The Free

The fear of disappearing as a hegemonic power awakens the survival instinct. The United States (US) has entered a dangerous drift, the end of which puts the future of humanity at risk.

from thefreeonline on February 12, 2023 by Marcos Roitman Rosenmann at Internationalist 360°

If a nuclear holocaust is on the horizon, it is no coincidence. The cultural reason of the West is facing its worst nightmare: being trapped in a war where it cannot see the way out. 

We are living the end of a historical stage, with many chiaroscuros. Genocides, holocausts, ethnocides, generalized deterioration of the environment, global warming and the stubbornness of the United States tying the European Union to its plans.

A lot of testosterone and little head.

No matter who the tenant of the White House is, in foreign policy, Republicans and Democrats act in unison. With pedestrian but effective arguments, they base their warmongering. They point out that they have been destined by Providence to be the champions of world peace. They are not belligerents, but in the event of an attack, they will respond with all their might and nuclear arsenal, if necessary.

The American way of life must be preserved, as well as protecting the planet from communism and dissolving ideologies that threaten the family and deny God. Timothy Dwight IV, president of Yale University from 1795 to 1819, wrote: “Thy glory shall spread over the vast reaches of the earth. And wild nations before thy scepter shall bow. Around icy shores shall thy sons sail. As they shall spread thy banner in the realms of Asia”.

Their expansionist policy precedes them. From the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico, through the sinking of the Maine in Cuba (1898), followed by the false incident of Tonkin in 1964 to justify their involvement in the Vietnam War, to the second Gulf War in 2003, under the pretext of Iraqi production of chemical weapons of mass destruction, they have acted as true conquerors.

In Latin America they have not lacked excuses to send marines and bomb the civilian population. Suffice it to cite the invasion of the Dominican Republic (1965), Grenada (1983) or Panama (1989).

Likewise, it was the dropping, in 1945, of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended up giving it world hegemony. Europe ceded supremacy and control of international decision-making way to the rising nuclear power.

Its leading role has continued to decline. Europe has become a staunch defender of U.S. interests in the world. Just look at how it acts in the United Nations.

In the battle for world control of the Western bloc, the United States is ready to provoke a political tsunami. The symptoms are visible.

Continue reading “Dying by Killing: The US and its Manifest Destiny”

‘My forefathers did something horribly wrong’, The Trevelyans were shocked to see their name in a slavery database and a journey to Grenada confirmed the continuing impact of their grim history.

from thefreeonline on 12th February 2023 info from Paul Lashmar and Jonathan Smith at The Guardian via Repeating Islands

British slave owners’ family to apologize and pay reparations

An aristocratic British family is to make history by travelling to the Caribbean and publicly apologising for its ownership of more than 1,000 enslaved Africans. The Trevelyan family, which has many notable ancestors, is also paying reparations to the people of Grenada, where it owned six sugar plantations.

The grim truth behind Britain’s stately homes many properties were found to have benefited from huge compensation after owning slaves was finally abolished in Great Britain in 1837, including Hare Hill in Cheshire, where the owners, the Hibbert...The British try to forget that their empire was the fruit of military conquest and of brutal wars involving physical and cultural extermination.

Last weekend, the family met online and agreed to sign a letter of apology for its enslavement of captive Africans. Forty-two members of the family have so far signed and more signatures are expected.

In 1835, the Trevelyan family received £26,898, a huge sum at the time, in compensation from the British government for the abolition of slavery a year earlier. The enslaved men, women and children received nothing and were forced to work a further eight years unpaid as “apprentices”.

A £100,000 fund, donated by the New York-based BBC correspondent Laura Trevelyan, will be formally launched in Grenada on 27 February by Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, and Trevelyan family members. Caricom, or Caribbean Community, is a group of 15 countries in the region.

Why the wealth of Africa does not make Africans wealthy

Nicole Phillip-Dowe, vice-chair of the Grenada National Reparations Commission, said: “It’s absolutely fascinating that I am seeing history being made. It takes a leap of faith for a family to say, ‘my forefathers did something horribly wrong and I think we should take some responsibility for it’. It is commendable that the Trevelyan family has taken this step and I hope it will be followed by others.”

