskyists were surprised by the quick collapse of the Stalinist model between 1989 and 1991. The Stalinist communists always said that we were ’’ counter-revolutionaries’’ and that we stood for the ’’restoration of capitalism’’. In the end, it turned out that the Stalinists were the ones who embraced capitalism and abandoned their Marxist-Leninist facade. Not only the Eastern Europeans and the Soviet leadership moved towards the market economy, China and Asian Stalinists too choose the market over planning. The capitalists of the world proclaimed victory and called for the end of state ownership.
Stalinists introduce capitalism
Contrast to popular believe, the people who introduced the free market were the same ones who had praised Marx and Lenin just years before. It was the communist party bureaucracy in each Stalinist state that choose to privatise the economy. The first one was Poland, there the Polish United Workers Party lost power to the political party; Solidarity set up by Lech Wałęsa. Although the trade union Solidarity started as a socialist one, it’s political formation was divided and lacked a clear ideology. Lech Wałęsa managed to privatise the economy, but it cost him everything. Workers felt betrayed because they were told that capitalism would bring them wealth. Instead it only brought wealth to those who owned the privatised state enterprises.
Many blamed Mikhail Gorbachev for the collapse of the Soviet-Union. But the people who broke up the union were the members of the Stalinist bureaucracy. The Communist Party of the Soviet-Union was banned, but its members simply switched side and colours. Under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin they privatised the economy and ran off with the profits made by workers. Like Lech Wałęsa, Boris Yeltsin was hated and rejected by the late 1990’s. In Hungary and Bulgaria, the Stalinists simply renamed themselves into social-democrats and remained a force of power.
Elders praise the Stalinist period
Elderly people in former Stalinist countries, openly praise the time when there was no capitalism. Despite its limits and undemocratic nature, Stalinism provide workers with a (very) small glip of what is possible if the economy is under collective control. Yes, the propagandists of the ruling class will always use the ineffective planning methods and the abuses, but ordinary people who lived in those days also remember a time when life was not based on profiteering. Today elders suffer from low pensions and crumbling infrastructures as the capitalist state has all but abandoned them and their towns.
In Eastern Europe, Russia and former Soviet republics, the capitalist rulers care little for those who are old and of no use for the system. The You-Tube channel: Bold and Bankrupt by Benjamin Rich, shows how the people of the ex-USSR and Eastern Europe live today. Unlike western documentaries and history shows, his channel is a window into the world of ordinary workers, who experienced a decline of life under capitalism. Since Benjamin Rich speaks Russian, he can communicate with many people who were educated in Russian, even if he is not in Russia itself.
Poverty and disillusion due to capitalist restoration
What Benjamin Rich shows is that most older working class people, have entered poverty and disillusion. They had worked under the Stalinist system and many had high hopes for capitalism when it was introduced between 1989 and 1991. However most of them realised that the system was only serving those who had money. Capitalism ignores you if you don’t have capital and this is the iron rule in all countries, even in the western world. To please the new ruling class, few money is spend on pensioners and infrastructures. You can see this in the videos of Benjamin Rich as he visits countries like Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. These nations have a lof of elder poverty and abandoned infrastructure, that used to be be part of ”socialist” life under Stalinism.
Because of the economic hardships after 1991, elders tend to idolize the Stalinist period. For them, life was better in a time when the state told them what to do. Under capitalism they must save themselves and none were educated to do that. Young people know how to work under capitalism, but low incomes forces them to leave the rural parts or whole countries as is the case in the Baltic nations. Although Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia look modern on the outside, many young workers do not wish to live in their birth nations. This is also the case in Hungary, were many younger workers hate the right-wing regime of Viktor Orban.
Democratic socialism, not social democracy is needed
The Stalinists embraced social-democracy in theory after 1991. But even classic social-democracy with its welfare system would no longer be tolerated by capitalists today. If a country would enforce classic social-democracy, the capitalist class would start to disinvest and close companies. Capital flight and mass lay-offs would force any government to capitulate as we saw with François Mitterrand. Until the late 1970’s, the capitalists feared a potential workers revolution, this is why they compromised with social-democracy. But now that the ”socialist” danger is gone, the ruling class has no reason to compromise and they went full on the offensive in the 1990’s, demanding austerity and deregulation.
Social-democrats have also been tainted with neoliberalism as most European social-democrats govern no different then liberals or conservatives. There is little or no difference between a social-democratic government or a liberal government. Social-democracy has become just another capitalist tool in the political game of the ruling class, they sell to us workers. This is why we call for democratic socialism from below.
The imperialists in Moscow have finally dropped their last facade in their war with Ukraine. From 24 February 2022 until March 2024, they claimed that Russia was only conducting an ”special military operation” in Ukraine. Anybody who talked about a war with Ukraine was censured and could face detention. However now the representatives of the Kremlin themselves are talking about a actual war with Ukraine, ending the facade of a ”special military operation”.
The situation as of March 2024
Vladimir Putin seems to have accepted reality, that Russia is at war with Ukraine. Until now the Russian propaganda was not allowed to use the word; ”war”, because the Kremlin did not wanted its people to know that they were fighting in Ukraine. However after 150.000 death soldiers they could not longer keep that facade alive. Russian men were dying and not in small numbers. Russia has lost more soldiers in the war with Ukraine, then with their war in Afghanistan (1979-1988). Ukraine has kept the imperialists from taking more land, but despite massive NATO support is unable to take back what Russia captured in early 2022.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised his people, that Ukraine would recapture all lost territories, including Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. However as of March 2024, Ukraine seems unable to mount a offensive against the Russian imperialists. Mainly this because they are out of ammunition and despite promises of support, the western world is unable to provide. The western stockpiles are depleted, which leaves Ukraine unable to mount a effective attack. Meanwhile the Russians just have to wait until their North Korean factories have produced enough guns for a counter attack.
Can Russia win the war?
The Russian ”Empire” has the means to win the conflict. Their army is bigger and they have a better military industrial complex compared to Ukraine. Kyiv was forced to build up a defence industry out of nothing. There remains deep systemic corruption and abuses inside the Ukrainian economy. Capitalist privatisation and deregulation have only increased corruption as capitalists are free to exploit anything they get their hands on. This corruption is the result of a society dominated by greed capitalists (oligarchs) who are the actual rulers of Ukraine. The Ukrainian state has been reduced to a weak hulk before the invasion and was therefore unprepared for the attack.
Putin’s empire may have the better means to win, but they too are plagued with corruption and mismanagement. As with Ukraine, Russia embraced free market fundamentalism in the 1990’s. Despite the restoration of the Kremlin as the all powerful central government, the army remained ineffective. Russian soldiers are mostly made up of conscripts who are forced to fight. In the 2022 invasion, soldiers who made up the invasion force came from the poorer rural parts of Russia, not from the rich cities like Moscow or Saint Petersburg.
