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Against terrorism of Israel. 10.01.2009, Warsaw, Poland |
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Wpisał Administrator
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czwartek, 01. lipiec 2010 20:28 |
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Piotr Ikonowicz, New Left:
When Al Jazeera started its reportage on the attack on the Gaza strip, they turned their cameras to the night sky. The screen was dark, but you could hear the noise of bombers, of Apache gunships. And all of us who have seen that were afraid - we felt a basic fear for the children of Gaza who were waiting for bombs to fall on them.
In our fine Polish-Jewish history, which I throw in the face of the Israeli state, there was a man called Janusz Korczak. Korczak went into the gas chamber because he didn't want to leave the children alone there. And now Korczak accuses you, and all of us, like Korczak, want to be there with these children and hold their hands as the Israeli bombs fall on them.
The Red Cross accuses Israel of not letting medical aid get to the victims...
In this burning flag there is Barak, there is Peres, there are the generals - but not the victims! Because what Israel is doing, what the cynical Israeli fundamentalists are doing - a religious, fanatical state - it is a cynical element of the electoral campaign: they are killing Palestinians to win the elections. But the victims of this mass murder will also include Israeli civilians. And we, today, forever, we want to affirm that we will always be on the side of the murdered and we will always be against the orgy of hate which is in fact against the Israelis. We want to say: Jews! Israelis! Do not be manipulated! Do not allow yourselves to be hurled against the Palestinians, because you will die. Because if you leave only despair, anger and hate to the people of Gaza, to the Palestinians, you leave them no other solution.
To extinguish the hate, one must extinguish the source of evil. And the source of evil is not only the state of Israel. The source of evil is the evil empire. Israel is the hand, the tool of the imperialist politics of the United States. Without the US, Israel's strength would crumble tomorrow - and that would be good for the Israelis. Because from then on they would have to live in peace with their neighbours. Because they live in the heart of the Arab world whether they like it or not.
Global propaganda would divide the Palestinians into good Palestinians, like Mahmoud Abbas, and bad ones, like Hamas. Today, the whole Palestinian people is united. We must not let ourselves be manipulated. It is not true that the defenders of Palestine, who have take up arms and won elections in that country, are terrorists. A terrorist is someone who intentionally kills defenseless people. So the Israeli criminals who have organised the massacre of Gaza sooner or later must face judgement before a court. Like the American criminals who are exterminating the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, they agree that civilians should be killed. They lie all the time about surgical strikes, but how can one think that a strike can be aimed precisely at fighters when those fighters form part of a nation? The only way to destroy Hamas is to vanquish the fighting spirit of the Palestinians. You would have to kill them all. It cannot be done. Which is why one day, sooner or later, Palestine will be free. And when Palestine is free, our world will be free.
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Zmieniony ( niedziela, 11. lipiec 2010 17:41 )
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Poland or, a socialism that never was |
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Wpisał Administrator
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czwartek, 01. lipiec 2010 20:10 |
Piotr Ikonowicz, leader of the New Left Party talks with JR
on events of the last two decades in this European country.
By: Luis Luque Álvarez
February 18 2007
I was a young boy during the eighties but I still remember black and white images of the British miners protesting against Thatcher’s stubbornness, and the protests against the deployment of Pershing II in western Europe.
But these were not the only disturbances. There were others who took to the streets with demands of the government. It was in the People's Republic of Poland, whose socio-economic and political model was classified as socialist which fired my amazement even more.
Years later, when European socialism's house of cards collapsed, I had some answers. A few days ago, talking with Piotr Ikonowicz, leader of the New Left Party, I expressed interest in the subject and in the new direction taken by Poland where dreams were frustrated.
—At the time, during the 80s, those protests were seen as a setback against socialism…
—That would imply understanding that the workers, alleged owners of a worker’s state, were counterrevolutionary because they wanted to rule their own country. They did not call for capitalism but fulfillment of the promises of socialism.
Piotr Ikonowicz
The POUP elite allied itself with the elite of the opposition and betrayed the strikers, said Ikonwicz
Photo: Calixto N. Llanes
“There was a contract between workers and the state. This latter supplied basic services and citizens did not claim their rights. But the state did not fulfill its part. The model of socialist welfare melted and, then, with poverty and without freedom the people said: “If there are none of the two then there is no reason for us to support the government. If the party does not pay attention to us as workers, why should we continue to support it?”
