The genocide in Gaza and the attack on the right to demonstrate in Germany

Peter Schwarz

Germany’s “Basic Law” (constitution) gives everyone the right “without registration or authorisation, to assemble peacefully and without weapons” (Article 8) and to “freely express and disseminate their opinions in speech, writing and images. There shall be no censorship” (Article 5).

The extent to which government and the security authorities disregard these basic democratic rights is breathtaking. Demonstrations against the genocide in Gaza are being banned or subjected to strict conditions. Large police contingents intimidate participants, censor every spoken and written word, arrest participants by the dozens and confiscate flyers and banners.

Police officers on the fringes of the Berlin Palestine demonstration on 4 November 2023

According to a survey by news weekly Der Spiegel, a quarter of all registered pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the 20 largest German cities were banned. The rest took place under conditions of harassment that stipulated in detail what could and could not be said and shown. The restrictions are reminiscent of the “Newspeak” in George Orwell’s novel 1984, which is intended to ensure the correct world view and mindset “by eliminating undesirable words.” These conditions differ from city to city and are characterised by complete arbitrariness on the part of the state.

Even exclamations such as “from the river to the sea” have been categorised as “antisemitic, inciting hatred, glorifying violence or terror” and banned. In Berlin, where around 20,000 participants gathered on Saturday for the largest demonstration to date, the police had issued an extensive catalogue of restrictions. Anyone who denied Israel’s right to exist would be committing a criminal offence, which would be punished immediately, warned head of operations Stephan Klatte, threatening to break up the demonstration in the event of a repeat offence.

Symbols, flags and proclamations, as well as expressing support for Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the recently banned prisoner aid organisation Samidoun, were also prohibited. Palestinian scarves and Palestine flags were allowed but could be confiscated if they were used “in support” of banned slogans.

The police deployed 1,000 officers to monitor the restrictions and intervene immediately if they were violated. The security forces were rigorous in their approach. According to the police, 68 arrests were made in connection with the demonstration and 36 investigations were initiated.

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) was also affected by the repression. Leaflets with the statement “Stop the imperialist-Zionist genocide in Gaza!” which it distributed at the demonstration were confiscated for half an hour until the police censors finally released them again.

In other cities, the conditions were even more restrictive. Anyone who wanted to demonstrate in Frankfurt am Main against the massacre in Gaza needed courage. The demonstration on Rathenau-Platz, which was attended by around 800 people, was cordoned off on two sides by police vans. On the narrow sides there were groups of police in helmets and armoured vests next to police film crews recording every movement. The rally speech, given by a Muslim woman from Bavaria, was interrupted several times by a disembodied voice over police loudspeakers, with the constant threat that the rally would be broken up if this or that poster was not removed immediately.

Posters showing dead people and children’s corpses, posters with the words, “genocide” or “Völkermord” and negative references to Israel were banned. Palestine flags were also banned, but in view of the large number of such flags, the police refrained from enforcing the ban.

At a smaller demonstration in Duisburg, the police also banned the distribution of pictures showing nothing but the truth. These were images of injured children, women and men in hospitals in the Gaza Strip, as can be seen every day on Al Jazeera and even occasionally on BBC, which, unlike ARD and ZDF, do not completely bow to government censorship.

Images that were banned at the Duisburg demonstration

Representatives of the police felt that the drastic restrictions on freedom of demonstration and freedom of expression did not go far enough. On Monday, the chairman of the Police Officers Union, Jochen Kopelke, called for only small, stationary demonstrations with a limited number of participants to be permitted.

Kopelke told Deutschlandfunk radio that the crowds currently taking to the streets at Gaza demonstrations could not be controlled. “All assembly authorities must be more restrictive and impose more conditions. These marches through German cities should no longer be allowed.” Large demonstrations were not “manageable” for the police. “The crowds are so big that we police officers can’t be in all places at once, of course. But if we discover something illegal, we crack down hard.”

Rainer Wendt from the smaller German Police Officers Union agitated in the Bild tabloid: “The radical Islamists are posing the question of power on our streets, and we have to answer it in our favour, otherwise it will no longer be the Basic Law that rules, but Sharia law.”

Media outlets reacted to the demonstrations with undisguised hostility. They began by absurdly understating the number of participants. For example, they reported figures of between 6,000 and 8,000 for the Berlin demonstration, although the number of participants was obviously at least three times as high.

None of the demonstrators, including Jews who were peacefully protesting against the massacre by the Israeli army, were mentioned in the brief reports. Instead, the reporting focused on how many “criminal offences” —i.e., violations of the undemocratic restrictions—had taken place.

As usual, Bild, the inflammatory newspaper from the Springer publishing group, went the furthest, unleashing a veritable pogrom of incitement. Bild reported on the Berlin “Jew-hating demonstration” under the headline “Thousands shout: ‘Bomb Israel!’” In reality, not a single participant in the demonstration had “shouted” anything of the sort. The demonstrators had chanted “Israel bombs, Germany finances.”