Ukraine has the luck that Russia has an ineffective army, build on mistrust between soldiers and officers. The fact that Russia lost 150.000 soldiers and over 2.000 tanks and armed vehicles, shows us that between reality on the battlefield and parades on Red Square is a huge difference. The biggest fear of the Kremlin is a popular revolt like the revolution of February and November 1917. Because ordinary Russians do not wish to fight and with more death husbands, sons, uncles and friends, the reality of a brutal imperialist war caused by the Kremlin is now becoming more clear.
Ukraine and the workers movement
Early 2022, many men were willing to take up arms. But these men are either death or wounded. The group that is now fighting is losing moral due to the fact that Ukraine is not winning. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is saying each week that Ukraine will win, but soldiers understand that this is propaganda talking. The 2023 summer offensive failed, they could not breach the Russian defence lines. With this reality sinking in, recruitment becomes more difficult as men do not wish to join the Ukrainian Army. Although hope for a military victory remain, the Ukrainians start to understand that this war could be long and difficult for them.
Because of the war, the workers movement in both Russia and Ukraine is fully subjugated to the pro-capitalist leadership in Kyiv and Moscow. In Russia, the imperialists have silenced any opposition and Kyiv has presented itself as the leader of the resistance against Russian imperialism. However if the workers movement remains passive, then their suffering will only remain. This is why revolutionary socialists call for the formation of a revolutionary political alternative, to the governments of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
Independent trade unions will have to be set up in opposition to the state controlled unions in both nations. Some small strikes have occurred in Ukraine, this shows us that there is the will to fight the injustice caused by the capitalist system. This is why International Socialist Alternative (ISA) believes it is important to develop a strong, organised and politically conscious working class movement in Ukraine, that can take control of the situation.
Is there a way out for the working class?
It remains important for socialists in Russia to build the anti-war movement. This is indeed difficult as the Kremlin does not tolerant opposition to their imperialist war. We say that opposition to the war must be linked to opposing and overthrowing the Putin regime and the capitalist system he supports. Putin fear a workers uprising, because his government is not that strong. If the Russian army is unable to conquer Ukraine, it will sure not be able to defend the Kremlin from a massive workers and peasants uprising on the scale of 1917.
We show solidarity with the Ukrainian working class, but not in a way to strengthen western imperialism or the nationalist government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Unlike some leftists we do not side with the idea that Ukraine must be armed by NATO. International Socialist Alternative stands for real links with workers’ organisations in Ukraine as they fight the labour laws, wage cuts and privatisation and to assist them directly with real material and humanitarian aid, helping the Ukrainian working class to create their own alternative organisations, independent of capitalist politicians like Zelenskyy.
The Republic of Haiti can be called one the worst failed states in the world. Perhaps it is the most failed nation on the planet. Even the Democratic Republic of Congo is more stable compared to Haiti. This Caribbean nation has a long history of oppression caused by western imperialism and brutal capitalist dictators. Today the country has no government and no parliament. Criminal gangs control huge parts of the country as the police and military are too corrupt and inferior to stop them!
Hispaniola: from colonialism to imperialism
Haiti was a French colony on the island of Hispaniola from 1625 until 1804. The Haitian War of Independence lasted 12 long years, but resulted in the defeat of French colonialism. However the leaders of the revolution never wanted to give power to ordinary people. Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared himself Emperor of Haiti, he was killed only two years later. This left the country in a power vacuum that resulted in civil wars and foreign interventions. On the other side of the island, Spanish imperialism controlled 2/3 of Hispaniola and was forced to abandon its colony there in 1821, this became the First Dominican Republic. Haiti on the most western part of Hispaniola descended into chaos as many states and governments failed to provide stability.
Weakened by their struggle against Spanish imperialism, the leaders of the First Dominican Republic surrendered their young nation back into the hands of the imperialists. This shows us that these so called ’’revolutionaries’’ from the ruling class never cared about genuine independence. The Captaincy General of Santo Domingo lasted until 1865 when Spain finally left the Dominican Republic. American imperialism would take its place and showed the Dominicans that they were their new white masters. The imperialists from Washington DC invaded in 1916 and made sure the Dominican Republic became a loyal puppet of the USA.
The Failed Unification of Hispaniola
Jean-Pierre Boyer was the second President of Haiti after Jean-Jacques Dessalines was killed. However like Dessalines, could only rule with the support from the capitalist establishment. He was able to reunite the island of Hispaniola in 1821, but was forced to pay France a ransom for the lost slaves. This show us that capitalist leaders like Boyer not only served the needs of the local capitalist class, they also served the needs of western imperialism. Jean-Pierre Boyer ignored calls for a parliamentary democracy and free elections, he kept ruling as a dictator for over 25 years until 1843, when military leader Charles Rivière-Hérard forced him out of office.
Many army officers took the officer of President (Dictator). Few lasted longer then one or a few years. Faustin Soulouque tried to restore the Empire of Haiti in 1849, his empire lasted ten years. The Dominican Republic was annexed back into the hands of Spanish imperialism by its own capitalist leaders, only to be made independent again after 1865. Many bourgeoisie government came and went, with no one offering workers and poor anything but empty promises. As no Haitian government was stable, American imperialism decided in 1915 to protect its interests by invading and occupying the whole island of Hispaniola.
American imperialist occupation
The invasion and occupation of Hispaniola by the United States of America was a product of racism and capitalism. Greedy American capitalists feared that they could lose their assets in Haiti/ Dominican Republic if a potential revolutionary government would take power. European imperialism was weakened by the First World War, meaning that the USA had full freedom to play imperialist overlord over Caribbean America. Haitian president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was friendly to the USA, but ruled as a brutal dictator. After he ordered the execution of 150 political prisoners, the people of Port-au-Prince rose up. Dictator Sam was dragged out of the French embassy and murdered in the streets.
U.S President Woodrow Wilson decided to invade, to make sure the assets of American capitalists were protected. The U.S Navy was told to land in Port-au-Prince to protect American and western interests. Wilson also wanted to rewrite the Constitution of Haiti, to turn its whole financial sector under the control of the USA. To avoid criticism, the imperialist president claimed that American troops only invaded to protest ’’law and order’’. The USA ruled over Haiti until 1934. After that date the white Americans were ensured by the Haitian capitalist class, that their politicians would forever serve the interests of Washington DC.
The rise of the François Duvalier
During the American occupation, black nationalism rose among the youth of Haiti. They saw the racism and injustice of the white Americans, who occupied their country in the name of ’’law and order’’ while stealing their wealth. François Duvalier was raised during the occupation. He entered politics by the 1940’s and claimed to stand against racism and the fact that many Haitian leaders were just puppets of American imperialism. He won the initial support of poor workers due to his opposition to imperialism. This resulted in him becoming president of the country by 1957. However like Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Duvalier had no interest in liberation for black workers. As with any capitalist Haitian leader, Duvalier only cared about himself.
