Study of Marxism-Leninism is the key to understanding the role of the ALP and unions

Written by: Nick G on 29 August 2024

 

The magnificent response by construction workers to the attempted destruction of their union has included disgust at the perceived betrayal of workers by the Labor Party. That disgust has extended to all but a few in the leadership of the union movement for failing to show solidarity with, and to support, the CFMEU.

We understand the labelling of Albanese and McManus as class traitors.

People who have to work for a living and who join the ALP believing it will advance their interests are entitled to feel betrayed. Union members who are organised by their union to spend hours door-knocking for Labor in the lead-up to 
an election, or who loyally stand at polling booths handing out Labor “how-to-vote” cards are entitled to feel betrayed.

It all fits a pattern.

For such people there is hope for parliamentary means of achieving “fairness” through a Labor (or Greens) party. The sentiment behind this hope is quite resilient. 

Despite all the betrayals by Labor governments, some people seem unable to break out of a cycle of hoping for a better deal than they are going to get from the Liberals, and then losing heart every time Labor wins office and backtracks on its promises to the point where it seems indistinguishable from the more open party of big business. We respect this sentiment, but do not share it. We need to break out of its dead-end cycle. 

As a Marxist-Leninist Party, we believe that study of revolutionary theory is the key to really understanding the role of the Labor Party and of unions.

We could (and do) refer interested readers to the writers of the classic texts of this theory.

But at the present time of Labor’s attacks on the CFMEU, and of the failure of most unions to repel those attacks, we strongly recommend two texts that are immersed in the reality of Australian conditions. They are embedded in the reality of the need to understand the Labor Party and of the unions associated with it.

In 1965, one year after the founding of our Party following a split in the original Communist Party of Australia (CPA), our founding Chairperson Ted Hill wrote Looking Backward: Looking Forward (Revolutionary Socialist Politics Against Trade Union and Parliamentary Politics).

Hill disputed the view then dominant in the CPA that the Labor Party was a “two-class” party, that it was simultaneously a party of the working class and a party of the capitalist class.

He examined the circumstances under which unions had created the Labor Party.

It was born from the defeat of the prolonged strikes of the early 1890s when workers looked for other ways to take on the capitalists.

“They wanted to use the bourgeois parliament to enact measures that would satisfy the workers’ demands to improve their own lot.”

There was insufficient experience to understand that the state was an apparatus for the suppression of the working class by the capitalist class, and insufficient experience to understand that parliament was a part of that state apparatus and not a neutral institution independent of the capitalist state.
“Thus, they accepted capitalism in two ways: (1) their demands accepted the social system of capitalism, (2) their methods of achieving them accepted the social institution of capitalism – parliament.”

These acceptances meant that although born from and based in communities of working class people, the character of the Labor Party was not “two-class” but “one class” - that it would be a party of capitalism and would work to make capitalism more acceptable to the working class on one hand, and the working class more acceptable to capitalism on the other hand.

That latter function of the Labor Party is the reason for its attempted destruction of the CFMEU.

The reluctance of unions affiliated to the Labor Party to embarrass it in any way, to endanger its chances of winning office, or, in in office, of retaining it, explain their collusion with a party of capitalism that attacks the working class.

But it is more than that. Unions are required for their legal existence to be tied in a thousand and one ways to industrial rules set up by the capitalist class. And they become part of capitalism through their accumulated assets, including investments and property, all of which they hold on the condition that they do not break the rules, that they accept the decisions of bodies created by the capitalist class to play the role of “independent umpires”. 

All of this is the subject of Looking Backward: Looking Forward.

In October 1974, while the Whitlam government was still in office, and had the task of taking the country out of the stultifying era of conservative party rule, Hill wrote The Labor Party? Dr Evatt – The Petrov Affair – The Whitlam Government. 

It drew on Hill’s collaboration with Evatt as a lawyer representing the Communist Party at the Petrov Royal Commission, and the first years of Whitlam’s government, to make a closer examination of the nature of the ALP as a party of capitalism.

In our introduction to a 2023 pdf of the book, we wrote: “Since this book was written, additional experience has arisen of Labor in office, including its attacks on the workers through the Accord, its pioneering of neo-liberalism under Hawke and Keating, its keeping the unions under control through Fair Work Australia, its further opening of Australian territory to the US military under Gillard, and the continuation of that treachery via AUKUS under Albanese, Wong and Marles. All these later phenomena can be best understood by learning from the example set by Hill in his analysis of the Labor Party.”