But no lie is too shabby for Bild to agitate against political opponents. In 1968, the tabloid had created a pogrom atmosphere against the student movement which led to the assassination attempt on its leader Rudi Dutschke. Bild’s lies about the Berlin demonstration clearly fulfill the criminal offence of incitement to hatred. But the Springer paper, whose annual press ball is attended by the crème de la crème of Berlin’s political and media scene, need not fear that the public prosecutor will knock on its door.

Moreover, the agitation is not limited to the tabloid press. German professors also do not shy away from digging deep into the brown (Nazi) filth when it comes to stirring up hatred against Muslims.

Professor Ruud Koopmans from Berlin’s Humboldt University tweeted on X: “Maybe it’s time to make ‘Allahu Akbar!’ a punishable battle cry at demonstrations. It’s used 100 percent equivalently to the Nazis’ ‘Sieg heil!’”

The Arabic “Allahu Akbar” means “God is great” and is used by hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world. It leads Friday prayers every week. Arabic-speaking Christians also use this phrase. The social scientist Koopmans had previously made a name for himself with questionable studies that declared almost half of European Muslims to be fundamentalists.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Neue Presse, Susanne Schröter, head of the Frankfurt Research Centre for Global Islam, who is also well known for her anti-Muslim stance, stirs up an amalgam of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, “extremely violent” Islamists, “Marxist, Leninist, Trotskyist groups from the pro-Palestine bloc” and representatives of “post-colonial theory,” who are “irreconcilably against Israel, against the West.” She calls for bans and influence on public opinion.

The massive attack on the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression, which is supported by the major parties, the media and formerly liberal representatives of the wealthy upper middle class, cannot be explained by the war in Gaza alone. It is the reaction of a ruling class that feels increasingly isolated and threatened by the masses.

Despite the intensive media campaign, it has not succeeded in suppressing resistance to the genocide of the Palestinians. The protests against it are growing from week to week and have long since taken on an international character. Last weekend, millions took to the streets worldwide.

Reserve Bank of Australia deepens attack on working class

Nick Beams

As was widely expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased its base interest rate by 0.25 percentage points yesterday. This is another blow to working-class home buyers who have seen their disposable income cut by hundreds of dollars a week since the rate rises began in May last year.

The rate hike was pretty much a foregone conclusion after inflation figures for the third quarter were released last month. They showed an increase in prices from 0.8 percent to 1.2 percent for the three months, taking the annual inflation rate to 5.4 percent.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock [Photo: Reserve Bank of Australia]

The decision though was as much about politics as it was about any supposed economic reasons. The incoming RBA governor Michele Bullock sought to establish her authority, issuing hardline statements on the need to bring inflation down.

She declared “low tolerance” for allowing inflation to rise above the level that the RBA has identified as its target. That is to bring inflation down to the 2 percent to 3 percent range by 2025. Bullock said that the bank board “will not hesitate to raise the cash rate further if there is material upwards revision to the outlook for inflation.”

Had rates not been raised yesterday Bullock knew that after having made such statements, she would have come in for a hammering from the financial press for not enforcing what it regards as the necessary monetary policy.

As a comment by economics professor Richard Holden in the Australian Financial Review put it, it was not only the right thing to do, but the only thing to do.

“Inflation isn’t coming down nearly fast enough, rates were and still are too low, and the credibility of Michele Bullock’s governorship was on the line,” Holden wrote.

In her statement on the move, Bullock said inflation in Australia had “passed its peak but is still too high and is proving more persistent than expected a few months ago.” Goods prices had eased further but “the prices of many services are continuing to rise.”

The reference to services is significant because the RBA, like its counterparts internationally, particularly the US Federal Reserve, regards wage rises in this area as the key determinant of inflation and wants to ensure they are suppressed.

Bullock said that since its August meeting the RBA had received updated inflation on inflation and the labour market which suggested that the risk of inflation remaining higher for longer had increased.

She acknowledged that the economy was “experiencing a period of below trend growth,” but then made clear the bank wants to see it fall further. Bullock said growth has been “stronger than expected over the first half of the year.”

The growth rate was just 2.1 percent for the first six months of the year, down from 2.7 percent at the end of 2022. Growth per head of population, per capita GDP, declined by 0.3 percent in both quarters.

This means that while growth remains positive, the economy is in what is known as a per capita recession.

And the RBA decision is aimed at continuing this trend. Bullock said the economy was forecast to continue to grow below trend. She said that “employment is expected to grow slower than the labour force and the unemployment rate is expected to rise gradually to around 4.25 percent.”

Back in June, when she was RBA deputy governor and flagging her suitability for the top job, to which she was subsequently appointed by Labor government Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Bullock told an employers’ function that a 3.6 percent jobless rate was too low. It would “have to rise” to 4.5 percent to bring inflation down.

Even though this estimate has been revised down slightly, it still means that well over 100,000 jobs will be lost.

