Israel and Palestine: Communists and allies mobilize against government’s annexation plan

The Communist Party of Israel and the Hadash coalition of which it is a major part are warning that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu goes ahead with his announced plan to illegally annex the West Bank of the Jordan River and nearly the entire Jordan Valley, a major Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule over the Palestinians is almost inevitable. The Israeli government’s decision to move ahead with the annexations comes after Netanyahu got the green light from Israel’s “Blue and White” coalition partner and also from the Trump administration.

Hadash is part of the Joint List of leftist and Israeli Arab parties, who have 15 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli national legislature. Knesset member Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash and Communist Party) pointed out that Netanyahu’s government has been preparing the ground for this move for several years with legislation aimed at excluding Arab Israelis from any power and influence in Israel. Hadash and Joint List Leader Ayman Odeh expressed agreement with the decision of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to break off all security cooperation with the Israeli government.

On June 6, Hadash, the Communist Party, and others will organize a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv to denounce the government’s annexation plans.

 

Chile: Right wing attempts to expel communist legislator from National Congress

The Communist Party of Chile and other groups opposed to the government of right-wing President Sebastián Piñera are denouncing a maneuver by the government’s allies to expel communist Congressperson Hugo Gutiérrez from his elected seat in the country’s national congress.

Gutiérrez, noted for his work to get justice for people repressed and persecuted during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, and for his involvement in the campaign to create a new, more democratic constitution for the country, is accused by the government’s allies of fomenting violence. The demand that he be removed from his legislative seat has been taken to the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

The Communist Party warns that this “right wing action is part of an authoritarian plan . . . to reduce even more the few democratic spaces that remain in Chile.”

 

Italy: Communist Refoundation Party denounces sale of steel factory

The Communist Refoundation Party, one of several communist parties in Italy, has sharply denounced a plan by German conglomerate Krupp-Thyssen to sell a key steel factory in the town of Terni, in the country’s central Umbria province. Terni has been an important Italian steel center since the 19th century.

Communist Refoundation National Secretary Maurizio Acerbo and the person responsible for labor matters, Antonelo Patta, pointed out that the 2,000 employees of the steel works are among many people in Umbria and Italy for whom this decision has possibly negative implications. They further point out, “It is even more serious that this occurs in the midst of a pandemic in which the whole country is called to counter the health emergency by any means, and to prevent the collapse of employment and of economic activities.”

Communist Refoundation also blames successive Italian governments whose lack of a coherent industrial policy have left the whole country at the mercy of speculative depredations by international finance capital. This has led to environmental damage as well as harming the interests of the workers and the nation. To prevent the further dismantlement of such a key industry as steel, a major industrial plan must be fought for.

 

South Africa: Communists welcome Cuban medical solidarity in Kwazulu-Natal

The Moses Mabhida branch of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in Kwazulu-Natal Province is expressing its pleasure and gratitude at the arrival of 28 Cuban medical solidarity workers in the province. The party leaders reiterated that they are grateful to the Cuban medical workers and that they prefer the Cuban method of providing care, which stresses public health and prevention above all. In the context of the current Covid-19 epidemic, the party also expressed the hope that the Cuban doctors will be used by provincial health authorities as a source of advice and expertise.

A few strong words were directed against the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, who had tried to pressure South Africa into not accepting Cuban medical solidarity: “The SACP in Moses Mabhida supports Cuba–South Africa relations, against the onslaught and interference of the United States undermining the Cuban people’s right to self-determination. . . . We welcome Cuban doctors and we know our communities will embrace them as they have in the past.” (Note: Moses Mabhida was a militant South African trade unionist and opponent of apartheid who served as Secretary General of the South African Communist Party.)

Image: Alisdare Hickson, Creative Commons (BY-SA 2.0).

 

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