For interested readers, Looking Backward: Looking Forward (which we have just republished) is available as a pdf and an e-book here: Books & Pamphlets — E F HILL .

Hill’s The Labor Party? is available as a pdf here:  EFHs+The+Labor+Party+FINAL2.pdf (cpaml.org)

 

Attacks on Greens MP reveal ruling class distortions and weakness

 Written by: Nick G. on 28 August 2024

 

Yesterday’s massive rallies by construction workers took place under conditions of an ALP and ACTU direction that no unions should attend or otherwise show their support.

With the exception of a few defiant unions including the Maritime Union and the Electrical Trades Union, union leaders complied with the directive. Some organisers from other unions did attend, but were forbidden to carry union flags or wear clothing that identified their union. 

In their place, a few brave politicians did speak. In a previous article we have referred to SA Upper House member Connie Benaros, the first to speak at the Adelaide rally. Also present was Greens upper house member Tammy Franks, a long-time supporter of progressive issues and union rights.

In Brisbane, the Greens federal MP, Max Chandler-Mather, expressed his support for the CFMEU, and said that Labor’s placing of the union under Administration and sacking of 270 officials and delegates was “an attack on every worker in the country”. 

From the ruling class point of view, the Greens MP had broken ranks. He had showed that the allegations of criminals and bikies having infiltrated the union just did not wash. He did not believe that they justified the destruction of the most militant union in the country. 

He had to be punished.

Chandler-Mather was interviewed that night by the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson. There was really no pretence at an interview at all. Ferguson was aggressive, spiteful and concerned only to interrogate Chandler-Mather about why he would share a stage with the CFMEU, allowing him only a few seconds to respond before interrupting him and aggressively repeating the same question over and over. 

(Ferguson: wrong to stand with Aussie workers, but OK to snuggle up to notorious US far-right fascist Steve Bannon) 

Chandler-Mather seemed astounded by the vitriol, but gathered his wits to explain that the Labor government had acted on the basis of unproven allegations that should have been referred to a court of law and not subjected to trial by the media.

He did not apologise for supporting CFMEU members.

But the attack on Chandler-Mather did not stop there.

On this morning’s (Wednesday) AM program on ABC radio, reporter Rachel Mealey returned to Chandler-Mather’s attendance at the Brisbane rally, saying he had accused Labor of “turning its back on all workers by putting the CFMEU into administration”.

She then stated that Workplace Relations minister Murray Watt “says he's appalled the Greens would share a stage with organisers in front of a crowd where nazi symbolism was on display”. 

Then we heard Watt saying it was “very, very disturbing that we saw a Green MP, Max Chandler-Mather, decide to share a stage with the construction union in Brisbane yesterday, despite those placards invoking Nazi references, despite the coffins with the Prime Minister’s face…”

To try and discredit Chandler-Mather in this way shows just how desperate the government is to stop any support being expressed for a union they are hell-bent on destroying in the interests of big foreign and local capital. 

Readers can see the content of the “Nazi symbolism” and “Nazi references” in the photo above.

Even blind Freddie can see that it is anti-Nazi. It is condemning Albanese for setting out to destroy militant unions just as Adolf Hitler did in Nazi Germany.

There is nothing sympathetic towards, or supportive of Nazism. 

In the same photo is a placard depicting ACTU leader Sally McManus as “Sally McThatcher”.

Does that make it an expression of support for the union destroyer Maggie Thatcher?

We applaud Max Chandler-Mather.

As for the placards drawing parallels between Albanese and Hitler, we say the more the better.

As for those gutless union leaders and their leader Sally McThatcher, we remind them to revisit the words of Germany’s Pastor Niemoller, imprisoned by Hitler from 1937 to 1945: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…”

Sacking of CFMEU rank and file reps a wake-up call for all workers

Written by: Ned K. on 28 August 2024

 

(Above: CFMEU members take to the streets in Melbourne)

The new industrial laws enabling the CFMEU to be put in control of an Administrator are a wake-up call for all Unions and all workers.

On the first day of his new job, the Administrator sacked over 200 elected construction worker union representatives, most of whom are workers, not Union Officials.