While it is fully behind the RBA policy, which has nothing to do with bringing down inflation but is directed at suppressing wages, the Labor government has tried to manoeuvre in order to appear to distance itself from the decision.

In the lead up to the announcement, Chalmers said the latest price numbers were not a “material” shift upwards in inflation, as if to give the impression the government was not in favour of a rate increase.

This word play has got nothing to do with defending the interest of workers. It is motivated by concerns that Labor’s very narrow electoral support—the government received just over one in three votes in the May 2022 election—is eroding even further. The government’s claim that easing cost of living pressures is at the top of its agenda is increasingly exposed.

It has never been publicly acknowledged by any Labor spokesperson but cost of living pressures and the growing hostility to the government was a central factor in the massive defeat of its Voice referendum.

And that hostility has only increased because of the Albanese government’s full-throated support for the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Moreover, it is becoming increasing clear that the so-called fight against inflation has nothing to do with the real cause of price hikes. The actual driver of inflation has been identified by the United Nations and aid organisations such as Oxfam as the price gouging by major corporations and commodity traders in international markets, but this is explicitly denied by the RBA.

The RBA interest rate policy is aimed solely at the working class. Its content is to slow the economy and increase unemployment while pouring billions of dollars into the coffers of the banks via increased mortgage payments.

Facts and figures speak louder than all the doublespeak and obfuscation by the RBA and the Labor government about their concerns for the economic well-being of the population.

Since the rate rises began in May 2022—yesterday’s decision is the 13th hike—a family with a mortgage of $750,000, by no means at the top of the scale, is spending $1815 more on repayments a month. That is the equivalent of a wage cut of over $450 per week or around $22,000 a year. These figures signify increases of more than 50 percent in mortgage payments over the past 18 months.

A family with a mortgage of $500,000 has lost $1210 per month, while a family with a mortgage of $1 million—by no means an uncommon occurrence, especially in Sydney and Melbourne—is worse off by $2421 every month.

More is to come because, as Bullock said at the conclusion of her statement, the RBA remains “resolute in its determination to return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that outcome.”

Netanyahu vows Israel “will not stop,” as humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens

Jordan Shilton

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the northern Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces have virtually sealed off as part of their genocidal onslaught on the Palestinians. Events over recent days make it increasingly clear that the far-right Netanyahu regime is carrying out a vicious campaign to ethnically cleanse the northern regions of the Gaza Strip, while expanding military operations in the West Bank and on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

“The Israeli military offensive has caused the largest mass displacement of Palestinians in such a short period of time since the 1948 Nakba: around 1,500,000 or about 65 percent of Gaza’s population, are now internally displaced inside Gaza,” noted three Palestinian rights groups, Al Mezan, Al-Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, in a statement.

Reports Tuesday revealed that due to a lack of flour and fuel, which Israel has refused to allow into Gaza since its bombardment began, no large bakeries are operating north of the line established by the Israeli military to cut Gaza in two. Under conditions in which bread is one of the main foodstuffs for people who have no electricity or water to cook, this development is tantamount to starving hundreds of thousands who remain confined to Gaza City and surrounding areas.

Conditions further south are little better, where Israeli air strikes continue to pummel densely populated areas indiscriminately. Intense strikes took place on the Al-Shati refugee camp on Tuesday evening, with Israeli troops reportedly gathering on its outskirts.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that an average of just 33 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza from Egypt each day since October 21, less than 10 percent of the 500 trucks that entered every day prior to the Israeli onslaught.

The Israel Defence Forces has opened a “humanitarian” corridor to allow Palestinian civilians to move south. However, many have chosen to stay due to the high risk associated with the journey. Men, women and children must walk on foot for at least 5 kilometres (3 miles) along an Israeli-controlled route under constant threat of bombardment or gunfire before they can obtain transport further south via donkey cart or truck. An Al Jazeera reporter, who spoke to some who successfully completed the treacherous journey, gave a glimpse of the horrendous scene, commenting, “They told us [that] on the way to the south or to the Israeli checkpoint, they could see a lot of bodies, a lot of people cut into pieces … burning cars, and nobody is [able to reach] these bodies to take them to the hospital or to bury them.”

In the face of this human suffering, statements by leading Israeli government officials emphasized that the ferocious military onslaught will continue and, if anything, be intensified. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel will assume “overall security responsibility” for Gaza for “an indefinite period.” In a television address on Tuesday evening, he asserted that the attack on Gaza has killed “thousands of terrorists, above and below ground,” and vowed, “We will not stop.”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who described Palestinians last month as “human animals,” took aim at growing calls for a ceasefire, saying, “There will be no humanitarian pauses without [the return of] the hostages.” Israeli troops are “tightening the chokehold” on Gaza, which Gallant described as the “biggest terror base mankind has ever built.”

National Unity leader Benny Gantz, who joined the Netanyahu government when the war began, declared that Israel finds itself in a “multi-front war.” In addition to Gaza, he referred to the northern front with Lebanon, where Israeli air strikes have been stepped up against Hizbollah. He also vaguely spoke of “other areas” where the war is raging, a probable reference to the West Bank, where well over 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and gangs of settlers since October 7.

