Obama File 33 More Weathermen For Obama

Obama File 32 here

My last three posts have looked at Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) and the organisation's relationship to Barack Obama and his campaign.


Despite its innocuous sounding name, MDS (founded August 2006) is a coalition of former members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) its terrorist splinter the Weather Underground and three Marxist organisations, Communist Party USA (CPUSA), Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Every one of these strands has supported Barack Obama since at least the mid '90s-some even further back.

Today many MDS activists are working in the Obama campaign, particularly through the MDS offshoot, Progressives for Obama.

Much as been written about the links between Barack Obama and his "patrons" former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

I've shown that Dohrn has been an MDS board member, while her husband Ayers is at least an active supporter.

That's two known former terrorists involved in MDS, but there are at least three more in the MDS/Progressives for Obama orbit-Jeff Jones, Howie Machtinger and Mark Rudd.

Ayers, Dorhn, Jones, Machtinger and Rudd are old revolutionary comrades. In the late '60s the five were key leaders of the faction of (SDS) that split to form the Weather Underground. All attended the famous 1969 Flint War Council that effectiveful gave birth to the Weathermen faction of SDS.

All were virulently anti-American in their radical heyday.
Bernardine Dohrn has been accused of planting a bomb that killed San Francisco policeman Brian V. McDonnell. When police raided a Weathermen bomb factory in Pine Street San Francisco in 1970, they found the fingerprints of Ayers, Machtinger and Rudd.

All are still radicals today and all are proven Obama supporters.

This post profiles the three neglected Weathermen in the MDS/Progressives for Obama network-Jones, Machtinger and Rudd.

Who is Jeff Jones?

According to Jeff Jones's own website

Jeff Jones went to his first rally against the Vietnam War in 1965. Within a year, he had quit Antioch College to become a fulltime organizer for Students for a Democratic Society.


In 1966 he traveled to Cambodia to meet with high-level leaders of the NLF. In 1967 and 1968 he served as SDS Regional Organizer for New York City. In 1969, he was elected, along with Bill Ayers and Mark Rudd, to SDS national office. Then, in the spring of 1970, he disappeared. As a leader of the Weather Underground, Jeff evaded an intense FBI manhunt for more than a decade. In 1981, they finally got him. Twenty special agents battered down the door of the Bronx apartment where he was living with his wife and four-year-old son.

Jeff Jones serves on the board of MDS.


Jeff Jones right, at the MDS Conference New York City February 2007

Jeff Jones is also a signed up supporter of Progressives for Obama.

Who is Howie Machtinger?

Today Howard Machtinger is director of Teaching Fellows at the University of North Carolina.

According to Frontpage Magazine

Machtinger was on the barricades at Columbia University in 1968 and was one of the founders of the Weather Underground. He co-authored a tome that stated, “At the right moment, revolutionaries within the United States were to wage a ‘people’s war’ and attack from within. The government would fall and ‘world Communism’ would eventually be instituted.” He also spoke about “how the black liberation movement is so far advanced at this point that the only thing left for white revolutionaries is to support blacks by fighting cops as a diversionary tactic.”


Machtinger is not a confirmed member of MDS, but does contribute to Next Left Notes, which is edited by MDS board member and Progressives for Obama endorser Tom Good.

Ayers, Dohrn and Rudd are also Next Left Notes contributors.

Machtinger has signed on as a supporter of progressives for Obama, on the same page incidentally as yet another former Weatherman, Steve Tappis. Further along Jennifer Dohrn-sister of Bernardine Dohrn has also signed up.

Machtinger is also the author of a widely distributed essay entitled Obama and the Left

If we, as a Left, are content to smugly and dismissively critique the Obama phenomenon, we trade self-fulfilling sectarianism for the chance at political impact. A victory for Obama will not only be a boon for the African-American community and for people of color, it will offer a unique opportunity for the development of an organized and aggressive Left movement that retains its independence at the same time that it is willing to risk everyday involvement in the strange world of American politics.

If we just critique, we will miss a moment that may not come again for a while. If our politics are meaningful, effective, and get to the root of problems, we should put them to the test in political work that connects to large numbers of people struggling to find direction in an increasingly dangerous world. Something wonderful is happening. We must be alive to it. I hope we can figure out how to relate to it effectively before we consign ourselves to continued marginalization

Who is Mark Rudd?

Today Mark Rudd is a New Mexico school teacher.

From Mark Rudd's website

As he traveled the country, from the fall of 1968 to the summer of 1969, Mark met many other activists in SDS who were thinking along the same lines as he, that SDS could move from anti-war resistance to full-scale socialist revolution...

White students would reject their “white skin privilege” and actually begin armed struggle against the U.S. government; this, in turn, would attract broad youth support as the struggle increased, following the Cuban model. This theory became fully articulated in a paper presented to the SDS National Convention in Chicago in June, 1969, authored by a collective of eleven, of which Mark was a member. Its title was “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows,” from which Mark’s faction of SDS became known as “The Weathermen.”

That convention proved to be SDS’ last. Following a titanic ideological battle concerning “the correct revolutionary direction,” a split occurred between the Weathermen and allies grouped around the National Office and a competing faction of Maoist Progressive Labor Party members and their allies. When it was all over, Mark found himself elected National Secretary of SDS, along with comrades Billy Ayers as Educational Secretary, and Jeff Jones as Inter-organizational Secretary, and the Weathermen in control of the National Office backed by a small number of chapters around the country...



More from his Mark Rudd's website

A few national SDS leaders had met with Vietnamese and Cubans to find out about their resistance to U.S. imperialism. Out of these meetings came an invitation for SDS to send a group of students to Cuba in January, 1968. Because of his active work with the chapter, Mark was invited by the National Office to join the trip, which was openly defying the U.S. government’s ban on travel to Cuba. He accepted, working out a month-long absence with his professors...

Mark met young Cubans in positions of responsibility such as running schools and farms and medical institutions who were fired up with revolutionary enthusiasm: they were remaking society along non-capitalist lines, creating socialism! Meeting with Vietnamese delegates in Cuba, he learned about the nature of the resistance to American aggression, that these people believed they would inevitably drive the Americans from their country, no matter how long it took. As if to prove their point, the Tet Offensive was raging at the time in Vietnam, giving the lie to the American military’s claims that they were winning the war. His group was told by a Vietnamese diplomat in Havana, “The American people will eventually tire of the war and the troops will have to be withdrawn.”

According to the FBI Mark Rudd's trip to Cuba also involved terrorist training in camps set up by Soviet KGB Colonel Vadim Kotchergine.

Today Mark Rudd serves on the board of MDS.


Mark Rudd addressing the MDS Conference New York City February 2007

Rudd is also an endorser of Progressives For Obama.

Clearly Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are not the only former Weathermen backing the Senator from Illinois.