A few weeks earlier, industrial Awards and the Fair Work Act included Delegate Rights to be inserted in Awards and to apply as a minimum standard in enterprise agreements.

The Delegate Rights were hailed by the federal government as evidence of its support for democracy for workers in their workplaces. They now had the right to elect their workplace Union representative. Many workers support the new Delegate Rights as a step towards organizing in their workplace and across whole industries and sectors of the economy.

Many must now be thinking the new Delegate Rights will be at risk, along with their whole Union, if the employers and their governments think workers' leadership on the job and collective strength is getting too powerful.

Workers are getting the government's message loud and clear - "You can have your Union, but we and the employers hold the upper hand. We can appoint an Administrator and prevent all your active workplace Delegates from being on committees of management or councils of the Union ".

It is true that bosses have always tried to terminate workers' leaders in workplaces who are effective and who cannot be "bought off" or moved out of harm's way to some isolated position in the workplace. However, the new industrial laws aimed initially at construction workers take the armoury of laws and measures aimed at diluting or destroying the collective bourgeois legal rights to another level.

The new laws are showing workers the limitations of official Union organizational structures, even at the workplace level where workers elect their own Delegates. The current situation for CFMEU members is that while they may still have a Delegate in their workplace, the official organization of the Union across worksites and the whole country is now dismantled. 

The rallies held by CFMEU members and supporters on Tuesday 27 August in capital cities showed that construction workers are determined to remain united as CFMEU members. They will find appropriate ways to organize to protect pay and conditions.

 

CFMEU members defy threats to defend their union

Written by: Nick G. and others on 27 August 2024

 

Many tens of thousands of construction workers around Australia walked off the job to attend rallies called to fight the attack on their union, the CFMEU. They did so in defiance of Labor Prime Minister Albanese and his Ministers, who had threatened workers with a range of penalties for taking “unprotected” industrial action. 

Albanese showed his true colours by paraphrasing the notorious anti-worker Maggie Thatcher, saying “This government is not for turning”.  Even before he had made his remark, workers were making placards reading “Thatcher would be proud”.

 

In Brisbane, at least 10,000 building workers and others filled out the Queens Gardens and surrounding streets. There were speakers from CFMEU leadership, CFMEU "youth crew", ETU and others.  It was a very militant atmosphere, according to comrades who sent a report to us. Workers also walked off the job in Cairns.

 

In Adelaide, probably 1,000 people rallied at Parliament House steps. The important thing though was that CFMEU members on all CBD sites walked off and marched to the steps of Parliament House. The mood was one of anger, but determination to stay strong together. Speakers included CFMEU reps, John Adley the ETU Secretary, an MUA rep and Jamie Newlyn, Assistant National Secretary of the MUA. Connie Bonaros, a member of the State’s Upper House, pledged her support for the union and its members.  

 

(Adelaide: workers show politicians the true face of democracy)

 

There were Organizers there from AMWU and UWU and several industrial lawyers, but many unions had no official executive officer presence at the rally. SA Unions was not present,

 

They followed the ACTU Executive resolution, moved by the right-wing Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union (SDA), which supports the appointment of the Administrator by the Government via the Fair Work Commission.

 

These unions are tied to the ALP being in government in Canberra so more concerned about keeping the money flowing to the ALP election campaign than the attack on the working class and all unions.

 

Melbourne rally

 

In Melbourne, between 50,000 and 60,000 construction workers and other building industry unionists (ETU, AMWU, Plumbers) downed tools and walked off their jobs to take unprotected illegal action to defend the CFMEU and all unions. It was the biggest and most militant mobilization of workers since the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) waterfront dispute in 1998 and the 2007 Your Rights at Work Worth Fighting For.

 

Once again, a vicious pre-planned attack by the bosses, supported by their Labor government and their courts conspired to cripple and destroy a militant union. The Labor Party parliamentarians and their mates in the ACTU colluded with the big end of town in slandering and vilifying decent hard-working construction workers and their elected union delegates.

 

Congratulations Albo and the Labor government! You have re-injected class politics and struggle into the union movement and brought about the biggest national mobilisation of the working class this century! At a time when cost of living pressure bites, housing becomes unaffordable, there are shortages in hospitals, schools, and social services are cut to the bone, Albo and the government can find hundreds and billions of people’s taxes on US nuclear powered submarine and expand US military bases across Australia for the next US-led war. Why are we not surprised? The Labor Party is only there to mislead and divide the working class, keep workers passive, and sell us out to US imperialism and its corporate monopolies. The ALP is showing its true despicable colours in looking after big business.

