Bank of England’s attempt to whitewash its history and present role

According to one historian, the Bank of England should well have been called the Bank of the West Indies, because of its involvement in slavery.

On June 19, in the wake of the global upsurge following the killing of African American George Floyd, and protests in Britain about the glorification of slavery and empire, the Bank of England issued a statement “about its historical links to the slave trade.”

This Day. The downing of Iran Air Flight 655

On this day in 1988, the American warship USS Vincennes deliberately fired missiles at an Iranian civilian aircraft, Iran Air Flight 655. Two hundred and ninety innocent passengers died. Vice President George W. Bush honoured the warship, saying: “I don’t care what the facts say: I will never apologize for the United States … Life goes on!” The massacre, and the reasons behind it, are worth remembering in the context of orchestrated campaigns against Russia over the 2014 crash of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine and against Iran by Canada, Britain and Ukraine over the crash of an Ukrainian airliner earlier this year, for which Iran took responsibility.

The central assumption is that the United States alone is the single state in the world that does not kill innocent civilians, is not at war with anyone, answers to a higher law above international law and the United Nations, and hence has the moral authority to accuse everyone else of criminal activity. But this disinformation remains silent on the criminal record of the US in destroying civil airliners and even heaping the highest honours on those who pulled the trigger| TONY SEED*

A300B2-203 Iran Air EP-IBT at Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran | Khashayar Talebzadeh

This Day. Jack Johnson demolishes Jim Jeffries and the racist myth of the ‘Great White Hope’

Jack Johnson | United States Library of Congress

By amateursport.wordpress.com

On July 3, 1910 one century ago this day in Reno, Nevada, African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out the white supremacist Jim Jeffries, triggering a series of racist attacks across the United States; about 20 Blacks died, and hundreds were injured. Johnson holds a seminal position not only in boxing but also in athletics and in the movement for the rights of all.

This Day. Ireland – The Falls Curfew, fifty years on

By Lasair Dhearg

“Move on you Irish Bastard…there are not enough of you dead”.

These were the words uttered to a dying Charles O’Neill as he lay mortally wounded on the Falls Road moments after being impacted by a British Army Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC).

This Day. The Summer Solstice and Quebec’s National Holiday

186 years of National Day celebrations

On June 24, 1834, 186 years ago, Ludger Duvernay, founder of the patriotic institution Aide-toi le ciel t’aidera (God helps those who help themselves) inaugurated this day as the National Day of the fledgling Quebec nation and dedicated the first toast to “the people, the primary source of all legitimate authority.” Ever since, “this celebration, the purpose of which is to cement the union between Canadiens,”[1] is the occasion to celebrate, through music and song, gatherings, parades and neighbourhood activities, who we are as a people, where we come from and where we are going. It is a multi-dimensional celebration of the season, very much like the summer solstice and celebrates the need for us all, of diverse social and national backgrounds, to come together and take stock of our common history and social relations.

This Day. ‘Discovery’ of New Found Land and Cape Breton: Who was Caboto and what was his claim on Canada?

The Venetian navigator Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), commissioned by Henry VII of England, landed in Newfoundland, on June 24, 1497 believing it to be an island off the coast of Asia and named it New Found Land. [[1] Under the commission of this king to “conquer, occupy, and possess” the lands of “heathens and infidels”, Caboto reconnoitred the Newfoundland coast and also landed on the northern shore of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. [2]

He returned to England on August 6 and took three Mi’kmaq with him, thereby introducing slavery into North America. This may be responsible for his disappearance when he returned to Newfoundland with five ships in 1498. When his ships arrived in northern Cape Breton Island, the Mí’kmaq attacked. Only one ship returned to England, the other four, with Caboto as Captain, never returned.

Prensa Latina: 61 years facing media manipulation

By Adriana Robreño

Havana, June 16 (Prensa Latina) – The Latin American Information Agency Prensa Latina celebrates its 61st anniversary today as an alternative voice against the circulation of faKe news and media manipulation.

This Day. The Clare grain riots in Ireland

A historical account of a massacre in which the para-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) – on which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was modelled – opened fire on a crowd of starving people in Ennis as local food produce was being exported by landlords | DEAN RUXTON, for the Irish Times

That a band of RIC policemen fired at a crowd of civilians in Ennis* was not disputed. Less clear-cut in the aftermath was who, if anyone, gave the order.