After becoming president, François Duvalier became a despotic ruler who enrich himself, his family and a small capitalist elite. Because he knew the military could overthrow him, the tyrant created a special militia, the Militia of National Security Volunteers. Duvalier restored the flag and colours of the first Empire of Haiti in 1964, this was a clear sign that he wanted to rule as emperor unopposed. John F. Kennedy reduced the aid to Haiti because of the brutal Duvalier regime, but after his own assassination the USA became very friendly to the tyrant of Haiti.
Friend of American imperialism against ’’communism’’
After JFK was murdered, the USA resumed all political and financial aid to the Duvalier regime. Because François Duvalier was deeply anti-communist, he was seen as part of the ’’free world’’ by the hypocrites in the White House. In Haiti, fear and oppression ruled. Members of the brutal: Militia of National Security Volunteers were free to murder and plunder. Duvalier himself also plundered millions in U.S aid money meant for Haiti. He was a true kleptomaniac like Mobutu of Congo. In line with other dictators, a massive cult of personality was build, which was able to produce support among some sections of the working class due to the pseudo-populism of the Duvalier regime.
The propaganda of the regime called François Duvalier, Papa Doc. It was said that Papa Doc was one with Jesus Christ and God himself. Pseudo-populism always showed François with dark sunglases, which he wore on porpuse. His extreme cult of personalty also prepraed a family dynasty. Jean-Claude Duvalier was made ready to succed his father as the next absolute leader. Jean-Claude was named Baby Doc for youth and François Duvalier got the name Papa Doc. Old Papa Doc finally died on 21 April 1971, seven days after his 64th birthday. Baby Doc at age 19 was made absolute ruler of the Duvalier dynasty.
Baby Doc, the second Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier grew up in wealth and privilage. But at age 19, he cared little for politics and gave a lot of power to his corrupt advisors and his elitist mother. Poverty and inequality grew massively during his regime as Baby Doc enjoyed wealth and luxury, while millions suffered poverty. Meanwhile the totalitarian state made sure that any criticism of the government was crushed with brutal force. All this with the support from the USA, who kept supporting Baby Doc with millions of dollars each year.
Because Baby Doc was a playboy and no politician, his mother Simone got a lot of power. She shared duel power with Luckner Cambronne, the interior minister of François Duvalier. This Luckner Cambronne was called the”Vampire of the Caribbean” for his profiting from the sale of Haitian blood and cadavers to western pharmaceutical capitalists. Simone Duvalier resented the fact that she lost her power after 1980, when her playboy son married Michèle Bennett, a woman who as First Lady was now the most powerful woman of the regime.
Downfall in the 1980’s
The Duvalier dynasty would not have survived that long, had western imperialism not supplied it with millions in financial aid each year. Washington DC is to blame for the suffering and poverty of the Haitian working class and not just for supporting the Duvalier regime. Western banks allowed corrupt leaders to store millions there, while the working class lacked the basic needs for human survival. Jean-Claude Duvalier started to lose power after the working class slowly had enough of Baby Doc and his elitist family. A revolt started in October 1985 that spread to six more Haitian cities. Despite some desperate moves, none came to the aid of Jean-Claude who lost power in just a few months time.
Ronald Reagan decided to dump his Duvalier allies. Fearing for a revolution that could hurt American interests in Haiti, he called on Jean-Claude Duvalier to leave the nation. He was not welcome in the USA, but the Reagan administration did help him flee Haiti on 7 February 1986. Jean-Claude was able to live in exile in luxury, France gave him protection and allowed him to keep his stolen money that was kept in French banks. By 2007, Baby Doc was out of money and forced to live as an ordinary person. He returned to Haiti in 2011 and was arrested there. Jean-Claude died before he could face trial for corruption at the age of 63. Just like his father, Jean-Claude died of a hearth attack.
Struggling under neoliberalism as a failed nation
The Republic of Haiti has never recovered from the abuses of U.S occupation, the Duvalier regime and failed political leadership since 1986. In the 1990’s and 2000’s, no government was able to provide a genuine alternative to the poverty and injustice caused by capitalism. Neoliberalism was imposed as the IMF demand privatization and deregulation, before any financial aid was given. Capitalist governments came and went, all promised change and none were able to deliver. In 2010 a massive earthquake destroyed much of Haiti and killed over 160.000 people. Even after 14 years, many still suffer due to the fact that there is no effective government to help the poor.
Due to the absence of functioning state, people are forced to look after themselves. Corruption and crime are rampaging. This is not uncommon in capitalist societies, but in Haiti we see what a genuine failed capitalist state looks like. Criminal gangs grew massive in numbers after 2010 as there is no effective police force to protect people from criminals. Crime is also lucrative for those who have nothing. Reality remains that under capitalism, the Republic of Haiti has no future. This has proven with the fact that as of 2024, there is no elected parliament, no government and no president.
A socialist alternative is the only solution
In 2021, a criminal gang murdered Jovenel Moïse in his own house. Jovenel Moïse was the last elected President of Haiti. Like all capitalist president before him, Moïse claimed a lot and failed to provide. The murder of Moïse resulted in a complete collapse of the remaining elements of the Republic of Haiti. Ariel Henry was made Acting President, but he too could not stop the collapse of Haiti. Criminal gangs are in full control of large parts of the country, killing themselves and others for scraps. The wealthy are fleeing, while the majority of poor are trapped in a country that is now ruled by gangs.
Foreign powers including the USA wish for a transitional government to be set up. We revolutionary socialists know that such a government will be weak and unable to solve the problems of working class people. What is needed is a revolutionary workers party on a socialist program. A party that can organize workers and poor into an army of the working class, to fight the criminal gangs and carry out a socialist revolution. There can be no trust in any foreign installed ’’provisional government’’. Workers of Haiti do not need another puppet of American imperialism. They need a socialist government that set’s up a workers state, that nationalizes the means of production under democratic control!
Haitian workers have suffered immensely. Capitalism and imperialism are to blame for this. This is why we say that socialism is the only alternative. But not just socialism in Haiti, democratic socialism needs to be build up in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean nations. Because socialism cannot be build up in one country alone. It needs to be build internationally because capitalism is an international system. A socialist Haiti can become a beacon of inspiration for Caribbean and Latin American workers, to set up states of their own and finally a socialist federation of all America.
Travayè ayisyen, ou pa gen anyen pou pèdi men chenn yo, ou gen mond pou genyen!
Former Labour Party MP and Respect Party leader George Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election on the platform of the Workers Party of Britain. Galloway is not a stranger to the British House of Lords. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party from 1987 until 2005. Because Galloway rejected the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair kicked him out of the Labour Party. Galloway then founded the Respect Party and was an MP from 2005 until 2015. The capitalist establishment has always hated him for his rejected of their imperialist methods and his opposition to the pro-capitalist course of the Labour Party.
