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GLOBAL LEFT MIDWEEK – FEBRUARY 12, 2025  
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February 12, 2025
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_ The fierce urgency of Now _

, Zapiro / Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

 

* A Warning from France
* Panamanians Reject White House Threats
* International Reports
* Justice for Jani Silva
* Video: Perspective on Congo Crisis
* Canada: “Hit Back Hard!”
* Die Linke Rebounds 
* Māori Turn Their Backs
* Social Movements and Imperialism: Think Piece
* Bello on Francisco Nemenzo

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A WARNING FROM FRANCE

_Roger Martelli / _Regards (Paris)

[Translated by xxxxxx. _Lire le texte original ICI
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The summit of _France Insoumise_ [January 31-February 2] has gone
haywire. While the world is entering a new era, in the wake of
arrogant Trumpism, the leaders of the _Insoumise_ are broadcasting
images that put the Socialists and the [far right] _Rassemblement
National_ on the same level. Some are even claiming that the time has
come for “class against class”.

They bring to mind the disastrous political line that governed the
Communist world between 1929 and 1934, which led to the isolation of
the Communists and was fortunately abandoned in the summer of 1934. In
1935, based on the French example, the “class against class”
strategy was definitively abandoned in favor of the “popular
front” strategy.

From 1921 to 1943, the Communist Party was a member of the Communist
International, led by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Around
1927-1928, when the Communist world was entirely dominated by Stalin,
a new political line took shape in Moscow. The capitalist world,
Russian leaders explained, had entered a “third period”. After the
revolutionary wave that followed 1917 and the stabilization of
1924-1927, [they argued] came a time of crises, the “fascization”
of the regime and new revolutionary perspectives. This implied that
Communists must renounce compromise, legalism and parliamentarianism:
the time had come for direct and decisive confrontation, “class
against class”.

In that tense moment, where the fear of war reached a level of
paroxysm, the question of alliances seemed no longer relevant. Blocs
were facing each other; on one side the bourgeoisie and its
imperialism, on the other the proletariat backed by its “Soviet
homeland.” There are no longer any half-measures in the face of a
bourgeois bloc where the right wing and the left wing merge, where
fascism and socialism are so close together that the
“social-fascists” of the Socialist International would henceforth
be vilified. In fact, it was the socialists who were considered the
most dangerous, as they prevented radicalized workers from joining the
Communist ranks...

For good or ill, the French Communist Party embraced this line, which
led to unprecedented state repression. Under the erratic impulse of
Moscow, the French Communist leadership was streamlined and purified.
On the ground, mass political strikes and violent street occupation
(“for an eye, both eyes, for a tooth, the whole mouth”) were the
recommended forms of militant mobilization. “In the present
situation of the workers' movement, of the fascist development of the
government and reformist organizations, of the transition to open
fascist dictatorship, we must pose proletarian solutions, give the
mass anti-fascist movement a class character, and the only way to do
this is to propagate the essential ideas of proletarian democracy
among the masses” (Raymond Barbé, before the Political Bureau,
February 13, 1930).

The new line proved disastrous. On a European scale, reaction gained
momentum everywhere, authoritarian regimes took hold in the East,
Nazism prevailed in Germany, and the workers' movement was crushed in
Austria. In France, although the Left won the 1932 legislative
elections by a wide margin, it was divided: the Radicals hesitated
between loyalty to the _Cartel des gauches_ and alliances with the
Right, while the Socialists were bewildered by the scale of the
economic and political crisis. As for the PCF, which had made it
through the first round of legislative elections in 1928 (11.3% of
votes cast), it was barely above 8% in 1932 (10 deputies versus 26 in
1924). Its attempts at mobilization all failed, one after the other,
and these failures accentuated its isolation. The icing on the cake
was that on February 6, 1934, the Republic was once again directly
threatened by pressure from an extreme right that drew its resources
from the 19th-century tradition of the “leagues” of the 19th
century [anti-parliamentarian movements], but which furiously evoked
the disturbing examples of neighbouring Italy and Germany.

Officially, the Communist International was sticking to its “class
against class” line. But Moscow was worried about European
developments. At the head of the International, under the impetus of
Bulgarian George Dimitrov, part of the leadership expressed doubts
about the viability of the strategy in place. In Paris, Maurice
Thorez, uncomfortable with a line of closure that he accepted but
which did not correspond to the slightly more open culture of the
“united front”, closely followed what was simmering in Moscow. In
the spring, he picked up on the first signals from the international
center. In June, the CP signed a Unity of Action Pact with yesterday's
“social fascists”. In the autumn, a further step was taken in the
direction of the Radicals. The “Popular Front” was now underway,
and in 1935 became an official line for the entire Communist movement.
In the early 1930s, the International's reference model was the German
Communist Party, whose tough proletarian stance was readily contrasted
with the perceived below-the-surface opportunism of the French party;
in 1935, the PCF became the substitute model.