Add their old comrades Jeff Jones, Howie Machtinger, Mark Rudd and even Steve Tappis to the mix and you are starting to get beyond coincidence.

That former terrorists are working with Marxist groups to elect Barack Obama is beyond doubt.

Should US voters know this?

Obama file 34 here

Shadow World-A MUST Read!

I've been waiting for Robert Chandler's new book for a while.



The Secret War Against America

America is at war and the stakes are huge. The fight is not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is a global contest between the United States, radical Islam, a resurgent Russia, and a virulent New Left that is coming to power in Latin America and stalking the corridors of power around the world, including the United States.

These three enemies of America are separate but they cooperate—and in his stunning new book, Shadow World, Robert Chandler reveals the secret war they're waging against our nation. In Shadow World you’ll learn:

Why “post-Communist” Russia is not really “post-Communist” at all, but represents an insidious new strategic threat to the United States

How “cultural communism” has rejuvenated the radical Left’s prospects around the world

Why American-style democracy is losing out to Castro and Hugo Chavez-style communism in Latin America

How radical Islam has allied itself to the New Left—and why this makes radical Islam even more dangerous than before

Shadow World reveals, in a way no other book has done, the new strategic realities of the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world. Provocative, insightful, thorough, it is essential reading for those who want to see the 21st century as America’s century, and not the century of her enemies.

Regnery Publishing Hardcover - 600 pages (September 2008)

About the Author:

Robert Chandler is a strategist who has worked for the United States Air Force, the White House, the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, and Justice, and the Central Intelligence Agency. A retired Air Force colonel and Vietnam veteran, he holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University. He is the author of numerous articles and four previous books, and is a much sought-after speaker.

PS A little birdie tells me that this blog is credited as a source in Mr Chandler's book.

"Don't Vote Greens" Website Launched

On yer bike Greenie.



If you don't already know why the Greens shouldn't be in Parliament-check out the new Don't Vote Greens website.

Western Alliance

In the UK, Melanie Phillips has another great post on her Spectator Blog "Subversives for Obama", which quotes and credits yours truly.

Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for World Net Daily also has a great article online "Another Weatherman Terrorist a Player in Obama Campaign" which quotes this Blog as a source.

It feels good to be a proud member of the Western Alliance.

Obama File 32 Toxic Trio! Ayers, Davidson, Klonsky Linked to Pro-Obama Organisation

Obama file 31 here

Barack Obama has tried to minimise his relationship to to former Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) activist and Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.


Meanwhile Obama's political opponents have racing the clock to uncover the Senator's links to his radical friend and colleague.

I thought I'd try a different tack. Are there any current links between Ayers and organisations supportive of Obama?

In this post, I revealed that Ayers's wife and fellow former terrorist Bernadine Dohrn was a board member of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS)-an alliance of former SDS members and several Marxist organisations. I proved that Ayers also had ties to MDS and that there was a huge membership overlap between MDS and Progressives for Obama.

This post will confirm Ayers's ties to MDS and his long term and ongoing links to two key pro-Obama activists and former SDS members, Carl Davidson and Mike Klonsky.

Carl Davidson has occasionally commented on this blog, criticising my findings on Obama and his radical ties.

On this post from february this year, another commentor "Spitfire", called Davidson out;

Gee, Carl, why don't you talk a little about your background? ... Make sure you mention your recent relationships with Bill Ayers and Mike Klonsky.

Carl Davidson replied...

Bill and Mike and I have been friends since the SDS days of the 1960s--although Mike and I bitterly opposed the Weatherunderground nonsense back then when it counted... What's silly is the notion that any of us shape the politics of Barack Obama...

Now that that relationship is established, who are Carl Davidson and Mike Klonsky?

Carl Davidson

Carl Davidson served on the MDS board after its founding in August 2006. He serves as webmaster of Progressives for Obama which he helped found with three fellow MDS board members Bill Fletcher jnr, Tom Hayden and Barbara Ehrenreich.

According to Discover the Networks

Davidson is an American Marxist who serves as a national steering committee member of United for Peace and Justice, a field organizer for the Solidarity Economy Network, and co-chair of Chicagoans Against War & Injustice. The latter organization has formed alliances with such groups as the League of Women Voters, Rainbow/PUSH, Citizen Action, People for the American Way, the Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Aiming ultimately to transform the United States into a socialist nation, Davidson advocates the mobilization of "new grassroots majorities required for progressive, systemic change."

In 1960s, Davidson was a national secretary of SDS and a key leader of the anti-Vietnam War campaign. With Tom Hayden, Davidson helped launch, in 1969, the "Venceremos Brigades," which according to Discover the Networks "

...covertly transported hundreds of young Americans to Cuba to help harvest sugar cane and interact with Havana's communist revolutionary leadership. (The Brigades were organized by Fidel Castro's Cuban intelligence agency, which trained "brigadistas" in guerrilla warfare techniques, including the use of arms and explosives.)

After the SDS broke up Davidson became involved in Maoist politics until 1992 when he became a leader of the newly formed Committees of Correspondence (CoC), a Marxist-Leninist coalition of former Maoists, Trotskyists, and former Communist Party USA (CPUSA) members. The organization has since changed its name to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). Davidson remains a prominent figure in CCDS alongside several MDS board members including Noam Chomsky and Manning Marable.

In the mid-1990s Davidson was a leader of the Chicago branch of the New Party, a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials. Most New Party members were also involved in the COC, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), or the militant leftist "community" organization ACORN.

Other leaders of the New Party included later MDS board members Bill Fletcher jnr and Barbara Ehrenreich (both DSA leaders and Progressives for Obama founders)and Noam Chomsky and Manning Marable.

Obama joined the New Party in 1995, before his Illinois State Senate run, where he met Davidson. The New Party publicly endorsed Obama, while Davidson and other Party members helped Obama's campaign.

Wrote Davidson in 2007;

I'm from Chicago … and [I've] known Obama from the time he came to the New Party to get our endorsement for his first race ever…. He said all the right things to the ACORN and New Party folks, and we endorsed him...

In 2002 Davidson and fellow former SDS member (now Obama fundraiser and Progressives for Obama endorser) Marilyn Katz, organised a large Chicago anti War rally where Obama first came out strongly against the Iraq War.

Michael Klonsky

Mike Klonsky joined the MDS board in 2006. Klonsky's father Robert, was a leading activist in the CPUSA. In 1968 Mike Klonsky was the national secretary of SDS and in May 1969 was one of five SDS members arrested when police raided SDS offices in Chicago.

In late 1969, Klonsky founded the October League, a a pro-Mao communist organisation which in 1977 became the Communist Party, Marxist-Leninist (CP-ML). Klonsky chaired the CP-ML which was recognised by the Chinese Communist Party as their US fraternal party. Klonsky made several trips to China beginning in July 1977, where he was feted by Communist Chinese officials.