Who is George Galloway
George Galloway was born on 16 August 1954 in Dundee Scotland. His father was a Scottish trade unionist, while his mother Sheila O’Reilly was of Irish descent. Galloway is a British patriot who loves the country of Great Britain and has stood against the Scottish independent movement. Ironically in his youth, Galloway had been a long-time supporter of Sinn Féin and Irish reunification. At age 13 he lied to the Labour Party Young Socialists in order to join. While still a teenager, Galloway became secretary of the Dundee Labour Party. In 1981, at age 26, George Galloway became the leader of the whole Scottish Labour Party.
Galloway supported the idea of having members of the Communist Party of Great Britain joining the Labour Party. He was much closer to their Stalinist thinking then the Trotskyist members of the Militant Tendency, who were very powerful in Liverpool. Despite his closeness to Stalinism, Galloway rejected the right-wing attacks against Militant and did not support their expulsion from the Labour Party.
Opposition to New Labour and Tony Blair
Tony Blair became the leader of the Labour Party in July 1994. His vision was that of New Labour, meaning that the social-democrats abandoned their last socialist ideas for full neoliberalism. Blair was able to win support due to the collapse of Stalinism and the growing anti-socialist offensive by the capitalist establishment. With the Communist Party of Great Britain dissolved and Militant forced out of Labour, Blair turned the party into an instrument of the ruling class. George Galloway was a vocal critic of Blair and the betrayal of socialist ideas.
After the USA and Great Britain invaded Iraq in 2003. George Galloway became one of the loudest opponents of the Iraq War inside the Labour Party. Because he had openly rejected the first Gulf War and showed sympathy for Saddam Hussein, Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party after he gave support to the Iraqi insurgents who attacked American and British occupation troops. Galloway was not afraid to call Tony Blair a mass murderer and George W. Bush, the bigger terrorist.
Founding of the Respect Party and failure to provide a socialist alternative
Outside of the Labour Party, George Galloway and his supporters founded the Respect Party. This was a venture between Galloway, members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and local Muslim groups who felt betrayed by Labour. The capitalist establishment branded Respect as an alliance between Trotskyists and Islamists. Revolutionary socialists outside of the SWP, criticized Galloway and his supporters for the fact that they openly showed sympathy for reactionary groups and regimes like that of Hezbollah and the Ayatollah regime in Iran. Galloway followed clearly the old Stalinist idea of supporting any group that stands against western imperialism, no matter how reactionary and anti-socialist they might be.
Because of this, the Respect Party failed to provide a socialist alternative. They did not attacked those regimes who were hostile to British imperialism. Also Respect remained rather silent on the conservative mentality of many Muslim families and their reactionary views regarding women and LGBT+ people. Galloway himself is not a fighter for the LGBT+ community. This is a huge weakness of him as socialists should fight for the liberation of all sexes both women and LGBT+. The Respect Party never became a mass party and was mainly build as a vehicle for George Galloway. Soon the ex-Labour icon split with his SWP allies and Respect started to lose support as their movement was based on outrage and identity politics.
A new project: Workers Party of Britain
The Respect Party was dissolved in 2016. Three years later, George Galloway launched a new project called: Workers Party of Britain (WPB). This new venture claims to stand on traditional Labour values betrayed by the Labour Party. Galloway says that his Workers Party of Britain is anti-woke and does not stand with the LGBT+ people. In this the party is close to the social-conservatism of Stalinist parties like the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist), a Stalinist cult that was active in the foundation of the WPB. Galloway and his supporters remain positive about the Stalinist regimes and therefore give the capitalist establishment ammunition, to be used against revolutionary socialists who say that Stalin and his successors were anti-socialist.
In this the WPB is (like the Respect Party) not the socialist alternative working class people need. Despite the anti-establishment rhetoric of George Galloway, the WPB is just another vehicle for his electoral campaign as was the Respect Party. In his propaganda for the Rochdale by-election, Galloway’s social-conservatism is clear. The WPB leader speaks of family, small businesses, law & order and the Trump line: Make Rochdale Great Again. Although Galloway claims to be against identity politics, we see that his propaganda is very much directed towards identity of certain groups like Muslims and small capitalists. His propaganda is not class oriented nor does it claim that Galloway stands for a socialist Britain under the control of working class people.
The WPB claims to stand on ’’common-sense socialism’’ but behind this line stands a mixture of British nationalism, anti-migrant rhetoric, rejection of the LGBT+ community and leftist populism. This is why we do not think that the Workers Party of Britain will be a success. Yes, it can win some support due to the massive rejection of the two party system in Britain and George Galloway won the Rochdale by-election due to the deep hatred for both Labour and Conservative by the working class.
What is needed?
George Galloway is a hardcore leftist populist. A fighter for what he believes in. But his politics are not based on international socialism. The Workers Party of Britain is a social-conservative party that is build around the popularity of one elected MP. Also the support Galloway gives to Stalinist regimes and anti-western dictatorships cannot be downplayed. Some older workers may like the mixture of social conservatism and classic social democracy of Galloway, who is right-wing on social issues and left-wing on economic issues.
Revolutionary socialists call for a workers party on a socialist program. A program that calls for the nationalisation of the biggest companies under workers self management. We do not think that slogans like: family, law&order, small businesses and Make Britain Great Again, is what we need in a workers party. A workers party must be based on international socialism, not nationalist propaganda about making one country great again.
The Workers Party of Britain is now four years old and only won one election due to the fact the George Galloway is a known figure. In the end the WPB is a nationalist social democratic party, loyal to Great Britain as a nation. The party of Galloway does not even call for a socialist republic. Instead it only wishes for British people to have say in the matter of the monarchy, by a referendum. Does that also mean that if the British public choose the monarchy, the WPB will be loyal to the crown?
George Galloway will return to the British parliament and be hated by both the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The capitalist media will attack him and Galloway will fight back with hardcore populism and anti-establishment rhetoric. This will rally some to his side. But as with the Respect Party, more is needed then just a political vehicle for a charismatic politician. We need a workers party that stands for a socialist Britain as part of a socialist federation of Europe!
On the second last day of 2023, John Richard Pilger died in London age 84. Pilger is a name linked to genuine leftist journalism, something that is very rare in the current media landscape dominated by capitalist sensation journalism and outright right-wing propagandists. John Pilger was a unique fighter for working class people. A journalist and film-maker, who can rightfully be called one of the most important faces of left-wing journalism in the late 20th century.
Who was John Pilger?