 

As Mao would say "Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet".

 

Workers are not mugs, not to be taken for granted. They know a scab act and how to deal with it. CFMEU workers know how to fight, they know what solidarity means. That’s how they protect and improve their wages and conditions in the face of greedy developers and shifty lawyers. 

 

(Above: the CFMEU Women's detachment)

 

Leading the march in Melbourne was a large and very vocal contingent of CFMEU Women, proudly waving their union flags. Along with many CFMEU flags were the flags of other unions and a few Eureka flags as well. The city was paralyzed, streets clogged with agitated workers, a sea of orange and yellow safety jackets. At the start and end of the march, powerful speeches by delegates, former officials, members of other friendly unions, from veteran BLF comrades, all were greeted with cheers and chanting: “CFMEU-here to stay!”

 

This is just the start, the opening salvo. 

 

• 60,000 workers marched from the Victorian Trades Hall to Fair Work Commission which one of the speakers called the “bosses courts”.

• A retired CFMEU official told the rally construction worker’ victories for wages and conditions, for union rights, have been won more often than not through illegal collective action of mobilized construction workers and their supporters.

• Speaker after speaker pledged to continue the fight to defend the CFMEU and all unions and received rousing approval.

 

There is Power in the mobilized and united working class. Dare to Struggle, Dare to WIN!

 

In Sydney, nearly than 10,000 applauded sacked CFMEU NSW state secretary Darren Greenfield when he attacked Australian Council of Trade Unions leader Sally McManus for selling the union out to the Labor Party.  

 

A Party leaflet distributed at the Adelaide rally described the government-appointed Administrator, Mark Irving, as a union lawyer turned union destroyer.

 

It said: “The ALP, which has always been a party of capitalism, has cleverly utilized people with ties to unions as its CFMEU “administrators”. It is helping to divide union responses to the attack on the CFMEU by covering them with a veneer of union complicity.

 

“Chief administrator, Mark Irving KC, worked for many unions. The union lawyer is now a union destroyer. He is joined in his attacks on the CFMEU by Grahame McCulloch as its Victorian administrator. He was once head of the union covering university academics.”

 

 

Further reports of rallies around the country may come in to us, and will be posted as they arrive. 

Attack on Construction Workers' Union Is All About Profits and Destroying Workers Collective Power

 Written by: Ned K. on 26 August 2024

 

On Friday 23 August CFMEU members experienced the first day of their Union being in the hands of federal government enabled Administrators. As soon as this happened two hundred elected Officials and Councillors of the CFMEU from all over Australia were terminated from their roles by the Administrator.

The day before, Thursday 22 August the big business finance capital mouthpiece Australian Financial Review had front page article with headlines, " Builders act to take on CFMEU".

The article was most informative. It reported that at least some major building companies that had Enterprise Agreements with the CFMEU intended to remove "CFMEU vetoes and other restrictions" which enabled the Union to have some degree of influence on which sub-contractors the primary building company engaged.

One of the builders named is the WeBuild Group who are the principal contractor on the largest infrastructure project in NSW, the Sydney Metro Western Airport line.

The article also quoted the Master Builders Association NSW Executive Director Brian Seidler saying,

"In the last two weeks, there's been a groundswell of contractors that have indicated they've been dissatisfied with their enterprise agreement, not so much with the rates but the imposition of having to consult the union before letting subcontracts on even though they've won the job".

Seidler went on, "This fundamentally gives the union the power of veto and to dictate who is on the job and eventually to control the job. We're already seeing a trend where the union is saying, “You must choose from a list of union EBA subcontractors."

Seidler said builders did not want to be bound to " use union-sanctioned labour."

Initially, construction workers on a large site may maintain their current pay and conditions to give the appearance that the bosses and federal government are not after the workers, just the elected Union reps, from job site Delegate to the Union executive level.

However, the rot is likely to set in earlier for construction workers employed by the subcontractors on a large site or project. Eventually with turnover of labour, the big builders hope to destroy the collective strength of the workers through employment of non-union labour.