1978 CP-ML poster, Klonsky's name bottom left

In 1991, Klonsky co-founded the Small Schools Workshop in Chicago with Bill Ayers

The Workshop was given at least $175,000 by Chicago's Annenberg Challenge. This organisation was chaired by Barack Obama, who had been recruited for the job by a group which included Bill Ayers.

Until June this year Klonsky ran a Blog on Obama's campaign website.


It was pulled at very short notice after adverse publicity began surfacing on the blogosphere.

Unlike several MDS board members, Mike Klonsky DID NOT endorse the Progressives for Obama campaign.

However his wife Susan and his brother Fred (both former SDS members) did.

In November 2007 MDS held a "Convergence" in Chicago.



Speakers included Manning Marable (MDS chairman, Obama supporter, CCDS, DSA), Mark Rudd (MDS board and Progressives for Obama, former SDS/Weather Underground), Marilyn Katz, Mike James (MDS board, Progressives for Obama, former SDS), Paul Buhle (DSA, Progressives for Obama, former SDS), Al Haber (founder of SDS), Franklin Rosemont (former SDS), Tom Good (MDS board, Progressives for Obama) and Muhammad Ahmad aka Max Stanford, a former leader of the SDS aligned black militant organisation- Revolutionary Action Movement.

Of course Davidson, Klonsky and Ayers were also present.


Carl Davidson with Kathy Kelly


Mike James left, Franklin Rosemont, Mike Klonsky, Muhammad Ahmad

Bill Ayers as usual was a star, one of the few speakers whose thoughts were committed to video.

Part 1



Note Ayers's reference to MDS as "our work". Note his enthusiasm for building alliances and using the US elections to enlists "hundreds of thousands" of young people to his cause. Also note refence to Rashid Khalidi, an MDS linked, pro-Palestinian activist, a close friend of Barack Obama.

Part 2



Note Ayers's chiding of Obama for adopting centrist positions. Note reference to Progressives for Obama founder Tom Hayden's call for Obama to stay true to his anti-Iraq War position.

All of this is completely in line with MDS and Progressives for Obama strategy.

It is clear that the movement behind both organisations is not new. It has roots in the SDS of the '60s, the New Party of the '90s and leading strands of the American Marxist movement. Davidson, Klonsky and Ayers have all played significant roles-sometimes seemingly in concert.

The Davidson, Klonsky, Ayers "Toxic Trio" have all put their lives into the communist movement. They have all paved the way for Obama's political advancement.

What do these committed activists expect from Obama in return for their considerable investment?

Obama File 33 here

Invest in an "Investigate"

Lay down your $7.99 for the latest issue of Investigate. Have a good read, become better informed and support the cause of freedom.



Guess who has an article starting on page 36?

Cuba Courts South Pacific Micro States

From the Cuban News Agency

HAVANA, Cuba, Sept 17 Cuba and 10 island-states of the Pacific region strengthened their cooperation and friendship ties after the conclusion in Havana on Tuesday of the First Bilateral Ministerial Meeting that took place at the Palco hotel.


Speaking on behalf of the visiting delegations, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Apisai Lelemia, noted that climate change and the world food crisis are the real threats today for the host country and these small island-states...

After urging participants to speak as a bloc in all international forums, Lelemia praised the strength with which Cuba faces the economic, financial and trade blockade imposed by successive US administrations for almost half a century.

He added that the island-states of the Pacific region support the UN resolution that, for the past 16 years, has condemned this blockade and has demanded its immediate end.

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu also thanked Cuba for its social and economic cooperation and mainly for the scholarships granted to youths from those countries who are being trained as doctors in Cuba...

For his part, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque stressed that, although all the countries of the South face similar threats and challenges, it is the small developing island-states the ones that suffer the most when faced by negative phenomena such as climate change and the world food crisis.

“Cuba is a country that is under an economic blockade and which does not have financial resources to share with you. However, we offer you our most valuable treasure: our human capital,” Perez Roque said.

Participants in the event agreed to hold the second meeting of this kind in 2011 in Havana and also to hold a meeting of Foreign Ministers next year in the venue of the United Nations in New York. They also agreed to create a working group to monitor the implementation of the main agreements of this first meeting.

Also on Tuesday, Perez Roque held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Nauru, Salomon Islands and Fiji Islands.

The event was also attended by the President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, and official representatives from Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, Micronesia and Papua New-Guinea.

Green Party File 7 Heil Hague

Green Party File 6 here

At number 7 on the Green Party list, Kevin Hague, Chief Executive of the West Coast District Health Board has a fair chance of making it to Parliament.



Which must be good because according to his Green Party comrades;

Kevin brings significant practical skill, experience and resourcefulness combined with a personal passion. He is powerfully motivated through his sense of urgency over the survival of our planet.

At Auckland Universirty in the late '70s, Hague became active in the anti-Apartheid movement and went on to join Halt All Racist Tours (HART). The organisation was led at the time by Maoists (Workers Communist League) pro-Albanian Stalinists (Communist Party) and anarchists.

In 1980, Hague was president of the Auckland University Students Association, also known at the time for its links to pro-Mao militants.

In the mid 80s, Hague served as HART "education" officer. That led him into "Treaty" work. Hague just loves the Treaty of Waitangi. In the late 80s Hague was involved in the extreme left wing group, Pakeha Treaty Action and even co-wrote a book entitled "Honour the Treaty."

Gay activism is another big feature of Hague's career.

Hague served as a research officer for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation from as 1988-1993 and as Executive Director from 1998-2003. He was involved in the Homosexual Law Reform campaign in the mid '80s (good) and the subsequent successful campaign for anti-discrimination legislation (very, very bad).

Hague was co-chair of the 1989 National Gay and Lesbian Conference and helped organise the first Hero Party and that landmark in our nation's history-National Penis Day.

Unfortunately, like many Greens Herr Hague is a bit of a "banner". He seems to love stopping people from doing things he doesn't agree with.

Firstly Hague was one of the mob that invaded the rugby pitch at Hamilton, during the 1981 Springbok Tour, causing the game to be abandoned.

Secondly Hague was involved in the team that stopped the 1985 All Black tour to South Africa.

Thirdly his Green Party bio lists as one of Hague's achievements...Wait for it...this is re-e-e-e-e-ally impressive...

Kevin led the successful campaign to shut down the Auckland Star, following homophobic editorials...

According to an interview with GayNZ

Both the Human Rights Act and Auckland Star campaigns were really satisfying because we had good strategy and we succeeded...

Hague finds closing down a newspaper which opposed his own viewpoints "really satisfying". He seems really proud of this. Never mind the jobs lost or the free speech implications. Never mind Aucklanders losing their evening paper.

The Greens describe this as an "achievement". This says as much about the Greens as it does about Hague.

What will this guy do if he ever gets any real power?

Who wants to take the chance?