John Richard Pilger was born in Australia in 1939. His father was German and his mother had a mixture of English, German and Irish ancestry. Young John started his journalist career in 1958 and was a witness of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, during his presidential campaign in 1968. Then in 1970, Pilger went to South Vietnam to make a report on the American soldiers and their growing frustrations on the war with the Vietnamese. For 14 years his employer was the Mirror, who fired John Pilger after Robert Maxwell became its capitalist owner in 1984.
Famous on television
Although John Pilger started as a journalist who wrote in newspapers, his work in South Vietnam made him famous on colour television after 1970. In total, John Pilger made over 50 documentary films, exposing the western support for dictatorial governments. From the right-wing regime of Suharto in Indonesia, to the mass killers of the Red Khmer who got their guns from American and Western-European stockpiles in Thailand. Pilger exposed western imperialism and was hated for that by the western establishment. Liberals, conservatives and social-democrats did not liked the work and interview style of Pilger, who confronted them on their own hypocrisy.
In 2002, Pilger showed the world that; Palestine Is Still the Issue. Now in early 2024, we all know that the criminal State of Israel killed over 25.000 Palestinians, in a collective punishment for the attack of HAMAS in Oktober 2023. Pilger said in 2002 that Israel was ignoring the Oslo Accords and that it kept oppressing the people of Gaza (still under occupation back then) and the West-Bank. He gave a voice to the Palestinians, who had been silenced by the betrayal of Yasser Arafat and FATATH.
It was John Pilger who showed us how the western media was deeply in bed with western imperialism in: The War You Don’t See (2010). The media of the so called ’’free world’’ is a champion of western imperialist aggression. In 2001 and 2003 they all supported the view that Afghanistan and Iraq were ’’liberated’’ by Anglo-American forces. That the regimes installed in Kabul and Bagdad were ’’democratic’’ and ’’free’’ although neither of them respected freedom of speech for those who opposed their slave mentality to western imperialism. Today Iraq is closer to Iran and Afghanistan has fallen back into the hands of the Taliban.
Exposing crimes against native Australian people
Pilger not only exposed western imperialism around the world. He also showed how native people were discriminated and abused by racist governments in Australia. Although racist legislature was abolished between 1949 and 1973, there has never been an official apology for the White Australia Policy. John Pilger showed us that even after 40 years, there remains deep inequality and poverty among the native Australian population. The historic injustice they faced remains a trauma, especially the racist idea that native Australians were backward and inferior to white culture. This led to the kidnapping of native children, who were raised in white families. The trauma of the Lost Generation runs deep in native Austrian society and received little recognition by the white majority.
Standing for Kampuchea against western hypocrisy
In 1979, Vietnam invaded Kampuchea. This they did after Pol Pot attacked Vietnamese towns and murdered many. Pol Pot led the Red Khmer, the on-official name of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. However unlike the Vietnamese Stalinists, the Cambodian Stalinists embraced a nationalist Maoist ideology. Pol Pot wanted to restore the ancient Khmer empire. This is why he spread ethnic Khmer nationalism which regarded Vietnamese as inferior. This is why the Cambodian Stalinists attacked the Vietnamese Stalinists.
After Vietnam overthrew Pol Pot. The western world took the side of a regime that had slaughtered over 1 million people in less then three years. John Pilger was allowed into Kampuchea and with his documentary Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia, over 45 million dollars (191 million today) was raised to help the country. However western imperialism did not help the new People’s Republic of Kampuchea. Instead western imperialism only recognised the Pol Pot regime. After the pro-Vietnamese government choose to abandon Stalinism in 1989, Pilger showed us how western imperialism kept rejecting the government, until dictator Hun Sen restored the Cambodian monarchy in 1993.
The Coming War on China
John Pilger said in 2016 that the western world was about to enter a (cold) war with China. 8 years later we can say that western imperialism is indeed at war with eastern imperialism. A new Cold War is happening between one camp in the west and one camp in the east. Western imperialism claims it stands for ’’democracy’’ and ’’freedom’’’, the simply repeat their dogma’s from the first Cold War. In reality, western imperialism supports over 70% of all dictatorships, from Saudi-Arabia to Turkmenistan. Cruel and abusive regimes are free to buy western technology as long as they do not openly reject western imperialism.
Standing up for Julian Assange
Despite never been found guilty of any crime. Julian Assange is still in a British prison as of 2024. He was jailed in 2019 after the Republic of Ecuador betrayed him and forced Assange out of their embassy in London. American imperialism would love to get their hands on Julien Assange, who exposed their crimes and hypocrisy. John Pilger stood by Julien Assange right from the start when western imperialism started to prosecute him. Pilger died in December 2023, never knowing what would happen to his friend, who is still in a British prison despite only been sentenced to 50 weeks there.
Criticism of John Pilger
It is said that Pilger only focuses his work against western imperialism. That he had little criticism of eastern imperialism, mainly Russia or China. Just before the invasion of Ukraine, John Pilger did not believe that Putin would invade. Pilger however did denounce the invasion, but warned us to see beyond the propaganda from the western world, who portray Ukraine as a pure innocent and Russia as pure evil. Pilger said that the war in Ukraine is a war of propaganda between the western camp and the eastern camp.
John Pilger was close to socialism, but he never openly called for it. He never said that we need a socialist alternative against the forces of imperialism. His journalistic work was directed against the largest imperialist player and that remains the western camp. The eastern imperialist camp in 2024 is weaker and smaller. We must not forget that the USA and the EU have the largest economy of the world. Although Russia and China are competing, their militaries remains inferior to that of NATO.
In the end, John Pilger wanted to listen to people, to those marginalised and ignored by western countries and their media. This is why for the propagandists of the western world, he was a ’’Putin supporter’’ or a ’’Chinese supporter’’. Pilger indeed did not attack Russia and China as harsh as he attacked the USA or the EU. This could be explained from the fact that he knew the western world, while as a western person knew little of the other side.
The legacy of John Pilger
John Richard Pilger died in London on 30 December 2023, he was 84 years old. Pilger was a fighter for those not heard in the media. A journalist who wanted to listen before judging. This is why he was special and his documentaries should be watched by all who wish to see beyond the media of the western world. Revolutionary Socialist Media honours this journalist, who rightfully can be called one of the best journalists of the late 20th century.
At the age of 73, Captain Paul Watson is a legend in the struggle against illegal whaling and fishing. Although not a revolutionary or even a socialist, Watson understood that the methods of Greenpeace were not enough to stop the murder of innocent animals in the name of tradition and profiteering. After being forced out of Greenpeace, Paul Watson founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the USA. His first direct action was against the Canadian seal hunting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in March 1979. Watson became famous on television when Whale Wars exposed the Japanese whaling program. However the Commander of Neptune’s Navy was betrayed and forced out of Sea Shepherd in 2022, forcing the old sea fighter to return to his roots as a fighter of direct action.
Who is Captain Paul Watson?
