Image is of the Freedom Band performing at the end of the Second National Congress of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, sourced from this article. The same article contains most of the information used in the preamble below.
A little over a week ago, the Socialist Movement of Ghana concluded its second National Delegates Congress in Aburi, gathering 300 delegates from across the country. There, they deepened their commitment to the working class of Ghana and committed to intensifying political education and organization at the grassroots. The SMG itself decided to not electorally contest the 2024 elections in Ghana, but still presented a manifesto, and nonetheless managed to get two SMG members parliamentary seats in the National Democratic Congress.
Anyway, back to the National Delegates Congress: the delegates agreed that the Western imperialist system is now under a profound crisis, in which the likely future is a heightening of brutality, chaos, and resource plundering - a future which must be resisted and organized against.
To summarize their various statements and condemnations:
- Inside Ghana: a commitment to women's rights, youth empowerment, and environmental protection.
- A condemnation of the resource plundering of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by imperialist powers.
- A salute to the people of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, in their campaign against outside imperial control in the Sahel.
- A condemnation of Morocco's illegal occupation of the Western Sahara, and a call for the UN to identify the independence of the Sahwari people.
- A strong condemnation of Israel's genocidal atrocities and massive terrorist operations against nearby countries, and support for Palestinian independence.
- Support for the people of Haiti against outside imperial domination.
- A call for the end of the blockade on Cuba and their removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
- Solidarity with Maduro and the people of Venezuela against the United States.
- A rejection of all imperialist aggression and sanctions against Iran.
- A condemnation of NATO's decades-long military expansion eastwards towards Russia, especially as it has now resulted in massive devastation and risks a third world war.
- And finally, a commitment to Pan Africanism and international solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world.
A platform I think we all can agree to!
Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Ironically this is exactly the same propaganda levelled at the sneaky chinese who are ontologically predisposed towards cheating, "cheating is chinese culture, they cheat at everything!"
The country has been isolationist forever and has made almost no effort to spread internationalism. This attitude is not actually that surprising amongst its population when its leadership have an international attitude of keeping to themselves. The population are only mirroring what the official chinese policy on international engagement is.
If the state's official line is zero solidarity with the international working class then the population holding zero solidarity with the international working class is to be expected.
Not true though. China aided Korea and Vietnam and sacrificed heavily for that. Although you can claim it’s mostly self-preservation because of the proxy wars by the US, at least half a million of the People’s Volunteer Army died fighting against the Americans.
Ironically, it was after opening up under Deng that China had changed its internationalist position. China did invade Vietnam to appease the Americans though, but this is part of the process of being “integrated” into the global market and the neoliberal framework.
These are neighbours and also asian. I would think the reaction is probably not that different to a German and another european, which is mostly fine... Things get totally different when it's neither of those things though.
I feel like people need to study China-Pakistan relations more. China-US, China-Russia/SU, China-Vietnam, China-Korea, and China-India get all the attention while China-Pakistan is an underexplored topic among the left even though the two countries border each other, have a common enemy that also borders them, and have border disputes with each other (and the common enemy).
I don't have a good read of this relationship. My understanding is that China mostly left Pakistan to fend for itself in its various wars with India, but China is apparently the main reason how Pakistan even got nukes in the first place? Pakistan's political class is apparently pro-US, but the vast majority of their weapons are Chinese?
If China didn't help Pakistan jumpstart its nuclear program, which is the official line of China and Pakistan, then the case for Chinese isolationism is clear: China largely kept to itself while Pakistan and India were at war because its default foreign policy is isolationism. China did not intervene because the CPC felt that Pakistan could put up a fight (although they lost East Pakistan/Bangladesh in one of the wars) while China intervened in Korea because Korea was about to be completely overrun by the US. China not militarily helping Pakistan would then lead to Pakistan nuking up because Pakistan needed a trump card against India and could not militarily rely on China.
This is, of course, assuming that China didn't help Pakistan with its nuclear program. If China actually did, which is the official line of the West and India, then China simultaneously not militarily helping Pakistan in its wars but helping Pakistan nuke up is far more perplexing.
Agree but I think it's the other way around, if the civil society don't care for proletarian internationalism, the state will reflect that, especially in China.
I agree. And think it's a very dangerous position to be in. What happens if this background national chauvinism evolves into supremacism?