Green Party File 8 here

Aesthetic Anaesthesia

Beauty is a great painkiller. We all know that, but its nice to see some science behind the theory.


From Maxim Institute's Real Issues

"the plainest part of it"

Research has emerged from the University of Bari in Italy showing a connection between pain relief and beautiful art. The study by Dr Marina de Tommaso looked at the link between people's responses to pain and their contemplation of art. When people were looking at art they found beautiful, they experienced substantially less pain than when the same painful stimuli was given to them while looking at art they found ugly. The research demonstrates a clear connection between aesthetic beauty and pain relief, reminding us that the human being is complex and interconnected...

This research builds on what has been known for a long time. Diversional therapy is a field that is dedicated solely to the notion that distracting a person's attention away from their pain or anxieties makes life more pleasant. However this study goes further by showing that beauty is not merely a distraction, rather it changes the level of pain a person actually experiences. This has implications for the way patients suffering pain are treated. Whilst medication can be useful in treating pain, it may also be helpful for aesthetics and beauty to be incorporated into the way that hospitals are built and patients are treated.

It also has more general implications for the way life is understood, beckoning us towards an understanding of health as intrinsically connected to what is often termed our "quality of life." It seems that health is about more than just survival, it is shaped by the environments that a person is a part of and the beauty that they do or do not see around them.

Shudder!

Imagine finally being rid of Winston only to get this fool back.



Hat Tip KiwiBlog

"This Election is About Trust"-Helen Clark

Obama File 31 Grey Power! Ageing Texan Radicals for Obama

Obama File 30 here

In my last post (link above)I looked at the links between Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) and Progressives for Obama (PFO).

Both organisations link former members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and its terrorist splinter Weather Underground, with Marxists from the Communist Party USA, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and Democratic Socialists of America.

All of these groups are using their influence in the Democratic Party, media, unions, churches, academia, protest organisations and social movements to make Barack Obama the next president of the USA.

This post looks at two MDS activists from Texas, Thorne Dreyer and David Hamilton.

Both are former members of the original SDS and are endorsers of the Progressives for Obama website.


Thorne Dreyer, second from left, former Weather Underground terrorist, Progressives for Obama endorser and MDS board member Mark Rudd, centre, braces, David Hamilton, right, at the MDS Convergence, Chicago November 2007

Dreyer and Hamilton are very active MDS members and have made their Austin Texas branch, one of the most active in the US.


The Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) is a multi-issue activist organization affiliated with the newly revived Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Many of its members are veterans of the New Left in the 60's and 70's. The goal of MDS is the creation of a more egalitarian society in both the political and economic spheres. MDS believes in participatory democracy, the expansion of human rights, universal healthcare, the rejection of discrimination based on race, gender or sexual preference, the preservation of the earth's environment, the expansion of workers' rights, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and the rejection of militarism and war as a way of resolving differences among peoples and nations.

Both men are dedicated, practical supporters of Barack Obama. Hamilton has served as an Obama delegate at a Travis County Democratic Convention.

Both believe that Obama, is like them, a socialist and that an Obama presidency would place more socialists in key governmental positions. They believe that communist/socialist/Democratic Party unity is necessary to elect Obama and to change society. They accept that Obama will have to lie about his true beliefs in order to get elected.

They're OK with that.

Excerpts from Hamilton and Dreyer's Rag Blog 23rd March 2008

Graphic in the original

Most of the activists I work with in Austin, those of us in MDS/Austin... and other progressive groups, have chosen to support and, in many cases to actively participate in the campaign of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, for a number of reasons. For this writer at least, those reasons include the following:

We find Barack Obama to be sincerely left-leaning and personally inspiring, and believe him worthy of trust, with the requisite reservations. We see the massive and enthusiatic and largely radical-leaning movement that his campaign has engendered to be a surprisingly positive sign in a largely lethargic times, and at the very least a fertile ground for future activism...

We believe the election of a progressive Democrat at this time in history would result in a quick end to the tragic War in Irag, the introduction of such progressive measures as universal (or virtually universal) health care, and would produce judicial and other governmental appointments that would make a very real difference in people's lives.

This would result in real, tangible changes in the lives of struggling lower income citizens, of racial minorities, of those rotting in jail because of race or victimless crimes, and, significantly, of oppressed peoples in other parts of the world.

And, taking into account that both major parties, in the long haul, represent similar if not identical vested interests, we believe that the Republicans, with their corporate masters, with their oppressive and mean-spirited politics at times verging on the neo-fascist, must be stopped.

It is of critical importance that we never latch on to a political candidate in this electoral system and herald him or her as some kind of a savior. Bottom line, the problems in this country are not based in who runs the system. The system itself is the problem. The shameful disparity in distribution of wealth between the obscenely rich and those left to struggle for their daily needs.

All that taken into account, we believe that there is much to like about Barack Obama, and that there are substantial and valid reasons to work for his election.

Thorne Dreyer



In 1936, the French Communist Party ended years of conflict with the French Socialist Party and established a united front that elected Leon Blum as the first socialist prime minister of France. That united front passed reforms that have characterized the socialist aspect of French society ever since.

I am not a Democrat. I have not voted for the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party since 1972 and have not participated in their primary process since the Jackson campaign of 1988.

I support Barack Obama enthusiastically. I do not do so because I don’t find things to criticize in what he says. I do so because, to a much greater degree than any other major party politician, I trust him. I trust him to do what he promises and talk to our supposed “enemies” instead of threaten them. In that, there is the kernel of the rejection of the militarism that is intrinsic to US imperialism...

I expect to be disappointed. I expect to have to criticize him and exert pressure on him from the left. I also expect him to make statements in order to get elected that I disagree with. But this time, I see a chance for a transformational figure who might just change the course of US history and I’m taking that chance...

Purists who reject him have no alternative other that “build an anti-imperialist movement." That is a false dichotomy. In November, hopefully you will have the opportunity to vote for Barack Obama for president. The ideal anti-imperialist won’t be on the ballot. Relate to that reality. He may disappoint somewhere along the way, but he is by far the best major party candidate I’ve ever seen.

David Hamilton

Thorne Dreyer and David Hamilton are not MDS bosses. They are not in the league of Bernardine Dohrn, Mark Rudd, Bill Fletcher, Tom Hayden, Carl Davidson, Robin DG Kelley, Charlene Mitchell or Gerald Horne.

They are good soldiers, working hard for Barack Obama and the revolution.

Obama file 32 here

On the Ayers/Obama Connection

A Story of Courage From the "New" South Africa

Thanks to "Snowy" White

Obama File 30 Former Terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn Involved in Key Pro-Obama Organisation

Obama File 29 here


In 1995 former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn helped launch Barack Obama's political career at a small function in their Chicago home.

Bill Ayers also hired Obama to head the Annanberg Challenge, a $50 million fund which enabled Obama to fund organisations which could enhance his political career.