Paul Franklin Watson is a marine activist of direct action. By now 73 years old, Watson has fought since the early 1970’s against the abuse and killing of sea animals. He was captain of some Greenpeace vessels before the organisation decided that his methods were too radical. Paul Watson does not believe in silent protest. He believes in direct action meaning confronting those who seek to endanger animals for tradition or profit. Greenpeace forced him out in 1977, which resulted in the foundation of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Because of his direct action methods in confronting seal and whale killers, Greenpeace labelled him a ”violent extremist”.
In 1980, the capitalist Canadian state turned on Watson, because he had assaulted a fisheries officer and painting harp seal pups with red dye to devalue their pelts. It was clear that the capitalist state fully stood on the side of those who believed in seal cruelty. Canada arrested him again in 1993 for direct action against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland. A year later the MV Whales Forever collided with a Norwegian coastguard ship. Watson was blamed by the Kingdom of Norway because he dared to oppose the Norwegian whaling industry, which remains protected by the capitalist state!
Due to his uncompromising stand and direct action, Paul Watson created a base of support among progressive wealthy figures. Wealthy film stars and other VIP’s have become supporters and donated a lot of money to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. It is because of that money that Watson was able to go out and defend the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. From 2003 until 2017, Sea Shepherd fought a titanic battle against the Japanese: Institute of Cetacean Research, a front group for Japanese whale capitalists, who used the institute as a cover to hunt and kill whales for profit.
The RV Farley Mowat was the flagship of Watson from 1997 until 2008. The ship was seized by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans in order to stop Sea Shepherd from intervening in the seal hunt without an observation permit. However this did not stop Paul Watson. He soon had a new ship thanks to the donations from Robert Hunter. This ship would become famous under the name Steve Irwin who was also a supporter of direct action. Sea Shepherd used the MV Steve Irwin as their flagship until it was retired in 2019.
Who hate Captain Paul Watson?
The list of enemies of Paul Watson is long. It goes from establishment liberals, conservatives, moderate leftists, people who oppose his direct action methods, to far-right nationalists and lovers of animal cruelty. The Japanese: Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) considered him an eco-terrorist, who’s ”violent” methods opposed their ”research”. However the ICR was just an excuse, used by whaling capitalists to make a profit off the loopholes in the International Whaling Commission law banning commercial whaling. It was not until 2014, that the International Court of Justice ruled that the ICR was in violation of the ban. In result, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission.
Before his titanic battles with the Japanese whalers, Paul Watson was already confronted with the might of the capitalist system, which defends animal cruelty in the name of ”order” and ”tradition”. America and Canada have branded him ”violent”, for standing up to people who wanted to murder young seals, whales, dolphins and other sea animals purely for the hunting tradition. There are also those who claim that Watson is building a cult of personality and that his rule is law. While there is a hierarchical structure on Watson’s ships, reality remains that Paul Watson has never put himself before the mission.
Watson is not Mr. Nice Guy. He is a demanding personality, who has always stated that his supporters should be ready to give their lives to protect annimals. People’s problems mean little to him as his focus has been the fight for the oceans and those who live in it. Some say that this is Paul Watson’s biggest weakness, that he has little regard for human’s. Reality remains that capitalistic humans are the species that is causing others to die. Capitalists do not destroy whole eco-systems because they need food, they do it because of greed.
Whale Wars
Before 2008, few people outside the anti-whaling and ecological community knew of Captain Paul Watson. Yes, the capitalist states knew and despised him including nations like Iceland, Japan and Norway who have come into conflict with Sea Shepherd for their crimes against animals. It was however a television series that made Sea Shepherd a big name, on equal levels with Greenpeace. It all started during the 2007/2008 whaling season of the ICR, when Sea Shepherd confronted the Japanese whaling fleet. Camera’s of Discovery Channel were present and recorded the battle of the MV Steve Irwin against whaling ships like the Yūshin Maru No. 2 and the factory vessel Nisshin Maru.
The direct action methods were praised and rejected by many. Paul Watson has never cared about his critics. This is seen in the fact that he puts the mission first before his own image and ignores personal conflicts. Due to the growing popularity of Whale Wars, people could see how whales were slaughtered in the name profiteering. After 2008 and the start of Whale Wars, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was able to buy more ships to oppose the actions of the ICR in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
By 2010, the MV Bob Barker was the next vessel in Watson’s Neptune Navy. Thanks to 5 million dollars in donation by Robert William Barker, Paul Watson could buy the former whaling vessel, which has been working for Norwegian whale killers from 1950 until 2004. By the time Sea Shepherd bought the ship, it was 60 years of age. Yet that did not stop Watson from using his new asset against the ICR and their modern whaling vessels. In this Sea Shepherd was always outgunned as the ICR fleet was way faster. Ships like the Yūshin Maru No. 2 were build in 2002 and have a top speed of 22 knots.
Whale Wars ended in 2014 when when Animal Planet was re-branded to attract broader audiences, moving away from animal oriented programs. Ironically this slowly happened to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society too after Paul Watson was forced to leave as leader, abide by an injunction barring him from proximity with Japanese whaling ships. Watson did returned as fleet commander after the International Court of Justice declared that the ICR was in violation of the ban on commercial whaling.
Sea Shepherd Global and the ICR
Sea Shepherd Global was set up to coordinate the ships of the movement after it grew beyond the MV Steve Irwin and MV Bob Barker. Sea Shepherd flagged their ships in the Netherlands and so a global organisation was set up. All none-American sections operated under the name Sea Shepherd Global, while the American section remained the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. By 2019, Paul Watson had left the leadership of the American section and was only active on the leadership board of Sea Shepherd Global.
After 2017, both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Sea Shepherd Global stated that their could not longer oppose the ICR, due to the fact that Japan had left the International Whaling Commission. Still, the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) finally said that win out government money their whaling operation would not be profitable, finally exposing what Paul Watson always claimed; that whaling is only done because of tradition, with no regard for the suffering of whales. Japan had always given huge subsidies to covert whalers. 5.1 billion yen (US$47.31 million) were donated to murder whiles under the cloak of research, a word painted on all Japanese whaling vessels of the ICR.
Yet this could not keep the commercial whaling industry alive. The Institute of Cetacean Research ceased whaling altogether in 2020, they now claim to conduct research using none-violent methods. Three years after Sea Shepherd had stated that they could no longer fight the Japanese, the battle to protect the whales was finally over, for now. Because Paul Watson is sure the ICR might return with a new factory vessel and since they are building one to replace the Nisshin Maru, he thinks that Japan has not giving up on killing whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary!