The structure of the Solidarity strike committees was identical to the soviets. There was an assembly with its delegates that was ruled another regional assembly where delegates from several work centers met. That is how an alternative power appeared, negotiating with the government. Their proposals were very modest; these included to eliminate the privileges of party members because, since there was a scarcity of goods, only these “political bosses” acquired them and it seemed that some “were more equal” than others.
“Now, if the people had known that the end result was going to be some social differences and some privileges on the style of the Third World, perhaps they would not have gone on strike. Their slogan in the factories was: Socialism yes, aberration no!
“The aberrations were a bureaucratic arrogance of the party and to check that the counterrevolutionaries were the so-called communists —who turned out to be the opportunists—, then we must see how history developed after all these events: the governing elite of the Polish United Worker’s Party joined the political opposition of the right which betrayed the union strike movement and both agreed on a means to appropriate goods and the national heritage, obtained through the work and sacrifice of millions of Poles during the entire period of construction of socialism.
“All this was incredible: suddenly a person who didn’t have a cent was soon the absolute owner of a factory. With the spirit of equality that ruled, no one had money to buy a factory. Then they invented laws of privatization, written by the same apparatchiks, persons called communists, who are, today, richer, the ones with more businesses, banks, companies and enjoying the “Polish miracle”, a miracle for a few.”
—You have called my attention to the name of your party: the New Left.
—It is an attempt to organize the workers, the excluded, which not only disagree with the government but with capitalism as such. We do not believe in labels. If I am asked if I’m a communist, I answer: “At least.”
“I am against capitalism, whatever you call me. That is certain. Some call themselves socialists and sell out to capital while other have not sold out and do not call themselves socialists. There are those who struggle for an alternative to barbarous capitalism and those who propose reforms to save savage capitalism.”
—Did you reach Parliament?
—I was deputy for eight years with the post communists who ended up being liberals. They were very obedient, first to Moscow and later to Washington and did not think much.
“Now winning in elections is very difficult for a party that only counts on the dues of its members, half of which are unemployed. That is why we are organizing a network on TV and theInternet with very good results because it regroups partly through alternative news programs.
“When a network of alternative opinion is formed, our ideas can be better promoted. Our opinions on privatization and the war in Iraq are in accordance to the belief of the majority but they do not know we exist because we are not allowed on TV, be it state controlled or private.”
—You were saying that many want to return to a society with more social justice...
—The majority.
—If it is a majority, why haven’t viable options been available in the political sphere?
—Because the only left allowed in Poland is those who were militants of the PUWP and who today support capitalism. They do go on TV. Then those who want better times vote for them because they have no other information or option. This is how any change is curbed because the people are disillusioned, betrayed by their own representatives.
—How would you summarize the period from 1989 to the present?
While the old buildings of Warsaw show commercial achievements, graffiti nearby damns US influence.
—With the story of a worker in socialist Poland who always had work; when Solidarity appeared, he participated in strikes; when a state of war was declared he was in the resistance and when “democracy” arrived he voted for a change.
One day, after elections he arrived at the factory and was told he was fired. He went home and, in a few months, was unable to pay the rent and they threw him out into the streets with his family and children.
“By the way, that law, about eviction, was approved by a government that called itself the post communists. Last year I was jailed, accused of attacking the police because I was defending mothers with children against eviction.
“That is the truth of this country. The spheres of capital, insurances, pension funds, banking sectors, all have bee sold for five cents. Polish capital has committed suicide because it no longer important; it has all has been sold.
“We speak of a country that is ungovernable because its economy is directed by capital … and capital took hike! We count as nothing as Poles in Poland. If a Polish business person needs credit he goes to a bank that is not Polish, instead it is foreign, like 90 percent of them. And credit is unattainable because of the harsh conditions imposed. But if a Dutch company applies, they receive it immediately. And the small Polish business cannot compete.
“Also, we have four million unemployed who no longer receive anything from the State because subsidies only last six months. It is a miracle how they survive because they have no work, no state aid. So then they are forced to break the law, work illegally, rob, beg or emigrate. They do not organize because they are marginalized, excluded. They lose their homes; their poverty is criminalized and is a process of social disintegration since 1989, unstoppable.
“Another thing is that there are many Polish bosses who do not pay salaries for months or years. When someone steals a loaf of bread he is a thief, but if salaries are stolen for twelve months, “they do not honor the contract”, that is not penalized. Under these conditions, without a union movement worthy of its name, the people emigrate and accept being exploited but somewhat less.
