Shameful distortion of Nazim Hikmet's lyrics from car manufacturer company - Response from Turkey's Komünist Parti (KP)

Communist Party, Turkey (KP) came out strongly against an OPEL company ad using and distorting Nazım Hikmet's lyrics.

Source: International Communist Press, 3rd May 2016.

The CC of the Communist Party, Turkey (KP) released a statement protesting the OPEL company and the YKY publications for their abusement of communist poet Nazım Hikmet's legacy.

"...Our communist poet's legacy cannot be accounted in banks or kept in safe boxes. That legacy can only be saved forever with the reason and the labour of the communists..." wrote the statement.

An advertisement of OPEL distorting Nazım's lyrics was published on one of the best selling newspaper Hürriyet of Turkey today. Immediately after that, KP  claimed the legacy of the internationally recognised communist poet. Similarly, in the 2002 after the YKY publication company had declared material rights over Nazım Hikmet's works, the communists had objected strongly and had published Nazım's works as the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP).

Workers' Day celebrated in Cuba: Thousands of people marched in Havana (VIDEO)

    Source: Granma.

In the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Councils of State and Ministers, May Day celebrations began in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución José Martí.

Also participating in the march were members of the Party Political Bureau, Party Central Committee and Secretariat, as well as the Councils of State and Ministers, participants in the attacks on the Moncada Garrison; Granma expeditionaries; decorated Heroes and Heroines of the Republic of Cuba; outstanding workers; and family members of the victims of the Barbados attack, among other guests.

The 1936 “Bloody May” in Greece

Left: Mother mourns her murdered son; Right: Workers rally in Thessaloniki.

The 1936 “Bloody May” in Greece.

By Nikos Mottas.

May 1936: A milestone in the history of the Greek working movement. The country was in the midst of unprecedented moments of militant upheaval. Large-scale strikes, began on April, gradually took the characteristics of peoples' revolt which had to face the barbarity of the fascist Metaxas government.

The center of the demonstrations was Thessaloniki where, since March, strikes in various sectors had been erupted due to the miserable conditions of labor. On April 29, the tobacco workers declared an indefinite strike demanding, among other things, better wages. Their mobilizations created a wave of solidarity and revolt across Greece. Until the Workers' Day of 1936, the strikes had been spread in other cities, from Serres to Volos and from Karditsa to Athens. By May 7^th, the strike had already spread in all over the country, with the participation of thousands of workers. The government of Premier Metaxas- a government of violence and terrorism- had one major aim: the dissolution of the strikes with any means.

24 years since the Los Angeles Riots (Video & Photos)

On the afternoon of April 29, 1992, a jury in Ventura County acquitted four LAPD officers of beating Rodney G. King. The incident, caught on amateur videotape, had sparked national debate about police brutality and racial injustice. The verdict stunned Los Angeles, where angry crowds gathered on street corners across the city. The flash point was a single intersection in South L.A., but it was a scene eerily repeated in many parts of the city in the hours that followed.

Cuba: 495,000 educators will lead May Day marches around the country

Source: Granma.

This year, marking the 55th anniversary of the Revolution’s Literacy Campaign and the declaration of the country as free of illiteracy, May Day marches across the country will be led by educators.

“This constitutes recognition by the trade union movement of the sector closest to this great feat,” said Ismael Drullet Pérez, secretary general of the National Union of Educational, Scientific and Sports Workers (SNTECD), speaking with Granma.

He continued, “The Literacy Campaign came from the people, with the participation of homemakers, workers… so it is not only the legacy of the education sector. Cuba became a great school and all its children became teachers.”

Long Live Workers’ May Day! / Да здравствует Рабочий Первомай! / ¡ Viva el Día de los Trabajadores!

Joint Statement of Communist and Workers Parties

(English/Русский/Español), Source: Solidnet.

We, the communist and workers parties that sign this joint statement on the eve of Workers’ May Day 2016 want to stress our solidarity to all workers who are struggling against capitalist barbarity through strikes, demonstrations and other forms of resistance. It is obvious that under the conditions of deepening capitalist crisis the political and organizational strength of international proletariat will be one of the key factors in reshaping the world in the near future. With full belief in the success of the struggle of the working class, as communist and workers parties, we salute Workers’ May Day.

