Spanish unions agree to shut down Barcelona Nissan plants

Alice Summers

With unbounded cynicism, Spanish unions have signed off on a deal closing Nissan’s three Barcelona factories, directly cutting over 2,500 jobs. A further 20,000 jobs would be lost among subcontractors and supply-chain workers that depend on the auto-plants.

After around 100 days of strike action by Nissan workers, the Barcelona factory committee—run by the Podemos-linked Workers Commissions (CC.OO), pro-PSOE (Socialist Party) General Union of Labour (UGT) and the Union of Workers’ Syndicates (USO) unions—came to an agreement with the Japanese transnational on August 5. The plants are to close by December 31, 2021.

The unions universally proclaimed the deal a victory for Nissan workers. Raúl Montoya of the USO declared it a “great agreement” and a “success,” claiming that it saves thousands of jobs. Miguel Ruíz, spokesperson for the Barcelona factory committee, from the Catalan section of the same union, said it enables workers to avoid “traumatic job losses.”

Nissan Barcelona factory [Credit: Nissan Motors]

UGT automobile secretary Jordi Camona called it a “good agreement that, for the moment, clears up uncertainty around the future of these jobs.” The CCOO released a statement claiming the deal is a “balanced agreement that, despite all the difficulties, meets the aspirations of the staff.”

It does nothing of the sort. The deal merely adds a further year to the ticking time-bomb of mass firings, postponing approximately 25,000 job losses one year, to the end of 2021.

As part of the deal, unions agreed to force workers back to work at the Barcelona plant from the end of August, ending three months of strike action.

Workers will be encouraged to take “voluntary” redundancies or early retirement, with the factory committee lauding the supposed concessions they had won for workers opting to do so.

Those taking early retirement will be offered payouts on a sliding scale. Older workers aged over 55—who would find it difficult to obtain other employment—will be offered a pre-retirement plan of 90 percent of their salary up to the age of 63, with workers between 50 and 54 years offered 75 to 85 percent of their salary, according to their age. Workers born after 1970, who do not qualify for the early retirement plan, will be offered 60 days of pay for each year that they worked at Nissan if they choose “voluntary” redundancy.

The unions have hung their sell-out deal on the promise of a “reindustrialisation” plan, which would be a “tripartite parity” commission between the unions, Nissan and local and national government. Its nominal aim is to encourage other companies to take over the three auto plants in Barcelona and continue production. Nissan has apparently pledged to include a clause in any takeover contract with a new company “guaranteeing priority recruitment” to their former employees.

This worthless fraud will not save the livelihoods of thousands of workers. There is no guarantee that the factories will remain open under different ownership; they are to close on December 31, 2021, takeover or no.

The unions have effectively washed their hands of workers, with Nissan employees given little choice but to quietly consent to their dismissal. The unions’ negotiation framework has been predicated on the supposed inevitability of the factory closures and on sugaring the bitter pill of job losses that they are forcing workers to swallow.

Moreover, the approximately 20,000 workers not directly employed by Nissan—but outsourced, involved in the company’s supply chain or otherwise dependent on the Barcelona factory—get nothing out of the unions’ negotiations. About a dozen other companies work within the Nissan factory, contracting approximately 1,500 workers, with a further 70 companies and thousands of other workers indirectly involved in supplying and operating the plants.

Protests have already broken out among subcontracted workers, who are threatening to prevent the reopening of the Barcelona plant with an indefinite strike. Around 500 workers at Acciona Facility Services, which runs logistics in the Nissan factory, have threatened industrial action against job losses and their exclusion from negotiations. This came after Acciona informed unions it will bring forward the cancellation of its contract with Nissan, due to end in March 2021, to cut redundancy costs. Acciona has filed a redundancy notice for its 580 employees at the Barcelona facility.

Around 300 subcontracted workers also filed a lawsuit claiming that their employment status is an “illegal transfer of workers,” and that they should be considered full employees of Nissan, receiving the same rights and conditions. Employees at maintenance company Segula and canteen facilities company Tecnove also took part in the legal action.

Josep Pérez of law firm Collectiu Ronda, which filed suit on behalf of subcontracted workers, said: “If they work for Nissan, if they manufacture their vehicles and are subject to the company’s rules and whims, they should be recognised for what they are: Nissan workers. … To normalise the existence of second-class workers, who can be deprived of their rights on the whim of big companies with multi-billion dollar profits, is to attack the working rights of all.”

The betrayal of the Nissan workers exposes middle class pseudo-left forces like the Morenoite Corriente Revolucionaria de Trabajadores (CRT, Workers’ Revolutionary Current) and its website Izquierda Diario, which seek to bolster the unions and demoralize the workers.

While making muted tactical criticisms of the UGT, CCOO and USO and the sell-out deal, they made clear their opposition to an independent perspective for the working class. Seeking to channel workers’ opposition behind a supposedly radical “syndicalist left,” the CRT chided the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) for failing to “openly break with the route map marked out by the majority unions.”

“If the CGT wants to present a different choice to that of the UGT and CCOO,” the CRT advised, “taking on their policies and being a part of this deal of shame will leave it in a very bad position to represent an alternative direction in future conflicts.”

The CGT is not “alternative leadership” for the working class. Its function is to divert workers who are disenchanted with the bigger unions with militant rhetoric. It is no less a creature of the state than its pro-PSOE and pro-Podemos competitors.

In bolstering the CGT, the Morenoites seek to sow illusions in the trade unions, concealing their universal transformation over the past four decades, amid the globalisation of production, into a corporatist arm of the state. The energies of these pseudo-left forces are focused on upholding the domination of Podemos and the union bureaucracy and blocking the development of socialist consciousness in the working class.

While promoting the unions, the CRT calls for the “nationalisation” of the Barcelona plants. If such a demand were to be taken up by the capitalist Podemos-PSOE government, it would not usher in a new golden age for workers, but would be accompanied by calls for further cutbacks to make the factory “viable”. After the 2008 crash, the US government plunged billions of dollars into the auto companies, only to slash wages for new hires by half.

The struggle against job cuts can only be carried forward by breaking with the bankrupt national framework of the trade unions and building an international movement in the working class. The nationalisation of plants under workers control requires unifying struggles in Spain with those of workers in Europe and worldwide against the transnational corporations, which shift production from one country to another to maximise profits. This entails building rank-and-file committees of action, independent of the trade unions, as part of a fight for socialism.