Later Ayers worked with Obama on the board of the Woods Fund, together doling out millions to leftist causes.

Obama has consistently tried to minimise his relationship with Ayers and Dohrn. The couple themselves, seem intent on maintaining a low profile-until at least after the election. Both parties realise that Obama's opponents will seize on any links to Ayers and Dorhn in order to discredit the Senator.

But are Ayers and Dohrn really out of the picture? Could they still be helping their friend from "underground"?

I recently profiled Progressives for Obama (PFO). Founded earlier this year, PFO unites all the main leftist currents behind the Obama campaign-the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the CPUSA offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS), Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)and former members of the '60s radical organisation Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)and its terrorist splinter group Weather Underground Organisation.

PFO aims to not only put Obama in the White House, but to build a huge united "progressive" movement that can force the new President to move America massively to the left. The influence of the CPUSA on the Roosevelt administration that produced the "New Deal" and the pressure of the CPUSA and SDS/New Left that pressured Johnson into the great social changes of the '60s are the model for this new movement.

But this begs the question. Who founded Progressives for Obama?

In early 2006, a group of former SDS members and sympathisers, led by DSA activist Paul Buhle joined with some a new generation of college students to re-found Students For a Democratic Society. The movement now has over 130 chapters across the USA.

More importantly Buhle and co also founded an SDS support group for older activists-Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). SDS is the muscle behind the new protest movement and was very prominent in the recent violence at the Republican National Convention at St Paul Minnesota. MDS is the brains behind the SDS brawn


A review of the 2006 MDS board reveals some interesting connections.

Elliott Adams-leader of the CPUSA front Veterans for Peace

Senia Barragan-(Student Representative)-new SDS

David Barsamian-a leftist brodcaster with close ties to Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky-Well known linguist, writer and activist. A member of both DSA and the CCDS Advisory Board.

Carl Davidson-A founder member of SDS, later a Maoist ativist before becoming a leader of CCDS in 1992.

Bernardine Dohrn

Bill Fletcher Jr-A former Maoist. A leader of DSA and the AFL-CIO

Bert Garskof-Involved with SDS the 60s, a close friend of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

David Graeber-Former member of the SDS, turned anarchist.

Tom Hayden-Founder and leader of the SDS

Gerald Horne-A member of the editorial board of Political Affairs, theoretical journal of the CPUSA.

Michael James-A former member of SDS

Robin DG Kelley- A former member of the Communist Workers Party, more recently close to CPUSA.

Michael Klonsky-Son of CPUSA member Robert Klonsky. A former member of SDS, who later led the pro-Chinese, Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist). Mike Klonsky works closely with Bill Ayers on educational projects.

Ethelbert Miller-Chairman of the board of the notoriously leftist and Cuban linked Washington based think tank, Institute for Policy Studies.

Charlene Mitchell-A leader of CCDS, former high ranking member of CPUSA.

Michael Rossman (deceased)-A Californian New Leftist, with close ties to SDS.

Mark Rudd-A former leader of the SDS and the Weather Underground.

Howard Zinn-A well known Marxist historian.

The connections between those listed above, Obama and Progressives for Obama are many fold.

Carl Davidson worked closely with Obama in Chicago in the mid '90s and with another former SDS activist Marilyn Katz organised the famous 2002 peace rally in Chicago where Obama first came out publicly against the Iraq War. Davidson is the webmaster for the Progressives for Obama website.

Bert Garskof is active in the Obama campaign in Connecticutt. He recently wrote this comment on the website Foreign Policy in Focus.

We must realize that the only way to hold Obama, as President, to the progressive agenda is to maintian and build the grass-roots state/County organizations that were built only to elect him...We must remember that the most significant progressive changes have only been instituted into law after grass-roots activism forced the issue...we can maintain our more progressive values and work as organizers within the grass-roots election campaigns.

We need to convince the new people and the many veterans of electoral wars that this is a unique opportnity. we can create 2-way communication with the People's President - truly make him the People's President if we create methods and structures that work to connect in an on-going way - the President, his staff and grass-roots Obama groups for discussion of what the grass-roots thinks and wants.

Gerald Horne, an historian who has studied the Hawaiian Communist Party-was first to publicly reveal the connection between Barack Obama and his boyhood mentor, secret CPUSA member Frank Marshall Davis.

Mike Klonsky was a blogger on Obama's website until negative publicity forced his withdrawl. Klonsky's brother Fred and wife Susan are both listed as endorsers of the Progressives for Obama website.

Bill Fletcher was the initiator of the Progressives For Obama project which he co-founded with Tom Hayden. The other two founders of PFO were writer Barbara Ehrenreich, who is a member of both DSA and MDS and actor/activist Danny Glover who is close to some DSA members.

Mike James, Robin DG Kelley and Mark Rudd are all listed as endorsers of the Progressives for Obama website.

A quick trawl of the internet reveals several other MDS linked activists listed as endorsing Progressives for Obama.

They include MDS founders Paul Buhle and Thomas Good (a former communist turned anarchist who has referred to himself as an "unrepentant Weather supporter."), Texan former SDS activists David Hamilton and Thorne Dreyer, Chicago based Obama fundraiser Marilyn Katz, Marxist academics Rosalynn Baxandall and Immanuel Wallerstein, plus Cornel West, an academic and DSA member who refers to Obama as his "comrade."

Another interesting turn-up is Rashid Khalidi, nominated unsuccessfully for the MDS board. Khalidi was a close friend of Obama's from his time in Chicago in the 90s. Khalidi has been accused of ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and has written for the pro-Obama, Chicago based DSA/IPS linked journal "In These Times".



Three of the four founders of Progressives For Obama, Bill Fletcher, Tom Hayden and Barbara Ehrenreich have served on the MDS board, as has the PFO webmaster Carl Davidson. Several MDS activists are endorsers of PFO.

Obviously, Progressives for Obama is an MDS creation.

While Bernardine Dohrn's high level role as an MDS board member is clear, Bill Ayers's is less so.

From the MDS website

Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) held its first national convergence at Loyola University, from November 8 through 11 (2007)with the participation of the newly inspired SDS, Students for a Democratic Society.

One of the events listed is;

10 am-10:50 am Room 412 Resisting Endless War: Tom Good, Elaine Brower, Bill Ayers

Below are four Youtube videos of Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers speaking at an November 2007 SDS reunion at Michigan State University.

Note Dorhn's reference to the new SDS and MDS. Note references to the overthrow of capitalism, visits to Chavez's Venezuela and building a "new movement".
These people are still revolutionaries.









Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are involved in an organisation uniting three Marxist parties, a host of '60s radicals and terrorists and a new generation of militant activists.

That organisation has spawned a spin-off organisation specifically designed to put Barack Obama in the White House and to bring about massive social change across the US.

