Archives: Articles

The CIA Sponsored Islamic Insurgency (1979- )

By Michel Chossudovsky

The NeoCons’ agenda is not to “win the war” but to engineer the breakup of sovereign nation states, destroy their culture and national identity, derogate fundamental values and human rights.

The strategic objective is to trigger political and social chaos, engineer the collapse of national economies, appropriate the countries’ wealth and resources, impoverish the entire planet including the American Homeland.

It’s a mesh of weapons of mass destruction, covert intelligence operations, propaganda and “strong economic medicine”. The criminality of the US/NATO hegemonic agenda is beyond description.

This short article focusses on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan “Before” and “After” the conduct of Washington’s “Humanitarian War” against Afghanistan, which commenced at the height of the Cold War in 1979. It was a carefully planned  intelligence operation. The CIA was directly involved from the outset in recruiting and supporting the “Islamic brigades”.

A second war and invasion of Afghanistan under US-NATO auspices was carried on October 7, 2001, four weeks after the tragic events of 9/11.

Prior to the CIA-Sponsored “Islamic Insurgency” against the People of Afghanistan

“Before”

Unknown to Americans, in the 1970s and early 1980s, Kabul was “a cosmopolitan city. Artists and hippies flocked to the capital. Women studied agriculture, engineering and business at the city’s university. Afghan women held government jobs”.

“Prior to the rise of the Taliban [which was instrumented by the CIA], women in Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society. Women received the right to vote in the 1920s; and as early as the 1960s, the Afghan constitution provided for equality for women. There was a mood of tolerance and openness as the country began moving toward democracy.

Women were making important contributions to national development. In 1977, women comprised over 15% of Afghanistan’s highest legislative body. It is estimated that by the early 1990s, 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers and university students, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.” (Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. State Department, 2001, link no longer functional)

Starting Under Reagan. Derogation of Women’s Rights. Destruction of an Entire Country

“After”

Osama bin Laden, America’s bogyman, was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the very outset of the US-sponsored jihad.

He was 22 years old and was trained in a CIA-sponsored guerrilla training camp. The architects of the covert operation in support of “Islamic fundamentalism” launched during the Reagan presidency played a key role in launching the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) in the wake of 9/11.

Under the Reagan adminstration, US foreign policy evolved towards the unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic “freedom fighters”. In today’s world, the “freedom fighters” are labelled “Islamic terrorists”.

The Soviet-Afghan War

The Soviet-Afghan war was part of a CIA covert agenda initiated during the Carter administration, which consisted  in actively supporting and financing the Islamic brigades, later known as Al Qaeda.

The number of CIA-sponsored religious schools (madrasahs) increased from 2,500 in 1980 to over 39,000. USAID generously financed the process of religious indoctrination, largely to secure the demise of secular institutions and the collapse of civil society.

In the Pashtun language, the word “Taliban” means “Students”, or graduates of the madrasahs (places of learning or coranic schools) set up by the Wahhabi missions from Saudi Arabia, with the support of the CIA.

“The United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings….

The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system’s core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books ….

‘The pictures [in] the texts are horrendous to school students, but the texts are even much worse’ said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, an Afghan educator [working with] a Pakistan-based nonprofit.

An aid worker in the region reviewed an unrevised 100-page book and counted 43 pages containing violent images or passages.

Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtu, the textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an AID grant to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and its Center for Afghanistan Studies. The agency spent $51 million on the university’s education programs in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994.“ (Washington Post, 23 March 2002)

“Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the [Islamic] Jihad.” (Pervez  Hoodbhoy, Peace Research, 1 May 2005)

“Bin Laden recruited 4,000 volunteers from his own country and developed close relations with the most radical mujahideen leaders. He also worked closely with the CIA, … Since September 11, [2001] CIA officials have been claiming they had no direct link to bin Laden.” (Phil Gasper, International Socialist Review, November-December 2001)

Women’s Rights, Poverty and Despair

The media casually blames this on the Taliban, without acknowledging that Islamic Fundamentalism and the koranic schools had been imposed by the CIA.

Public education was destroyed and the rights of women in a predominately secular society which took its roots in the 1920s were DESTROYED.

This destruction is coupled with the massive impoverishment of an entire country.

“Before” and “After”

A Criminal Undertaking. Who’s Behind It?

“A once prosperous country has been precipitated into extreme poverty and despair. It’s a crime against humanity.

According to the UN, Afghanistan is currently experiencing extensive food shortages and famine.

It should be understood that this war started more than 40 years ago in 1979 with the CIA recruitment of jihadist mercenaries (Al Qaeda) funded by the trade in narcotics.

The endgame was to destroy Afghanistan as a progressive and independent nation-state committed to education, culture and women’s rights.”

What the media describes as the “tyrannical policies of the Taliban” bears the footprints of the CIA which imposed Islamic Fundamentalism, while concurrently engineering the collapse and impoverishment of a progressive secular nation-state.

President Ronald Reagan issued (and signed) the National Security Decision Directive 166 (NSDD 166), which de facto authorized  “stepped-up covert military aid to the Mujahideen” as well as CIA support to religious indoctrination.

The promotion of “Radical Islam” was a deliberate CIA initiative (NSDD 166) which in the wake of 9/11 has served as justification to waging a “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) in the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and sub–Saharan Africa.

Our thoughts are with the people of Afghanistan.

5 October 2023

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He is also one of JUST’s International Advisory Panel Members.

Source: substack.com

Normalization with the racist, settler-colonialist, zionist entity of Israel often begins with a U.S. directive aimed at Arab regimes, as evidenced by the first attempt with the Camp David Accords in 1978, which led to a “peace” agreement between Egypt and Israel. In essence, normalization coerces Arab regimes in the region to accept their subjugated status as compliant agents, which serves the zionist agenda and its U.S. imperialist patron. In light of the fast pace of change in today’s world order, the U.S. finds it necessary to push for normalization in order to maintain its global, imperialist dominance over Arab nations and thwart their progress toward independent, modern democracies.

Therefore, the current Saudi Arabian (and previous efforts like the Abraham Accords and others) push towards normalization with the zionist enemy fundamentally signifies a recognition of the settler-colonialist state’s legitimacy and an attempt to erase our people’s historical and national rights in all of Palestine. Any discussion about the so-called “two-state solution” is nothing but an attempt to stall and buy time to create new realities on the ground that will be impossible to reverse. This is when submission, surrender, and betrayal become the inherent traits of Saudi Arabia or any other Arab regime that normalizes relations with Israel. The Saudis and the other normalizers have always supported the repression of the Palestine national liberation movement, and believe that peace deals with Israel will eventually quell Palestinian resistance and bring quiet and “stability” to the region.

Within the normalization context, the zionist entity aims to establish economic, security, and political dominance over neighboring Arab nations, while extending its influence to North African nations as well. All these countries are envisioned as expansive markets for global – predominantly U.S. – capital, perpetuating their dependency and disintegration under the auspices of sell-out regimes, especially that of the most reactionary and traitorous of them all, the criminal kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Although our Arab masses reject normalization, and have been resisting it in the Gulf and other Arab nations like Egypt and Jordan for decades, these deals – brokered by a U.S. government that pays lip service to “democracy,” but promotes all the dictators (who are also, unsurprisingly, the normalizers) in the region – also allow Israel to focus its military firepower on the Palestinian people, as the militaries of the submissive and surrendering Arab states are neutralized.

In addition, it is very clear that the current Palestinian Authority has lost all credibility to represent our struggle and challenge normalization. Instead, it plays the role of one of its many agents.

As for the Palestinian people and our allies everywhere: in a world shaped by this new reality of normalization, we continue to struggle and resist occupation and colonization every day. Israeli attacks against our people in the West Bank, Al Quds (Jerusalem), refugee camps, 1948 Palestine, and Gaza, as well as the criminalization of our resistance inside Palestine and our solidarity work in the West, especially the U.S., makes us more determined than ever to condemn and battle normalization and the Saudi Arabian normalizers, to reassert our narrative, and to reclaim our voice.