Nearly 300 workers infected in COVID-19 outbreak at Northampton sandwich factory

Paul Bond

In the latest outbreak associated with food processing, nearly 300 workers at the Greencore sandwich factory in Northampton, England tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Over a week after the outbreak, management were finally forced to close the plant for 14 days, yesterday afternoon.

Northampton, already on a coronavirus watchlist, has the highest rate of new cases in England and could be subjected to a local lockdown. Yet, although a lockdown was being discussed for the entire town with a population of over 215,000, management, the local authorities and the trade unions did everything possible to keep the factory operational—endangering the lives and safety of the more than 2,000 people employed there and the local population.

Nearly 14 percent of the factory’s total workforce of 2,100 have now tested positive. This has contributed to Northampton having the highest rate of new infections in England: nearly 117 in every 100,000 residents, compared to an average in England of 12 in every 100,000. This spike centres on the Moulton area, around the Greencore factory.

Convenience food manufacturer Greencore’s factory produces sandwiches for high-end retailer Marks & Spencer. Founded in 1991, the firm is a major supplier to British and Irish supermarkets, and the largest sandwich manufacturer in the world.

Standard National Health Service testing initially revealed 79 workers at the Northampton plant with coronavirus. Following these results, Greencore launched its own private testing, turning up a further 213 positive results. The company confirmed that “a number of colleagues have tested positive … and are now self-isolating.”

Workers were left in desperate straits. According to the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), the “majority” of Greencore’s self-isolating workers, who are paid weekly, are only receiving Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) during their absence. They are being paid just £95.85 per week for the 10 days of self-isolation.

Some workers with a full-time job have been forced to turn to foodbanks and others have been evicted after struggling to pay rent. This has led to concerns that workers may not self-isolate when symptomatic because they cannot afford to live on this reduced income.

When the pandemic began, some Greencore employees sought advice on shielding vulnerable family members. They were told they could use their company sick pay for this, leaving concerns about what would happen if they used it up and then became ill themselves.

The company, which saw share prices fall in the days after the outbreak, said that sick pay on offer ranges from full pay to SSP, “depending on the type of contract.” In practice, factory floor workers are on contracts offering only SSP. The union has noted that they are thus “treated differently to the managers enjoying full company sick pay.” Criticism properly belongs with the unions that negotiated those contracts in the first place.

Greencore said that “in recognition of the financial impact” on those eligible only for SSP, it had decided to give all weekly-paid workers an additional attendance payment of £400. This is only their agreed end-of-year bonus paid early, so workers will not even have that usual cushion in December.

The situation confirms that the government’s ad hoc testing system is not fit for purpose. More than two-thirds of the Greencore cases were identified by Greencore’s private testing. The company then used the result as an argument against closure!

At the beginning of the pandemic, Greencore did not even notify workers or instigate wider testing when a manager tested positive. By contrast, Greencore sacked two employees for travelling to work together when one was suffering from COVID-19.

Despite the mass outbreak of cases, the local Conservative council gave the plant the green light to continue operations. Lucy Wightman, director of public health at Northamptonshire County Council, declared that the Food Standards Agency and Public Health England “are assured there is no risk to any of the produce” made at the factory. She claimed, “It is evident that Greencore has highly effective measures in place and they continue to work extremely hard to exceed the requirements needed to be COVID-19 secure within the workplace.”

The main concern of Jonathan Nunn, leader of the Conservative council, was to avoid any lockdown. He expressed concern simply with “the impact [the outbreak has] had on our [coronavirus] statistics.”

The company said it is “liaising closely with PHE [Public Health England] East Midlands, Northamptonshire County Council and Northampton Borough Council, who are all fully supportive of the controls that we have on site.”

Greencore insisted its factories have “wide-ranging social distancing measures, stringent hygiene procedures and regular temperature checking in place.”

The criteria for judging the effectiveness of health measures clearly have nothing to do with their actual effectiveness. Wightman pointed to the “high number of cases over the last four weeks” across the town but laid the onus on workers to “‘act now’ to follow additional measures.”

Wightman said it is “about how people behave outside of Greencore, not at work.”

This position was supported by the BFAWU. The union’s regional officer, George Attwall, said the problem “boils back down to education”—of the workers. He blamed workers’ activities outside the factory, with “lots of members car-sharing, lots of members … living in the same household with the whole family working in the factory.”

These are the realities of workers’ lives, with Greencore one of the biggest employers locally. Suggesting that workers are somehow responsible for these conditions reveals everything about the unions as mouthpieces for the corporations.

The union pro-company agenda was clear earlier this month when Greencore began reopening sites closed during the lockdown and extending production at Northampton. With workers furloughed, Greencore began by recruiting agency workers to meet demand. Instead of opposing reopening under unsafe conditions, the union said the firm should “bring back our members first before any agency come on site.”

BFAWU opposed any fight to close the plant until it was safe to return even though one of its own convenors, Nicolae Macari, was one of those who tested positive. He works at Greencore alongside his wife, his mother and father, his brother and his sister-in-law. All six have tested positive and are in self-isolation together.

The level of backing they have received from BFAWU and other unions was acknowledged by Greencore, who said they are “in constant contact with unions at every stage of this process” and are “committed to working with them in close partnership during this hugely challenging time for our people.”

Food processing factories continue to be a focus for outbreaks. An outbreak of at least 43 cases this week in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, Scotland saw soldiers mobilised to test all 900 employees of the 2 Sisters chicken factory there. In June, the 2 Sisters chicken factory in Llangefni on Anglesey was forced to close after at least 216 were infected—nearly half the workforce.

Scottish National Party First Minister Nicola Sturgeon did not rule out a local lockdown in Coupar Angus but stressed that this would be a last resort. In its drive to reopen schools, the Scottish government has demonstrated that it shares the same concern for restoring the generation of profit as its counterpart in Westminster.

The Greencore outbreak, as with the others at food processing plants across the UK demonstrates that the fight against coronavirus is not primarily a medical question but a political one. It demands that workers oppose the homicidal back to work agenda of the ruling class and their partners in the trade unions. Workers must build independent rank-and-file committees, linking the fight for workplace safety with the transformation of society on a socialist basis.

Johnson government extends ban on evictions as UK faces “avalanche” of homelessness

Laura Tiernan

A ban on housing evictions introduced at the start of the coronavirus lockdown in March will be extended for another month, the Johnson government announced yesterday.