Continue reading “One British slave owners’ family to pay reparations! But whole State based on Slavery and Colonial Looting!”

from thefreeonline on Feb 11 2023 by Alex Alder via anarchistnews.org via Anarchist Communist Group

A polemic against the wave of militarism seen across the anarchist movement in Britain since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine: international statement

The Anarchist Communist Group had no hand in the writing of the following article. Nevertheless we feel that this well written and comprehensive roundup of the war fever seriously affecting what passes for an anarchist movement in Britain is something we fully endorse. Originally appearing on the libcom site, we publish it here for wider distribution.

Everyone is against war in the abstract – even the arms industry executives can tell themselves that they are merely providing for defence and global order, deterring war in doing so.

But when war breaks out the sentiment is made irrelevant. Peace-loving or not, war is here, and you are either with your nation, your people, or against them.

Peace will come with victory. In any case, your side is the righteous cause, because you fight for freedom and justice, for democracy and stability, because your enemy were the aggressors, and tyrants and devils to boot. The bloodshed is so easily sanctified.

Anarchism cuts right through such mystification.

We say it as we see it: the workers of different nations are sent to slaughter each other in the interests of their rulers. Anti-militarism is a core principle of anarchism. We understand armies to be a violent force underwriting political authority (or those who would conquer it).

We point to the role of military force in suppressing uprisings and strikes at home, while imposing national interests, enforcing capitalist markets, and ruling colonies abroad. Military research and production is a highly profitable investment of private capital and public funds, not least as a subsidised source of technological development (for the purposes of social control and generating profit).

We consider how the military system of strict hierarchy and discipline, alongside its culture of chauvinism and othering,1 breaks down the human character and reshapes it to the needs of those in command.

So how is it that today the anarchist movement in Britain (and elsewhere) is supporting one nation’s military against another, ideologically justifying and materially provisioning2 the Ukrainian war effort? Are we seeing something altogether new that would lead us to question and revise our principles? No. We are seeing the same tragedy brought upon the people of the region as we have seen time after time.

Our anti-militarist, internationalist, and revolutionary perspective is as vital as ever. At this present stage, the struggle for liberation is caught in the no-man’s-land between imperialist invasion on the one side, and national defence (backed by an opposing imperialism) on the other. To seek purpose in either trench would be just more fuel in the furnace of capitalist warfare; it would mean allegiance to the state against anarchy.

‘War in Ukraine and desertion: Interview with the anarchist group “Assembly” of Kharkiv’, International Relations Commission of the Italian Anarchist Federation.

National Defence and Anti-Imperialism

From the long-standing anarchist paper Freedom and anarcho-communist Anarchist Federation (AFed), to the anarchist “scene” around antifascist and other activist groups, war fever is rife. At first this involved cheerleading for the so-called ‘Anti-authoritarian Platoon’, a unit of the Territorial Defence made up of anarchists and antifascists, among others.3 

Participation in military structures was explained by the need to defend themselves, and softened by a narrative of independent popular resistance. But the reality was quite different. The Territorial Defence Forces are the reserve force of the Ukrainian military, subject to its command structure. There is no question of autonomy.

A member of the Anti-authoritarian Platoon observed that in their unit “there [was] normal military hierarchy with section commanders and platoon commander subordinate to higher military officers.”4 Other anarchists and antifascists joined the regular army. Rhetoric aside, this means collaboration in the national defence by joining the state military, one way or another.

That some people choose to join or support the military defence of the nation in which they reside when threatened by imperialist domination is understandable5 and I do not judge anyone making such difficult choices.

But it is not anarchism – it is not compatible with anarchist ideas or practices. No one lives up to their ideals in everything they do, but these compromises and contradictions should be accepted as such, not assimilated into our theory and practice such that in turn our movement is assimilated into the society of capital and state.

Continue reading “British Anarchism Succumbs to War Fever! – Let’s make Class War against Bosses, Bankers and Oligarchs –”

An analysis from Unity and Struggle: about the path forward for the movement to Stop Cop City

from thefreeonline on Feb 11, 23 by It’s Going Down

If we size up our enemy’s vulnerabilities, and strike effectively, we can win.