And to resist – by any means necessary – until we have defeated the zionist entity, the normalizers, and their U.S.-imperialist patrons; and until we have won the full liberation of all of historical Palestine, freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners, and the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Until Liberation and Return,

U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)

October 3rd, 2023

#NoToNormalization

By Press Release

October 7, 2023 – The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is horrified at the new war that has just broken out in Israel/Palestine. FOR, a pacifist organization since its conception in 1914 in Europe and 1915 in the United States, condemns the initiation of this latest stage of violent conflict. In condemning Hamas’s attack launched on Shabbat and Simchat Torah, we are also led to condemn Israel for its decades of occupation, siege, and human rights violations and abuses that have led up to this moment.

At least 100 Israelis have been killed, over 900 wounded. Dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians are missing and Hamas is reporting that they have been taken hostage.. The Health Ministry in Gaza is reporting around 200 Palestinians killed so far by Israeli air strikes and over 1,600 injured and we expect this number to climb exponentially in the coming days. Among the strikes that Israel has already conducted, was the bombing of the tall Palestine Tower in Gaza City, which houses media institutions, offices, as well as apartments. According to Palestinian sources, the Department of Charitable Institutions building in Gaza City has been completely destroyed by airstrikes.

FOR unequivocally condemns actions of violence that avoid the harder battles of justice. The killing and maiming of civilians, whether by Hamas rockets or Israeli airstrikes are unjustifiable, a war crime under international law. Also, unjustifiable are the actions of Israel that led to this current war: decades of military occupation with no end in sight, apartheid policies, recurrent massacres, and a siege so brutal that has turned Gaza into the largest open-air prison on earth.

FOR recognizes and condemns the failure of the Biden administration to pursue a peaceful solution to this entrenched conflict while providing Israel with almost $3.8 billion annually in unconditional military aid. Even while pursuing normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries, the U.S. has not worked to bring an end to the occupation or demanded an improvement in the rights and status of Palestinians. To call Hamas’s actions “unprovoked,” as the White House initially did in a statement today, is to put one’s head in the sand, ignoring decades of settlement building, land confiscation, child arrests, home demolitions, and the like, as well as recent of settler and military violence against Palestinians. Just one day before the initiation of this current conflict the Israeli military protected an extremist Israeli pogrom in the West Bank village of Huwara, resulting in the death of a 16-year-old Palestinian child.

Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler offered words from Hosea 8:7 that say, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” “The ignoring of grave injustices against Palestinians, and an Israeli society that begins to resemble the segregation and injustices pre and post-civil war in the US makes for no small wonder that the frustration and pain will result in violence and war,” Rev. Hagler said.

“While horrified by Hamas’s actions and praying for all those, both Israeli and Palestinian, who have been killed, injured, and kidnapped, I am also deeply fearful of the death toll that is yet to come in Gaza,” said FOR Executive Director Ariel Gold. “Past Israeli military actions in Gaza have taken the lives of countless children, women, men, and the elderly and traumatized an entire generation. Whether this current war results in another status quo in Gaza, as past wars have, or a reoccupation of Gaza by Israel, this violence will not aid the aims of safety, equality, freedom, and peace for all people between the river and the sea. In the words of renowned theologian, political analyst, and former FOR executive director, A.J. Muste, ‘There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

Ariel Gold, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation.

8 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Ramzy Baroud

A new trend is emerging in the Israeli hasbara discourse targeting Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims: women’s rights.

The word ‘new’ is not exactly accurate. The misuse of the genuine struggle for women’s rights in the Arab and Muslim world is only new insofar as the increasing reliance on the tactic within the larger Israeli propaganda discourse.

This was demonstrated in a most bizarre way during the speech of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on September 19, at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The story was orchestrated by Gilad Erdan, a mediocre Israeli diplomat and Tel Aviv’s UN Ambassador.

Erdan’s real strength comes from the fact that he is supported by the same Western governments that continue to fund and defend Israel’s war machine and military occupation of Palestine.

Naturally, he is also given a disproportionate amount of media coverage by corporate Western mainstream media, when compared to any other UN diplomat.

Erdan’s work is predicated mostly on a single tactic: If he is not pleased by the conduct of his peers at the UN General Assembly, he simply accuses them of being ‘anti-Semitic’, as a matter of course.

At times, the entire UN political body is accused of being anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

This Israeli strategy – defaming truthsayers as anti-Semites – only succeeds because it is part of a massive political and intellectual discourse that is constantly fed by the media and accepted as a fact by Western politicians.

Indeed, if Erdan is judged as a diplomat, completely independent from the unquestionable support he receives by Western media and governments, he would have been forced to find another profession altogether.

His recent conduct at the UNGA was a perfect illustration. In a terribly choreographed gesture, he began walking up and down the Assembly Hall, raising a photo of Mahsa Amini, who died in Tehran last year. The placard said: “Iranian women deserve freedom now.”

Consistent with the rules of the UN, Erdan was eventually removed by security, which he must have anticipated.

For him, however, his charade was a success, as it created the needed distraction, not only from the speech of the Iranian President, but in the coverage of Raisi’s speech altogether.

Though some have suggested that Erdan had humiliated himself, namely because of his removal from the UNGA hall, I wonder if he was, in any way, surprised by the outcome of his behavior.

He wanted to be a star, at least for like-minded anti-Iranian governments and organizations; he wanted the conversation to shift from the rights of the Palestinians to that of Iranians. For him, the mission was accomplished.

Of the many articles and news coverage that followed Erdan’s display, a few, even in the Middle East, spoke about Israel’s war on Palestinian women: the killings, imprisonment, torture, denial of freedom of movement, daily humiliation, denial of life-saving medications, and much more.

According to the United Nations, at least 253 women were killed in Gaza in the 2014 war alone.

These numbers are only the tip of the iceberg, as every single Palestinian woman living under Israeli occupation, anywhere in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza suffers daily. These women are hardly removed from the collective struggle and suffering of all Palestinians.

Erdan had no signs prepared for those women; neither do many mainstream, supposedly feminist organizations that continue to rally in solidarity with Iranian women, while ignoring the pain and humiliation of Palestinian women at the hands of the Israeli military and government.

Sadly, little action followed a damning report issued by Israel’s rights organization, B’Tselem on September 5, where Palestinian women from the Ajlouni family were humiliated and paraded completely naked in front of their children. This episode took place while the Ajlouni’s boys and men were handcuffed and blindfolded, and while Israeli soldiers stole the women’s gold and money.

This is, of course, the norm, not the exception. It seems that whatever Israel does to Palestinian women, little action, aside from that organized by Palestinians and their supporters, ever follows: No placards at the UNGA, no US State Department-led campaigns, no unique hashtags, no mass protests, nothing of the sort.

When advocacy for human and women’s rights only applies in situations where the culprit is an enemy of the US, one must question if human rights have anything to do with the discussion altogether.

The irony is that Israel has been one of the main political forces behind the deadly US-Western sanctions imposed on Iran for years, which devastating Iranian society and families – women and men alike.

That, too, was another missing context from the coverage following Erdan’s UN act.

But Erdan is not alone. Sheltering behind women’s rights in the Middle East is now the go-to tactic in many public conversations, conferences and media coverage of Israel and Palestine.

Even if the tactic fails to strike a major shift in the perception of the Israeli occupation and apartheid in Palestine, at least, in the minds of some, it does create a distraction.

I have personally experienced this during many of my tours in various parts of the world, from Vancouver Canada, to Madrid, to Nairobi. Sadly, often well-intentioned people engage in the side discussion, either defending Middle Eastern societies, or nodding in agreement with the self-proclaimed women’s rights ‘activists’.

But Israel did not invent the ‘liberation of women’ as a strategy aimed at deflecting or justifying its own war crimes against civilians. The US used it as a backbone of its massive propaganda that preceded the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

And, of course, once the invasions and subduing of these countries were completed, Iraqi and Afghani women disappeared from media coverage.