Changes in direction and the coup against Watson
After 2016 and the foundation of Sea Shepherd Global, the two Sea Shepherd organisations started to move beyond their tradition of direct action and intervention. Actions were taken with national governments in assisting anti-poaching activity in national territorial waters and marine reserves. Sea Shepherd slowly became the marine police of African nations, who did have the means (or political will) to protect their waters against poachers and illegal fishing vessels. Paul Watson did not agreed with this move and so the other members on the board of directors decided to launch a coup against their founder.
Paul Watson and Lamya Essemlali (Sea Shepherd France) were removed from the board of Sea Shepherd Global in late 2022/early 2023. This forced Watson back to the basics with nothing but the support from those who have stood by him since 1977. The leaders of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Sea Shepherd Global have remained silent on the coup, saying only that Watson had a reduced role in the organisation since 2019. However a Dutch court ruled in 2023, that both Watson and Essemlali were illegally removed from the board of Sea Shepherd Global.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation
With no ship, no organisation and few supporters in early 2023, Paul Watson started from scratch. He set up the Captain Paul Watson Foundation after Sea Shepherd forbid him from using their name and emblems on social-media. Watson could also not use the name: Neptune Navy, so he named his new fleet: Neptune Pirates. Soon many Sea Shepherd supporters and sections rejected the expulsion and bureaucratic methods used by the leadership. Sea Shepherd UK and Sea Shepherd France joined up with Watson. In response, their names disappeared from the website of Sea Shepherd Global as if they never had been part of the movement. This is how Sea Shepherd now rewrites their own history.
Although feeling betrayed by people who he worked with, Paul Watson turned his eyes on those who keep killing whales and other sea animals. Thanks to a huge donation from John Paul DeJoria, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation was able to buy their first ship. The John Paul DeJoria 2 is now the flagship of Paul Watson as he keeps fighting against those who wish to harm sea animals in the name of traditiom. This is why Revolutionary Socialist Media gives critical support to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. We support the dedication of Watson, although revolutionary socialists say that only a brake with the capitalist system can result in a new way of thinking. We need democratic planning of our economy for the needs of humans, animals and nature. As Paul Watson said:
In late February 2024, it will be two years after the Russians started their imperialist invasion of Ukraine. Despite that the whole western world supplied Ukraine with weapons, the reality is now clear that the former Soviet republic is not in a position to start an offensive against the Empire of Vladimir Putin. The Russian imperialists have dug themselves in and the summer attack of Ukraine failed to capture the occupied southern parts. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the Ukrainians that their nation would win with NATO support, that is still the propaganda coming from Kyiv. Reality is that after two years the war has entered a stalemate, with Ukraine not able to recapture what it lost to Russian imperialism.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy losing military support?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the Ukrainian president since 2019. A pro-western leader and a populist, he failed to change Ukraine for working class people after winning the elections. It is much easier to play a president in a television series, then to be one in real life. Zelenskyy is a typical capitalist president, serving then needs of the deeply corrupt Ukrainian oligarchy. This is why in early 2022, he only had an approval rating of 30%. It is very possible he would have lost an election to a pro-Russian conservative candidate.
However then came 24 February 2022, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It boosted the popularity of Zelenskyy, who dropped the typical capitalist business suit and embraced a military outfit, which all Ukrainian ministers now use. He rallied the country to stand behind a government and state, which never cared for democratic rights. The Ukrainian state has always worked for a small capitalist minority as is any government or state on this planet. Ukraine did turn more western after 2014, but on the whole scale deep inequality remains with poverty around 24,1% of the population in 2022, just before the invasion.
The Ukrainian military had improved since 2014. They dumped their Soviet style uniforms and mentality. This maybe the only reason why the country was not overrun in 2022. Their use of western military methods turned out to be a save line as Russia’s military is still based on the mentality of the old Stalinist USSR, with deep mistrust between officers and conscript soldiers. Ukraine was able to hold on and their post-2014 military reforms did help them. It also motivated soldiers to take independent actions as opposed to Russian soldiers, who do not act unless direct orders are given from the top down.
Two years after the invasion, the Ukrainian military is becoming more critical of Zelenskyy. Valerii Zaluzhnyi is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since July 2021. He has stated that Zelenskyy is painting a too positive picture of the war and the chances of victory for Ukraine. Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi are said to be in conflict and it is very possible that Kyiv will replace Zaluzhnyi. Should Zelenskyy indeed choose to sack the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, it will weaken his position. Ukrainians will know that the government is taking action against those military officials who dare to challenge the line that Ukraine is winning the war.
Ukraine cannot win
Despite what the Ukrainian propaganda may claim, the country cannot win this war. Reality is that their old Soviet military stockpile is depleted. They now rely fully on western military support from NATO and EU countries. Russia has around 300.000 occupation troops in Ukraine and although 800.000 Ukrainian men are mobilised, these men are conscripts and not fully trained. Meanwhile the imperialists from Moscow had the time to dig in and to build their defences in the occupied eastern parts. North Korea has agreed on becoming the ammunition supplier of Russia, which gives the Kremlin more space to build tanks and other high tech materials while Kim Jong Un builds the bullets.
The imperialists also have learned to use low tech weapons like drones. Early in the conflict it was Ukraine who was able to win battles due to the use of drones. But Moscow has learned and now drones are used by the imperialists as well, with western technology inside them. This shows us that the economic sanctions against the Russian ”Empire” have failed. Moscow is still getting its hands on western technology by using different routes, mainly from Central Asia and China.
NATO is now arming Ukraine, but cannot do this forever as billions are required for which western tax payers must pay. Western governments have just agreed for another round of billions in military support for Ukraine. Revolutionary socialists oppose this, not because we want Russia to win but because we know that under the current capitalist system, no victory is possible. What is needed is a revolution, a genuine socialist revolution in both Kyiv and Moscow. Because with right-wing nationalism, no victory for possible for either side. Workers have already been sacrificed and should not die for either the imperialist needs of NATO or Russia.
Western style capitalism is not the alternative in Ukraine
It is understandable that Ukrainians stand with NATO and the western world. They think that the western world stand for democracy, freedom and human rights. This is what the nine conglomerates keep spreading on their news networks. Nine capitalist media conglomerates control what 90% of western people see on television. Their names: CBS Corporation, Disney, Vivendi SA, Viacom, Time Warner, Sony, News Corporation, General Electric and Bertelsmann. These nine media conglomerates make sure that no media outlet turns against the dogma’s of western imperialism.
Many in Europe and the USA think that supporting Ukraine with guns will help them defeat Russia. What we then ask is, why no weapons are given to the people of Myanmar, why the people of Afghanistan and Iraq were not armed to fight the American imperialists? Why were no guns delieverd to the Kurds, when they fought Islamic State in Syria and Iraq? Because western guns and money are only given when you submit your group/country to the wishes of western imperialism. Defeating Russia is part of the new Cold War between western imperialism and eastern imperialism. China is the leader of eastern imperialism with the USA as the leader of western imperialism.