Their strategy is bound to fail. The very nature of construction work and the contractors' quest for extracting more surplus value from workers to realise more profit will unite workers and move them to appropriate collective action to protect their own pay and conditions and importantly, health and safety on the job.

The other dilemma for the bosses is that while they dream of having a docile, hardworking workforce, the reality is that they need workers who know what they are doing and thousands of them are CFMEU members and likely to stand by each other no matter what. 

 

DFLP statement on "educational genocide" in Palestine

 Written by: DFLP on 22 August 2024

 

Above: Palestinian school children killed by Israeli bombing of Deir al-Balah

We are making available a statement sent to us by the Foreign Relations Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Israel's deliberate policy of destroying the educational infrastructure and curriculum of Palestinian education. Staff and students are frontline victims of Israel's reduction of schools and universities to rubble - eds.

 

Israel targets all components of education, and we will defend our present and future with all forms of resistance

The term "educational genocide" has been widely used since it was used by a group of United Nations experts in a report published last April. In this report, the experts defined the meaning of this term as "a deliberate effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an act known as educational genocide," which expresses "the systematic erasure of education through the arrest, detention, or killing of teachers, students, and employees, and the destruction of educational infrastructure."

Through the atrocities committed by the fascist occupation army in the Gaza Strip, the scale of the genocide has exceeded in its brutality all the limits of legal and humanitarian descriptions. There is a comprehensive destruction of everything on the land of the Strip, from civilian facilities (more than 150 thousand of housing units were completely destroyed, 200 thousand were partially destroyed, and 80 thousand became uninhabitable), the destruction or damage of 195 heritage sites and hundreds of hospitals and health centers, 227 mosques and 3 churches, the destruction and damage of 13 public libraries, in addition to the destruction of dozens of centers that house displaced persons and UNRWA warehouses, including areas that the occupation army designated as safe, not to mention the destruction of the headquarters of government and media institutions and cutting off water supplies and destroying water wells with the aim of making the war of hunger and thirst declared by the Israeli occupation army a success.

Since 1948, the Zionist gangs, which played a fundamental role in displacing civilians from their cities and villages by force of terror and massacres, have placed education as a direct target, by targeting schools and educational institutions that were spread throughout Palestinian cities and towns, and worked to destroy and loot them and turn some of them into military centers, as happened in the schools of Jaffa, Deir Yassin and Tantura. Which the gangs have taken as military headquarters to carry out their crimes..

At the present time, schools and universities have not been spared from the crimes of the occupation, and the criminal record of the occupation records the storming of hundreds of schools and universities and the arrest of students and members of the teaching staff, not to mention the destruction of some of them and the besieging of others, as happened in 1992 when Al-Najah National University was besieged for 4 days with more than 5,000 students, teachers and workers inside.

The occupation's war on education has increased in intensity since 2011 when it began a process of distorting the Palestinian curricula specially in East Jerusalem, and launched a propaganda campaign against these curricula, claiming that they incite terrorism, violence and hatred. On this basis, the occupation has waged numerous wars in international forums against the Palestinian curricula, and has placed the curricula of the UNRWA in the circle of direct targeting in an incitement campaign that we have never witnessed before, which has led to some countries aligning with false Israeli narratives, and making the matter of funding subject to political conditions that some European Union countries, the United States, Canada and others have begun to set.

During the previous years, the occupation threatened to demolish more than 50 schools, and actually demolished many of them in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Cases of assault on students at checkpoints were recorded, in addition to the occupation army attacking schools, throwing tear gas at them and vandalizing their contents, as well as attacking and storming universities several times, vandalizing student housing, classrooms and student bloc offices, and pursuing students and capturing thousands of them while they were in their homes or on their school benches, most of them without any charges. The occupation also refused to grant permits to renovate schools unless the occupation's official curricula are adopted at all educational levels.

Through the war of extermination that the occupation forces have been waging against civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip for (18 years), the occupation is taking education and educational institutions as direct targets, since education poses a threat to its security, as it claims.

 The result is that more than 630,000 students have been deprived of education during the current year (88,000 of whom are university students). The occupation also destroyed more than 400 educational institutions, including schools, universities and institutes in Gaza, using some university buildings as military barracks. More than 400 university professors were martyred (20 of whom held the rank of professor and 59 held doctoral degrees), and nearly ten thousand school and university students were martyred as part of the university genocide war. For the first time since the beginning of secondary school exams in Palestine, Gaza is out of the exams, after the fascist war deprived more than 36 thousand students from taking the secondary school exams that qualify them to enter university.