Bacteriological war against Cuba

The beginning of more than half a century of bacteriological aggression | JORGE WEJEBE COBO

.(ACN) – On June 1, 1964, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro publicly denounced the use by the US administration of bacteriological warfare against the Cuban people, which the United States denied and started the tradition of ignoring and trying to discredit the charges.

A reflection: Canada’s collaboration with the fascist forces and their snipers

By TONY SEED

The poignant post on the blog by Ukrainian journalist Dmitriy Kovalevich struck a chord with me. I had heard about those snipers he mentions, responsible for inciting Ukrainians against Ukrainians. One of them was in Canada four years ago on a cross-country recruiting and propaganda mission sanctioned by the government of Canada. [1] 

On February 22, 2016 the so-called documentary film “The Ukrainians/Les Ukrainiens: God’s Volunteer Battalion” (Leonid Kanter and Ivan Yasniy) was shown at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario.

This day. 2014, Donbass and the politics of provocation

By DMITRIY KOVALEVICH*

One of the most touching pictures from our civil war in Ukraine. ‘That’s mom’s birthday”, 2015, Donetsk. The boy’s eyes are quite telling.

On May 26, 2014  Alexander Turchinov – a leader of Euro-Maidan in Ukraine and interim president of the new coup government until the May 25 election – ordered the armed forces to launch air-strikes against rebellious cities in the Donbass.

African Liberation Day: The enduring struggle against colonialism and capitalism

All-Africa Peoples Conference Accra, Ghana 1958.

Pan Africanism Today Secretariat

May 25 is celebrated as African Liberation Day. It is a commemoration of the struggles for liberation from colonialism, and specifically marks a key date in the struggle for Pan-African unity: the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Comprising 21 member states, the primary aim of the organization was to support the liberation movements in Africa’s remaining colonies and to coordinate the construction of a new African society free of exploitation.

On the frontlines: Red Army veteran Moritz Mebel talks about his battles against fascism

On the 75th anniversary of Victory Day, which commemorates the surrender of Hitler’s Germany in World War II, we bring you the recollections of Red Army veteran Moritz Mebel who took part in grueling campaigns against the Nazis from the gates of Moscow to the Czech RepublicMay 09, 2020 by Franziska Kleiner

Moritz Mebel (left) in Dresden in 1945.

Mebel and millions of his comrades from the Soviet Union were part of the longest and bloodiest struggles of World War II which ultimately caused the defeat of Hitler and fascism.

Canada and Russia’s common legacy: Victory over Nazi Germany

A Canadian gunner from the Canadian Film and Photo Unit (centre) with two soldiers at the Elbe river in Torgau, Germany on April 27, 1945, just two days after US and Soviet troops link-up.

by H.E. Ambassador Alexander Darchiev – Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada

As Hitler’s lair in Berlin fell to the Red Army, and Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the USSR and the Allied powers on the night of May 9th, 1945, the cruelest and deadliest war in the world’s history came to an end. 

This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of this glorious date by paying tribute to our fallen heroes, and to the many millions of victims tortured and exterminated by the Nazi death machine.

75th anniversary of victory over fascism in Europe: We salute all those who fought in the anti-fascist war to secure peace, freedom and democracy

On May 9, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Soviets in Berlin. Since then, May 9 is celebrated as Victory Day, recalling the massive sacrifice of the peoples of the world, led by the then Soviet Union, to defeat nazi-fascism in World War II.

We should never forget Bobby Sands, nor the brutality of the Thatcher government in Ireland

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands ((Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) ) inside the H-blocks of Long Kesh internment camp. On 5 May 1981, Sands laid down his life for his and his comrades’ right for recognition as political prisoners.

Webinar to celebrate 45th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam

Click to enlarge

Drugs and lies to attack Cuba

The US has launched a frenzied slander campaign against Cuba and Venezuela under the pretext of “narco-terrorism,” which is uncontested by Ottawa. This is a matter of concern. Canada itself is playing an ignominious role in the Lima Group against Venezuela. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Trudeau government had two Canadian warships – HMCS Nanaimo and HMCS Whitehorse – operating in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean unbeknownst to the Canadian people as part of  the US Southern Command’s Operation Martillo and its “war on drugs”. Initiated in 2006 by the Harper government, the Canadian deployment is called Op Caribbe. We are posting an article by Francisco Arias Fernández which explains who has been behind the drug trafficking in the region over the past 50 years

Corrupt politicians and mafia bosses enriched through the drug trade served US interests for decades until 1959.