Ukraine is right in the middle of this new Cold War. For them the struggle against Russian imperialism is seen as a fight for national liberation, but they cannot win by siding with the western imperialist camp. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine would win since February 2022. Due to mistakes and corruption of the Russian Armed Forces, Ukraine did win back some occupied parts. But now there is a stalemate and Zelenskyy’s propaganda is facing the stone wall of battlefield reality. Ukrainians will realise that their country is not winning, despite the massive use of western weaponry.
For Ukrainian workers the only way out of poverty and occupation is through revolutionary socialism, not by siding with Volodymyr Zelenskyy or the western imperialist camp. The western world never cared for Ukraine, until president Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) started to say things the western world liked and the eastern world opposed. Poroshenko, a member of the Ukrainian oligarchy, was loved (by the establishment) for his pro-western views, yet ordinary Ukrainians gained nothing with him. He was a capitalist president, working for the ruling class. This is why the population voted for the actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Poroshenko only got 24% of the votes.
Lies and propaganda
Revolutionary socialists say that there cannot be any trust in the Ukrainian capitalist establishment. Despite their nationalist propaganda and claims of victory, they will not win this war. Russia has not even mobilised its full army. Putin still calls his invasion a ”Special Military Operation”. This is done to hide the fact that over 120.000 Russian soldiers have died since February 2022, Ukraine lost around 70.000 soldiers. It remains difficult to say how many died as both sides are not telling you the real numbers. Both claim they have killed a lot of enemy troops while diminishing their own loses.
Russia can keep the stalemate going. Vladimir Putin is selling cheap crude oil to China and Asia, making huge profits. Also by using total control over the media, Russians are kept in the dark about the many young men that are death. Families of death soldiers are not allowed to report on the death of their sons, so the public does not know that more men have died in this war, then in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The reactionary Russian media claims that they are fighting the ”inferior LGBT+ culture” of the western world. Ukraine is called an ”Gay Nazi State” and Russia; the ”beacon of tradtional family culture”.
For workers from both countries, revolution is the only perspective out of war and poverty. This means that they need to brake with capitalism and build a socialist alternative. For this, revolutionary workers parties are needed that can lead the masses into revolution. The biggest problem is that the established left-wing is not revolutionary. Social democracy betrayed workers and Stalinism has joined the Russian camp as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proofs. The left-wing is not revolutionary, which is the biggest handicap for the workers movement.
In Ukraine, there is not even an established left-wing or any party that can be called centre-leftist. The political spectrum in the country has always been either pro-western (liberal) or pro-Russian (conservative). In reality, the left-wing has been demonised by the media of the Ukrainian state and oligarchy, by comparing Marxism to Stalinism. The fact that the Communist Party of Ukraine (banned in 2015) had a pro-Russian line, strengthen this perspective. A whole generation of Ukrainians is raised with lies about socialism as the only alternative out of the injustice that capitalism created.
Socialism means democratic control from below. Stalinism and social-democracy have nothing in common with that idea. Stalinist communists in Ukraine fully supported the two stage theory, this why they sided with pro-Kremlin conservatives. The Communist Party of Ukraine even joined capitalist Ukrainian governments in 1994 and 2006. Another reality remains that political parties in Ukraine are often vehicles for charismatic individuals with money, they do not function as typical political parties in western countries with an left or right ideology.
Finally, the Ukrainian workers movement at this stage is fully siding with the Kyiv government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This is the same government that is attacking workers by demanding longer work hours and lower pay. Zelenskyy did not vetoed bills that now can result in arbitrary dismissals, overtime work on spurious grounds, ignoring collective agreements in terms of wage payment. This show us that the pro-NATO government is not a government of the working class, but just another corrupt pro-capitalist regime. Workers will need to brake with Zelenskyy and the whole rotten establishment.
Against nationalism and imperialism
Ukraine and Russia are in a propaganda war. Although most western people know that Russia is misleading its own people, Ukraine is playing the same card. We are never told about the massive deaths of Ukrainian troops. We do not see destroyed Ukrainian tanks and killed soldiers. Ukraine has shown us enough pictures of destroyed Russian tanks, ships and guns. But at the same time we must not forget that over 70.000 Ukrainian soldiers are death and the summer offensive in 2023 failed. No pictures of this failed offensive are shown and since Russian media outlets are banned in the western world, we do not see what is filmed on the Russian side.
Nationalism is a powerful weapon and both sides use it. Russia and Ukraine are playing with nationalist icons and demonising their opponents. Russia plays on the Great Patriotic War, the use of Soviet symbolism and Tsarist claims about southern Ukraine. Kyiv is playing on anti-communist nationalism by claiming that Russia wishes to restore the ”Communist Empire”. Ukraine is also using far-right symbols and icons such as the fascist red-black flag of the Ukrainian Insurrection Army of Stepan Bandera. This far-right killer of 200.000 Jews and Polish workers is hailed as a hero by the Ukrainian state.
In this war, far-right nationalism is tolerated and actively used. Russian fascists and nationalists mix symbols of Tzarist Russia and Stalinist Russia into one toxic mixture. Nowhere is this perfectly shown as in the grotesque Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces. Build in 2020, this Christian orthodox cathedral has icons of Stalinism, Tzarism and Orthodoxy mixed together. The cathedral glorifies the Russian army and its battles. Strangely only the Red Army of 1941-1945 is shown as Russian, not the original Red Army from 1917-1922, which fought against all what this cathedral and the Kremlin stand for!
Revolutionary socialists fully reject the abuse of Soviet symbols by the Kremlin and the Russian ”Empire”. We also call out the rehabilitation of the Ukrainian fascists and their symbols by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The fascist red-black flag is not something to be proud of. Yet the Ukrainian Armed Forces use it as if the Ukrainian Insurrection Army was fighting for a free democratic Ukraine during WW2, when it allied itself to Nazi Germany. Bandera wanted a fascist Ukraine with no room for Jews, leftists, Russians or anything not ethnic Ukrainian. This is why his far-right thugs killed 200.000 and actively supported the Nazi’s as members of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police of the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine.
The war in eastern Ukraine cannot be solved on the bases of nationalism. This is why we say that only a socialist revolution has the potential to end the conflict. Revolutionary socialists know that we are a minority, marginalised in Ukraine and oppressed in Russia. Yet our alternatives will proof to be the only way forward as more years will past and the nationalist rhetoric proof fruitless, in winning the war. The workers movement in both countries will have to be organised and willing to fight for a socialist alternative, that free’s them from the injustice of war, exploitation and opression, which are part of the daily lives of working class people.
Рабочие Украины и России, вам нечего терять, кроме своих цепей, вам есть что завоевать!
Трудящі України і Росії, вам нема чого втрачати, крім їхніх ланцюгів, ви маєте завоювати світ!
Revolutionary Socialist Media 