“Incomprehensively they emigrate for a loaf of bread —we are talking about two million Poles— have improved a bit the relations of the work market in the country. However, this is a poor alternative…”.
—What has integration in the EU meant?
—On the one hand, the border of the EU protects us from direct competition with products make under conditions of worse slavery than in Poland and we sell ours in a consumer market that is the richest in the world. That must be acknowledged.
“On the other hand, when manual labor emigrates to the west, people learn about unions and rights in Spain, Ireland, Great Britain and return with another culture of organization. Cooperation among workers movements on both sides, and the need to cooperate.”
—Is there any way of returning to social justice?
—I think the example is in Latin America, Bolivia, Cuba and maybe Nicaragua; regional integration with ALBA may be an option.
“People are intelligent. I cannot go to the excluded and propose a non-existent socialism, an imaginary one. I have to give statistics, examples, because they have already made a revolution, of Solidarity, and it has cost them their lives, their perspectives, stability and dignity. After an experience that is still fresh in the mind, it is difficult to assume a risk again. That is why we must show alternatives.
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Give us jobs, not revenge |
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Wpisał Administrator
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czwartek, 01. lipiec 2010 16:42 |
Punishing General Jaruzelski won't distract from the fact that capitalism has been a disaster for Poland
Just after General Jaruzelski declared martial law, graffitti appeared at Warsaw train station which said: "General, perhaps history will absolve you, but I'm going to get you. Micky." I felt the same. I spent time in prison back then. There where two kinds of communists on our side of the iron curtain: those who shot and those who were shot at. For us, the reds, brought up at state universities, Solidarity was first of all the workers movement. In a country ruled by the Polish United Workers party, we saw for the first time in our lives workers speaking, attending rallies, arguing and voting, electing their representatives. Factory striking committees sent delegates to umbrella committees and from there on to the national striking committee. This was a workers' democracy that resembled that of the Soviets in the early days of the Bolshevik revolution. For 16 months this strange sociopolitical movement based on strikes co-governed a huge state that was part of the Soviet bloc. We called it "The Carnival".
Jaruzelski put tanks on the streets, justifying his actions with the slogan: "We are going to defend socialism, just as we do the independence of the country". But it was completely wrong. OK, he had a difficult choice. If he didn't shoot at Polish workers he would supposedly have had to shoot at Russian tanks. But though our independence might have been in danger, socialism, which was under the workers' control, wasn't. At the end of the day it was the former Communist party apparatchiks who most were the most eager purveyors of barbaric capitalism in Poland. And the transition went so smoothly because Jaruzelski had done the dirty work of crushing Solidarity, the only force which could have saved socialism or even created a new, democratic form of it.
Now, the great hope is over. It is not exciting to be Polish any more. The opposition and communist elites made a deal over people's heads. They traded free lunches at factory canteens for everyone for brunches at the Marriott hotel for those who betrayed their comrades (in the case of Solidarity) and their ideology (in the case of party members). Balcerowicz's neoliberal shock therapy took more lives than martial law. The rate of suicides due to unemployment, poverty and evictions has risen dramatically. Ironically, Jaruzelski is responsible for both martial law and capitalism. He paved the way for Balcerowicz, who also happened to be a former politburo lecturer.
And now those who have made Poles work more hours than any other European nation, who have made 25% of Polish children go hungry (according to the latest EU report) are judging an old man who gave them a helping hand.
I spoke to Jaruzelski in the early 1990s. It was a nice long chat between the former dictator and his political prisoner. He was indignant about his former party colleagues' behaviour, for example the draconian eviction law passed by the post-communist (Democratic Left Alliance) government. Most Poles have forgiven him and the vast majority perceive Jaruzelski as a national hero who saved us from a Soviet invasion.
For me he is a dramatic figure. The world order created by Yalta taught Poles to pursue the lesser evil. Jaruzelski's choice was wrong but well-intentioned. Politicians, especially rightwing politicians, and especially President Kaczynski, want to rewrite history. They call it "historical policy". I hate it. They can't supply flats, healthcare, good jobs, pensions, decent wages. Instead they'll throw Jaruzelski to the mob. But nobody is buying it. Two million have already emigrated. People want a better life, not revenge.
Piotr Ikonowicz
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