(April 17 ) – The cyclical slander campaigns of U.S. governments and their special services against Cuba have been a regular weapon in the arsenal used in attempts to discredit – and eliminate – the Revolution, as evident in secret files on efforts to fabricate a pretext to invade the island, during the events that gave rise to Case no.1 of 1989, in which Cuban military officers were convicted of drug-related offenses.

Pandemic reveals new direction Canada needs

What does it mean when the Prime Minister and other Government of Canada Ministers and Premiers say they are sorting things out with the U.S. imperialists? What are they negotiating and whom does it favour? PAULINE EASTON and K.C.ADAMS  #COVIDCanada

Times of crisis have a tendency to reveal the truth of a matter in stark and often startling ways. Following Canada’s announcement of having ratified the new NAFTA trade deal with the United States and Mexico, the ugly reality of a trading relationship, declared to be mutually beneficial, has been revealed.

The trouble with ‘preventing Palestine’

Seth Anziska’s book on the Arab-Israeli “peace process” is a useful primer on the conflict, but it does not fully examine the paradox of the Carter administration’s solution that we are still living with, argues AS’AD ABUKHALIL*

Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, left, and U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezinski play chess at Camp David, September 9, 1978 | CIA

A new book by Seth Anziska, titled “Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo” created quite a buzz before its official release in late 2018. The writer had mentioned it in press articles and noted that he had unearthed important documents. The book, however, is not as firm in its Palestinian advocacy as has been assumed by supporters of the cause who have praised it on social media and in reviews.

March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

(London) – Since 1966, March 21 has been designated by the UN General Assembly as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD). March 21 was chosen to commemorate the day in 1960 when police opened fire and killed 69 peaceful protestors demonstrating against the so-called “pass laws” imposed by the apartheid regime in South Africa. Those tragic events became known internationally thereafter as the Sharpeville massacre.

Coronavirus and the sun: a lesson from the 1918 influenza pandemic

Fresh air, sunlight and improvised face masks seemed to work a century ago; and they might help us now.

Influenza patients getting sunlight at the Camp Brooks emergency open-air hospital in Boston. Medical staff were not supposed to remove their masks | National Archives

By Richard Hobday*

(March 10) – When new, virulent diseases emerge, such SARS and Covid-19, the race begins to find new vaccines and treatments for those affected. As the current crisis unfolds, governments are enforcing quarantine and isolation, and public gatherings are being discouraged. Health officials took the same approach 100 years ago, when influenza was spreading around the world. The results were mixed. But records from the 1918 pandemic suggest one technique for dealing with influenza — little-known today — was effective. Some hard-won experience from the greatest pandemic in recorded history could help us in the weeks and months ahead.

History of International Women’s Day

Historic site in Copenhagen, Denmark where women from around the world gathered for the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in 1910 and passed the resolution establishing International Women’s Day.

Reflections on Malcolm X’s legacy

By ISAAC SANEY

This Friday, February 21st, 2020 marks the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, who later took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964. As a revolutionary internationalist and a leader of the Black liberation struggle, Malcolm X shaped and influenced a generation of Black activists, artists, revolutionaries and intellectuals. His impact has been profound and lasting. The assassination’s anniversary is, therefore, a time for serious contemplation of his legacy.