Reaganomics is Literally Making Americans Kill Themselves

Reaganomics is Literally Making Americans Kill Themselves.

Source: Thom Hartmann Program Sputnik News.

According to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, the suicide rate in the United States has risen dramatically over the past decade-and-a-half.

Adjusting for age, it jumped 24 percent between 1999 and 2014, with the biggest increases coming after 2006. Thirteen out of every 100,000 people now kill themselves, making suicide one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the entire country. This is a serious public health crisis that needs to be fixed, and while we can’t bring back from the dead the people we’ve already lost, there is something we can do as a country to make sure even more people don’t take their own lives. And that something is to stop voting Republican because Republican policies are driving people to kill themselves.

Seriously, I’m not kidding. This isn’t some crazy conspiracy. It’s a well-documented sociological fact. Numerous studies have found a strong connection between right-wing economic policies and suicide. Recent research from sociologists David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu, for example, found that suicide rates in both the U.S. and U.K. increase when working class wages and wealth decline. Things were particularly bad during the recession period here in the U.S. when, according to the study’s authors, there were 4,750 “excess” suicides.

A Warmonger: Bernie Sanders approves US 'Kill List', backs troops in Syria

In a previous article we had referred to Bernie Sander's pro-war stance- as a senator- in the cases of Yugoslavia (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). Now, we read that the Democratic Presidential nominee defends Barack Obama's plans for the deployment of more troops in Syria. What does Sanders cover behind his supposedly radical-"leftist" rhetoric?

The U.S. senator said he thinks President Obama's extrajudicial drone assassination program is constitutional and legal.

O Bella Ciao!

     

"Bella Ciao" - Orchestra Version.

Remembering Odessa: Memorial to be held on May 2 in honour of murdered anti-fascists

Two years ago, on May 2, 2014, at least 48 anti-fascists and trade unionists were murdered when neo-Nazi thugs attacked a protest encampment and set fire to the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine. 

International activists back May 2 memorial in Odessa.

By Greg Butterfield, Workers World.

Republished from Red Star Over Donbass.

On May 2, 2014, at least 48 anti-fascists and trade unionists were killed when neo-Nazis attacked a protest encampment in Odessa, Ukraine, and set fire to the nearby House of Trade Unions. 

Hundreds of survivors were injured. Many of the victims were forced to flee the country. Others were arrested and put on trial, while the perpetrators walked free.

Militant demonstrations of PAME against government's anti-people pension reforms in Greece

Information from 902.gr

With mass militant rallies in Athens, Thessaloniki and other major cities, workers, labour unions, students, pensioners responded to the government's new law proposal on social security. The demonstrations were organised by PAME (All-Workers Militant Front) being a preparatory step towards the 48-hour general strike which will take place on the day of the law's submission in the Parliament. In Athens thousands of working people demonstrated in Syntagma Square, in front of the Hellenic Parliament having as a major slogan "Take back the law-guillotine".

Greece: The Marathon Peace Rally will take place on May 15th

Photo: Last year's Peace Rally.

The Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace (EEDYE) announced that the 36th Marathon Peace Rally will take place on Sunday May 15th. EEDYE calls for mass participation in the Peace Marathon, pointing out the following: 

"The participation in the Marathon Peace Rally consists a condemnation step against the antipeople policy and the Greek interference in the imperialist plans and wars which create mortal dangers for our people and the people of the broader region.

We march and fight for:

NATO out of the Aegean Sea - Solidarity to the refugees

No participation in the imperialist wars".

Polish government's fascist practices against communists / Appeal of KPP for International Solidarity

Communist Party of Poland (KPP) - Appeal for International Solidarity.

Four activists of the CPP were condemned on 31st of March 2016 by the Regional Court in Dąbrowa Górnicza for propagating communist ideology in the „Brzask” newspaper and on the party's website. They have been sentenced to 9 months of limited freedom with compulsory gratuitous social work and fines. 

This provocative verdict was taken during the summary procedure without presence of all the sides, that is usually used in offences, when guilt of the accused is certain. The court did not even undertake standard judgement procedure and based its verdict only on a charge. The accused even had no possibility to defend themselves. The condemned had already made objections to a judgement demanding normal court proceedings.