 According to experts, the educational process in the Gaza Strip will not return to what it was and this requires great efforts, due to the extent of the destruction and sabotage that befell the educational institutions that the occupation intended to sabotage and destroy. A number of experts have described the occupation’s aggression by the United Nations Human Rights Council as “a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the foundations of Palestinian society.” “When schools are destroyed, hopes and dreams are destroyed as well.” Isn’t what is happening in line with the UN’s definition of “educational genocide”? Indeed, what has happened on the ground is almost more widespread than the previous definition.
.
 The systematic aggression and comprehensive war carried out by the Israeli occupation targeting all aspects of life and the future in the Gaza Strip, including education and culture, is something we place first in the hands of international organizations concerned with education, childhood and society issues, and even those concerned with humanitarian issues, and second in the hands of the countries allied with Israel that still claim to defend the human being and his rights, including his right to obtain education.

The "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation and the operations that preceded it and the forms of Palestinian resistance and rejection that will follow it, come within the framework of defending the present and future of the Palestinian people and their right to their land, homes, schools, universities and hospitals.. Their right to resort to all forms of resistance in order to remain free and proud, deciding their future away from occupation, colonialism and dependency. Palestine, which has been free and proud throughout history, will remain struggling for its freedom, rejecting all forms of submission and slavery.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
- Department of Foreign Affairs -

US Indo-Pacific Strategy heightens Korean Peninsula tensions

Written by: (Contributed) on 21 August 2024

 

Yoon suk-Yeol at the US Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Flickr

Relations between the two Koreas have reached their lowest diplomatic point in decades. The escalation of diplomatic tensions on the Korean peninsula, however, are best viewed in the context of the South Korean (ROK) presidential administration of Yoon Suk-yeol locking the country securely within the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). It has led a situation where the northern DPRK has responded by dropping their established doctrine of peaceful re-unification across the peninsula and subsequently increasing the likelihood of even greater hostilities.

In early August the northern DPRK began military initiatives which included the deployment of 250 ballistic missile launchers near to its border with the southern ROK. (1)

An official diplomatic statement issued by Pyongyang announced the move had been taken to defend its sovereignty, and that the country regarded the ROK as its 'principal enemy'. (2)

 

Behind the scenes, other initiatives, likewise, have included the suspension of government agencies linked to unification, and further questioning of the controversial maritime boundaries between the two countries. (3)

 

Both governments in Seoul and Pyongyang, historically, have had large departments staffed with civil servants employed for long-term planning where 'elaborate proposals were laid for unification, with co-operation leading to a loose federation and eventual merging of the two countries'. (4)

 

Secondly, the DPRK recognise the Military Demarcation Line, which was an extension of the 1953 armistice line, as the border between the two states. The ROK, to the contrary, claim the Northern Limit Line drawn up by the US, which deny the DPRK access to a twelve mile maritime boundary accepted under international law. It has always been a major diplomatic impasse; the ROK regularly use the disputed area to conduct US-led naval and related military exercises which the DPRK regard as a possible forerunner for a further military incursion into their sovereign territory.

 

The recent moves, therefore, depict a polarisation of diplomacy, away from a divided peninsula based upon kinship and a homogeneous peoples, toward a strained relationship between two countries. As many families have distant members in either country, the whole move away from a planned and eventual unification has some bearing upon political opinions of civil society.

 

It is important to note the official position of China toward the ROK during the period of the previous Moon Jae-in presidential administration was cordial; official diplomatic positions included reference to the previous government not 'following Washington's fanatical path … and … the Blue House's reluctance to be involved in anti-China campaigns'. (5) The same period was also marked by higher levels of constructive diplomacy between the two Koreas.

 

President Yoon Suk-yeol is not a popular political leader, he has faced numerous protests and mass demonstrations since taking office 'on the tightest of margins in South Korea's electoral history … President Yoon has been making good on his promises to the US, shaping, sculpting, and subordinating South Korea military, economic, and foreign interests to align with US policy and goals'. (6) While President Yoon Suk-yeon has played down recent diplomatic hostilities with the DPRK, he, and his supporters, have been held largely responsible for creating the conditions for the overturning of moves toward eventual unification.