The effects of this unexpected turning point are well known. In early
1936, the _Rassemblement Populaire_ program was signed by around a
hundred political, social and cultural organizations. In 1936, the
left-wing alliance won the legislative elections. The PCF, which had
spectacularly consolidated its municipal communism in 1935, exceeded
15% and increased its number of deputies by seven in the 1936
legislative elections. The left had found its colors again, the red
joined the tricolor, the _Front Populaire_ won, the Socialist Léon
Blum became head of government, the ballot box and the strike imposed
major social measures, and the figure of the worker became central to
the French social landscape. Between 1934 and 1936, the division of
the left gave way to a coming together, under the auspices of
anti-fascism, but around a slogan that suggested a much broader
ambition: “bread, peace, freedom”.

__________
PANAMANIANS REJECT WHITE HOUSE THREATS
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_Pablo Meriguet _/ Peoples Dispatch (New Delhi)

One of the most important actors in the protests against Rubio’s
visit was SUNTRACS (Unified National Union of Workers of the
Construction and Similar Industries), an organization with more than
40,000 members. Its leader, Saúl Méndez, declared that Trump “is
declaring war on the Panamanian people.” 

__________
International Reports

* A NEW COALITION TO DEFEND PALESTINE
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  _Ronnie Kasrils_ / Jacobin (Brooklyn)
 
* ABDULLAH ÖCALAN’S RETURN
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  _Devriş Çimen_ / Jacobin
 
* FINLAND’S LEFT IS BATTLING THE FAR RIGHT
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  _Grace Blakeley_ / Tribune (London)
 
* UNITED WALKOUT IN MOROCCO
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  / La Via Campesina (Bagnolet, France)
 
* INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS IN GEORGIA REPUBLIC
[[link removed]]   / Civil Georgia (Tbilisi)

__________
JUSTICE FOR JANI SILVA
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_Lital Khaikin_ / rabble.ca (Toronto)

Why would criminal organizations and paramilitaries be so threatened
by an outspoken campesina? Silva has long campaigned for rainforest
conservation and the protection of water and biodiversity in the Bajo
Putumayo, resisting mining and oil exploitation, deforestation,
illicit coca cultivation, and militarization. In short, Silva’s
activism threatens a panoply of powerful interests in the region. 

__________
VIDEO: PERSPECTIVE ON CONGO CRISIS
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_Selaelo Makhwidiri and Shomari Muakndjwa_ / Salaamedia
(Johannesburg)

Around 3,000 people have been killed in clashes between M23 rebels and
government forces, and thousands more have been displaced after the
worst escalation of fighting in more than a decade.

__________
CANADA: “HIT BACK HARD!”

* FOR A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC PROJECT
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  _Marcel Nelson_ / Canadian Dimension (Winnipeg)
 
* UNIONS HAVE A FINGER FOR TRUMP
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  _Luke LeBrun_ / PressProgress (Ottawa)
 
* FROM THIS MOMENT ON
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  _Charlie Angus_ / The Resistance (Cobalt ON)

__________
_DIE LINKE_ REBOUNDS
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_Loren Balhorn_ / Jacobin 

Years of decline in opinion polls for the party have been halted and
support for _Die Linke_ has risen again, to slide past the five per
cent hurdle required for Bundestag representation. Now facing an
existential federal election, _Die Linke_ has gone back to basics with
a manifesto promising “democratic socialism”: taxing the rich to
support the working class through rent caps and energy subsidies.

__________
MĀORI TURN THEIR BACKS
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_Eva Corlett_ / The Guardian (London)

Political leaders gathered at the Waitangi treaty grounds in New
Zealand’s far north to celebrate Waitangi Day, which marks the
signing of the Treaty of Waitangi/_Te Tiriti o Waitangi_ in
1840. Hundreds of protesters from the _Toitū te Tiriti_ movement,
which led the largest ever protest over Māori rights in 2024,
departed the grounds as the government delegation arrived.

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SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND IMPERIALISM: THINK PIECE
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_Iqra Anugrah_ / Transnational Institute (Amsterdam)

Understanding the nature of imperialism today and the creative ways
through which social movements and popular resistance push back
against it is pivotal to making sense of the ravages of contemporary
global capitalism and authoritarianism and offering alternative
solutions. 

__________
BELLO ON DODONG NEMENZO
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_Walden Bello_ / Rappler (Manila)

Written at various points in his lifelong engagement with politics as
a man of the Left, Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo made sure to bring
them together in one volume before he passed on, doing one last favor
for activists who derived inspiration from him and biographers and
historians seeking to piece together his life story.

* France
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* France Insoumise
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* French Communist Party
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* ultra-leftism
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* Panama
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* Donald Trump
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* Palestine
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* Abdullah Öcalan
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* Finland
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* Morocco
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* Republic of Georgia
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* Jani Silva
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* Colombia
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* Democratic Republic of Congo
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* M23
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* Canada
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* Canadian Labor
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* Die Linke
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* New Zealand
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* Maori people
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* Toitū te Tiriti
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* Waitangi Day
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* Social Movements
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* imperialism
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* Francisco Nemenzo
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* Walden Bello
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* Philippines
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* Germany
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