In both cases, tens of thousands of women were killed, raped and tortured by the US military. As for those ‘activists’ who had originally joined the initial US-championed women’s rights campaigns, they often disappear when women become victims of the US, the West and Israel.

While Arab and Muslim societies have their own social and political struggles, we must be wary not to allow Tel Aviv and Washington to hijack these struggles for their own politically sinister reasons.

It does not follow that, for women to be ‘freed’ from one society, the women of another society would have to live in perpetual bondage, of permanent occupation and racist apartheid.

This logic should apply to all situations of inequality, injustice, discrimination and racism, anywhere in the world.

And, a defender of war crimes, like Gilad Erdan, must not be allowed to serve two roles: an apologist for the mistreatment of women in Palestine, and a freedom fighter for women anywhere else.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

5 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By Philip A Farruggio

Can you imagine that after my generation either was pushed into the Vietnam phony war or pushed into the streets to get us out, we have arrived at this, this ****? Bad enough that less than twenty years later we twice destroyed and invaded Iraq ( occupying it the second round), destroyed much of Afghanistan and set our sights on the rest of the Middle East. Let’s look at what the rigged system has given us since 1980:

The ‘ crème de la crème’ had to then be Dutch Reagan, informer for the HUAC ( House Un-American Activities Committee) and friend of the California Super Rich Mafia. Already going senile, Reagan actually used the moniker that Trump later stole: MAGA ( Make America Great Again) to convince many Two Party/One Party suckers…sorry, voters, to make him the quintessential front man for the Super Rich corporate predators. While his wife’s war on drugs was going on, the CIA, handled by his VP and former CIA boss Bush #1, was making sure plenty of crack cocaine was flowing into the US, especially Southern California. Ronnie baby meanwhile made sure the super rich got lower tax rates as the nation saw less and less private sector unions. The great illusion was when states passed the contradictory ‘ Right to Work’ laws, which meant having to work with NO union to protect you. None!

Reagan did his job, which meant acting like a commercial pitchman ( which he knew from experience) and napping while Bush #1 ran the corporation… sorry, the country. Then, when Governor and Democratic Party presidential candidate Michael Dukakis wore that silly helmet while foolishly riding on top of a tank as his numbers dissipated, we got Bush #1. He was there when the Deep State wanted to punish Saddam Hussein for not staying on his side of the reservation and getting too big for his britches. So, Saddam became Hitler and the Brits and us destroyed Iraq with the asinine ” Coalition of the Willing… to do Uncle Sam’s bidding’ with mostly our firepower. One surmises that the economy under #1 was enough to turn off the suckers… sorry, voters. Even the yellow ribbon BS on this ‘ Wag The Dog’ phony war ( Go and get that film by Barry Levinson) could not save the day. So, we got ‘ Mr. Bill’….

If there was ever a professional bullshit artist better than Billy Clinton, show me! This guy could BS his way out of any scrap. ‘ I did not inhale’ is as good as it gets. The funny thing is he did what the professional card players call a ‘ Tell’. They can read a person’s hand by how he or she gestures or looks. Books have been written on that skill in reading body language. Well, Billy boy would ‘ Tell’ while having a conversation by giving a ‘ shit eating grin’ or pausing before finishing a thought. You could just know this guy was about to BS, and did he! ‘ I did NOT have sex with that woman!’ Gold, pure gold.

Bush #2 or Junior as his dad referred to him, was a true piece of work. This spoiled frat boy who supported our phony war in Vietnam while conveniently using #2’s influence to fly with the Texas Air National Guard. For you novices on history out there, during the 60s and 70s the last military personnel to ever get sent overseas into any hornet’s nest was our National Guard and Reserves. You would need an attack by North Vietnam on our shores to see those guys in action. After all his personal peccadilloes and failures as a ( so called) businessman Junior got to work for the Texas Rangers. Bush #1 sure did have lots of friends. Then, after a failed attempt at Congress the Super Rich Texas Deep State got Junior into the governor’s mansion. From there, with the help of an army of right wing movers and shakers, Junior became President… in name only. They made sure Tricky Dick Cheney would run things as his Veep. The increasing suspicions as to what really went down on 9/11 led Junior to sign off on War on Iraq 2, to perhaps wash some of that **** away from the public’s attention. Junior became the idiot emperor who just didn’t have any clothes. He ruled MoronAmerika during the absolute worst foreign policy maneuver our nation has ever made.

The damage that the Bush/Cheney Cabal had done just opened the door to the need for ‘ Hope and Change’. Enter Barack Hussein Obama, advertised as a true activist for progressive change. He was handled so well by the Democratic Party movers and shakers that mega millions of suckers… sorry, voters, put this guy into the Oval Office. His greatest foreign policy maneuver was to increase drone missile attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan by tenfold of what the Cheney/Bush Cabal did. How many innocent civilians happened to be near where the **** happened is a tragedy in itself. Barack also continued the bailout AKA gift to the Wall Street banksters on the taxpayer’s dime. He was the reverse front man to Reagan’s own servitude to the Super Rich.

What can one say about The Trumpster that hasn’t been covered by serious researchers? Put it this way: If we were back in the days of the Old West, The Donald would have been the epitome of the con man pushing his medicinal remedies from the back of a wagon. He took the ( rightful) anger of millions of working stiffs ( mostly white, by the way) and mesmerized them with his populist rhetoric. A man who stood up to his knees in the Deep State **** his whole career convinced them that he was anointed to save them. The real twist is that most of them still follow his tune right over the cliffs of reason.

Finally, we have Lunchbox Joe, who they now have to guide to and from the podium. This guy was always a piece of work his entire career. He helped break the railroad workers strike and then had the audacity to stand on the picket line with auto workers. Biden destroyed Anita Hill 32 years ago when she told the world the truth about Clarence Thomas. Biden also supported the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq in ’03. Before that he supported Billy Boy’s welfare reform bill, which took us back closer to the Gilded Age. Now, he follows the orders of the Deep State and keeps sending our tax dollars down the rabbit hole in support of a Neo Nazi infiltrated Ukraine. Read my lips: If they run this guy again he will lose… even to a crook like Trump.

Philip A Farruggio is regular columnist on itstheempirestupid website. He is also frequently posted on Nation of Change and Countercurrents..

5 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By Pieter Friedrich

Video which emerged this past week of a Naperville, Illinois area teenager setting a Quran aflame and throwing it on the ground has not only disturbed the local Muslim community but caused many to speculate it exemplifies increasing Islamophobic radicalization within the region’s large Indian-American Hindu community.

Local sources strongly suggest that the perpetrator in question is a 16-year-old Indian-American Hindu boy who, two years ago, participated in a mass opposition campaign to the building of a new mosque in the area. Records from Naperville City show his presumed mother similarly expressing opposition to the mosque. Contacted for comment about the current incident, the woman believed to be his mother claimed that “rumors” are being spread about “my son.”

According to sources, the family has already come forward in the local community and admitted that their son — whose name I am withholding — is the perpetrator.

In 2021, when the Islamic Center of Naperville submitted an expansion proposal to the city, opposition elements mobilized thousands of in-person speakers and letter writers to the city council. Local Muslim sources strongly believe that the opposition campaign was primarily spearheaded by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), an American Hindu nationalist outfit, and records show that the vast majority — perhaps 75 percent or more — of people registering opposition were of Indian-American and likely Hindu origin. While most comments followed what appeared to be a carefully tailored script focusing on concerns about traffic increases, opposition to the mosque falls in line with the Islamophobic agenda of the HSS and its Indian parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The RSS is a paramilitary founded in India in 1925 with the express purpose of unifying, homogenizing, and militarizing Hindus. Its founders were particularly disdainful of Indian Christians and Muslims, saying that the latter should be treated the same way as German Jews. They described both communities as “traitors” to India based on the belief that only Hindus can be true patriotic Indians.

Since 2014, elements linked to the RSS have controlled India’s national government and calls for social boycotts, economic boycotts, and even eradication of Muslims have become routine in the country.