The far-right Israeli regime feels able to proceed with such savagery because its leading figures know they have the unconditional backing of the major imperialist powers. The United States is pledged to supply another $14 billion of military aid to Israel on top of the tens of billions over recent years that have helped fund the Zionist state’s stockpile of high-powered weaponry now being dropped on defenceless civilians. The Biden administration has deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups with 15,000 military personnel and more recently a nuclear-armed submarine to the region, underscoring its readiness to wage a broader war against regional obstacles to Washington’s unchallenged hegemony, above all, Iran. The European powers, including Britain, France and Germany, have been no less forthright in their support for Israel’s genocide.

In comments to the media Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected placing any restrictions on Israel’s bombardment. Asked if it was still the case that the White House had “no red lines” for Israel in the face of the growing civilian death toll, he answered, “That is still the case.” He added, referring to the US supply of arms, “We’re going to continue to make sure they have the tools and capabilities that they need to defend themselves against what clearly was an existential threat to their society and their people.”

In a further indication of the Biden administration’s intimate involvement in the Israeli regime’s onslaught at the operational level, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed that CIA Director William Burns met with Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Tuesday. Ruling out a ceasefire, Hagari insisted, “We are moving forward.”

These remarks demonstrate that the Biden administration is a party to Israel’s genocide, and its leading personnel, including Biden himself, are war criminals who deserve to appear in the dock alongside Netanyahu.

The carte blanche extended by the imperialists to the Netanyahu regime to do whatever it likes has resulted in acts of collective punishment and other brazen violations of international law not seen since the crimes of the Nazis. Approximately 40 percent of the 10,300 officially recorded casualties in Gaza are children.

On Tuesday, a journalist with the Wafa Palestinian news agency was killed along with 42 members of his family in his home in what appeared to be a targeted killing. Since the war began, 37 media workers have been killed in Israel and Gaza, 31 of them in Gaza. Reporters Without Borders released a statement warning that all journalists continuing to cover events on the ground in Gaza are in “constant, imminent danger of death.” In the West Bank, a reporting team for German public broadcaster ARD was held at gun point by Israeli soldiers for close to an hour Sunday.

A Red Cross truck delivering emergency medical supplies to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City also came under fire Tuesday, lightly wounding a driver. The Israeli military has repeatedly threatened to target Al-Shifa and dropped bombs in its vicinity, claiming without any credible evidence that it is a cover for a Hamas command centre.

Opposition to the imperialist-backed barbarism of the Israeli government is on the rise among workers and young people around the world. Millions took part in protests on every inhabited continent last weekend, while workers in Barcelona and on the US West Coast have begun to call for the blocking of ships transporting military equipment to the region.

The Israeli regime’s ferocious onslaught on Gaza’s population also confronts mounting opposition within Israel itself. Tuesday marked one month since the mass Palestinian uprising led by Hamas against 75 years of brutal Israeli oppression, in which some 1,400 Israelis were killed. A vigil held near the Knesset brought together hundreds of relatives of the deceased and those taken as hostages into Gaza by Hamas. The event’s organisers blamed the Netanyahu government for October 7 and declared their explicit opposition to the onslaught on Gaza.

“A month has passed and Netanyahu didn’t participate in one funeral, didn’t come to any shiva, didn’t call the families,” Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed on October 7, told the crowd. Some of the mourners have pledged to sit outside the Knesset in a mourners’ tent in protest against the war until the government falls. “The war will never end as long as Netanyahu is in his office,” he added at the protest site. “So I’m crying to the world, ‘Don’t support Netanyahu. Don’t send us weapons. Don’t send us ships of war’.”

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky cancels elections as US expands conflict with Russia in Middle East

Clara Weiss

On Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose government has been touted by the NATO powers and their press as the spearhead of Western democracy, announced that the country’s presidential elections, due to be held next year, are canceled. 

Zelensky was elected in 2019 in a vote that was shaped above all by opposition to the Poroshenko government that had been brought to power by the NATO-backed coup of February 2014. At the time, Zelensky ran on a platform of mending ties with Russia. However, he quickly reneged on all of these promises and his his government played a central role in provoking the invasion by Russia in February 2022, including by announcing plans to “retake” Crimea in March 2021.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has been in a state of martial law. All major opposition parties are banned, and opponents of the war and the government are routinely persecuted, arrested and “disappeared.” 

Now, the Zelensky regime is dropping any remaining pretenses of “democracy.” In a video address on Monday, Zelensky stated that “now is not the right time for elections.” He said, “We must realize that now is the time of defense, the time of the battle that determines the fate of the state and people, not the time of manipulations.”

In an open endorsement of dictatorial forms of rule, he stated, “And if we need to put an end to a political dispute and continue to work in unity, there are structures in the state that are capable of putting an end to it and giving society all the necessary answers.”

Zelensky’s announcement is another nail in the coffin of NATO’s war propaganda against Russia over Ukraine which the media has portrayed as a war in defense of “democracy” and the rights of the Ukrainian people. It comes almost exactly a month after Israel began its genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, which is carried out with US bombs and military intelligence, and has claimed the lives of over 10,000 people, roughly half of them children. Just like the imperialist powers’ backing for Ukrainian neo-Nazis and the authoritarian Zelensky regime, the openly genocidal policies in Gaza make a mockery of NATO’s war propaganda claims of a supposed fight for “democracy” in Ukraine.

The canceling of the elections comes amid a profound military and political crisis of the Zelensky regime. The “counteroffensive” of the summer, which had been prepared for by NATO over months, with tens of billions of dollars of weapons deliveries, including heavy tanks, and the training of tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops, has ended in a military fiasco and thousands of lives lost. In a sign of growing popular discontent and opposition to the war, the first protests against the war have taken place in cities across Ukraine in late October, demanding that men be sent home from the front.

Even the New York Times, in its state-vetted coverage, acknowledged recently that fatigue with the war is spreading among the troops. The paper cited the mayor of a West Ukrainian village, Andriy Tkachyk, who said, “The boys who are at the front are physically and psychologically tired. Very tired. This war will last a long time.”

Last week, Valery Zaluzhnyi, the head of the Ukrainian army and an avowed admirer of Ukrainian fascist Stepan Bandera, painted an extraordinarily bleak assessment of the state of the war in an interview with the Economist. He stated, “Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate.” According to a recent report by NBC, the term “stalemate” is now also used privately by some US military officials. Given Russia’s much larger population and industrial capabilities in weapons production, Russia is widely believed to have a growing military advantage as the war drags on.

Speaking to the Economist, Zaluzhnyi warned, “The biggest risk of an attritional trench war is that it can drag on for years and wear down the Ukrainian state.” He drew a parallel to the First World War, which ended in the East with the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917 and the establishment of Soviet power in large parts of what is now Ukraine, and implicitly warned of the revolutionary consequences of a defeat of NATO’s proxy army in this war.

Zaluzhnyi elaborated on this assessment in a longer essay in which he stated that both a very prolonged conflict and the deployment of even more advanced and deadly weaponry was now inevitable. He noted that even with a dramatic increase in weapons and ammunition production by NATO, “given the increased intensity of average daily missiles and ammunition consumption, it is not possible to accumulate these funds in the required volumes.” He also pointed out that in many cases, the type of weapons, missiles, and ammunition they need take many months, and even years, to produce.   

Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that it was unlikely that the army could achieve a “breakthrough” in the near future, effectively stating that the hundreds of billions of dollars that NATO has already pumped into the Ukrainian army have been completely insufficient. He warned that the situation carried “significant risks for both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the state as a whole.” Suggesting that the war, precisely because of the military crisis, would require the deployment of ever more deadly weapons and a further escalation, he wrote that the situation “necessitates searching for new and non-trivial approaches to break military parity with the enemy.”

Clearly unnerved both by Zaluzhnyi’s public statements and reports about NATO diplomats raising potential negotiations with Russia, Zelensky in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday lost self-control and insisted that he was not ready to negotiate with the “f*** terrorist Putin.” He also explicitly rejected Zaluzhnyi’s assessment that the war had reached a “stalemate.” 

The conflict between Zaluzhnyi and Zelensky has been smoldering for a long time, with Zaluzhnyi repeatedly attacking Zelensky publicly. The head of the army is one of the most prominent and influential figures in the country and was considered the most likely main rival of Zelensky in the next presidential elections.

Then, one day after his interview with Meet the Press, Zelensky annnounced that the presidential elections will be canceled. Also on Monday, news broke that Zaluzhnyi’s assistant and close friend Hennadii Chastiakov was killed by an explosive device in his home. According to the Russian press, Chestiakov opened birthday presents, one of which included a package with Western hand grenades. When showing it to his son, Chestiakov activated one of the grenades. His 13-year old son was severely injured. In Ukraine, many speculate that Zelensky or layers close to him were behind the “birthday present.” Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs later stated that the box had been given to Chestiakov by one of his colleagues in the army.  

Chestiakov joins a rapidly growing list of leading state and military officials who have died this year outside the battlefield and under questionable circumstances. At the beginning of 2023, a dozen high-ranking officials of the interior ministry, several of whom played a central role in the army leadership, were killed in a helicopter crash. Zelensky has also engaged in repeated and ever more sweeping purges of the defense ministry, sacking most recently Oleksii Reznikov. 

The escalating warfare inside the Ukrainian state apparatus and ruling class is unfolding as the war against Russia by US imperialism is expanding in both scope and intensity. In backing Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and provoking a wider war in the Middle East, and above all with Iran, the US is also opening up a new front in the war against Russia. The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and NATO bombing of Libya in 2011, as well as the US military involvement in the ongoing civil war in Syria since 2011, were already aimed, at least in part, at undermining Russian influence in the Middle East and North Africa. Now, all of these wars are increasingly metastasizing into a full-blown global conflict and whatever has remained of the “democratic” mask of all the capitalist governments is falling off.

Washington’s war drive against China fuels political conflict in the Philippines

John Malvar

Tensions between rival factions of the ruling elite in the Philippines—headed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, on the one hand, and Vice President Sara Duterte, on the other—have reached a fever pitch. They are fueled by Washington’s aggressive preparations for war with China.

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. at a rally in Quezon City, Philippines on April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

On Friday, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr delivered a warning to the troops against taking part in an ongoing coup d’etat plot. During a changing of command ceremony in Zamboanga City, Brawner told the assembled soldiers that the military would act “swiftly and judiciously” against any active duty personnel who would join in the destabilization plots being hatched by former officers. Brawner added that these plotters believed that “the president should be replaced” and that the Philippines “should have another coup d’etat.”

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the group targeted by Brawner included retired generals and colonels, former cabinet secretaries, and bankers and businessmen. Among those it listed was Gen. Eliseo Rio Jr who stated that there was a “serious split between the Marcos and the Duterte camps” and that the reports of destabilization were the result of the issues in this conflict.

The next day, National Security Advisor Eduardo Año tried to downplay the significance of Brawner’s remarks, saying that Brawner had been “misquoted or misinterpreted” by the press. This is not true. Brawner was quoted precisely. The tensions between rival factions of the ruling elite in the Philippine government are sharp and may be reaching a breaking point.

The tensions run between two rival factions, the camp of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, on the one hand, and the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte, with the backing of two former presidents—her father, Rodrigo Duterte, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—on the other.

What drives the animosity between these camps is geopolitics. Since taking office in May 2022, Marcos has come to represent the interests of sections of the Philippine elite who are looking to fully integrate the country into Washington’s aggressive drive against China.

Arroyo and the Dutertes, father and daughter, represent a growing portion of the elite who see Philippine economic growth and their profit interests bound up with increasing ties with China. This camp recognizes that full commitment to the US offensive against China—which includes the prosecution of the Philippine claim to the South China Sea and the basing of US forces in the country under the auspices of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)—will sabotage their hopes for expanded economic relations with Beijing.

These two camps are united in many things. Both Marcos and Duterte back the increased use of political repression to deal with the threat of social unrest. There is no liberal side to this dispute. Duterte represents openly thuggish police rule and fascist vigilante violence. Marcos represents the rehabilitation of his family’s legacy of military dictatorship and preparations for its re-implementation.

Within each of the camps there are rivalries and tensions. Rodrigo and Sara Duterte personally detest each other and have publicly betrayed each other in the past.

But it is Washington’s war drive that is decisive here and it is this that is fueling the instability and the elite plots in the Philippines.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte were elected in May 2022 having run on an alliance known as Uniteam. It brought together a powerful collection of political parties, including those of former presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Joseph Estrada.

In the lead up to the election Marcos had issued multiple statements that he intended to continue the foreign policy orientation of the outgoing administration of Rodrigo Duterte, meaning the attempt to improve relations with China. The mantle of support for Washington’s aggression rested with the presidential candidate Leni Robredo.

When Marcos took office, he turned with breathtaking speed to Washington for backing. President Joe Biden scrapped the ban from entering the United States imposed by US courts on Marcos for the crimes of his parents’ dictatorial regime in which he had played a leading role in the 1980s. Biden welcomed Marcos to the White House. Marcos restored the joint war games scrapped by Duterte and accelerated preparations for the basing of US forces in the country.

Arroyo has been a kingmaker in Philippine politics for over a decade, at times the most influential politician in the country. She wielded immense clout in the legislature and in backroom negotiations. Arroyo also has been the leading representative of the Philippine elite oriented to China, an orientation which began as early as 2006 during her second term as president.

When the plots began is not yet clear, but Arroyo, now a member of Congress, moved against Marcos in the legislature in May 2023. Rumors circulated widely that she was attempting to orchestrate the impeachment of Marcos, installing Sara Duterte as president and herself as Speaker of the House. Her plot failed and on May 17 she announced that she was being demoted from senior deputy speaker to deputy speaker of Congress.

Two days later, Sara Duterte abruptly resigned from her political party, Lakas-CMD. The party had until that point held members loyal to both Marcos and Duterte. The resignation represented the retreat of the Duterte-Arroyo faction.

Things sharpened in September.

Sara Duterte is both vice president and secretary of education. She is also the vice-chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the official government body of anti-Communist witch-hunting and repression.

In her capacity as secretary of education, Duterte was allocated P125 million ($US2.5m) in confidential funds. These are discretionary monies earmarked for intelligence gathering and surveillance that are not subject to government audit. Duterte was to use this money to arrange the surveillance of students and student organizations that were accused of being Communist inspired. The money could also be used to provide rewards for informants. The existence of this fund in the Department of Education is unspeakably reactionary.

In mid-September, a corruption scandal erupted against Duterte surrounding the use of her confidential funds. France Castro, representative of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party list organization, confronted Duterte in the legislature with the fact that her P125 million in confidential funds had been spent in eleven days.

ACT is a member of BAYAN, the umbrella organization of political groups that share the nationalist political perspective of the Stalinist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP, BAYAN, and its affiliated organizations tailend petty bourgeois sentiment in the Philippines and seek to bring the support of the working class to a section of the ruling elite. As Washington’s war drive against China has escalated, BAYAN and company have lined up behind the growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the narrow layers of the Filipino middle class and have sought to whip up an anti-Chinese hysteria among the working class and poor.

It is this anti-Chinese orientation that has brought BAYAN, despite its longstanding hatred for Marcos, behind the interests of his faction.

ACT did not challenge the existence of confidential funds, but alleged rather that these funds were being corruptly misused. Castro called for confidential funds to be limited to the military and intelligence agencies and to be restricted from disbursement to civilian government agencies, such as the Department of Education.

Rodrigo Duterte weighed in, responding in an interview on national television, “Let me tell you the first target with intelligence funds. You, you France [Castro], you are the Communists that I want to kill. Tell her that.” Castro filed a criminal case against the former president for his murderous threat and then thanked House Speaker Martin Romualdez, head of the Marcos faction in the legislature, for leading support for her against Duterte.

Not backing down, Rodrigo Duterte threatened to call out businessmen and the military against Congress, citing pork barreling—both sides alleging corruption against their opponents.

In another session of the legislature in September, Castro grilled the secretary of defense and the AFP chief of staff about the loyalty of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group. Would the military forces tasked with protecting Sara Duterte be loyal to the president or to the vice president, she asked, in the event of “strained relations.”

Sara Duterte had been allocated P500 million in confidential funds in the 2024 budget. The pseudo-left political party Akbayan, with the support of BAYAN’s affiliated parties, arranged a vote to strip Duterte of her funds and to transfer them to Philippine military forces in the “West Philippine Sea,” i.e., in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

While the legislature has stripped the vice president of her confidential funds, the current proposed budget for 2024 allocates P4.5 billion ($US257 million) in confidential funds to President Marcos. This money will be used to accelerate integration with Washington’s war drive and prepare the apparatus of military repression.

Mass protests in Malaysia against Gaza genocide

Kurt Brown

Since the Israeli government began its genocidal attack on Gaza in October, significant protests have taken place throughout Malaysia, as part of the powerful global mass demonstrations opposing the onslaught.

In a recent display that attracted international attention through social media, approximately 50,000 supporters of the Terengganu Football Club in a packed stadium waved Palestinian flags and chanted for an end to the bombing during a home game against Kuala Lumpur City on November 3. Terengganu FC has approximately 195,000 supporters on Facebook and 213,000 supporters on Instagram where people also expressed their support for the pro-Palestinian demonstration.

While such events have spread widely online, the mass mobilisations in Malaysia, as well as enormous demonstrations in nearby Indonesia involving as many as two million people, have been blacked out almost entirely by the Western press.

Major protests have taken place in Malaysia each week, with those on October 13, 24, and 28, attracting some 50,000 people each.

The October 28 demonstration was one of the biggest, with large numbers of people participating in rallies in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur (KL) and in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. In KL, tens of thousands marched on the US Embassy waving hundreds of Palestinian flags and denouncing Washington’s support for genocide. Home-made placards read, “Stop Killing! Stop Bombing!” and “Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself Actually Means Bombing Babies.”

In Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, 20-year-old student Marlisa Tening, who is Christian, made clear that the conflict was not based on race or religion. In comments to the Malay Mail, she said: “I stand with Palestine and what happened in Palestine is not a matter of religion. They have suffered from Israeli crimes.”

On October 24, a capacity crowd of more than 16,000 protesters attended a solidarity concert, entitled “Malaysia is with Palestine,” in Axiata Arena in KL. Large numbers of protesters held Palestinian flags and banners with comments such as “Free Palestine,” “Stop the War,” and “We Stand with Palestine.”

Channel News Asia reported that the protesters included students, professionals, and refugees. A 20-year-old student, Nurul Anis Syafiqah, stated that “This is not just about religion, it is about humanity.” Another student, commenting on the actions of Israel, stated: “The way they are seizing land, taking [it] from the Palestinians, that is wrong.”

Other developments have indicated a particular ferment among young people, including high school students.

A Malaysian content creator and his 15-year-old friend created a server (a virtual computer environment) for the popular online video game Roblox as a space for players, mostly children, to protest the atrocities taking place in Gaza. Remarkably, while only 200 players can join the server at a time, the server had 275,000 visits as of late October. A TikTok video of one of the virtual protests received 3.2 million views.

Almost half of Roblox players are no more than 12 years old. Some parents posted on social media that their children had attended such protests. Organisers and participants have had to adopt expressions like “Palestine will be free” since the expression “Free Palestine” is censored on the Roblox server.

