China and Religion

The restrictions discussed in this article do not seem inordinate considering that past history has shown whenever any religious group attains political power Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or Hindu for example, it implements a regime of persecution and religious fanaticism far worse that anything the Chinese authorities are undertaking with these prophylactic measures to protect their secular values. We daily read about the persecution of the Rohingya by Burmese Buddhists, of Palestinians by fanatic Zionists motivated by a devotion to Biblical real estate, of non Muslims being systematically persecuted in Islamic countries and Muslims and other non-Hindus in In India by the Modi government and here in the US the ultra-right white supremacists as well as the crypto-fascists of the Republican party are motivated by a dogmatic and anti-humane Christianity that supports military actions and both subornes and often openly advocates the denial of the human rights of those it condemns. Marxist-Leninists have moved on beyond the simple minded superstitions of religious beliefs (the opium of the people) and while we defend the rights of those so inclined to follow their religious beliefs as long as they do not try to impose them on others it is still the responsibility of a secular state to regulate religious activity to ensure the rights of others are not violated by religious intolerance. The Chinese Communist Party and Government are trying to fulfill this obligation as best they can. As with any human activity there are bound to be mistakes made and hopefully the Chinese authorities will listen to constructive criticism of its policies when this criticism is not part of the usual ant-Communist and anti-Chinese propaganda emanating from the US and other imperialist governments and the bourgeois MSM.

NYTIMES.COM

A Crackdown on Islam Is Spreading Across China

A secret Communist Party directive has led to restrictions on Islamic practices far from Xinjiang, the western region where Uighurs have been brutally repressed.

L

Working Families Party Slip Up

“The national committee leaders — 56 people — held 50 percent of the voting power, with party members accounting for the other 50 percent. Several Sanders supporters called for the Working Families Party to release the full vote totals, which it has declined to do.” So much for “one person one vote” This setup is reminiscent of the DNC “superdelegates” arrangement where an elite leadership cadre can out vote the the thousands of regular members. 

 Why would the WFP leadership “decline” to reveal the real vote totals and why would 56 people have as many “real” votes as all the rest of the voting members of the party. The NYT has previously reported that polls indicate the Sanders mass base is basically a multi-racial working class one while Warren, progressive Democrat that she is, has a different mass base of mostly white college educated middle and upper middle class (i.e., petty bourgeois) adherents and will not be as tough against Wall Street as Sanders. Her views that the capitalist system is basically the best one to solve the problem of working people goes against the real class interests of working families while Sanders views on socialism is something working people need to hear and that the WFP should have welcomed as it did in 2016 (it is now under new and apparently not as politically advanced leadership). There is only one progressive voice for working people in this primary season and that is Bernie Sanders. If he loses the nomination then is the time to consider which of the capitalist candidates is the best alternative to take on Trump. The Working Families Party should not come out for its class enemy, no matter how left she is with respect to other capitalists, while there is even a hint of a more progressive socialist message available. For everything there is a season.

About this website

NYTIMES.COM

Working Families Party Endorses Elizabeth Warren. Here’s Why It Matters.

The progressive group, whose electoral influence has grown since it backed Bernie Sanders four years ago, is now supporting Ms. Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination.

More US War Mongering

"The satellite photographs released on Sunday did not appear as clear cut as officials suggested, with some appearing to show damage on the western side of the facilities, not from the direction of Iran or Iraq." So, no clear evidence that Iran did it. The Houthis have every right to attack Saudi Arabia as the Saudis, with American aid and support, have been attacking Yemen for years. The fact Iran aids Shia movements is just the mirror image of Saudi Arabia's aid to Sunni movements. For the US to hold Iran responsible for the Houthis behavior and not to hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the support it gives Sunni groups, some of whom have attacked US forces, is typical of our two faced foreign policy of aggression masquerading as peaceful diplomacy. The same intelligence agencies that lied to us about Tonkin Bay, Iraq's WMDs, and Putin's so called interference in our elections is now producing not so "clear cut" evidence that these drone attacks had to come from the direction of Iran -- as if the Iranians would be stupid enough to launch attacks from their territory which could be traced back to them by satellite imaging.

NYTIMES.COM

Saudi Oil Attack Photos Implicate Iran, U.S. Says; Trump Hints at Military Action

The government released satellite images indicating, they said, that the strikes came from the direction of Iraq or Iran.

Like

Hong Kong Protests &The NYT

This whole article is nothing but speculation and guessing by so called "experts" based outside of mainland China. The best part of it are the quotes by Hong Kong's leader which were leaked to the press and reveal she has a realistic sense of what is going on and both she and the central government are trying to avoid exacerbating the situation. There is no reference whatsoever in the article to any reactionary forces or outside interference in the protests or the fact that the vast majority of protesters are acting peacefully within the the law and only a small group of students, mostly of middle and high school age, is resorting to violence trying to provoke the police to over react. It is this small segment of the protests that is getting all the attention in the western MSM who would love to see a crackdown by the Beijing authorities so that they can resurrect their anti-Chinese memes that were created around Tiananmen Square and their overblown misrepresentations of what happened then.

NYTIMES.COM

Is Xi Mishandling Hong Kong Crisis? Hints of Unease in China’s Leadership

Beijing’s halting response to the protests in Hong Kong has raised questions about President Xi Jinping’s imperious style and authoritarian policies.

Elections in Eastern Germany 9-1-19

Some quotes: "Under Communism, the party called the shots, she said. Now the market does. “I’ve come to realize that everything they taught us about capitalism all those years ago is true,” Ms. Sonntag [East German restaurant owner] said. “Politics is just for show. Money rules.”
"In his village, four in 10 people vote for the AfD. Calling them extremists is not helpful, he said. “On the state and national level they are extremists,” he said. “On the local level, they are often citizens who no longer feel represented.”-Social Democratic mayor of small East German village."

The people of the former East Germany feel left behind after West German capitalism took over and left them unemployed and impoverished -- after having stirred them up to overthrow their socialist government with promises of riches and a better future -- many now feel betrayed. The choice between Barbarism or Socialism is clear as the fascist AfD Party is growing in strength in Eastern Germany feeding off of the desolation left behind by the capitalist overthrow of socialism. These disaffected citizens were originally attracted to Die Linke (the reincarnation of the former Socialist Unity Party that ran the communist German Democratic Republic -DDR] but have been defecting lately to the AfD, perhaps in part because Die Linke has been joining with the fake socialists running the SPD ( Social Democratic Party of Germany). The vast majority of East Germans do not support the AfD at this time but they split their votes between Die Linke, the SPD and the Christian Democrats (Merkel) meaning the AfD is on the road to getting the most votes in the elections today (9-1-19) in Brandenburg and Saxony -- two former DDR areas. Anti-immigrant racism is one of the driving forces leftover from Nazism propelling the popularity of the AfD -- the same kind of racism that drives Trump's base as well proving that the fight against racism must be one of the central pillars of any progressive movement along with the demand for a transition to socialism -- these two demands should be clearly enunciated as the demands any socialist group supports when it enters into a Center-Left coalition -- the antiracism demand should be unconditional but, since other coalition partners are not calling for socialism we socialists can't make this an unconditional demand but only make it known that we favor socialism as the solution to the problems of Trumpism and US imperialism in general.

NYTIMES.COM

German Elections Reveal, and Deepen, a New East-West Divide

Two key votes this weekend are expected to produce an advance for the far right, and add to a growing sense of legitimacy in the former Communist East.