RSS activity is not confined to India, however. The HSS, a registered US nonprofit deriving inspiration from the RSS, serves as that group’s American wing. With 230 chapters nationwide, HSS has a heavy presence of 11 chapters in Illinois, including one chapter just 10 miles away from Naperville.

The city itself has a long history of platforming and praising the HSS in a variety of ways. Most recently, in August 2023, the HSS was welcomed by the Naperville Fire and Police Departments to celebrate a Hindu festival with them. At the event, the mayor applauded his city’s “collaboration” with the group.

A recent investigation by The Nation uncovered that countless local governments and elected officials around the country have engaged in similar interactions with the HSS. Yet, upon reaching out to over 80 and speaking with 15, the outlet discovered that not a single one was aware of the HSS’s links to the RSS or, in the words of one mayor, “the political interests of the HSS.”

HSS’s political interests, however, appear to run deep, both in the US and in India.

In 2014, top HSS leaders in America led large campaigns to support the election of Narendra Modi, an RSS member, as Prime Minister of India. HSS-linked outfits have been key sponsors behind campaigns to change how American school curriculum teaches about India, Hinduism, and related topics, including Islam. HSS has also been linked to Chicagoland US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who has not only keynoted some of their events but also taken hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from people linked to the outfit or one of its affiliates.

HSS, which is present globally while maintaining its links with the RSS, also runs educational camps for children. At one such, in the United Kingdom in 2016, an on-camera sting operation revealed that a visiting instructor from India was teaching Islamophobic content which was regurgitated by the young students.

The teacher called Islam “the world’s worst religion.” The only good Muslims, he said, “can be counted on fingers.” Muslims, he agreed with students, are the biggest problem in Britain for “everybody.” Various students claim that “you can’t unify with Muslims,” suggest bombing Muslims, and state: “I hate Muslims…. We should keep them out of society without killing them.” One student admits, “We’re equated as, like, Hitler Youth.”

Links between Hindu nationalism (or Hindutva) and Western fascism trace back to the RSS’s origins, when its founders modeled the outfit on the same lines as the fledging movements in Italy and Germany. They continue to this day.

In the UK, the HSS has had links with nationalist groups since its origins in that country, while the far-right English Defence League has repeatedly associated with Hindutva elements due, apparently, to their shared platform of Islamophobia. In the US, the Hindu American Foundation — many of whose leaders have been linked to various entities within the family of Hindu nationalist organizations to which the RSS/HSS belong — has cultivated a collaborativerelationship with the Middle East Forum, a group which has been described as both “a right-wing anti-Islam think tank” and “an extremist policy organization that has produced and distributed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab policies.”

Meanwhile, this year, we witnessed the first attack on American soil by an apparently radicalized Hindu teenager.

In May 2023, 19-year-old Sai Kandula rammed a truck into barriers outside the White House. He then got out and waved a Nazi flag. Once in custody, he reportedly said he was trying to assassinate the president and praised Hitler.

While Kandula’s case remains a bit of a mystery, it wouldn’t be the first example of modern-day affinity between white nationalism and Hindu nationalism. In 2011, Norwegian white supremacist terrorist Anders Breivik — who has tragically inspired a host of copycat killers —infamously praised the RSS for “often riot[ing] and [attack]ing Muslims,” even calling for mutual learning and cooperation.

The incident in Naperville, thus, raises questions about the presence of Hindutva ideology in America and its influence especially on youth.

In a video circulating on social media, which appears to show a confrontation at a school between the boy in question and other students who are angry at him for burning the Quran, he admits, “I was stupid to do that.” Whether it was this incident or his opposition — at the age of 14, according to his own remarks, as recorded by the City of Naperville — to installation of a mosque, one can argue that the true blame for such manifestations of hatred can be placed on the parental or educational environment. Yet the whole affair must raise red flags about how Hindutva appears to be spreading in our own American backyard.

In that case, considering especially its links to the RSS and its past exposure in the UK as a breeding ground for Islamophobic brainwashing, one wonders if the influence of the HSS in Naperville had anything to do with this sad situation.

While in the latest video, the boy appears to claim that he has “already apologized,” it’s important to contextualize that claim. First, apologizing because one got caught is not the same thing as being sorry; second, this issue is about far more than the actions of a single individual, but rather should raise questions about potential radicalization into Hindutva ideology occurring in our own suburban American backyards.

Pieter Friedrich is a freelance journalist specializing in analysis of South Asian affairs.

5 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By A K Shiburaj

Police carried out early morning raids yesterday on the NewsClick office and the homes of almost 50 journalists, activists, and comedians across India under anti-terrorism laws, deepening concerns over a crackdown on freedom of expression in the country. The journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, the activist Teesta Setalvad, and the comedian Sanjay Rajoura were also among those raided and taken in for police questioning. After the questioning Paranjoy Guha Thakurta told journalists that a FIR has been lodged ‘apparently’ under the Unlawful Activities Preventions Act.

This conversation with Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was held in February 2023 when he came to Kerala for the release of the book ‘Adani Empire: Beyond Crony Capitalism‘ published by Transition Studies

What was the situation that led to the Ahmedabad court order directing you not to comment or criticize Adani and its business entities?

Such a judgment comes in the case following the publication of a series of articles titled ‘Justice Arun Mishra’s Final ‘Gift’ of Rs 8,000 Crore to Adani’. It was an order from the Ahmedabad Magistrate’s Court in September 2020.  A series of three articles written by Abir Dasgupta and myself were published by NewsClick. The judge was of the view that its content and especially its title lowered the esteem of the judiciary in the eyes of the public of India. Therefore, the court prohibited me and Abir Dasgupta from commenting on and criticizing the Adani Group. At first, it was a civil case against defamation and later it turned into a criminal defamation case. Then the NewsClick’s lawyers appealed to the High Court. After this case, I did not respond to the Adani issue for two and a half years in public.

How did you manage to speak freely and break your silence after two and a half years?

Two and a half years later, even as the court order against me remained, I decided on my own to reveal the facts to the outside world. I will not share my personal opinions with you, just facts. Every citizen is free to draw a conclusion from the facts I share. If I say that the share markets of Adani companies fell after January 24, it is not an opinion. I’m not saying it’s good or not as well. It is up to you to draw a conclusion or analyze its different aspects. What the court has blocked is my expression of opinion. That is how I am convinced. I don’t know if the judge who issued the order meant more than that.

Was the Hindenburg Report a reason for the decision to share the facts?

Is it not a fact that the Hindenburg Research Report confirms what I have been telling the world for so long? Independent journalists like me and my colleagues like Ravi Nair and Abir Dasgupta have been saying these facts since 2015. An important report of mine on Adani came in April 2016 after I became an editor at the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). I shared its contents with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Revenue Department, Finance Ministry, Customs Department etc. I handed over information to them about financial irregularities in the importation of coal and power generation equipment by over-invoicing by about forty private and government firms. Adani’s companies were also involved in it. All this information is mentioned in the Hindenburg Research Report.

Are you sure there won’t be any other court proceedings against you for sharing such facts now in the context of  the Ahmedabad Magistrate court order?

How can I tell what will happen in the future? How can Gautam Adani tell what will happen tomorrow? Just as I cannot say now what will happen to Narendra Modi in the 2024 elections, so are the possibilities of cases that could be filed against me in the future.

You are the only Indian media person e mentioned in the Hindenburg Research report released on January 24, 2023. Can you tell me the details?

Apart from me, media houses like CNBC and Economic Times were also mentioned in it. The Hindenburg report had 88 questions for Adani Group to answer. My name was mentioned in the eighty-fourth question. The question is, ‘Gautam Adani, if you believe in freedom of expression and freedom of speech, why did you go to the steps of arresting a journalist named Paranjoy Guha Thakurta? The lawyer for the Adani group replied that ‘we have no part in it, it is a decision of a court’. That is true in a sense.