The delay follows an outpouring of public opposition to eviction proceedings that were due to begin on Monday, with 290,000 renters at immediate risk of homelessness.

The government’s latest retreat—following a two-month extension of the moratorium in June—postpones by only a matter of weeks evictions on a scale unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

As soon as the ban is lifted, anyone in rent arrears for eight weeks or more can be automatically evicted. Tenants can also be hit with Section 21 “no fault” evictions. Housing charities and tenants’ unions announced yesterday they would go ahead with planned protests, including today’s National Day of Action and protests on Monday by the London Renters Union.

More than 120,000 tenants in rent debt have already been issued an eviction notice, and a further 170,000 have been threatened with eviction, according to housing charity Shelter. Debt charity StepChange reports 590,000 tenants are in rent debt, for an average of £1,076 per household.

On Thursday, health professionals from bodies including the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Faculty of Public Health, wrote to Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government warning of “a catastrophic wave of evictions and homelessness as we head towards autumn and winter.”

They explained that mass evictions risked fuelling a new wave of the virus: “People forced into overcrowded temporary or emergency accommodation by eviction are at greatly increased risk of being unable to isolate if needed, face greater challenges in following social distancing guidelines and may lack adequate access to basic hygiene measures shown to reduce infection rates.

“As public health organisations, we are deeply concerned that failure to prevent an evictions and homelessness crisis could significantly contribute to an increase of COVID-19 infections.”

Opposition has exploded in online petitions and social media. A London Renters Union petition, “Protect renters during the coronavirus”, has gathered nearly 105,000 signatures. It calls for the suspension of rent payments during the pandemic, a ban on evictions, and for the UK’s estimated 216,000 empty homes to be used for those in need. Comments from signatories include:

• “I’m a self-employed contractor who rents privately. My industry has collapsed with all work evaporated with no horizon. We need to rent suspended in order to survive.” (Patrick T.)

• “I am a private rental tenant. It’s hard enough to pay extortionate rent in normal circumstances. I’m terrified it could lead to my family losing our home.” (Carly P.)

• “International Students are in critical problem. They don’t have enough money to pay rent and buy groceries. So government should do something.” (Akash R.)

• “Because I’m currently choosing between health and paying my rent, I can’t self-isolate as guided because I’ll fall behind on my rent.” (Samuel M.)

• “I am freelance and completely out of work, therefore unable to pay my rent.” (Kylie H.)

• “It is time to help those on lower incomes!” (Tanvir R.)

The pandemic is accelerating a social crisis long in the making, further exposing the unbridgeable divide between the working class and the super-rich. On June 30, SCMP magazine reported that London’s luxury property market had shown “relative immunity to the coronavirus.” Under the heading, “Forget Covid-19 and Brexit: London remains a magnet for the super-rich as the luxury property market booms,” Peta Tomlinson reported that “prime central London” was “enjoying its best start to a year since 2017.”

This included £3.5 billion spent by the Qatari royal family on “transforming” a 13-acre site in Belgravia and £200 million-plus by Hong Kong billionaire Cheung Chung Kiu for a 45-room mansion in Knightsbridge, overlooking Hyde Park. Lockdown restrictions have posed no barrier, with many Ultra-High-Net-Worth individuals snapping up properties after a cursory inspection via Zoom.

In January, Shelter published survey results showing half of England’s 8.5 million renters were experiencing stress or anxiety due to sky-high rents, poor living conditions, and the threat of eviction. More than 2 million renters had been made physically ill as a result.

The pandemic has pushed millions more into extreme housing stress. A YouGov poll published July 30 showed that 450,000 parents in private rented accommodation fear they and their children will be made homeless because of the financial impact. It found 49,000 parents had sought help from food banks since the start of the pandemic, 429,000 had cut back on food to pay the rent, and 550,000 had taken on debt to cover rent payments. Government figures show that 73 percent of private renting families have no savings at all.

Responding to reports that the government will extend the evictions ban to September 20, Ghazal Haqani, an organiser with the London Renters Union, said, “This U-turn has been forced through by people power. But until there’s a permanent evictions ban and rent debt is forgiven, the government will just be kicking the can down the road.

“We’ve had a series of short-term extensions, and that’s caused enormous misery and stress for renters like me. Because so many of us are in arrears, we have been constantly worried for months that we are about to become totally defenceless against landlords who want to kick us out of our homes. It looks like that could happen all over again in September.

“Rents have been sky high for decades, the pandemic has cut our incomes and this recession has only just begun. Of course we’re in arrears, and of course we’re not going to be able to pay off our rent debt for a very long time.”

Shelter Chief Executive Polly Neate responded yesterday, “A bullet may have been dodged with this extension, but as soon as Parliament returns, it must give judges extra powers to stop renters being evicted because of ‘Covid-arrears’.” But no faith can be placed by workers and young people in the government or opposition parties to protect renters from eviction.

On Friday, Labour MPs David Lammy, Thangam Debbonaire, and Karl Turner wrote to Jenrick over the eviction crisis. Their letter made clear that Labour has no genuine opposition to the Johnson government’s pro-market agenda. It contained no demand for an indefinite ban on evictions, no call for a suspension of rent for unemployed and furloughed workers, focussing instead on how ending the ban on evictions “risks unleashing a tsunami of cases which could overwhelm English County Courts.”

During a Radio Times interview Thursday, former Shadow Chancellor and key Corbyn ally John McDonnell praised party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s “constructive” response to the coronavirus pandemic, “He’s approached the government in a constructive way—and we’ve got to get through this crisis together.”

McDonnell’s open embrace of Starmer exposes the political collapse of the entire Corbyn project, with McDonnell stating, “Keir has made it clear he’s a socialist” and “we’re on the same page.”

The Socialist Equality Party calls for an indefinite ban on all evictions and a complete freeze on rent and mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Vacant housing, including the property of absentee landlords must be seized and placed under public ownership to house the homeless. The banks and corporations must be placed under social ownership and the obscene profits of the super-rich seized to build high-quality low-cost housing for all.

Seven protest leaders in Thailand arrested by police

Owen Howell

Thai police have responded to a mass demonstration in Bangkok last Sunday with a series of arrests. The rally was part of the eruption of student-led protests across Thailand over the past month. Seven prominent members of the student movement organising the protests, Free Youth, were arrested this week on charges including sedition and inciting public unrest.