Ayers and Dohrn helped launch Barack Obama's political career. Do they guide it still?

Obama File 31 here

ACT Facts

From ACT Party newsletter ACTION

What should I tell my friends about MMP..
Look lets be honest its a complicated system and there is an awful lot of half-truths, mistruths and downright nonsense peddled about MMP. And a lot of people are too embarrassed to admit that they havent a clue how it works. So they could fail to vote effectively.

Tell your friends the facts.

Tell them Rodney Hide is going to win Epsom.

Thats a fact. You can take it to the bank.

Because Rodney is going to win Epsom every percentage of the Party vote that is cast for ACT wins us more MPs. A vote for ACT is the same as a vote for National. A vote for either changes the government.

Thats a fact.

You can rely on it. Totally

The 5% threshold does not apply when Rodney wins Epsom. And he will win it. Thats a fact.

Whats the guts
1% of the Party vote gives ACT 2 MPs
2% of the Party vote gives ACT 3 MPS
3% of the Party vote gives ACT 4 MPS
4% of the Party vote gives ACT 5 MPS
5% of the Party vote gives ACT 6 MPS
6% of the Party vote gives ACT 7 MPS
7% of the Party vote gives ACT 8 MPS
8% of the Party vote gives ACT 9 MPS
9% of the Party vote gives ACT 10 MPS
10% of the Party vote gives ACT 12 MPS

Tell everybody you know that every party vote for ACT really does count?

Remember, only ACT policies can fix New Zealand.

Cuba Moves on Pacific Micro-States

From the International Transport Workers' Federation

Cuba and Kiribati Increase Cooperation in Health Sector

The document was signed in Havana by Cuban Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer and by his Kiribati counterpart, Riteti Maninraka, in a ceremony that was presided over by Anote Tong, President of this small island-state of the Pacific.


The Cuban official said that the agreement reaffirms the close bilateral ties of friendship and the commitment of both governments to continue strengthening cooperation.

“We are sister nations, two small islands facing big challenges,” Balaguer stressed.

As a result of this new agreement, the Cuban medical brigade in Kiribati, which arrived there in 2006, will increase its number from 15 to 25 health professionals and even to 32 if circumstances allow it.

Cuba and Kiribati established diplomatic relations in September 2002 and their ties have strengthened ever since.

Since 2006, as part of a new program to train health professionals in Cuba, a school for youths from small island-states of the Pacific is operating. There are currently 20 students from Kiribati being trained as doctors there, as well as two from Nauru, 25 from Salomon Islands and 17 from Vanuatu.

The President of Kiribati was in Cuba participating in the First Cuba-Pacific Islands Ministerial Meeting that concluded in Havana and which served to strengthen cooperation ties between Cuba and 10 small island-states from the Pacific region.

Hat Tip Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Obama File 29 Senior US Socialist Jose LaLuz, Manipulates Latino Vote for Obama

Obama File 28 here

The Communist Party USA has been working hard to muster the crucial Latino vote for Barack Obama for many months.

Now Obama's other key Marxist ally, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is trying to manipulate the must win Latino vote through their Chairmanship of Latinos for Obama.



According to the Communist Party USA's Peoples Weekly World.

Latino Voters Key to Obama Win in Battleground States

The historic Nov. 4th presidential election is less than two months away, and a monumental battle is heating up in a few crucial swing states, as some nine million Latino voters prepare to cast their ballot, which could be the deciding factor for an Obama win.

Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in the U.S. at 15 percent of the population and represent nine percent of eligible voters. But many agree the Latino vote could be the key bloc that could lead to an Obama victory, especially in battleground states where Latinos make up at least 10 percent of the voting population...

Latino voters represent 35 percent of the electorate in New Mexico, 11 percent in Colorado, 12 percent in Nevada and 14 percent in Florida. According to the poll Obama is expected to win the majority of Latino voters in California, which is the state with the largest Latino population...

In New Mexico, Obama leads McCain 56 percent to 23 percent among Latino voters. Among non-Latino voters McCain leads 50 percent to 34 percent.

In Colorado, Obama has a 56 percent lead over McCain’s 26 percent among Latinos. And among non-Latino voters Obama has a narrow 45 percent lead over McCain’s 41 percent.

In Nevada, Obama leads McCain at 62 percent to 20 percent among Latinos. Yet McCain leads among non-Latino voters at 46 percent to 37 percent.

Jose LaLuz is the chairperson for Latinos for Obama and is campaigning in Colorado and New Mexico registering, educating and mobilizing voters until Election Day. He is also the director of the Leadership Academy with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union.

LaLuz spoke with the Peoples Weekly World during an AFL-CIO labour forum at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“Well over 60 percent of Latino voters are supporting Obama – closer to 66 percent now, ...The right wing is pulling all its dirty tricks even in the Latino community. We all realize that Bush used appeals to ‘family values,’ religion and the sanctity of marriage, etc. to get white workers and Reagan Democrats to back him last time...Well they are using the same stuff, the same tactics in the Latino communities. When you combine this with their attention on swing states we find they are waging an especially big push against Obama in the Mexican and Chicano communities in Colorado and New Mexico...”

LaLuz explained his tactics to the Peoples Weekly World;

"The Obama campaign is working in both New Mexico and Colorado, among other states, telling Latino voters about McCain’s terrible stands on the economy and about the horrible role Republicans have played and continue to play on immigration... “We are showing how the companies and outfits that exploit Latino workers are the people behind McCain,”

Between now and Election Day LaLuz said that the Obama campaign is registering voters in New Mexico and Colorado and developing lists of tens of thousands of Latino supporters for Obama.

“Those lists will constitute the people we bring out on Election Day.”

The Peoples Weekly World went on to say;

President Bush won 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2004, a key factor in his win. Even though John Kerry lost Ohio then, many Democrats feel if Kerry had won Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, he would be president today. Things have changed since then and the margin of victory is in the Latino vote, particularly in these states, respectively, Democrats say. Polls across the country concur and find that Latinos are fed up with the Bush administration and the Republican Party represented by McCain and see Obama as the person to change course for the better.

Who is Jose LaLuz? Why has he left his Puerto Rican base to campaign across the Southwest for Barack Obama?



In the early 1970s Jose LaLuz was active in the Connecticutt branch of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP). Allied to Castro's Cuba, the Marxist-Leninist PSP agitated for Puerto Rican independence and committed several bombings and other terrorist acts on US soil.

LaLuz was expelled from the PSP in 1976 and went on to to join the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC)the following year. He became Chairman of the Hispanic Commission of DSOC, before the merger with the New American Movement that created DSA in 1983.

Like many in the DSOC/DSA LaLuz also supported the CPUSA initiated and dominated US Peace Council-an affiliate of the Soviet front World Peace Council.

LaLuz rose through labour movement ranks and today serves as Executive Director of Servidores Publicos Unidos de Puerto Rico/AFSCME (United Public Employees of Puerto Rico).