I feel that the public should be told what actually happened when the Adani Group responded to this case in the Hindenberg Report. The case was related to an article published in the Economic and Political Weekly in June 2017 when I was editor. The article was reprinted by The Wire (https://thewire.in). That article titled Modi Government’s Rs 500-Crore Bonanza to the Adani Group is still available to readers. This happened in July 2017. After that, the Adani Group approached the court in Gujarat. They filed civil and criminal cases in Bhuj and Mundra in Gujarat. I have appeared thrice in the court of First Class Magistrate, Mundra, Gujarat.

The Bhuj Magistrate in the civil case did not ask for the complete withdrawal of the article. What the magistrate asked to do was to retract one word, one sentence of that article and so did The Wire. To the surprise of all of us, in May 2019, the Adani Group decided to withdraw the cases against my co-authors and The Wire and to continue the case against me only before the results were announced after the Lok Sabha elections. Then the court was closed during the Covid. So in January 2021, a journalist friend of the Press Trust of India (PTI) called me and informed me that the Mundra court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against me. Many others had received this information before even my lawyer knew about it. Then I appeared in court and my lawyer argued that the arrest warrant issued against me was against Supreme Court guidelines. Ten days later, the Gujarat High Court got a stay order for this warrant, so my arrest was avoided. Following this, I appeared in court in February and March 2021. That case is still ongoing.

What is the current status of your cases?

Now both the cases are going on in the Mundra court. Three other cases are pending in the Ahmedabad court and that is where the ban on not talking about the Adani issue came from. I am the only person in India facing six defamation cases filed by Adani’s company. Recently, another criminal case for defamation has been registered against me and my co-writer Abir Dasgupta and the NewsClick portal in the Baran district of Rajasthan. The sixth case relates to the publication of an article written by AICC member Varun Santhosh and myself on my own website (https://paranjoy.in) under ‘The A Files’ section. The Hindenburg Report mentions many of the documents and reports published in it.

Why would EPW, a well-known independent media, ask you to retract the article on Adani, questioning their credibility?

Only Samiksha Trust can say the reason and its Chairman Prof. Deepak Nayyar is bound to answer that. But I can share things related to my resignation. The article, titled Modi Government’s Rs 500-Crore Bonanza to the Adani Group, was about how one company, Adani Power, was able to make huge gains as a result of the government’s policy changes in power sector projects for Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Along with me, the Trust and the publisher had received legal notices from Adani Power’s firm regarding this article. I had replied directly to the notice sent to me by my lawyer. Then the Samiksha Trust asked me for an explanation for not seeking permission from the publisher prior to replying to the solicitor’s notice. Samiksha Trust pointed out that it was a serious failure on my part and it was an act of great impropriety. Although I did not think so, I considered it a technical error on my part and apologized to the Trust.

They also alleged that I have acted in various ways to destroy the reputation of the publication EPW. So I was told that like my predecessors, I would no longer be able to write articles in EPW under my own name and that they were going to hire an associate editor. They also said that I should not leave the office without withdrawing the article from the website. Having done so I wrote my resignation letter on a piece of paper and submitted it to the Trust. The reactions that followed when the news spread across the world surprised me. Hundreds of people responded by supporting me. Among them were Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Angus Deaton, and Noam Chomsky, whom I greatly respect.

Could the continued legal action against you be part of a conspiracy even after the charges against The Wire and your colleagues were dropped? What is the reason you are targeted? Who could be behind that?

This is a very relevant question. But I don’t know the answer to that. Gautam Adani and his lawyers can answer this.

You are not only writing an article but also publishing a lot of important documents that validate the arguments in it. Could it be the consequences it creates that prompt Adani to take such a strong stand against you?

That is your opinion. I can’t say whether that’s right or wrong. All I can say is the facts and you can come to any conclusion. Freedom of speech for every citizen of India is envisaged in the Constitution of India.

It’s a well-known fact that Adani is a big source of election funds for Modi and BJP. Do you think the Hindenburg report and the crisis in the share market that Adani companies are currently facing will have a decisive impact on the next election?

I don’t know what will happen in the 2024 elections. Did we expect Pulwama and Balakot before the 2019 elections? Let me tell you some things that surprised me. On January 25, the day after the Hindenburg Research report, Adani Group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, opened its Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) by offering Rs 20,000 crore shares to the public. A follow-on public offer is a process by which a company listed on the stock exchange issues new shares to investors, existing shareholders or promoters. FPOs are used by companies to diversify their equity base and raise capital for their business. The day after the opening of the FPO was a public holiday as it was Republic Day. The central budget was presented on February 1. Let me tell you what happened in the meantime. Immediately after Adani Company’s FPO of Rs 20,000 crores, there was a positive response from the share market. But then its value began to decline. When the FPO ended on January 31, everyone thought Adani’s crisis was over. Naturally, on the day the budget was presented, the value of shares of many companies went up and down. But Adani Group was down. Later, to everyone’s surprise, Adani Enterprises made a formal announcement at 10.30 pm that it was withdrawing its Follow-on Public Offer and returning the money to those who had invested. The next morning, Gautam Adani said in a video that he was withdrawing the FPO on moral grounds. But before that, the Adani Group had alleged that the Hindenburg report shared baseless information about his company and that it was intended to tarnish his reputation and that of his country.When the chief financial officer of Adani Group held a press conference on that day, the national flag of India was larger than the logo of Adani Group. He also made a reference to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in his message that the British soldiers used Indian soldiers to shoot Indians and so on. After all this, we all know that since January 24, the value of all shares of Adani Group has fallen by 50-70 percent. Let’s wait and see the consequences of this in the political and economic spheres.

Did you help Hindenburg Research Organization to publish the report that came out about Adani companies?

Many people have asked me this question. I had not even heard the name of such an organization until that report came out. I only know about Paul Von Hindenburg who ruled Germany. All I knew was that he commanded the Imperial German Army during World War I and later held that position as President of Germany from 1925 until his death.

You are a person who is constantly writing about crony capitalism and the crises it creates in democracy and the financial sector. How does political economy become a central theme of your media intervention?

While I am a journalist, I am also a student studying the political economy of India and the world. I studied Economics at Delhi University and later I completed my post graduation from Delhi School of Economics. Since then I have written on various topics, produced documentaries, and published some books. I was also a part-time teacher. I have been in the media for over 45 years and I have prepared reports on all important business establishments. I published a book on Ambani in 2014 called Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis.

How do you happen to focus on Adani?

I have never focused on any particular business entity. I have been researching and writing about Adani when he became the second and third richest man in the world in a short period of time. His growth was truly astonishing. Adani said in an interview that the policies of the Rajiv Gandhi government and the liberalization policies of the P. V. Narasimha Rao government initially helped his business grow in Gujarat. His decline today is as dramatic and surprising as his growth since then. I have always been interested in the nexus between politics and business and the give and take between them. And of course, it has a lot to do with our elections and democratic systems.

Crony capitalism is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been functioning in India and the world for a long time. But what is the difference in its operation in India before and after Narendra Modi came to power?

A significant change that can be seen is the shift from crony capitalism to oligarchic capitalism. It can be seen that the special treatment that was given to a group of business organizations before Modi’s regime is now concentrated in one company. On the other hand,  Birla, Tata, Reliance, and many other companies have been able to influence the government’s policy programs in the past. Learning these things is my interest but it is not just hatred or opposition to Adani. It can be seen that Modi is implementing more extreme right-wing policies than the right-wing policies during the UPA government. During the UPA government, the welfare state, rights of citizens, relief measures for the marginalized, rights of women, farmers, tribals, etc., and economic growth for all were often heard. Moreover, some policy programs and activities in that direction had also taken place those days. It is a fact that even then the policies were in favor of the wealthy class. Politicians and business firms have always been close. This was the case even before India gained independence.

The main difference now is that Adani’s company has an unprecedented influence on the Indian economy and dominates almost every sector of business. Adani established his business in the diamond and plastic waste sector and twenty years ago, people did not know about Adani. Very soon he becomes the second and third richest person in the world. It can be said that there are no major areas of business in the country where Adani is not investing today. The government is also supporting him to open business opportunities for him regardless of his previous experience in the fields of airport and fighter aircraft manufacturing.

