This day. The 1961 massacre of Algerians in Paris: When the media failed the test

Freedom of press of the reactionary ruling classes

In 1961 and for years after, the French and Anglo-American media colluded with the state to cover up the 1961 massacre of Algerians in Paris, ensuring impunity for those responsible for this heinous crime such as the Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, Prefect of the Paris police. This is an apt time to recall what happened.

Germany: An enduring enemy of the Palestinian struggle

Germany’s contribution to the colonisation of Palestine over the years has been ideological, financial, physical and military | JOSEPH MASSAD*

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier meets Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on July 1, 2021 | AFP

(July 16) – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Israel two weeks ago and met Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose American parents came from San Francisco to colonise Palestine in July 1967. Bennett has boasted: “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life and there’s no problem with that.”  

This day. The Paris massacre of 1961

When the Seine was full of bodies – as many as 300 Algerians massacred in Paris by order of the police Prefect, a Vichy Nazi collaborator, who was never prosecuted for this heinous crime. The provocation came in the form of a police order that Muslim “citizens” of Algeria only should be subject to a curfew from 8.30pm to 5.30am, on the pretext that there had been a significant increase in the number of attacks on policemen. What happened on 17 October 1961 is not a matter solely for historians.

This day. African Liberation Day

May 25 is marked worldwide as African Liberation Day. Since the 1960’s African Liberation Day has served to advance the cause of the African peoples against colonialism and neo-colonialism which keeps them enslaved. Its precursor was African Freedom Day, established in 1958 and celebrated on April 15, later becoming African Liberation Day in 1963. According to http://www.thetalkingdrum.com:

May 7 presidential election in France: Election further aggravates crisis of French nation-state

Demonstration in Paris says “NO!” to the state of emergency, January 30, 2016 | LDH

By CHRISTIAN LEGEAIS

The second and final round of France’s Presidential election takes place on Sunday, May 7. The official results published by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic, following the first round held on April 23, determined that Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen received the most votes (24.01 per cent and 21.30 per cent, respectively) and will compete in the second round.[1]

Far from contributing to the resolution of the social, economic, cultural and political problems which plague French society, the election results will further aggravate the crisis in which the French nation-state is mired. In the first place, it is indisputable that the two contending candidates deprive the working class of its own voice in this election. On the elections themselves, there is nothing free or fair about them. They are being held under a government of police powers, in the conditions of a state of emergency which has become permanent after two years. The stated purpose of this état d’urgence is to “reclaim lawless areas” (“zones de non-droit”) — working class cities and suburbs — and to pacify resistance to the neo-liberal agenda. The Ministry of the Interior reinforced this state of emergency for the first round of voting. More than 50,000 police officers and gendarmes (including 12,000 for Paris alone) with 7,000 Sentinel Operation soldiers were mobilized to “secure” the 67,000 polling stations. This is one quarter of the total number of law enforcement personnel in France, and the same scenario will be repeated during the second round on May 7.

100 African cities destroyed by European colonialism

When tourists visit sub-Saharan Africa, they often wonder “Why are there no historical buildings or monuments?”

The reason is simple. Europeans destroyed most of them. We only have a few drawings and descriptions by travellers who visited the places before their destruction. In some places, ruins are still visible. Many cities were abandoned when Europeans brought exotic diseases (smallpox and influenza) which started spreading and killing people. Most of those cities lie hidden. In fact the biggest part of Africa history is still under the ground.

Africa ‘threatens the future of the planet’

By ISAAC SANEY*

I picked up the Globe and Mail to read that Africa “threatens the future of the planet.” Under the guise of advancing the rights of African women, correspondent Geoffrey York (in his front-page article “U.S. cutbacks undermine efforts to keep Africa’s population in check”, Globe and Mail, April 17, 2017) openly advocates the long discredited neo-malthusian imposture.

Moreover, this utterly anti-black racist tract is embedded in the open white supremacist view that there are too many Africans. York actually states “humanity is increasingly becoming African…The result could be an escalating crisis in hunger, over crowding, ecological damage and rising immigration pressures in Europe and North America and within Africa itself.”

Thus, all the problems of Africa are attributed to the existence of excess Africans NOT to the global imperial system that has been built on the dehumanization, brutalization, plunder and exploitation of Africans and the African continent.

The Irish Rebellion of 1916 – The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up

Painting ‘Birth of the Irish Republic‘

The following is an excerpt from the article by V. I. Lenin, “The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up,” first published in October 1916. Lenin wrote to clarify the issue of self-determination of nations including the significance of the Irish Rebellion in opposition to the opportunist and chauvinist theses put forward by Polish social-democrats and the so-called Zimmerwald Leftists. These theses dismissed the revolt of oppressed nations such as Ireland and the important role of their struggle for their right to self-determination in the proletarian revolution. In his conclusion, Lenin pointed out, “The epoch of imperialism has turned all the ‘great’ powers into the oppressors of a number of nations, and the development of imperialism will inevitably lead to a more definite division of trends in this question in international Social-Democracy as well.” *

On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of El Mehdi Ben Barka

By TONY SEED
With the attendance of Fernando González Llort, Hero of the Republic of Cuba and Vice President of ICAP, a flower offering was laid at the foot of the bust of the Third World leader El Mehdi Ben Barka on the 50^th anniversary of his assassination on October 29, 1965 in Paris, France in a solemn ceremony held at the Havana headquarters of the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL).

60 years ago: The massacre in Algeria

As France celebrated victory in Europe on 8 May 1945, its army was massacring thousands of civilians in Sétif and Guelma – heinous events that were the real beginning of Algeria’s war of independence and underscore the reactionary drive of the French ruling circles today.

By MOHAMMED HARBI, Le Monde Diplomatique. Photos and captions by Tony Seed

THE massacres in the Sétif and Guelma regions on 8 May 1945, described at the time as events or troubles in north Constantine, marked the beginning of the Algerian war of independence. This episode in the Algerian tragedy is one of the great turning points in colonial history.

Graphic details. A map of destruction – US theft of Native American land

Alternet – Click on this map, created by Lousiana State professor Sam B. Hillard, to see the rapid loss of land by the Native Americans – starting from when Columbus “discovered” the America and ending in 1895, when the First Nations retained only 2.3 per cent of their original land.

African Liberation Day

MAY 25 is marked worldwide as African Liberation Day. Since the 1960s African Liberation Day has served to advance the cause of the African peoples against colonialism and neo-colonialism which keeps them enslaved. Its precursor was African Freedom Day, established in 1958 and celebrated on April 15, later becoming African Liberation Day in 1963. According to http://www.thetalkingdrum.com: