Thursday, October 07, 2010

Concerning the events in Ecuador

PRESS RELEASE
CONCERNING THE EVENTS IN ECUADOR

Athens, October 3, 2010

The recent developments in Ecuador, with the popular protests against the neoliberal and unconstitutional arbitrary decisions of President Correa, are of particular interest.

We are sending this newsletter in order to respond to a disinformation campaign that takes place in relation to these developments, and the lack of full information accompanying it.
The majority of the media is talking of a coup against the “leftist” Rafael Correa, something that finds in agreement the bourgeois and “socialists” around the world, who are both condemning it. They are presenting the uprising of some police against their leadership and the army, and their joining the popular protests as a “coup!”

[…]

Nothing could be further from the truth. In the communication we had with the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE), which is participating in the National Assembly with elected MPs, we were informed that the Government of Correa, who rules against the wishes of the Assembly is trying to pass the reactionary measures in accordance with the reactionary Right through unconstitutional suppression, is attempting to impose its own explanations, to hide the facts, by putting together the theory of conspiracy, the coup “against the legitimate president.”

These claims can be confusing to the exterior, but not within Ecuador, where the people are upset with the anti-popular measures of Correa’s government Korea and is demanding their withdrawal.

The Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of Greece 1918-55 salutes the protests of the working class and the peoples of Ecuador, supported by the fraternal PCMLE, and salutes its attitude towards the convening of a multi-ethnic assembly of all social organizations in Quito, Saturday, October 2 or within one week.

Democracy in Ecuador is endangered indeed – but not due to the working class, the people and the Left – but first and foremostly by the reactionary Right of Ecuadorthere and the U.S. imperialists, as well as the neo-liberal anti-popular measures that have kept the Native’s Movement and wide working and popular masses in the streets for a long time, which call for the measure’s non-implementation. These measures, have gained the support of the American imperialists, along with President Correa himself, whom the U.S. rushed to support.

The Ecuadorean people has a rich history in the struggle for freedom and has always defeated those who underestimated it.
Today, the people is waging a tough battle for independence and against the enemies of their fatherland.

It is neither the first nor the last battle, but in the end the people will win!

The Political Committee of Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of Greece 1918-55

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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

A milestone in Ecuadorian politics

Editorial of En March, 5th October, 2010 –organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE)

After the crisis of Sept. 30 Ecuador is not the same. These events leave a deep impression and have an impact, inevitably, in the future government’s political behavior, the Ecuadorian people’s movement, the right-wing opposition and more social and political actors in the country.Principio del formulario

Political polarization is one of the sequels, the most enthusiastic supporters of Correa are affirmed and close ranks around their leader, on the one hand, while the credibility of the President’s word is questioned in ever larger sectors. People who long ago lost confidence in Correa today are joined to members of the police troops with their families (deeply resent the brutal way they were treated and suppressed), but also army troops affected also by the veto Public Service Law.

State institutions also appear affected. It is not simple, by the action of the President; there has been an armed confrontation between police and the army. These institutions, called to ensure the stability of the bourgeois state, experiencing internal problems, conflicts with each other, distrust inside of the institution, demoralization, alienation from the head of state, in this last aspect in the case of the National Police. The Assembly, likewise, is greatly diminished in popularity and acceptance for the content of the adopted legislation, which have led to social mobilization of these days. The executive, the same way, beaten out by all these events, because, the above elements affect it directly, but also the growing popular distrust on this.

However Rafael Correa successfully dodged this one, the worst moment of his government so far, in perspective the things are becoming more complex and negative. He asserted his authoritarian profile in the solution to the crisis, but that does not guarantee that social discontent manifested in open protests stop. The riot police is an expression of what happens in the Ecuadorian social tissue of how they solve problems of the sectors which are concerned by a policy that is increasingly closer to the neoliberal governments that have applied for nearly three decades. Ah, but with two additional ingredients: an unmasked authoritarianism and a strong dose of populism.

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The PCMLE Regarding the Events of September 30

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
Central Committee
The PCMLE Regarding the Events of September 30

For some months Ecuador has been the scene of the intensification and broadening of the social struggles that various sectors of the working people, trade unionists, indigenous people, peasants, teachers, student youths, public servants, small business people and pensioners have been developing, to oppose the policies of the government of Rafael Correa that have actually harmed the interests of the country, of the peoples and their organizations, that reinforce and support the neoliberal, privatizing and sellout policies.
The workers have carried out actions in defense of trade union rights that the government has wanted to eliminate; the indigenous peoples throughout the country have fought in defense of water as a vital human resource; the peasant and indigenous communities have been opposing the sellout and predatory nature of the Mining Law; the teachers have been demanding better guarantees for national education, opposed to retaliatory and exclusive evaluations; the students and all the universities of the country are against a Higher Education Law that eliminates university autonomy, student participation in running the university, free admission and other gains and rights; the public servants have mobilized to defend their stability, their gains achieved after long struggles; the pensioners to improve their pensions and their treatment by Social Security; the small business people have been in the streets for a Law that guarantees their right to work, social security and other gains.
These mobilizations and protests have also denounced the position of the regime in favor of the imperialist oil, mining and telecommunications monopolies; in favor of foreign indebtedness under disadvantageous conditions; of involving the country in Plan Colombia and promoting a policy harmful to national sovereignty in signing the Convention of the Rights of the Sea (CONVEMAR).
President Correa has responded to these actions of struggle and denunciations by the social organizations, with a repressive policy that is causing fatal and wounded victims and great material damage as in the cases of the attack on the village of Dayuma, on the miners of Azuay, the murder of Shuar [one of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador - translator's note] professor Bosco Wisuma, the violent eviction of the miners of Zamora and other actions. Leaders of worker, indigenous, peasant, student and teachers' organizations, have been detained, indicted and persecuted; they are the objects of abominable attacks and slanders through a resounding and excessive campaign of the big media that the government controls, accusing them of being "mediocre," "terrorists," "corrupt", etc.
In this framework, on September 30 in various parts of the country there took place the rebellion of police troops, the seizure of barracks, the taking to the streets, in response to the approval by the Legislative Assembly of Public Service Law and the presidential veto, which took away from the public workers a series of benefits, gains and subsidies that they had won in the course of several years.
The mutinous troops denounce these acts, they even demand change in the top levels of the institution, but they never called for a change of government or for its overthrow; rather they asked for a dialogue, the cessation of the authoritarian attitudes and that their situation be attended to. Under these conditions, that fight of the police troops is added to those of other popular sectors in defense of their aspirations, their rights and gains.
We revolutionaries, leftists and communists take it as our duty to support this and all struggles that defend the popular interests and those of the country. We consider it a fallacy to say that these actions are part of a "conspiracy" against democracy, against the established government and that it is part on an attempted "coup d'état" of the "fascists," of the "right," with the "participation of the left," without proving these statements in any way.
The insistent denunciation by the regime of the supposed "coup d'état against Ecuadorian democracy" immediately brought out support by the U.S. government and the UN; but at the same time it also generated statements from the UNASUR [Union of South American Nations], of the governments of the region such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and also of Colombia, Chile and Peru.
It is also necessary to point out that most of the social organizations, which have demanded their aspirations, have created lines of demarcation and denounced the real or supposed actions of conspiracy of the right, of the old ruling parties, the oligarchies and imperialism. In this way CONAIE [Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador], ECUARRUNARI [Movement of the Indigenous People of Ecuador], the trade union federations, the Popular Front and all its organizations have stated this, so that the accusations of a conspiracy fall by their own weight.
The Head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, General Ernesto Gonzalez, himself supported the constitutional order and insisted on the request for the revision or elimination of the Public Service Law, the cause of the conflicts, when he appeared on the unlimited and obligatory broadcast on all the mass media of the country as ordered by the government. He also stated to the media the request by all the spokespersons of the rebellious police that their needs be attended to. The well-known "conspiracy against democracy" that the government and its servants denounce, does not exist at all......
The events were serious and generalized, but they got out of hand, when displaying his arrogance, in an openly imprudent attitude, Correa went to face the rebels and received the rejection, even the irascible excesses, of those in the Quito Regiment; he remained isolated in the Police Hospital from where during the night he was removed by a surprising and disproportionate military operation which was spread by radio and TV to the whole country, putting at serious risk the life of the chief executive himself, causing several fatalities from this action, tens of wounded, serious damage to the facilities of that hospital.
After his spectacular exit, Correa arrived to the applause and cheers of his supporters at the Grand Plaza, to repeat his authoritarian, arrogant and intimidating poses; to accuse without proof, to distort the truth and to call for "public punishment", that he "will not forgive or forget" the conspirators, etc.
We revolutionaries, communists, workers and peoples know clearly that democracy is an achievement of the masses won over hundreds of years and therefore we defend it despite its limitations and exclusions. Representative democracy is an expression of the power of the ruling classes, it protects their interests; for the great majority, for the working classes, it continues to be rhetoric in whose name it excludes them and rides roughshod over them. Knowing these concepts clearly, the social struggle, the actions of the workers and peoples, even the rebellion of the police troops, did not propose or plan to break the institutional life of the country and even less is it the result of the conspiratorial desires and coup makers of the right, the old ruling parties and imperialism. The road of the workers and peoples, of the revolutionary left is clearly defined, it is the independent march in search of its definitive liberation and in the daily struggle for its social and democratic rights, aspirations and gains.
We must state, nevertheless, that the governmental sermon that a "coup d'état" took place was successful and it confused a sector of public opinion within the country and abroad. In the popular arena things are clear. The events of yesterday are a new episode in the social struggle.
Beyond the vindictive and retaliatory attitudes and the sanctions that the regime applies, it leaves deep wounds in the police troops and various social sectors; the government of the "citizen's revolution" that is now singing victory should know that the struggle of the workers, the youth and peoples continues; because we continue to be in crisis, injustice is continuing, social inequalities are increasing and acts of corruption are everywhere and not sanctioned. The energy, the social struggle and the aspirations for real change continue to be a banner for ever larger sectors of our people. The popular consciousness grows!
Let us demand the elimination of presidential vetoes and the anti-popular and anti-national elements of the related laws such as the reforms of the Hydrocarbon Law, the Law of Territorial Order, of Public Services, Higher Education, the Code of Public Finances and other that harm the workers, youth and peoples. Similarly, we demand the immediate abrogation of the "state of emergency," because the government itself has stated that there is no internal commotion.
Today it is time to work more insistently for the unity of all the sectors that defend our just aspirations, social gains and rights; for those of us who are fighting for a future better. This is, without a doubt, the strength of the peoples, this is the guarantee of our victory!

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
Central Committee

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Monday, October 04, 2010

Correa without his mask

After being elected president of Ecuador in 2009, by promising to make dramatic changes in his country, in what he called a "citizen revolution", Rafael Correa left side of his program of change and began to adopt a neoliberal policy of tightening the salaries of civil servants, budget cuts in social programs, strong repression of the popular movement and total subservience to the U.S. government.
The police riot that occurred on September 29 was not therefore an isolated incident. For months the popular movement held strikes and demonstrations demanding better living conditions and dialogue with the government of Correa. He, however, refuses to engage with popular organizations and orders to arrest anyone who criticizes his government, as it did with the student and president of the Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE), Marcelo Rivera, who was arrested nine months ago under the infamous prosecution of terrorists.
Indeed, an intense struggle is unfolding in Ecuador. On one hand, a people conscious of their rights and their strength, that does not accept a government that demeans the union movement, indigenous peoples, peasants, teachers and leftist parties and disregards their rights. On the other, a president who although elected by the people, behaves arrogant and dictatorial.
Correa's coup
On day 29, the police and much of the country's armed forces revolted against the arbitrary decision of Rafael Correa to end the payment of bonuses to the military, which would lead to a reduction in current salaries by more than 30%.
Aware of the uprising, Correa, of malice aforethought, went to the Rules of Quito, where the police were holding a demonstration. Entered the building and no one beat him or touched him. Correa asked for a microphone and was attended by police officials, who expected the president declared to be favorable to trading. But Correa was surprised and began to provoke the police saying, "You are an ungrateful group of thugs." "If you want to kill the president, here it is! Kill me. "
The police started yelling and Correa could not talk anymore. An aide put a mask against the gas pumps, the same as Correa ordered the police to play against the striking teachers.
Strangely, Correa was the one who got sick. No advisor to the president even without the mask had nausea or staggered.
After provocation, Correa asked the Army to withdraw to the barracks, although he was not arrested. Next was the Palace and gave an interview accusing the police of seeking to make a coup.
However, Correa himself was giving the coup against democracy in Ecuador to declare state of emergency to suppress freedom of organization, expression and manifestation
and give the army the right to raid homes and arrest anyone who wants without court authorization. Correa measures were immediate and strong support of Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States. There is even suspicion that before the decree, Correa called the White House.
Democracy is at risk but in Ecuador. But the main conspirator against it's own that President Correa wants to rule in a dictatorial manner as he revealed his decree establishing a state of siege against the people who decided to build a nation free from foreign domination and that no longer accepts being deceived or humiliated.
This is Rafael Correa unmasked.
The people of Ecuador have a rich history of struggle for freedom and always defeated those who underestimated him. Today, most live a hard fight for independence and against the traitors of the motherland. Not the first nor the last, but in the end will win again.
September 30, 2010
Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR)

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Friday, October 01, 2010

Statement of the New Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party on the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka

Press Release

4th September 2010

The future will be bleaker than the present for all working people and oppressed nationalities. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution awaiting passage through Parliament seems a harbinger of that. Every aspect of the amendment seems designed to send to the grave the few freedoms and democratic rights that the people have enjoyed so far. At the same time, it paves the way for implementing a more fascistic dictatorship than what we have today. The indifference of the people who do not seem to realise the inherent dangers of the amendment will exact heavy price. Those who are at the forefront to reinforce such a dictatorship by an individual and their collaborators are knowingly betraying the country, the working people and oppressed nationalities. Hence the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party urges that the people should understand the ulterior motives of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution awaiting passage through Parliament, and oppose and reject it.
The General Secretary of the Party who expressed the above view on behalf of the Central Committee on behalf of the Politburo of the Party further added in his statement that all the constitutions that have been introduced during the colonial period and after have failed to reflect the aspirations of the people. They had as their basis the interests and needs of the affluent and wealthy classes and the forces of imperialism that sided with them. The present constitution allowing the practice of personal one-party dictatorship was introduced in the same manner by JR Jayawardane. During the past thirty-two years this country and its people have undergone continued suffering under it. The Eighteenth Amendment is being introduced in defiance of the expressed wish of the people that such a constitution should be rejected outright and with the ulterior motive of further reinforcing personal one-party dictatorship as well as prolonging the rule by a family.
Therefore everyone who cares for the working people and oppressed nationalities of the country should oppose the Amendment. The New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party in its statement also urged the genuine left, democratic and progressive forces to come forward to work in unity to secure and defend democracy and the welfare of the people along the path of totally transforming the present constitution.
SK Senthivel
General Secretary
New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party

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PCMLE: Something stinks ...

Something stinks ...

With a huge military deployment, only applicable for large battles, the Colombian army, monitored and directed from the Pentagon, bombed the rebel camp of the FARC-EP in which the commander Jorge Briceno, Mono Jojoy was, causing his death Like others of his comrades. The joy of Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos is enormous cause of this "success" and criminal operation. Days before this event, the armed forces of that country dealt a further blow to the insurgent group, for that Santos gave thans by the cooperation of the Army of Ecuador.

In these same days the U.S. government approved the award of an additional $ 15 million for the implementation of Plan Ecuador, according to its inspiring, aims to combat drug trafficking and promoting development in the Ecuadorian side of the border with Colombia. It came amid official visit to the Ecuador defense minister, Javier Ponce, made to the United States, where he met with Pentagon chief Robert Gates. About the things that are knew in public Ponce asked to US insist Colombia to makes a militarily control in the border with our country. Surely the Minister will have arrived in other agreements on behalf of the Ecuadorian government. Ecuador has deployed more than 10 thousand militar effectives on the border with Colombia, a figure never covered in the past, fulfilling the role of retaining wall to the Colombian rebel forces, the military readiness necessary for the implementation of Plan Colombia. Since Hillary Clinton was here, on this land was also the secretary of state of the U.S. to Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela, Javier Ponce now visit the Pentagon and Juan Manuel Santos thanked the Ecuadorian government for their military service in the counterinsurgency fight. There are not simple visits, are manifestations of a government policy of rapprochement and agreements with U.S. imperialism. Something stinks in Carondelet.

PCMLE
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