— Unity and Struggle The struggle in Atlanta’s Weelaunee forest and against Cop City has been waged on many fronts: treesits, rallies, community meetings, targeted property destruction, lawsuits.

Recently, police attacks and the assassination of Tortuguita dealt many of us a devastating blow. But the choice by Mayor Dickens to continue with Cop City in the face of mounting nationwide opposition also poses risks for the Atlanta ruling class.

For the last two years, a diverse movement has defended the last forested land in metro Atlanta and prevented the construction of “Cop City,” a massive police training complex slated to be built in a Black working class area of Dekalb county. The same movement is defending another part of the land threatened by real estate developer Ryan Milsap. The $90 million Cop City facility is bankrolled largely by donations to the APF from major area corporations. With it, the ruling class in Atlanta hopes to prevent something like the 2020 George Floyd Uprising from ever occurring again.

But controversy is now swirling around the state’s use of terrorism charges and its assassination of Tortuguita. Students from the Atlanta University Center colleges and Georgia State have marched, and outlets from Democracy Now! to the Daily Show have tuned in.

Continue reading “Building the Movement to Stop Cop City: Three Theories of Victory in Atlanta”

European Parliament embraces war criminal Zelensky.. ‘Man in green’ gets standing ovations for his torture and murder of ethnic Russians

from thefreeonline translated from Frontnieuws on February 9, 2023 via aletho

Shame and Horror. Euro MEPs wallowed in hysterical joy for a hero who sponsors depraved mass torture, ethnic cleansing, rape, war crimes and banning political parties, Russian language and church, trade unions .etc.. (OSCE Report. PDF).

On Thursday, Reuters reported that Zelensky and his entourage in Europe “were told at a summit by several leaders of the European Union that they were ready to supply Kiev with fighter jets to help fight the Russian invasion.”

“The issue of long-range weapons and fighter jets for Ukraine has been resolved,” said Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff. “Details to follow.” 

The “taboo” of sending weapons that can reach hundreds of miles into Russia will soon be broken, according to Reuters, the “news agency” that collaborated with the CIA , writes Kurt Nimmo.

“Mr Zelensky received standing ovations before, during and after his speech to European lawmakers,” reports The Hindu. “He held up an EU flag after his speech and the whole legislature stood in gloomy silence as the Ukrainian national anthem and then the European anthem ‘Ode to Joy’ were played.”

More an ode to mass murder.

Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said the “next step” is to provide “long-range systems” and fighter jets to the ultra-nationalists. Metsola said the “reaction” to Russian efforts to denazify and disarm the Kiev regime “must be proportionate to the threat, and the threat is existential.”

Metsola, who was elevated to President of the European Parliament by a secret vote of MEPs (not European citizens), is taking the war to the next level.

note: Russian soldiers are also accused of war crimes, daily in the Western media. However the Army Policy is strictly against such crimes, intent on limiting the war where possible to a “policing operation”. Until now conscripts are rarely used, and accusations are investigated and aggressors punished.

The EU encourages the ultra-nationalist regime in Kiev to continue its ethnic cleansing, torture, rape and other war crimes in the Donbas and wherever Ukrainians dare to speak Russian, attend an Orthodox church, celebrate Russian traditions or speak out against atrocities committed by neo-Nazi thugs.

Metsola and her associates should be required to read “War Crimes by the Armed and Security Forces of Ukraine: Torture and Inhumane Treatment,” a second report on neo-Nazi war crimes in Ukraine by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The PDF document reveals in gruesome detail the war crimes committed by the Ukrainian state following the US government-orchestrated coup in Kiev that brought openly neo-Nazis to power.

Continue reading “European Parliament embraces war criminal Zelensky”

By  Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday added the two-shot primary series mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults, formalizing the agency’s vaccine advisory committee’s unanimous recommendation made in October 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday added COVID-19 vaccination […]

‘Tragic’: CDC Adds Original COVID mRNA Vaccine to Childhood Schedule Despite Known Harms