Students raise three-fingers, symbol of resistance salute, during a rally in Bangkok, Thailand [Credit: AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit]

Six of the leaders were specifically targeted for their participation in a Bangkok student rally on July 18, which sparked the recent wave of anti-government protests. Since then, rallies have proceeded on an almost daily basis.

While originally confined to major universities, the movement has since gained wider support among students and workers around the country, as demonstrated in the Sunday protest, Thailand’s largest since the 2014 military coup.

The three main demands of the protest leaders are to dissolve parliament, end the state persecution of political opponents, and rewrite the current constitution, which was drafted by the military junta.

Arrest warrants were issued during the Sunday rally for 15 leaders of Free Youth. According to the Thai Enquirer, a coordinated police operation was conducted throughout Wednesday night. The six people arrested over the July 18 protest were Baramee Chairat, Suwanna Tanlek, Korakot Saengyangpant, Natthawut Somboonsap, Tossaporn Sinsomboon, and Thanee Sasom.

The protest at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, 16 August [Credit: @TaraAbhasakun, Twitter]

Police also apprehended rappers Thanayuth Na Ayutthaya and Dechathon Bamrungmuang, leader of the highly popular and notorious hip-hop group Rap Against Dictatorship, for their performances at the protest.

The seventh protest leader targeted was Anon Nampa, a human rights lawyer and leading figure in the Thai protests. Anon was arrested, for the second time this month, over a speech on August 3 calling for reform of the monarchy. In Thailand, anyone who “defames, insults or threatens” the royal family can be prosecuted for violating the draconian law of lèse majesté, and faces up to 15 years in jail.

Ever since Anon’s speech, student protests have openly criticised the political role of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, whose power over the constitution, the armed forces, and the palace fortune has grown considerably since he was installed in 2016.

The lèse majesté law has been used to silence political opposition as many as 90 times since the 2014 military coup. However, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, former head of the military junta, has reportedly received instructions from the King not to use the law, for now. Anon was charged instead with sedition, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

Anon joined the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights organisation after 2006, when the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup. He became known as a lawyer for the Red Shirts (a grouping of Shinawatra supporters who staged protests in 2010) and lèse majesté offenders. He has previously been charged in 13 cases for involvement in anti-junta protests.

Protesters at Ratchadamnoen Avenue in Bangkok [Credit: @ChingCh14270983, Twitter]

State repression of the protests has been ratcheted up since criticism of the monarchy emerged as a focal point of the movement.

Earlier this month, two other student leaders—both known critics of the monarchy—faced arrest for sedition: Panupong Jadnok, a member of student group Eastern Youth for Democracy, based in Rayong Province; and Parit Chirawak, co-founder and former president of the Student Union of Thailand.

At a rally in Phitsanulok Province on August 9, six youth leaders were abducted by men claiming to be Border Patrol policemen, in an attempt to derail the protest. Prachatai reported that so far five planned protests have been blocked by intervention from authorities.

Six further arrest warrants were also issued on Wednesday for students who led the August 10 Thammasat University protest, in which specific demands to reform the monarchy were first outlined.

In spite of these efforts, the protest movement continues to grow. This week saw whole classrooms in at least eight high schools across Bangkok wear white ribbons and raise three-fingered salutes during the national anthem, in a sign of solidarity with the protests. On Wednesday, hundreds of high school students gathered outside the Ministry of Education building, calling for greater freedom in schools as well as reiterating the movement’s three demands.

Yesterday a major student rally took place in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, at which Panupong Jadnok spoke about the reform of the monarchy to loud cheers of support from crowds of high school students. The North-Eastern Student Assembly Network will be holding a protest today in Khong Kaen at 5:00 p.m. and Free Youth is advertising a demonstration tomorrow at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University, which will likely draw a large gathering of students from across the city.

Student rally at a high school in Yala Province on Tuesday [Credit: @Bricks_Dmocrazy, Twitter]

Several of the arrested leaders, now released on bail, have indicated on social media that they will continue to be involved in rallies. As police sought to detain them, they stood in the Criminal Court with a number of MPs from the Move Forward Party and opposition Pheu Thai Party as guarantors.

Senators appointed by the junta have expressed suspicions that Free Youth is a front for opposition political groups, as with the Shinawatra-backed Red Shirts. In particular, they are investigating the funding for the large protests, which have included concerts, extensive lighting, and giant LED screens.

On its Facebook page, Free Youth has rejected these claims, saying: “Our funds come from the masses, who support us only because this is a movement of young people, by young people, and for young people.”

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of now-defunct Future Forward Party, has said he played no role in funding the protests, which first began in February when the party, which attracted support from young people, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court.

Royal Thai Army Commander-in-Chief Apirat Kongsompong is attempting to incite popular hatred against the protesters, saying last week: “The coronavirus can be cured, but the disease of chung-chart [‘nation-hating’] cannot be cured.” Apirat’s use of this term, used by past military regimes to rally far-right nationalist forces against internal opposition, is significant.

The media, subject to intense pressure from the Prayuth government, has mostly refrained from reporting protesters’ demands regarding the monarchy at all. Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan warned after last Sunday’s rally that there was a limit to how far students should go.

This week’s crackdown on the movement’s leadership expresses fears in the ruling class that the protests could broaden and intersect with widespread discontent in the working population amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social inequality in Thailand, which greatly increased under the junta’s rule, is set to skyrocket due to the pandemic’s impact and the likelihood of a major economic contraction this year. A Credit Suisse report last year named the country the most unequal in the world, with the richest 1 percent of the population owning 66.9 percent of the nation’s wealth.

Pro-imperialist coup topples Malian President Keïta

Alex Lantier

A military coup Tuesday toppled Malian President Ibrahim Bouba Keïta, who is widely hated for his complicity in the bloodbath that has followed the French occupation of Mali begun in 2013. The opposition June 5 Movement-Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RPF) linked to imam Mahmoud Dicko is organizing celebrations today of Keïta’s ouster in the capital, Bamako.

The sharpest warnings must be made about the class character of this coup. Led by a self-proclaimed National Committee for Popular Salvation (CNSP), it is not opposed to the French occupation, which has dragged Mali into bitter ethnic conflicts that Paris uses to divide and rule the country. The CNSP has declared its loyalty to the French intervention force, Operation Barkhane. The coup is aimed at opposition among the workers and oppressed masses of Mali and all of Africa against imperialism and the failure of official attempts to halt the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Malian news site Bamada, the mutiny began around 8a.m. Tuesday, at the Kita army base, from which the 2012 coup that paved the way for the French intervention in 2013 was launched. The mutineers put government districts in Bamako on lockdown, called on public service workers to go home, and entered discussions with other army units.