Isn’t the distribution of wealth essential, even though it would not bring equity, to the survival and success of capitalism? So wouldn’t oligarchic capitalism, confined its benefits to one person, be a threat to the economic system of capitalism itself?

That’s right. It appears that the problems with Adani have little to do with any economic and political ideology. Suppose you are someone who thinks capitalism is the best. Aren’t there some rules and regulations for that too? What is the purpose of institutions like SEBI and Reserve Bank? Even in America, there is a Securities and Exchange Commission. It can be seen that Adani’s company is not complying with any system existing in India. The Hindenburg Research report says that Adani is following his own rules. That is why the investigation by SEBI has not been concluded even after months and no report has come out. I would say that what is happening in India now is not capitalist economic policies. Capitalism is about a level playing field. There is no possibility of competition among different business enterprises here now.

What were the circumstances that led you to meet Adani?

I have met and spoken to Gautam Adani twice. I first met him when I was working at EPW in 2017. The second meeting was in February 2021. All conversations were conducted on the understanding that they would be off the record. My lawyer took the initiative in the hope that the cases could be settled out of court. A telephone conversation was also held with him recently. It was after the Hindenburg Report. The main talk was about FPO matters. Even then I requested him to withdraw the defamation cases against me. I can only say that he did not respond positively to it.

You have been dealing with court cases for several years. How has it affected your life and journalism?

The cases have affected my personal life, my family life, and my writing. My lawyers have to spend a lot of time and travel on my case. Apart from traveling to court in many places, hotel accommodations and meals are also expensive. My family was very worried when a non-bailable warrant was issued against me. They asked me to stop working on cases that the work I had done for so long was enough and that I should not become a martyr.

Is it in this situation that Adani was approached and an out-of-court settlement was sought?

The possibilities were already looked at and my lawyer has tried on his own. He had asked Adani why the cases were continuing only against me. It takes a lot of time to settle the case through normal court proceedings. Until then, money and time will have to be spent. Call it a SLAPP, Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. It is also a warning to others aimed at discouraging others from asking questions.  I have co-authored a book with Subir Ghosh about this called ‘Sue the Messenger’. It is clear that if what we wrote offends someone, the lawsuits filed against it could eliminate the accused in a sense.

If the cases are dropped through an out-of-court settlement, isn’t that likely to be interpreted as your final surrender to Adani? And isn’t it possible that there could be clauses in the settlement that might affect you?

This question is very important. The answer depends on what the settlement is. It is impossible to say what will happen if a settlement is reached.

Isn’t it pathetic that your freedom of expression is being suppressed?

Article 19A of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech to all citizens and journalists. Article 19(2) also allows for reasonable restriction on freedom of expression. That’s all I want to say now.

Do you wish there were more independent journalists like you?

How do I judge others? I can say that a large section of media workers are extremely loyal to the government in power. They are also subservient to corporate interests. There are very few journalists today who hold those in power accountable and ask tough questions. Narendra Modi is the only Prime Minister of India who does not hold a press conference without preparing it beforehand. Since becoming Prime Minister in May 2014, he has not faced questions from the media to date. He has given interviews only to a selected few and those journalists then asked only the questions the Prime Minister wanted. Do you remember the first question Akshay Kumar asked him in one such interview? Does Modi eat mango? The next question was whether he eats the mango cut or the whole.

A.K. Shiburaj is an independent journalist

4 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By Alex Lantier

The foreign ministers of the European Union’s (EU) member countries met yesterday in Kiev for a summit to pledge continuing support to NATO’s war with Russia in Ukraine.

Though the summit came after the bloody failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and amid mounting divisions in ruling circles over how to finance the war, leading EU governments signaled their intention to escalate war with Russia.

“I am convening today the EU Foreign Ministers in Kyiv, for the first-ever meeting of all 27 Member States outside the EU,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X/Twitter. Borrell added, “Ukraine’s future lies within the EU.” Borrell announced that the summit had agreed to spend a further €5 billion on the war.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed Borrell’s remarks, tweeting, “Glad to welcome EU foreign ministers at the historic meeting in Ukraine… For the first time in history, outside current EU borders. But also within its future borders.”

With Ukraine’s army shattered, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead and many more maimed, such statements amount to a reckless, open-ended pledge to escalate war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power. Before the EU summit, UK officials indicated that British troops could deploy directly to Ukraine, ostensibly to advise Ukrainian soldiers. Plans to anounce EU military deployments to Ukraine are no doubt also at an advanced stage.

The EU has emerged as the top financier of the war, having given Kiev €84.8 billion, including €5.6 billion in arms, by the end of July 2023, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. This is on top of spending by individual European states, led by Germany (€20.87 billion), Britain (€13.77 billion), Norway (€7.45 billion), Poland (€4.27 billion), and the Netherlands (€4.08 billion). These figures include €17 billion in weaponry from Germany, €6.6 billion from Britain, €3.7 billion from Norway, €3 billion from Poland and €2.5 billion from the Netherlands.

In Kiev, German Defense Minister Annalena Baerbock called to further arm Ukraine. She said, “We must now further intensify all our efforts to prepare Ukraine for this winter. When I was here in September, I already made it clear that Ukraine needs a protective shield for winter… that consists of air defense but also generators and strengthening energy supply.”

The summit came amid signs of mounting divisions in European ruling circles over the financing and planning of the war. The foreign ministers of Hungary and Poland did not attend the Kiev summit, after Warsaw announced last week that it would send no new arms shipments to Ukraine.

At the Kiev summit, the leading EU imperialist powers were intent on signaling that they will allow no climbdown in participation in the war. They replied in particular to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who said that “fatigue from this conflict, fatigue from the completely absurd sponsorship of the Kyiv regime, will grow in various countries, including the United States.”

At a press conference in Kiev, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna pledged French support for war on Russia. Colonna called the Kiev summit “a demonstration of our resolute and lasting support for Ukraine, until it can win. It is also a message to Russia that it should not count on our weariness. We will be there for a long time to come.”

Borrell added, “The EU remains united in its support to Ukraine… I don’t see any member state folding on their engagement.”

EU officials stressed their close collaboration with Washington on the war. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the EU must arm Ukraine “to support Ukraine, but also to send a strong trans-Atlantic signal that what’s going on on our own soil is something we have to take on a great responsibility for.”

The EU was founded in 1992, the year after the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union, as a free-market, pro-austerity economic bloc. NATO’s war with Russia is accelerating its emergence as a military alliance asserting European imperialist interests on the world stage. This has gone hand-in-hand with the rehabilitation of neo-fascist parties and the emergence of police-state regimes in Europe that violently repress strikes and protests against the austerity measures and wage freezes that serve to finance war spending.

The political and class character of this war was exposed last week, when the Canadian parliament unanimously applauded Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian ex-member of the Nazi Waffen-SS, as a Ukrainian patriot for fighting against the Soviet Union in World War II. The Waffen SS played a central role in the Holocaust of European Jewry, Hitler’s war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, and the repression of resistance to Nazi occupation in Europe.

This exposed the close ties between NATO and far-right Ukrainian forces, like the Right Sector militia that led the 2014 NATO-backed coup in Kiev that brought NATO’s current Ukrainian puppet regime to power. With other far-right militias, like the Azov Battalion, it now plays a central role inside the Kiev regime. Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian collaboration with Nazism, is regularly hailed by top Ukrainian officials.

The Canadian parliament’s politically-criminal applause for a Waffen-SS fighter also speaks to the character and political implications of the EU’s redefinition as a militarist bloc dedicated to war with Russia until total victory.

“The EU has changed. There is no turning back. We have turned out the lights behind us and there is basically only one way,” Danish EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager declared at a May 2023 EU summit in Brussels. Waging the Ukraine war, she continued, “is absolutely Europe’s top priority, and we will stay supportive of Ukraine until the war is won and Ukraine has been rebuilt, and become a member of the European Union.”

Commenting on Vestager’s remarks, the Guardian cited top advisors of Borrell who asserted that the Russian war overcame the conflicts between the European powers in the 20th century. “The European project was first and foremost intended to prevent a new conflict between France and Germany. It aimed to pacify intra-European relations through exchange and economic cooperation,” wrote Zaki Laïdi, a professor at Sciences-Politiques university in Paris.

Now, however, argued Nicole Gnesotto of the Jacques Delors Institute, war with Russia is overcoming conflicts inside Europe. “In one night, Russia killed all EU philosophy since 1956,” she said.

Claims that the EU will overcome historically-rooted contradictions of European capitalism via war with Russia testify to the reckless, fascistic moods seizing the ruling class. In reality, divisions are mounting in ruling circles across the continent, as was seen with the absence of Hungarian and Polish officials in Kiev. Moroever, it is notable that France, Italy and Spain, historically more oriented to imperialist conquest in Africa than in Eastern Europe, have spent less on Ukraine than their northern European allies (€1.69 billion, €1.29 billion and €900 million, respectively).

The working class must intervene independently to stop the war. Workers cannot rely on conflicts inside the bourgeoisie to avert the catastrophe that the EU has set into motion. They must base its policy on the fact that the European bourgeoisie is staking everything on a NATO war with Russia that threatens Europe and the world with escalation all the way to nuclear war. In the ruling class, there is broad awareness that this entails legitimizing far-right politics and forms of rule.

This spring saw a powerful movement of strikes erupt across Europe against the wage austerity and social cuts used to finance war with Russia. During mass protests in France against pension cuts, a large majority of workers declared their support for mass strikes to block the economy and bring down President Emmanuel Macron. This explosive opposition must be developed consciously as an international movement of the working class in opposition to imperialist war and the capitalist system that gives rise to it.

3 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org

By Shiraz Durrani

The official or ‘normal’ history of Kenya ignores or downplays resistance to capitalism and imperialism by the people of Kenya. Mostly ignored are organisations of those who opposed the rule by the comprador bourgeoisie. Some examples of such downplaying can be seen in many public sources. None of these, including most of the texts used for teaching in Kenya, pay attention to the resistance to capitalism and to the struggle for socialism waged by many organisations and their members. Also ignored are class and ideological struggles waged by those resisting capitalism and the rule of the comprador class.

In recent years, The Kenya Socialist, Communist Review and Vita Books have published a number of studies of Kenyan movements and personalities who have contributed to the struggle for liberation from colonialism and imperialism, both before and after independence. Many of these articles have challenged the traditional history of Kenya and added class and resistance dimensions which are missing from official history, as well as from history as taught in schools, colleges and universities in Kenya.

What may not be obvious at the first readings of such material are the sources used. Many of them are from the Kenya Resistance Archives (KRA), which consists of material from the underground resistance in Kenya, mostly from the 1980s to about the 1990s. Those movements, their ideology, leadership and activities do not feature in the mainstream history of Kenya. Their very existence is denied or passed over lightly.

The Kenya Resistance Archives and Library (KRAL) originated in the work of one of the cells of the underground December Twelve Movement (DTM) – the Kabete Cell, with its main sub-cells, Ngara and Nairobi. It thus does not include material collected by other DTM cells. Security consideration required minimum direct contact between the cells. The KRAL also does not include publications from before the formation of the Kabete Cell, around 1975. It is known, however, that some earlier material is available with some founder members of the DTM. Similarly, material on the DTM’s successor organisation MWAKENYA (MK) is available with its former officials; while much of the archives of UMOJA, which merged into MWAKENYA, was lost through administrative mishap, although some key documents are available in the KRA.

The Kenya Resistance Archives 

The KRA is a unique collection brought together and looked after by political activists and independent institutions not funded or supported by public bodies. It is, indeed, part of resistance which it documents. No public library, archive or research institute in Kenya has collected, disseminated or archived the material that is available in the KRA. This is an aspect of the class struggle in Kenya, where the ruling class decides what is ‘history’, which it sees from its own class perspective, while working people record and disseminate their version of history in their own ways. The former is consolidated through government policies, education and the mass media, while the latter is allowed to gradually die. However, it is stored in people’s memory and disseminated through oral and alternative media.

It was the British government that destroyed the archives and libraries of Mau Mau before being forced to give independence to Kenya. The full story of the collection and the destruction of these records is available in various records. The comprador bourgeois government under Jomo Kenyatta and KANU,  handed power by the departing colonial power, made sure that resistance and its documents were not allowed to see the light of day. President Daniel arap Moi then followed Kenyatta’s nyayos in repressing resistance and not allowing the documents to be collected. It is then remarkable that the KRA has been preserved, having survived journeys to and from London, and can be seen in Nairobi at the Ukombozi (‘Liberation’) Library today. The lesson from this experience is relevant to resistance organisations in Kenya and elsewhere, to ensure that their documents are well preserved, otherwise their history will not be recorded or survive.

The Kabete Cell 

Many of the documents held by the Kabete Cell in 1984 had to be destroyed once one of its members was interrogated by the Special Branch of the Kenya Police. While it did not have all the underground publications of the DTM, the cell had some significant titles as well as many working papers and work in progress, together with the typewriter used for some underground publications, the DTM rubber stamp and other equipment. All this had to be destroyed. Yet some important material was saved and sent to London in 1978 by another member of the cell. In the late 1990s, this was then sent in small batches to MK-DTM in Nairobi. The material was passed on to Ukombozi Library once it was set up in 2017 by Vita Books, MK-DTM and the Mau Mau Research Centre.

The material included documents of the Kabete Cell and the main cells under it – the Nairobi Cell (based at the University of Nairobi, but including many worker and peasant members under its sub-cells) and the Ngara Cell, where the DTM’s main library was located. The Kabete Cell split into a number of semi-independent cells after the suspension of its leader by members around 1983-84, and material from these cells is not included in the KRA. However, Kabete cell members in London later re-established links with Upande Mwingine, formed from the earlier Ngara Cell. Some of its material was used for MWAKENYA publications, and these are also part of the KRA.

The Kabete Cell also had, as its library, many Marxist and progressive Kenyan titles, as well as books from socialist and revolutionary countries around the world. While the main DTM Library at the Ngara Cell included many more titles, this was also a substantial collection which could not be sent to London. Other cells, now independent of the Kabete cell, were reluctant to connect with it for security reasons, once one of its members had been identified as ‘an enemy agent’ by the Special Branch. It was therefore decided to pass on these key books to contacts at the University of Nairobi and among communities around Nairobi. A member of the Kabete Cell took great risks and deposited the books among those needing them. They were used and distributed among other cells and progressive individuals.

An important collection that the Kabete Cell had was the 36 carvings on Mau Mau by Wakamba carver activists. Photos of some of these accompanied an earlier CR article.3c The carvings were too heavy to be transported to London when the Kabete cell came under attack, nor was it possible to pass them onto other cells because of the security concerns already mentioned. A Kabete Cell member later contacted Willy Mutunga, a trusted member of DTM who, despite having been previously detained, was willing to support the cell by taking the carvings for safe keeping. A small number of the carvings were taken to London after Moi was no longer in power and it became possible for cell members to return to Kenya. The remaining carvings were distributed among various rural communities in Kenya as part of the people’s heritage.

An important DTM document that was saved and taken to London was Publishing, An Annotated Bibliography and Study Guide. It was an internal document to inform DTM publishing activities, and a copy is included in the KRA. Among the articles listed were:

• Marx, Debates on Freedom of the Press 
• Engels, Marx and the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848-49) 
• Lenin, Draft of a Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra and Zarya, Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra, The Character of Our Newspapers 
• Stalin, articles for the Georgia revolutionary press 1901-1911
• Mao Zedong, Introducing ‘The Communist’, Introducing ‘The Chinese Worker’, Oppose Stereotyped Party Writing, Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art 
• Stanley Harrison, Poor Mens’ Guardians: A record of the struggle for a democratic newspaper press, 1763-1973.