Kuala Lumpur stadium protest against Gaza genocide, October 24, 2023 [Photo: @anwaribrahim]

The outpouring of support for Palestinians in different facets of daily life is in revulsion to what has taken place in the past month. Israeli forces have murdered more than 11,000 people, including 5,000 children. Over 30,000 Gazans have been injured. These figures, however, do not include bodies yet to be recovered from the extensive rubble and debris.

Unlike in the imperialist countries, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has postured as an opponent of the war in Gaza. He addressed the October 24 stadium event in KL, telling those gathered that he stood “with the Palestinian people yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Anwar has noted that the US government, the principal backer of the Israeli regime and its chief arms supplier, has made two formal diplomatic representations to the government on October 13 and 28 over its stance of condemning the Israeli assault.

In addition, the Malaysian ambassador to Washington was summoned on October 18. In all cases, the US has put pressure on the Malaysian government to label Hamas a terrorist organisation. The Malaysian government has never recognised the state of Israel.

Those actions further underscore the lawlessness of US imperialism. While overseeing a genocide in the Middle East that recalls the worst crimes of the 20th century, Washington is threatening governments around the world that do not line up fully behind the mass murder.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim addresses mass protest in Kuala Lumpur on October 24, 2023 [Photo: @anwaribrahim]

Anwar’s statements undoubtedly reflect the depth and breadth of opposition to the Israeli bombardment in the Malaysian population. As with other countries in South East Asia, Malaysia was subjected to centuries-long colonial occupations, against which there were protracted mass struggles.

Beginning in 1948, there was a twelve-year armed struggle against British colonial rule. Britain and its allies used brutal counter-insurgency methods later deployed by the US against Vietnam.

Those experiences undoubtedly come to mind, when Malaysian workers and young people watch the images of Palestinians being slaughtered by a heavily-armed imperialist state everyday.

Anwar is, however, the pro-business representative of a political establishment that offers no way forward for working people in Malaysia or anywhere else. The political set-up has been roiled by continuing crisis, resulting from the social polarisation between a small elite and the vast mass of the population.

In that context, Anwar has increasingly pitched to Islamist forces, in a bid to nullify Islamist opposition parties and to provide a base of support for his rule.

Muslims, predominantly ethnic Malays, represent 70 percent of the 34 million people in Malaysia, with ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians representing 22.5 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. Although there is an identification with the plight of Palestinians on religious grounds, there exists widespread support for Palestinians on the basis of opposition to war and to the policies and actions of the Israeli government.

Collins Chong Yew Keat, a foreign policy and security strategist from the University of Malaya, commented that “An overwhelming Muslim and non-Muslim population is supportive of the Palestinian cause in the name of humanitarian grounds.” Chairman of the Viva Palestina Malaysia aid group, Dr Musa Mohd Nordin similarly noted that “it cannot be denied that the principal reason is the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”

Anwar is attempting to head off this movement, lest it begin to develop into a broader struggle outside the control of the government.

At the same time, Anwar’s government is seeking to balance between Washington and Beijing, amid a growing US war drive against China. That precarious act has been further complicated by the eruption of war in the Middle East.

YouTube FIFTY DEEP Music Grants

APPLICATION DEADLINE:

15th November 2023 at 12pm PST.

Tell Me About Award:

FIFTY DEEP is a cultural initiative by YouTube created to help support and uplift Black voices in Hip Hop. “Starting on August 11 and running through the fall, YouTube will launch and support a selection of activations as a part of FIFTY DEEP to honor this moment in history.” Among these activations includes spotlights on thousands of music videos, features on the homepage for producers, a Hip Hop live streaming at Yankee Stadium, and so much more.

Now, YouTube is offering FIFTY DEEP Music Grants, available for “any developing or established Hip Hop artists who identify as Black in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.”

Who Can Apply?

• If you are a Black, up-and-coming or established, songwriter or producer in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, you are eligible for these grants.
• According to YouTube, “Ideal candidates should be interested in establishing a long-term channel strategy, contributing to music releasing between Q1 2024 to Q2 2024, and willing to collaborate with other songwriters & producers in the program.”

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE ELIGIBLE?

YouTube is offering DEEP Music Grants, available for “any developing or established Hip Hop artists who identify as Black in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.”

HOW MANY AWARDS?

50

What Is The Benefit Of Award?

YouTube is offering DEEP Music Grants.

FIFTY DEEP will also spotlight two thousand Hip Hop videos that have changed the game. These videos will appear in YouTube Music playlists like Fifty Deep, Fashion Killas, Sunny Daze, Its The Remix, Street Code and more, giving fans of every generation a chance to reminisce and discover music videos and songs they love plus others they may not have seen or heard before. More details on this coming soon!

How To Apply:

If you’re a songwriter or producer interested in being considered for 50 DEEP Grants, submit your information right here.

 NOTE: The application window will be open starting October 23, 2023 and will close on November 15, 2023 at 12pm PST. 

Visit Award Webpage for Details