Around noon on Tuesday, the mutineers were fighting loyalist troops of the Anti-terrorist Special Forces (Forsat), who had cracked down on previous M5-RPF demonstrations in Bamako. Reports on social media stated initially that the mutineers had been arrested, as well as Defense Minister Dahirou Dembélé.

Dembélé, who became head of the military after the 2012 coup, is now reportedly a leading figure in the CNSP junta.

Around 1p.m. Tuesday, Oumar Moriko, the leader of the SADI (African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence) party, linked to France’s petty-bourgeois New Anti-capitalist Party, launched a public appeal to Bamako youth to mobilize behind the putschists.

As youth sacked and burned the residences of several leading figures of the Keïta regime, several military units joined the mutiny. At 4p.m., Keïta as well as Prime Minister Boubou Cissé were arrested and interned at the Kita base. They then announced that they were in talks with Dicko and that they would make a public statement that evening.

It was around midnight that Keïta gave a brief, five-minute address announcing his “decision to leave all my positions effective immediately, and with all the legal consequences: the dissolution of the National Assembly and that of the government.”

While the M5-RFP presented this putsch to the Malian people as a popular uprising against crimes committed during the Mali war under Keïta’s presidency, the CNSP was busily reassuring Paris. CNSP spokesman Colonel Ismaël Wagué spoke at around 3a.m. Wednesday to insist that order would be restored in the face of growing demonstrations against French troops in Mali, and that the CNSP would work with the Operation Barkhane forces to suppress internal opposition.

Wagué declared, “For some time, politico-social tension has prevented our country from working properly… Mali is sinking ever day further into chaos, anarchy and insecurity, and it is the fault of the men tasked with overseeing its destiny.” Wagué declared that the CNSP wanted “all trade union and socio-political groupings to act with calm.”

He raised the violent inter-ethnic attacks and tensions that have accompanied French occupation troops’ operations in Mali: “Entire villages are burned, peaceful citizens are massacred, and every day we must grieve for losses among our comrades-in-arms. Horror has become a daily event in the lives of Malians.”

Wagué stressed that the Malian army would continue its close collaboration with French and German troops of Operation Barkhane, as well as their UN (Minusma) and Sahel auxiliary forces: “We ask sub-regional and international organizations to accompany us in seeking Mali’s happiness. The Minusma, the Barkhane force, the G5 Sahel force, the Takuba force are still our partners for stability and the restoration of security. Speaking to my comrades in arms, I ask you to ensure the continuity of your police and military missions.”

European authorities have barely masked their support for the coup. The UN Security Council adopted a pro forma declaration criticizing the putschists and calling for the re-establishment at some point in future of an elected government. Their statement emphasizes “the urgent necessity to re-establish the rule of law and to go in the direction of a return to constitutional order.”

French President Emmanuel Macron met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose troops are deployed to assist Operation Barkhane. He insisted that criticisms of the coup should not stop French troops’ collaboration with the Malian army. Having himself briefly criticized the coup, he added, “But it not our task to substitute ourselves for Malian sovereignty… Nothing should distract us from the struggle against the jihadists.”

The French daily Le Monde almost applauded the coup, writing in an editorial, “It is an understatement to say that there are no regrets in Paris about ‘IBK’’s fall.” Complaining of the “wave of protests” now engulfing Mali, the daily added that the coup against Keïta had been carefully prepared: “The visit in Bamako last July of five West African heads of state come to help their Malian colleague to find a solution—no doubt themselves fearing that the protests could be contagious—ended in failure. From then on, ‘IBK’’s days were numbered.”

An international wave of strikes and demonstrations against the neo-colonial interventions of France and its European allies is shaking Africa. The strikes of Malian teachers and railworkers, as well as several demonstrations demanding the withdrawal of French troops had further staggered the Keïta government. Last year also saw a mass movement of workers and youth in Algeria against the French-backed military regime, and protests are growing in Ivory Coast against President Alassane Ouattara, installed by a French military intervention in 2011.

This international opposition to imperialism among workers and oppressed masses finds no genuine reflection in the African political establishment. Struggling against imperialist war requires building an international socialist movement in the working class, where workers in struggle against imperialist war and plunder in Africa would appeal to the class solidarity of European workers in struggle against social austerity and police-state forms of rule at home.

The cynical role of SADI, Dicko, and the M5-RFP is a warning: they are complicit in a pro-imperialist putsch, which they are trying to pass off as a popular uprising. After the putsch Dicko has tried to minimize his role and gave an interview on Radio France Internationale to insist he has no ambitions for the next presidential elections: “In 2023, I will be a candidate for no position.” This comment led the news site Sénégal7 to note: “The M5 has done the work, and the mutineers are collecting the results.”

Dicko and Mariko have served as tools of French imperialism, whose troops in Mali are closely following the political situation and decided not to intervene to try to save Keïta. Everything points to the fact that this coup was made in France.

In July, Le Monde published a column hailing Dicko and declaring: “Imam Dicko can offer a way out of the crisis for France in Mali.” It continued, “Imam Dicko is a skillful politician, who is aware of power relations. He represents the possibility of negotiating peace with the jihadist groups… Let us recall that after 18 years of war, the Americans were finally forced to cut deals with the Taliban” in Afghanistan.

As for the putschist general Dembélé, trained according to his official biography at the Applied Infantry School in Montpellier, France in the 1990s, his services for French imperialism have led him to receive the Gold Medal of French National Defense and the citation of Commander of the French National Order of Merit.

It is not difficult to foresee that a junta led by such reactionaries is preparing to turn violently against Malian workers and youth seeking to oppose the neo-colonial French occupation of their country.

Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny flown to German hospital after doctors dispute poisoning claims

Andrea Peters

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny remains in a coma in a hospital in Omsk, a city in southwestern Siberia, after falling extremely ill while traveling from Tomsk to Moscow on board an airliner. According to doctors, their “working diagnosis” is that Navalny’s is suffering from a metabolic disorder possibly caused by a sharp drop in his sugar levels.

Alexei Navalny [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Aleksandr Murakovsky, the head doctor of the hospital’s emergency department, told the press on Thursday that neither oxybutyrates nor barbiturates were found in the body. Speaking just prior, specialists at Omsk’s BMSP-1 medical clinic and the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery declared they did not find poison, contradicting the charge that there was an attempt to take Navalny’s life through exposure to a lethal substance. Chemical traces from plastics that are commonly found on people’s clothes were uncovered by Russian laboratories that examined his personal belongings.