This day. Anniversary of Dresden fire bombing – Allied war crime prelude to the Cold War

Aftermath of the 1945 bombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces – at the Old Market, following bombings on 13 February 1945 | WALTER HAHN/AFP/Getty Images

By DOUGAL MACDONALD

On the night of February 13-14, 1945, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) bomber command carried out two devastating attacks on the German city of Dresden. At the time, Dresden’s pre-war population of 640,000 had been swelled by the presence of an estimated 100,000-200,000 refugees. Seven hundred and twenty-two aircraft dropped 1,478 tons of high explosives and 1,181 tons of incendiaries on the city. The resulting firestorm destroyed an area of 13 square miles, including the historic Altstadt Museum. Shortly after noon on February 14, a fleet of 316 U.S. bombers made a third attack, dropping a further 488 tons of high explosives and 294 tons of incendiaries. On February 15, two hundred and eleven U.S. bombers made a fourth attack, dropping 466 tons of high explosives. [Dresden was attacked again on March 2, this time by the Americans alone. Mustang fighter escorts machine-gunned fleeing civilians while the heavy B-17s achieved the singular distinction of sinking a hospital ship on the Elbe, filled with injured from the earlier raids.–ed.]

This day in 1945: On Holocaust Memorial Day

Red Army doctor attends to Auschwitz prisoner after its liberation on January 27, 1945

In this seminal essay originally published on this website in 2009, Dr Hakim Adi challenges the false narrative around Holocaust Memorial Day. January 27, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945, is commemorated as Holocaust Memorial Day internationally.

This day. Liberation of Auschwitz – Imbue with new life the clarion call of Never Again!

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we are republishing an informative article by Dr. Dougal MacDonald, University of Alberta lecturer,  for the information of our readers. Dr MacDonald is being publicly defamed as a “holocaust denier” by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in collusion with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the monopoly media for arguing against the false narrative of a genocide committed in Ukraine by the Soviet state. The article, originally published in 2014, refers to the anti-social standpoint of the then Harper government, which has been continued by the Trudeau Liberals to date.

Memorial to the victims of Nazi atrocities at the site of the former Dachau concentration camp representing the demand of the world’s people to never again permit the rise of fascism

(January 25, 2014) – On January 27, 1945, the advancing Soviet Red Army entered the Nazis’ Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp, liberating more than 7,000 prisoners, most of whom were ill or dying. The prisoners were liberated as the Red Army was inflicting one defeat after another on the German troops, driving the Hitlerites steadily backward until the final demise of the Third Reich in Berlin on May 9, 1945.

102nd Anniversary of the Halifax Explosion

 

Infamy of the massacre of the Canadian people in Halifax

Painting of the Halifax Explosion

By TONY SEED

December 6th is the 102nd anniversary of the horrific Halifax Explosion of 1917 – the largest explosion in history before the infamous devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by U.S. atomic bombs in 1945.[1] Some 1,963 innocent men, women and children were massacred, another 9,000 injured and 199 blinded, comprising more than one fifth of the total population, resulting from a massive explosion due to the collision in the inner harbour of the merchant ship Imo and the ammunition ship Mont Blanc loaded with 3,00 tons of chemical explosives. One square mile of the working class quarter of the North End facing the Halifax Narrows was totally destroyed. Six thousand people lost their homes altogether and between 20,000 and 25,000 Haligonians were left homeless and destitute, including ten thousand children. More than 1,600 buildings were destroyed, and 12,000 more were damaged.[2]

This Day. Anniversary of the War Measures Act

Forty-nine years ago on October 16, 1970, the federal Liberal government led by Pierre Elliott Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. Trudeau declared a state of “apprehended insurrection” in response to kidnappings and mailbox bombings taking place in Quebec. The War Measures Act gave the police the power to act without warrants and to detain people indefinitely without charges or trial.

Soldiers on the streets of Montreal, October 1970

Turkish aggression against Syria: For a principled and permament solution to the Kurdish question

On August 7, Turkish and US officials agreed to jointly manage a buffer zone between the Turkish border and areas in Syria controlled by the Kurdish YPG, which Istanbul considers a “terrorist” threat. On October 6, the Trump presidency announced that US forces would withdraw from the border areas to make way for a “long-planned operation” by Turkish forces. On October 8, Turkey, a member of the US-NATO bloc which hosts a massive US air base at Incirlik – hosting some 5,000 Air Force personnel, tactical nuclear weapons and used to fly sorties over Syria – launched a new military invasion of northern Syria dubbed Peace Spring, which began with airstrikes on positions of Kurdish units. The Syrian Arab Republic branded the operation, part of the old imperialist divide-and-rule of the Middle East on an ethnic and religious basis, as aggression. The Syrian Kurdish forces and the Syrian Arab Army swiftly launched a counter-offensive to block the Turkish advance.