Sighting. Mass resistance sets tone for Trump presidency

Actions in Washington and around the world

Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017

Mass actions in the lead up to Inauguration Day, on January 20 in Washington, DC and after, including unprecedented demonstrations for the Women’s March on January 21 made amply clear the widespread sentiment in the U.S. to reject the Trump presidency, oppose war and attacks on rights and for empowerment. Actions took place in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and cities worldwide. The spirit of resistance eclipsed attempts by one or another of the ruling factions of the financial oligarchy to use it for self-serving ends. The actions of people in their millions were a rejection of an outmoded system of politics that deprives them of a say and that has set the country on a dangerous course at home and abroad.

As CPC(M-L) pointed out on November 9, 2016, the election of Trump was an end to business as usual.

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Campaign to elect a war president for the United States (1): The struggle for rights and an anti-war government

The U.S. election campaign is showing the deepening conflicts among the rulers and their inability to find a way out of their crises, and that U.S.-style democracy is in tatters at home and abroad. They hide their failures behind the slogan Make America Great Again – which only applies to the very, very few who benefit from its striving for world domination | TML Weekly

The U.S. presidential elections continue to reveal a ruling class with no solutions to key problems, especially those connected to the economy and questions of war and peace. Voters are broadly speaking angry with an electoral set-up that produces two candidates, Clinton and Trump, that the majority do not like or want as president. At an NBC Commander-in-Chief forum, the general issues of illegal U.S. aggression, drone warfare and torture – and ending them so as to contribute to peace – were not even addressed. Instead the focus was on the past, like Clinton’s emails and Trump’s regrets.

The Daesh Chronicles: The definition challenge

The war against ISIS | GHASSAN KADI* argues against self-serving dogma substituting as analysis, and for the renovation of Islam

Islam, real Islam, is a religion of piety, wisdom and peace, and Muslims, real Muslims are not terrorists. Even though all terrorists that have been caught involved in terrorism are “Muslims”, this does not give a blanket description of all Muslims as beings terrorists.

Condemn the racism and Eurocentrism of the British prime minister

British Prime Minister David Cameron must be condemned for the outrageous comments made last week in The Times and elsewhere in which he claimed that a lack of ability to speak English was connected with what he referred to as an “alarming picture” of isolation facing some Muslim women. He even announced plans to deport some new migrants if they subsequently failed language tests two and a half years after entering Britain on a spousal visa, and announced £20m for the provision of English classes for “women who are isolated”. The Prime Minister then went on to claim that an inability to speak good English and what he called “separate development” and the “development of parallel communities” was not only responsible for “aiding men” who hold a “damaging control” over women in some communities but might also “help a young person’s slide towards radicalisation”.

CNN punished journalist for fulfilling a core duty of journalism

By GLENN GRUNWALD

CNN yesterday suspended its global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, for two weeks for the crime of posting a tweet critical of the House vote to ban Syrian refugees. Whether by compulsion or choice, she then groveled in apology. This is the original tweet along with her subsequent expression of repentance:

This all happened after The Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple complained that her original tweet showed “bias.” The claim that CNN journalists must be “objective” and are not permitted to express opinions is an absolute joke. CNN journalists constantly express opinions without being sanctioned.

Zero tolerance for barbaric acts of the Harper government!

The Harper Conservatives have gone beyond the pale, announcing they would establish a “tip line” to goad people to report their neighbours if they suspect them of “barbaric cultural practices.” Their aim is to divide the polity and justify what cannot be justified. PEGGY ASKIN

Peggy Askin is the MLPC candidate for Calgary Midnapore.

Jason Kenney Minister of Defence and Minister for Multiculturalism was one of the main figures pushing the Conservatives’ Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act adopted June 16, 2015. In speaking about it in Parliament, Kenney first said that there is a problem that people refuse to leave behind their “barbaric cultural practices” when they come to Canada. He then used this allegation to say that immigrants have a “duty to integrate” into Canadian society. What he was suggesting is there is no problem of violence against women in Canada, only that brought by immigrants. Instead of taking measures to end violence against women and increase the safety of women at risk, passions are inflamed and communities singled out for scrutiny. None of this actually deals with the issue of violence against women.

Assault on the collective consciousness of the Quebec people: Promotion of backward views a sign of desperation

By PAULINE EASTON

In Quebec a concerted effort is being made by the media to promote backward views claiming that they are the views of the people. This assault on the people’s collective consciousness is a sign of desperation.

To understand how the people in Quebec are targeted so that they cannot consolidate their unity in the political domain in this election, the media arrangements tell the story.