Omsk doctors had declared that Navalny’s condition was too unstable for him to be transported out of Russia. However, they have since reversed their decision. Navalny will be transferred on Saturday to the Charité hospital in Berlin on a plane dispatched by Germany to Omsk the day before, along with medical personnel.

Supporters of Navalny reject the diagnosis as a cover-up by the Kremlin, of which the oppositionist has been a vocal critic. Kira Yarmish, Navalny’s press secretary who was traveling with him when he collapsed mid-flight, insists he was poisoned while drinking tea just prior to getting on board. Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the Doctors Alliance trade union—an outfit set up by Navalny with the intention of drawing Russian medical workers angry over the deplorable state of the country’s health systems behind his right-wing organization—has pointed out that a metabolic disorder is not a diagnosis of an illness, but a condition brought on by some other major cause.

The New York Times and the Washington Post have already carried several articles insinuating—despite the absence of clear evidence so far that Navalny was even poisoned—that Russian president Vladimir Putin is responsible, and the Kremlin opponent is another victim in a long string of assassinations allegedly carried out by Moscow.

In making these claims, they are motivated solely by the ferocious US anti-Russia campaign, of which the two newspapers are the leading media proponents. They have not the slightest concern for Navalny himself. It should be noted, for instance, that both newspapers have long stopped shedding a single tear over the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government Jamal Khashoggi, whose assassination and dismemberment by Saudi operatives were recorded by Turkish intelligence.

On Thursday, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien described the claims that Navalny was poisoned as “very concerning.” He added, “If the Russians were behind this ... it’s something that we’re going to factor into how we deal with the Russians going forward.” The Trump administration has since said that it is following the situation but has issued no official statement.

The European Union has yet to weigh in on the Omsk doctors’ diagnosis or the underlying causes of Navalny’s illness, limiting its intervention to appeals for the oppositionist to be sent to Germany.

Whether Navalny became ill due to natural causes or was poisoned, and if so, who might be responsible, may never be known. Certainly, there are many people in Russia, the United States, Europe, and other countries who might wish to dispense with the Kremlin oppositionist for any number of reasons.

His fate, both in the near and short term, is entirely bound up with the Washington’s aims to dominate Eurasia and the desperate efforts of the Russian ruling class to survive the consequences. The so-called Russian “opposition” movement, in which Navalny plays a central role, is a plaything within the swirling agendas of the different political forces operating in this context.

An alleged attempt on Navalny’s life that is pinned to the Kremlin works to the benefit of those layers within the American state who seek to demonize the Putin government in order to justify war with Russia. The response of the Times and the Post make it clear that there is already an effort afoot to use his illness in this manner. Navalny himself has close ties to Washington.

Navalny’s corruption exposés have targeted powerful individuals within the Russian state and big business. He has his supporters within the elite and the government itself, but is viewed by some as a threat, particularly within the context of the series of domestic and foreign crises currently confronting the Putin government.

The spread of COVID-19 has brought to the fore the deplorable state of Russia’s healthcare system, fueling popular anger. There is an eruption of anti-government sentiment in Russia’s Far East, after the Kremlin used allegations of criminal conduct to remove a popular governor. And the Lukashenko government in Belarus, Moscow’s last remaining ally on its western frontier, may soon be overthrown as part of “pro-democracy” movement that has drawn behind it key sections of the working class.

Notwithstanding his free-market politics and anti-immigration chauvinism, Navalny has positioned himself as a champion of Russia’s exploited medical workers and protesters in both Khabarovsk and Minsk. He is seeking to gain from the current crisis, as the Kremlin flails.

The possible downfall of the Lukashenko government, driven to a significant degree by a mass strike wave that has witnessed thousands of workers on the streets, poses dangers for the Putin government. It is terrified of the prospect that the Russian working class, which has close linguistic, cultural, economic, and political ties with the Belarusian working class, and many of the same grievances, will be moved into action by events just over the border.

It is also concerned that the Belarusian opposition, with which Moscow has maintained close relations, could come fully under the domination of the West. On Thursday, Belarusian oppositionist Valery Tsepkalo called for Western Europe to recognize Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Lukashenko’s challenger in the country’s contested presidential elections, as the rightful winner.

The aim he said is to create a Venezuela-like situation, in which she, like Juan Gaidó in Venezuela, would form a competing government so that it would “become clear to the government bureaucrats and security services to whom they need to swear loyalty—to whose side they need to move.”

In making this remark, Tsepkalo revealed perhaps more than he intended, as Gaidó is a tool of Washington and lacks any base of support within the Venezuelan masses. The Belarusian opposition is attempting to identify with the mass strike movement in Belarus, using its promises of “free and fair elections” to draw workers’ attention away from its right-wing, free-market politics.

After initially withholding clear promises of support for Lukashenko, on Friday the Russian government signaled that it was perhaps taking a firmer position on Belarus, indicating that if asked by Minsk it would “do everything possible to help in the regulation of the situation in Belarus.” The Kremlin stopped short, however, of indicating that it was prepared to fully back the besieged government. With regards to criminal charges unveiled against Belarus protesters, the Kremlin stated it would “in no way or in any way interfere in or make any appraisal of the reasons for the criminal investigations in Belarus.”

Lukashenko regime, Belarusian opposition seek to stifle mass strike movement

Clara Weiss

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has initiated a violent crackdown on the protests and strike movement that have shaken his regime since the presidential election of August 9.

On Tuesday, Lukashenko instructed the paramilitary forces of the interior ministry, the OMON, to “not allow any unrest” in Minsk and other cities. Lukashenko has also mobilized the army for “tactical exercises” on the country’s western borders, where many of the strikes are taking place. At the same time, the government is trying to starve striking workers into submission, refusing to pay them their meager wages and threatening strikers at state-owned companies with layoffs.

A stamp operator at the Minsk Tractor Factory told the Financial Times, “There’s no way Lukashenko will resign without the workers. They need to stop the workers from striking because if the industrial giants cease production, then he’ll have to go.”

A protest in Minsk on Sunday

Gruesome reports of torture of prisoners and their systematic rape by security forces have emerged in the Belarusian press and social media. Dozens of striking workers have been arrested, including the leaders of strike committees. At least three protesters have been killed since the beginning of the protests, and over 80 people are still unaccounted for.