Jose LaLuz is also Vice Chair of the several thousand strong DSA, making him one of the most influential socialists in America.


Like many DSA linked unionists backing Obama,La Luz has ties to the Chicago socialists who have supported Barack Obama since his earliest days in the "Windy City". The photo at right pictures La Luz addressing a DSA sponsored 1992 dinner in Chicago.


The 34th Annual Dinner was held on May 1, 1992 at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. The Master of Ceremonies was Michael Lighty, who was then the Executive Director of DSA. Sue Purrington, the Executive Director of Chicago NOW, and Dr. Quentin Young, President of Physicians for a National Health Program, were the honorees. The featured speaker was Jose La Luz, who was the National Education Director of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.

DSA member Quentin Young incidentally, is a long time neighbour, friend and supporter of Barack Obama. Young attended the famed 1995 gathering in Chicago with US Peace Council activist Alice Palmer, in the home of former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn.

Bernadine Dohrn was one of the first radicals to travel to Castro's Cuba with one of the early Venceremos Brigades. Some of Quentin Young's children are also Brigade veterans.

Jose LaLuz might struggle to win the patriotic Cuban American vote for Obama, if they knew how many Castroites had helped launch the good Senator's career.

Obama File 30 here

Maoists Attack VUWSA Stronghold

Apparently inspired by the success of their Maoist comrades in Nepal, New Zealand's own "peoples liberation army", the Workers Party are attempting to storm the Victoria University Wellington Students Association.

Current Maoist president Joel Cosgrove is finishing his term as Great Helmsman, but four sturdy comrades stand ready to run the Peoples Republic of Kelburn.

The four Workers Party comrades standing for VUWSA positions are

Jasmine Freemantle - President

Marika Pratley - General Exec

Sam Oldham - General Exec

Jonathon King - Publications Rep


Left Joel Cosgrove, Jonathon King, Jasmine Freemantle, Marika Pratley, right Sam Oldham

Jasmine Freemantle is an assistant Lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies and is in her final year of a PhD in Gender and Women’s Studies.

In 2008 Jasmine introduced GEND209: Activism: Reform, Revolution and Dissent, a special topic paper which explores the role and representation of women activists and gendered critiques of activism.

If elected Jasmine Freemantle will be the third Workers Party president at VUWSA in four years.

This harks back to the '70s and early '80s when the Maoists and the Workers Communist League ran VUWSA almost uninterrupted for fifteen odd years.

Must be all those dopey young sons and daughters of bludging civil servants so common in Wellington.

2006 VUWSA president Nick Kelly has recently become president of the Wellington Tramways union, so the job is clearly a stepping stone to even greater arenas of revolutionary struggle.

Morally Bankrupt PM Hits New Low In Politics

ACT MP Heather Roy vents her well justified disgust at Helen Clark.

Prime Minister Helen Clark's comparison of hypothetical body counts between a Labour and National Government's decision to deploy troops to Iraq represents an all-time low in politics, and in the personal standards of her worn-out and bitter remnant of a Party once proud to stand for ordinary decent Kiwis, ACT National Security Spokesman Heather Roy said today.

"This is a woman who jeered our soldiers leaving for Vietnam and then offered them an apology in Parliament this year without ever once saying 'sorry'," Mrs Roy said.

"Then, she claimed she had grown wiser since her student days - yesterday, she proved otherwise and revealed her real view of the many brave past and present New Zealanders who serve their country: that, to her, they are mere pawns to be used for political gain.

"Miss Clark is guilty of a reprehensible and immoral political comparison that will echo worldwide and shock good leaders everywhere. Her 'back of an envelope' justification is an insult to the US, to whom we owe a debt from WWII that we can never repay. A nation's sacrifice is nothing to her but an election gimmick complete with photo opportunities

"If there is any truth to what Miss Clark said, she should look to the abysmal state of our defences under the first Labour Government and consider how differently 2NZEF might have fared in Iraq without the rhetoric that has again been heard from her coalition since 1999.

"This morally bankrupt Prime Minister does NOT speak on behalf of all politicians - good MPs do not share her musings, and do not want Parliament brought into disrepute through such thoughtless commentary.

"On behalf of the thousands of Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Customs, Fisheries and Emergency Service personnel who risk their lives but must suffer this insult in silence - and hundreds of thousands of RSA members and their families - I urge ALL Party Leaders and Ministers to distance themselves from Miss Clark's statement. She must unreservedly apologise and prevent Kiwis from losing what little respect they have left for the political process," Mrs Roy said.

Hear bloody hear!

UK Journalist Melanie Phillips, Picks Up Obama/Communism Story

Coo-o-o-l.


Highly respected British journalist and author (Londonistan) Melanie Phillips has written a very good post on Barack Obama's communist connections on her Spectatator Blog

It even credits yours truly and my US colleague Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media.

Camp Obama is resorting to ever more outrageous attempts to silence the questions that are mounting about the past associations of the saviour of the planet. Given the sheer volume of information that is now available and the deeply disturbing questions this all poses, the astounding reluctance of the mainstream US media to ask those questions is a scandal which has itself become a major political issue.

Thanks in large measure to the work of bloggers such as Trevor Loudon and Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media, information has been around for the past year suggesting that Barack Obama is an integral part of a web of radical activists, whose roots go back to a clandestine Communist Party network in Hawaii centering upon his erstwhile mentor the late black poet Frank Marshall Davis, an agent of the Communist Party USA...

Melanie Phillips pulls no punches. Definitely worth a read.

I've long been a Melanie Phillips fan. This confirms it.

With Friends Like These, Who Needs....?

The Butchers of Beijing want to be our friends.

From the Chinese National Peoples Congress website

New Zealand speaker meets China's NPC vice chairwoman on bilateral issues


Margaret Wilson (R), speaker of New Zealand's House of Representatives, meets with Yan Junqi, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, in Wellington, New Zealand, Sept. 11, 2008.

New Zealand Parliament Speaker Margaret Wislon met here on Thursday with Yan Junqi, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC) to exchanged views on bilateral issues.

Yan said the Chinese government attaches importance to further developing bilateral ties and is ready to conduct dialogue, strengthen cooperation with New Zealand.

Nepal's Road to Communism

Nepal has fallen to pro-Chinese Maoist communists.

This has grave implications for near neighbour Bhutan, which has also recently come under Maoist attack.

India, a third of whose territory is plagued by Maoist insurrection, will almost certainly suffer an upsurge of revolutionary violence.

Excerpted from the Australian Marxist-Leninist journal Links


September 3, 2008 -- In his first interview since he became Nepal's prime minister, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal ``Prachanda'' spoke to Rabindra Mishra of BBC's Nepali Service about the strategies of his new government.