An interesting feature of the work of the Kabete Cell was that it contributed a large number of articles to local and international journals. Some of these were later published by Vita Books, Nairobi, in a number of books. These include Information and Liberation: Writings on the politics of information and librarianship (2008) by Shiraz Durrani. Some more articles written at a later period are to be included in a forthcoming book, Writings and Reflections on the Class Struggle in Kenya,1992-2022. 

A decisive period for the Kabete Cell was an article by Shiraz Durrani on Pio Gama Pinto, published in theStandard in1984. Events after this led to the exile of the Kabete Cell to London (one of whose members and the leader having earlier been suspended). But the early drafts of the material on Pinto, as well as other manuscripts on Makhan Singh, Mau Mau and the history of publishing, were all written in Kenya prior to the exile in 1984. They would have been published in Kenya, but the intervention by the Special Branch interrupted this process. However they were all published later by Vita Books, initially based in London but moving to Nairobi in 2017.

The Nairobi Cell 

Among the material saved from the work of the Nairobi Cell, now available in the KRA, are the proceedings of a number of workshops for working-class librarians at the University of Nairobi and other libraries in Nairobi. These were reproduced in the University of Nairobi Library Magazine, later renamed Sauti ya Wakutubi. Four issues of the magazine were printed and published at the Library.

The Nairobi Cell also created a Sehemu ya Utungaji – creative wing – for artwork and creative activities. It also co-produced the play, Kinjikitile, Maji Maji with Takhto Arts, a Nairobi play group. The play ran at the University of Nairobi Education theatre in 1984 and was directed by a member of the Kabete Cell. The KRA has full documentation, including photos, of the play.

The focus of material collected in the KRA moved to London where the former Kabete Cell members were active in UMOJA and MWAKENYA. The material they collected forms the rest of KRA. The histories of DTM, UMOJA and MWAKENYA have been documented in recent years or in forthcoming articles.

The Kenya Resistance Library (KRL) 

The Kabete Cell was formed around 1977-78. It soon began to expand and formed other cells under it. The first one to be set up, around 1978, was the Ngara Cell, which in time became one of the most productive cells in the Kabete ‘cell family’. Its publications are held in London and will be moved to Ukombozi Library in due course.

Some details of the work of the Ngara Cell are mentioned in Liberating Minds, which “consists of biographies of progressive South Asian Kenyans written by Nazmi Durrani. Originally published in Gujarati in the 1980s, they are available here in English for the first time, together with the original Gujarati.” This was in the tradition of DTM activists to write on the history of their nationalities. The cell member also wrote resistance poems in Kiswahili and translated them into English, with accompanying drawings. The poems are to be published by Vita Books in 2023 under the title Tunakataa! We Say No! There are many unpublished works by the cell which are included in the KRA.

It is, however, the information and documentation work for which the Ngara Cell is better known. It produced a large number of regular publications which give a clear picture of the class struggle in Kenya. These are aspects that have been ignored by most historians and they indicate the political orientation of the DTM. The publications included:

• Article 5: a monthly journal inspired by Article 5 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which states that “No-one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Article 5 collected newspaper cuttings highlighting the regime’s human rights abuses.

• Hali Ya Nchi (‘State of the Country’), a fortnightly summary of events in Kenya, highlighting repression by the regime, acts of resistance by Kenyans and important events on the economic, political and social fronts.

• Upande Mwingine (‘The Other Side’), a monthly summary of resistance to the regime by workers, peasants, students and generally by all democratic-minded Kenyans. It included strikes, demonstrations and other activities.

The Ngara Cell at this period took up different names on its publications, but is known generally as Upande Mwingine, and this is the name used here to distinguish its work from the earlier Ngara Cell. In the 1990s, the Kabete Cell members in London re-established links with Upande Mwingine and exchanged a large amount of information and activities.

Besides the publications mentioned above, Upande Mwingine started a photo-documentation work of the main resistance fighters against colonialism. It sent to London over a hundred photographs, with details of sources and brief histories. The plan was for Vita Books to publish these in the 1990s as a pictorial history of resistance in Kenya; but this was forestalled by the death of the key member of Upande Mwingine (as described in Liberating Minds). Since then, lack of resources and other difficulties have prevented publication. However, all the material, photos and notes are available in the KRA, currently in London to be transported to Ukombozi Library in due course.

The work of Upande Mwingine is acknowledged by MWAKENYA which used the research by the group for its 1987 publication, Kenya, Register of Resistance, 1986, which says:

“Upande Mwingine” – Register Of Resistance 

We here present this analysis of the actions of the workers, peasants, students, small traders for the year 1986, to expose the lies of the Moi- KANU regime. The analysis is based on the very brilliant, meticulous monthly and annual documentation of the resistance deeds and actions of workers, peasants, and students etc in industry, commerce, plantations, schools and colleges, carried out by Upande Mwingine, the underground workers’ organ. Upande Mwingine has systematically compiled this Kiswahili register of strikes and demonstrations by the working people over a number of years. But we have chosen 1986 deliberately. 1986 saw the heightening of repression in Kenya under the guise of hunting for MWAKENYA cadres. The Register shows quite clearly that it is the mass movement of Kenyans that is basically frightening the regime. The regime fears that MWAKENYA will give the correct political direction to this mass unrest.”

All these documents, MWAKENYA’s Register of Resistance and many publications from Upande Mwingine are available at the Kenya Resistance Archives. The Archives are indeed an important resource of a period of resistance that would otherwise remain undocumented and hence unknown to future generations.

The Library

Besides all the above work, it is the Ngara Cell’s Library that remains a lasting legacy to the cell and the DTM. It was set up by teacher and librarian Nazmi Durrani, and contained over a thousand books, including complete sets of Selected Works of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Such publications were banned in Kenya, and anyone found with them was likely to be detained. In addition, the Library included key works from resistance movements around the world. It was located in Nazmi’s house in the Ngara district of Nairobi, hence the name Ngara Cell. After Nazmi’s death in an accident in1990, the books were looked after by members of his family and later passed on to other members of the (reconstituted) Ngara Cell. It was in 2017 that the books were transferred to the Ukombozi Library on its foundation.

Vita Books and the Ukombozi Library are the two organisations that continue to support the DTM Library and archival legacy of the DTM, and move it forward to meet today’s needs. While the Archives and Library would not have survived without their support, their history remains outside the scope of this article. However, the following interviews and articles provide some background to their work and history:

1. Shiraz Durrani and Kimani Waweru, interviewed by Stephanie Kitchen (2017), at https://www.readafricanbooks.com/publisher-profiles/shiraz-durrani-and-kimani-waweru/
2. Shiraz Durrani and Kimani Waweru, Vita Books, The Home of Kenya Left and the Forgotten Radical Histories, at https://www.academia.edu/93677210/Vita_Books_The_Home_of_Kenya_Left_and_the_Forgotten_Radical_Histories
3. Kimani Waweru and Loren Balhorn, Kenya’s First Socialist Library, at https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/41361/kenyasfirst-socialist-library/.
4. Kimani Waweru, ‘Ukombozi Library’, in The Kenya Socialist, No 5, 2022, pp 31-2.

A previous article in this journal also gave a brief introduction to the Ukombozi Library.

Conclusion 

While a number of public institutes, libraries and archives in Kenya have important documents on the country’s history, none, as far as can be ascertained, holds material like that contained in the Kenya Resistance Archives. This is a reflection of the ongoing class struggle in Kenya, where the ruling class controls what information and documents should and could be collected by public institutions. It is possible that foreign libraries such as the Library of Congress and the British Council Library hold such material. If so, they are not shared with Kenyan public. This points to the importance of KRA as perhaps the only publicly available record of resistance material in Kenya.

Shiraz Durrani is a Kenyan political exile living in London. He has worked at the University of Nairobi as well as various public libraries in Britain where he also lectured at the London Metropolitan University.

1 October 2023

Source: countercurrents.org