However, the strikes, which are part of an international resurgence of the class struggle, have continued at many key factories. A website that tracks ongoing strikes suggests that they have, in fact, been growing. According to belzabastovka.org, there were at least 150 ongoing strikes and industrial protests on Friday, up from around 140 the day before. Strikes are taking place at major factories, mines, meatpacking plants, railways, theaters, hospitals and EMS stations.

The vast majority of strikes are taking place in the capital Minsk and in the city of the Grodno, which is close to the Belorussian-Polish border. Since August 18, miners of the Soligorsk Belarusalsk mines, which account for a fifth of worldwide Potash production, have also been on strike.

Many state-owned companies, which account for 70 percent of the country’s GDP, have been hit by the strike wave, including the state-owned auto company BelAZ. One presidential aide acknowledged this week that the strikes had already cost the economy $500 million. Belarus has a GDP of less than $60 billion.

The strike movement has provoked deep concerns among all sections of the ruling class in Belarus and Europe, leaving the imperialist powers scrambling over how to respond to the crisis in Belarus. While the EU and NATO seek to exploit the crisis to further their foreign policy interests, there is nothing the bourgeoisie of all countries fears more than an international spread of the strike movement.

The EU-backed opposition of Svetlana Tikhonovskaya has wavered between attempts to shut down the strikes, and negotiate with the Lukashenko regime, and phony gestures of support for the strikers.

As strikes were escalating earlier in the week, the opposition on Tuesday called for a “pause” of protests until the weekend. At the same time, with the backing of the EU, the new Coordination Council of the opposition has urged Lukashenko to initiate “immediate” negotiations with the opposition and create the basis for new elections. However, on Thursday, the Lukashenko regime initiated a criminal investigation into the council, accusing it of an “attempt to seize power” and harming the “national security” of the country.

On Friday, after several days in which protests and strikes have continued unabated, Tikhonovskaya issued a call to “continue and broaden” the strikes. The opposition’s Coordination Council also set up a “National Strike Committee” through which it seeks to gain control over the strike movement.

The publicly known members of the committee include two CEOs of IT companies, Yaroslav Likhachevsky and Alexander Podgorny, as well as Andrei Stirzhak who headed a campaign to fight against COVID-19 in Belarus, and Eduard Palchis, a bitterly nationalist and anti-Russian blogger who advocates a union of Belarus with Poland and Lithuania. None of them have anything to do with the interests of the working class, and the strike committee, like the opposition as a whole, has consciously excluded all social and economic demands from the movement.

Another “national strike committee” was formed by the so called “independent” trade unions. While the two organizations now exist in parallel, the “independent” unions which have emerged out of the restoration of capitalism likewise support the pro-EU opposition and seek to subordinate the working class to it.

Whatever the tactical differences and in-fighting between the opposition and the government, they share one common goal: to bring the strike movement to an end as quickly as possible. Workers must be warned very sharply of the political dead end and right-wing character of the opposition.

The opposition’s Coordination Council includes several figures who are directly associated with the destruction of the Soviet Union and the restoration of capitalism, which created the basis for the emergence of the Lukashenko regime and the current social and economic catastrophe in the country.

Alexander Dabravolsky, one of the most prominent members of the opposition’s Coordination Council, was a leading member of the anti-Communist and nationalist opposition movement in the late Soviet period. He supported the Stalinist bureaucrat Stanislav Shuchkevich, who led the break-up of the USSR in 1991 and presided over the restoration of capitalism in Belarus until he was replaced by Lukashenko in 1994. He is now the head of the opposition party United Civic Party of Belarus.

Yuri Gubarevich, another member of the Council, is a leader of the Belarusian National Front party (BNF) which likewise pushed for the destruction of the USSR and the formation of an independent Belarusian nation-state, and the restoration of capitalism.

Other figures are no less right-wing and associated with policies that are opposed to the social and democratic rights of the working class: Pavel Latushko was a long-time functionary of the Lukashenko regime and is a Belarusian nationalist who advocates that the Belarusian Cyrillic alphabet be changed to the Latin alphabet.

Olga Kovalkova, the representative of Tikhanovskaya, is a co-leader of the Belorussian Christian Democracy party which opposes LGBTQ rights, and wants to end the official status of Russian as a state language in Belarus.

Through its right-wing policies, which serve to disorient and demobilize workers, the opposition is ultimately playing into the hands of the Lukashenko regime and its brutal crackdown on the working class.

The situation raises the urgent need for the working class to develop an independent political line and socialist leadership. The fight for democratic rights against the repression of the Lukashenko regime can only be successful if it is connected to the fight against social inequality and capitalism on an international level.

Such a program must above all be rooted in internationalism and an understanding of the counterrevolutionary role of Stalinism. Far from representing the continuity of the October revolution of 1917, the Stalinist bureaucracy was a counterrevolutionary force which waged war on Marxism and the program of international socialist revolution for decades. The only genuine socialist opposition to Stalinism came from Leon Trotsky, a co-leader of the October Revolution, and his Left Opposition, whose traditions are today represented by the International Committee of the Fourth International.

Politically, both the Lukashenko regime and the opposition feed off of the reactionary legacy of Stalinism. The Lukashenko regime has consciously promoted and evoked the traditions of Stalinism sine 1994. Meanwhile, the opposition champions a no less reactionary variant of Belarusian nationalism and anti-communism. By using the red and white national flag of Belarus as its banner, it consciously associates itself with the 1918 Belarusian National Rada (BNR) which was formed during the Civil War in order to prevent the establishment of a Soviet government and worked together with German imperialism against the Red Army.

There is enormous sympathy for the strikes and protests among workers across Europe and Russia. However, to unite the working class in a struggle against capitalism requires the building of a Trotskyist leadership and sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International. We urge our readers in Belarus and across Eastern Europe who agree with this perspective to contact us today.

Facebook censors anti-fascist and anarchist groups, falsely linking them with extreme-right violence

Kevin Reed

In a significant escalation of political censorship on its platform, Facebook published an update on Wednesday to its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy that labels left-wing and anarchist organizations as violent and falsely amalgamates them with fascist militia groups and right-wing extremists associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.

In a Newsroom blog post entitled, “An Update to How We Address Movements and Organizations Tied to Violence,” Facebook says that it is taking action against “Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts tied to offline anarchist groups that support violent acts amidst protests, US-based militia organizations and QAnon.”

While Facebook says it already removes “content calling for or advocating violence” and bans “organizations and individuals that proclaim a violent mission,” the blog post says that “we have seen growing movements that, while not directly organizing violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns of violent behavior.”

That the expanded Facebook definition of “dangerous” people and groups is aimed at stifling speech on the social media platform—with 2.7 billion monthly active users worldwide—is shown by the fact that its policy now includes “organizations and movements that have demonstrated significant risks to public safety but do not meet the rigorous criteria to be designated as a dangerous organization and banned from having any presence on our platform.”

Facebook then outlines the actions it will take to suppress content from those it deems “dangerous” and “violent” but do not fit the “rigorous” definition of either description. These measures may include removal of accounts from Facebook and Instagram, limiting recommendations, reduced ranking in News Feed, reduced visibility in Search, removal from Related Hashtags on Instagram and prohibition from advertising and fundraising.

As Facebook is listing off the many techniques it utilizes to ban, delete and suppress content—which it refers to in corporate-speak as “remove, reduce and inform”—it becomes clear that these methods are being perfected in the service of political censorship against oppositional, left-wing and socialist views that are increasing in popularity and pose a threat to the capitalist foundations of the social media giant. Facebook currently has a Wall Street value of $762 billion and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accumulated a personal wealth of $100 billion.

The Newsroom blog post goes on to say that Facebook has already removed “over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon” and additionally “imposed restrictions on over 1,950 Groups and 440 Pages on Facebook and over 10,000 accounts on Instagram.” Lumping anarchists and left-wing groups in with the far right, Facebook says, “For militia organizations and those encouraging riots, including some who may identify as Antifa, we’ve initially removed over 980 groups, 520 Pages and 160 ads from Facebook. We’ve also restricted over 1,400 hashtags related to these groups and organizations on Instagram.”

Among the accounts of anti-fascist and left-wing activists that have been shut down in the present Facebook dragnet are the following:

• It’s Going Down: an anarchist news publishing platform that reports on social struggles and exposes the activities of white supremacist and neo-Nazi networks.

• CrimethInc.: a left-wing and anarchist publishing organization that identifies itself as an “international network of aspiring revolutionaries.”

• PNW Youth Liberation Front: a group that says it is “a decentralized network of autonomous youth collectives dedicated to direct action towards total liberation” and has been involved in the recent protests in Portland, Oregon.

There is no question that by including such groups in its list of “dangerous” and “violent” individuals and organizations, Facebook is supporting the drive by the US political establishment and the US Justice Department to equate opposition within the working class and among young people with the violence of alt-right, neo-Nazi and fascistic militia individuals and groups.

The recent history of ideologically motivated violence in the US exposes Facebook’s false identification of these groups with the extreme right. According to a report by Natasha Lennard in the Intercept, “It bears repeating, ad nauseam, that the far right has carried out 329 murders in the last three decades; none have been attributed to antifa. Between 2009 and 2018, white supremacist and far-right extremists were responsible for 73 percent of extremist murders in the U.S. And that’s not even to mention the state-sanctioned, racist killings carried out by the police.”

The effort to label the left as violent has also intensified over the past three months during the nationwide and global mass protests against police violence and repression that was sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. Both the Democrats and Republicans along with the corporate media have slandered these demonstrations as “violent” and “riots” and, as Trump has stated numerous times, part of the “radical left” and “anarchist” takeover of American cities that must be put down with “law and order.”

In June, at the height of the George Floyd protests, Attorney General William Barr created a task force dedicated to counter “anti-government extremists” who engage in “indefensible acts of violence designed to undermine public order.” In his directive to all Justice Department law enforcement representatives, Barr wrote, “Among other lawless conduct, these extremists have violently attacked police officers and other government officials, destroyed public and private property, and threatened innocent people.”

Furthermore, Barr’s memo said that the “acts of violence” came from extremists “of all persuasions” including the extremer right-wing Boogaloo militia advocates who have engaged in murder and other criminal acts along with “those who identify as Antifa” on the left.

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz (Republican, Texas) chaired a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on August 4 where he claimed, “Across the country, we’re seeing horrific violence, we’re seeing our country torn apart. Violent anarchists and Marxists are exploiting protests to transform them into riots and direct assaults on the lives and safety of their fellow Americans.”

This position is not unique to Barr, Trump and the Republican Party. On the fifth night of the George Floyd protests in cities across the US that have been devastated by decades of attacks on living standards and social programs, the future Democratic Party nominee for President in the 2020 elections, Joseph Biden, denounced protesters for “burning down communities” and carrying out “needless destruction.”

While police and federal agents were beating protesters and National Guard troops were being called up and mobilized against peaceful demonstrations, Biden blamed the public for the decay in the cities, saying, “Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community” is not “the American response.” In late July, Biden reiterated his stance, calling for the prosecution of “arsonists and anarchists.”

These same sentiments have been expressed by Representative James Clyburn (Democrat, South Carolina) and Democratic Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot who, according to the New York Times, after police assaulted protestors calling for an end to police violence, said, “To those who engaged in this criminal behavior, let’s be clear: We are coming for you.”

The purpose and results of the recent closed-door meetings between the Silicon Valley tech monopolies and the White House in the preparations for the US presidential election in November are becoming obvious. As reported by the WSWS, representatives of nine major tech firms—including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit—met with US government law enforcement and national intelligence agencies on August 12 to discuss “election security” with little or no information reported to the public following the online gathering.

The endless references by Facebook and the others to those who identify as antifa as “violent” and “dangerous” are proof of the completely reactionary character of the entire amalgamation of left-wing and anarchist groups with far-right extremists who have actually committed acts of violence and killed people while proclaiming support for the Trump administration.

A Google search of antifa will only yield a Wikipedia entry for the name. There is no official website for an organization with this name in the US, Europe or anywhere else in the world. While there are clearly individuals who identify with the message of “anti-fascism,” the claim that an organization called “Antifa” is coordinating acts of extreme violence against the US government is entirely fabricated.

Instead, what the ruling establishment—of which the social media monopolies are a critical element—fears more than anything is that masses of workers and young people will break free from the two-party political system and begin to organize independently of the entire capitalist political setup on the basis of the fight for socialism. The ever expanding scope of political censorship on social media and on the internet more broadly is certain grow in the weeks leading up to the November 3 election and in its aftermath as the US ruling class seeks to suppress all signs of opposition.