BBC In the past Maoist leaders had vowed not to keep any private property. They handed over their private properties to the party. Now, what will you do to your salary that you will be drawing as prime minister?

Prachanda That (money) will go to the country and the people. It will be deposited in the party treasury. Except some amount for the general upkeep, the salary will be deposited in the party treasury.

BBC Then, how can one be assured of the right to private property under your government when you are yourself are not keeping private property?

Prachanda We do not believe that private property should be abolished. But we believe that the leadership must keep away from making money to ensure that the properties of the people are protected and promoted.

BBC What three things you will do in the next three months that will make a difference to the people?

Prachanda First, a special committee will be announced to facilitate the integration (of the army) and rehabilitation within six months as part of moves to take the peace process to a logical conclusion. Second, the process of constitution making will be expedited in three months. Third, programs to provide immediate and long-term relief will be announced.

BBC Given that the army integration is being seen as a very sensitive issue will you let the current army chief General Rookmangud Katawal complete his tenure?

Prachanda The demand of the time is to exercise maximum restraint. The country will suffer by any move that breeds bitterness at this juncture.

BBC So the suspicions about the army chief being sacked are misplaced? He will not be sacked, will he?

Prachanda That will not happen. As long as everyone including the army, the police and the other officials remain committed to the people's mandate on democracy, peace and change, no one needs to feel insecure. There will be no prejudice against any.

BBC How will you handle the army integration? The Nepali Army seems to have its own ideas about this. How will you merge your combatants into the national army?

Prachanda Now that I have become prime minister I have been travelling with the army security. I have found a serious commitment and sense of responsibility in the Nepali soldiers. I don't think that we will face any problem in taking this (integration) process to a conclusion.

BBC Among the 20,000 Maoist combatants in the cantonments, how many will be accommodated into the Nepali Army. What happens to the rest?

Prachanda The PLA combatants who are staying in the cantonments and who have been verified by the United Nations are all eligible for rehabilitation and integration. According to our latest understanding each and every PLA combatant will be given the freedom to choose whether he/she wants to return home or engage in other professions. Therefore, I am not in a position to say how many PLA combatants will be integrated and how many of them will return home.

BBC How long will the ex-King Gyanendra be allowed to stay in the Nagarjuna palace?

Prachanda We are discussing this matter. The cabinet has just been expanded. It will take up the issue soon.

BBC Do you ever feel that you hands are stained with blood?

Prachanda Sometimes in the event of grave mistakes on our part, I was emotional. But what is more important is the great process of transformation and the class, ethnic, regional and gender consciousness which have come about through our movement. So I do not feel the need to repent.

BBC Would you have visited China first if it had not hosted the Olympic Games?

Prachanda Let's not get into hypothetical questions. Since China is our neighbour and since we could not attend the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics I went there for the closing ceremony. Anyway, it would not have been easier for me to go there first if there had been no Olympic.

BBC Since China is the land of your inspiration Mao Zedong, you must have harboured wishes to travel there?

Prachanda I would be lying if I said no.

BBC You used to claim that different power centres were blocking your ascent to power. Have you defeated those centres now?

Prachanda I cannot use the same language as I am prime minister now. I have said on many occasions that had any other party won the election, nothing would have stopped the formation of a new government within a week. It took four months for us.

BBC There are two schools of thoughts within your party -- one favouring the people's republic and the other favouring the democratic republic. Which one will prevail?

Prachanda That is not the case. There is no illusion within our party regarding our ultimate goal of establishing a socialist communism. However, in the current national and international circumstances, we have decided to move ahead by institutionalising the federal democratic republic.

BBC So, you want to establish a people's republic by means of the state of the democratic republic?

Prachanda We will definitely attempt to establish a people's republic by institutionalising democratic republic and through the legitimate means like elections. Once we attain that, we will then work to achieve socialism and communism.

BBC Will there be a people's republic if your party wins a majority in the next election?

Prachanda Let's not understand this in a provocative manner. We will definitely try our best to ensure that the new constitution will be as close to the ideal of people's republic as possible. I believe that the constitution would pave the way for a people's republic, socialism and communism.

BBC How can it pave the way for communism when you have said there will be guarantees of all kinds of political freedom?

Prachanda We have concluded that socialism without multiparty competition and political freedoms cannot survive. We have learned this from the experiences of Russia and other countries.

BBC What are you talking about, socialism or communism?

Prachanda I am talking about socialism. A lively society can be built only if there are political freedoms and competitions within socialism. Communism is something like a heaven where there is neither a class nor a state nor an army. It will take hundreds of years to reach there.

BBC How long will your government survive?

Prachanda It will continue till the constitution is written and the peace process is completed. I believe our party will win majority, even two-thirds majority in the next election. Then, our government will continue for another five years. We will improve our performance during that period. There will come a situation where people will start thinking that Maoists alone can run this country. In the subsequent election, we expect to win 90 percent votes and we will continue in power for many decades.

The "Force" is Strong

NZ Herald poll-last night.

Who will you vote for?
Labour: 20%
National: 63%
ACT: 6%
Greens: 5%
3, 700 responses.

69% for the forces of light.

25% for the dark side.

Peter Camejo-Leading US Revolutionary Dies

Peter Camejo, one of the world's most influential Marxist-Leninists has died in the US.

Beginning his political career as a Trotskyist, Camejo went on to run a large investment business.

He remained a socialist throughout, leading the Trotskyist infiltration of the US Green Party with some of his old comrades and newer recruits from the US International Socialist Organisation.

In the early '90s Camejo, already active in the US Greens became a founding member and leader of the Committees of Correspondence, a Marxist-Leninist organisation formed from a split in the Communist Party USA.

Camejo openly described himself as a "watermelon"-green on the outside, red in the middle.


From the Australian Democratic Socialist Perspective's Links website

The tragic news on September 13, 2008, that Peter Camejo had lost his battle with cancer is a blow to all those on the revolutionary left who have been politically and personally influenced by him...

Peter Camejo was a longtime leader of the United States Socialist Workers Party. As a leader of the Young Socialist Alliance, the youth group associated with the SWP, Camejo was a prominent activist in the student movement at the University of California in Berkeley and in the anti-Vietnam war movement. He was the presidential candidate of the SWP in 1976. He parted company with the SWP in 1980 as its politics increasingly became more sectarian.

In 2004 Camejo ran for vice-president of the United States with the progessive presidential candidate Ralph Nader. He stood for governor of Califonia three times for the Green Party, most recently in 2006. Camejo was politically active to the last, throwing his weight behind the candidacy of Ralph Nader for US president in 2008.

Camejo made a number of visits to Australia for the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance in the 1980s and 1990s, giving public lectures on US politics and socialism.

One of those visits occurred at Easter 1994 when he attended a DSP sponsored Green Left gathering in Sydney.

Camejo spoke alongside New Zealand's own top "watermelon", Green Party leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.