Israel Election: Left-wing Israeli-Arab "Joint List" alliance achieves historic success

Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh (Hadash) declared yesterday (Tuesday, March 3) that the alliance of Hadash, Balad, Ta’al and Ra’am had realized a “huge achievement” in Monday’s Israeli general elections for the Knesset after nearly-final results suggested it won 15 seats in the 120-seat parliament. 

As the Communist Party of Israel reports, the election results showed that more than 530,000 voter, Arabs and Jews, cast their ballots for the Joint List.

Statement of the Political Bureau of the KKE on the refugee crisis in Greek-Turkish borders

On March 3, 2020, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement regarding the refugee situation in the Greek-Turkish borders and the measures announced by the government. You can read previous statements by the KKE about the issue here and here. 

The statement is the following:

The latest developments, with the entrapment of thousands of refugees and immigrants on the Aegean islands and at the Greek-Turkish border in Evros, confirm once again that the EU and NATO policy that the Greek governments have followed and are fervently adhering to now is, on the one hand, responsible for the dissolution of countries and the uprooting of peoples and on the other,  for the entrapment of uprooted peoples on islands and at borders. This policy has paved the way for Erdogan to try to impose his own objectives, using the refugee situation as a vehicle.

Hands Off the Communists of Poland: Protests across the world against persecutions in Poland

Protest at the Embassy of Poland in Athens. Source: 902.gr

With a protest at the Embassy of Poland in Athens, members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its youth wing KNE expressed their solidarity to the persecuted cadres of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and the editors of “Brzask” newspaper. 

With a banner reading “Hands Off The Communists Of Poland”, the KKE-KNE members gathered outside the Embassy, demanding the ending of the persecutions that the Polish authorities have unleashed against the country’s communists. KKE MEP Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos and Paschalis Kagiannis, member of the CC of KNE, met with the Embassy’s minister councillor Jolanta Wójcik-Niedzielska handing over to her a note of protest. 

Italy's Communist Party increases its power in Rome by-elections

Communist Party leader Marco Rizzo gained the 4th place in the supplementary elections that took place on Sunday in Rome’s Lazio 1 constituency. 

Rizzo received 2.62% of the votes, which is seven times higher than the percentage in the 2018 elections (0.37%), thus marking a successful electoral performance for the Communist Party (Partito Comunista), given the existing correlation of forces.

A message, written in Italian, at the Communist Party's official website reads: 

KKE slams Greek government: "Demonstrate your strength to EU and NATO, not to refugees"

Greek riot police forces behind the fences at Kastanies
border crossing, 29 February 2020 EPA/EFE.

After a meeting on Sunday chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s Government Council on National Security (KYSEA) decided to step up the level of deterrence to the maximum point at the Greek-Turkish borders in Evros. 

The conservative ND government also decided to suspend new asylum applications, while the presence of army units and police forces across Kastanies border gates has been strengthened. Additionally, Athens has requested from EU border agency FRONTEX to provide additional aid in the protection of the borders.

Interview of the General Secretary of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas in "New Worker"

On January 10th-12th, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas visited London where he participated in various events, including visits to the Marx Memorial Library, Tate Modern, the British Museum and Karl Marx's tomb at Highgate Cemetery. He was also the major speaker in a political event regarding Science, Research and Technology organized by the KKE at the University of London. 

During his stay in London, the KKE General Secretary talked to Theo Russell, editor of the New Worker, the weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain, about the current situation in Greece: 

Refugee flows are a result of the interventions by US-NATO-EU and Turkey in Syria — KKE

During the last 48 hours, the tension in the Greek-Turkish borders in Evros has been escalated, with thousands of refugees and migrants gathering at Kastanies/Pazarkule border gate. “We will no longer keep the doors closed for refugees who want to go to Europe”, a senior Turkish official said as a response to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in Idlib Province, Syria. 

At the same time, the Greek government decided yesterday to suspend border crossing at Kastanies, sending additional riot police forces to the area. In a message, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote: “I want to be clear: no illegal entries into Greece will be tolerated”, announcing the increase of border security. 

"This war must be ended!": Turkey's Communist Party (TKP) reacts to the Idlib massacre

At least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed and 36 wounded in an airstrike in the Syrian province of Idlib, Turkish officials announced on February 27. The Turkish government has decided to open its southwestern border with Syria for the next 72 hours. 

On this occasion, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) has issued a statement on the war waged by Erdogan's government in Syria. 

Coronavirus in Greece: KKE urges government to take “all needed prevention measures”

Three confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been announced so far by the Greek Ministry of Health. The condition of all three cases infected by the new Coronavirus has been described as good and is being monitored by specialists. 

In a statement, the Health and Welfare Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) demands from the government to take all the needed measures for the prevention and treatment of the Covid-19 effects. 

Greek government's authoritarianism exceeded all limits: Police brutality hits Aegean islands

In the last two days, the Greek government has unleashed a brutal attack against protesters in the islands of the Aegean, particularly those that have been at the epicenter of the refugee-migrants issue during the last years. 

Demonstrators in Lesvos, Chios and Samos suffered excessive repression and violence by riot police forces as they demanded the end of the concentration camps. The local unions in Lesvos, Chios and Samos, have been in the front line demanding real measures of protection and assistance to the refugees, as well as support to the local communities, who witness their land turn into huge EU’s detention centers.

Dmitry Yazov, last Soviet Marshal who opposed the USSR dissolution, died at 95

Dmitry Yazov, the last appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday in Moscow after a long illness. He was 95 years old.

His career extends from the Siege of Leningrad to the formation of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (SCSE, GKChP) which tried to prevent the domination of the counterrevolutionary forces in 1991.

Born in 1924 in the Omsk oblast, Yazov enlisted in the Red Army in 1941 at age 17. During World War II he would be honored for his service on the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, thus laying the groundwork for his ascension through the ranks of the Soviet military. He participated in the battles of the Siege of Leningrad, in the offensive operations of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, in the blockade of the Courland Pocket.