 

It is no surprise to find the Yoon presidential administration has been conducting a witch-hunt of political opponents and threatened to use the ROK's repressive legislation from the previous Cold War, when the country was a military dictatorship, to stifle organised opposition. Articles 4, 7,8, and 10, of the notorious South Korean National Security Law aimed at curtailing pro-DPRK sentiments, has already been cited for possible use against those organising protests and demonstrations against the 'US militarisation of the country'. (7)

 

The presidential administration of Yoon Suk-yeon has also been responsible for placing the ROK firmly inside the US-led IPS; the US-led military agreement is regarded as establishing a 'united front against China', and, in effect, its allies, including the DPRK. (8) Over several years the US have placed Japan as a senior partner in their IPS global alliance, resting upon the so-called 'Quad' which has been designed to encircle and contain China's diplomatic influences. (9) The ROK, together with other Indo-Pacific countries, are regarded as lower-level partners in a regional intelligence framework. It is highly significant to note, furthermore, the changing nature of intelligence-gathering, from information about the DPRK's nuclear program, to the 'sharing of all military information'. (10)

 

The IPS, however, rests upon earlier US-led intelligence gathering networks established over a decade ago with a region-wide missile defence and radar systems designed for 'laying the foundations … to … combine US ballistic-missile defences with those of regional powers, particularly Japan, South Korea and Australia'. (11) Moves by the previous Moon Jae-in presidential administration in Seoul to establish cordial diplomatic relations with the DPRK, were regarded by the Pentagon as hindering their grand regional planning, despite it being regarded favourably by many South Korean people. (12)  

 

Evidence the IPS has now replaced earlier intelligence-gathering networks was illustrated in the recent official media release which included information about heavy rainfall in the northern part of the DPRK, which appear to have caused population movements; the US-led surveillance system has moved from a preoccupation solely with armaments to a general and wide-scale monitoring of the whole of the country. (13)

 

The upgrading of US-led surveillance systems targeting the DPRK has also coincided with the US Defence Intelligence Agency recruiting and training an estimated 1,600 intelligence-collectors inside systems marked by a 'convergence of the military and intelligence agencies that has blurred their once-distinct mission, capabilities and even their leadership ranks'. (14) The strained diplomatic relations are based on streams of intelligence assessments, which focus upon supposed threats to 'US interests'.

 

The DPRK has, under the circumstances, now lost interest in cultivating friendlier diplomatic relations with its southern neighbour; recent US-led developments run counter to previous ideals and interests. Whether the DPRK policy changes can be regarded as temporary or permanent depend largely upon political developments in the ROK.

 

It is not surprising, therefore, to note an official diplomatic statement from Pyongyang about the recent developments included a reference to 'a significant and strategic shift due to the transformation of the US-led alliances into nuclear-based military blocs'. (15) It has been marked by what the DPRK regard as suitable and appropriate defence and security precautions, aimed at sending 'an effective message to the US'. (16)

 

These same US-led regional foreign policies and the IPS have considerable bearing upon Australia:

 

                                         We need an independent foreign policy!

 

1. Kim moves missile launchers to border, Australian, 6 August 2024.

2.     Ibid.

3.     Ibid.; and, Kim stamps out dream of unification, Australian, 18 January 2024.

4.     Ibid., Australian, 18 January 2024.

5.     See: Seoul's balancing act between Beijing and Washington set to remain, The Global Times (Beijing), 27 May 2021.

6.     South Korean witch-hunt mounts against Yoon's opponents, The Asia Times, 23 January 2023.

7.     Ibid.

8.     See: The reasons behind Washington's push for GSOMIA., Hankyoreh, 12 November 2019.

9.     Ibid.

10.   Ibid.

11.   See: US seeks new Asia defences, The Wall Street Journal, 24-26 August 2012.

12.   Hankyoreh, op.cit., 12 November 2019.

13.   Australian, op.cit., 6 August 2024.

14.   Pentagon plays the spy game, The Guardian Weekly (U.K.), 7 December 2012.

15.   Ibid.

16.   Ibid.

 

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DFLP Statement: Full Version

 

Political Statement Issued by the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

First:

The Central Committee praised the heroic resilience of our people and the valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip. The brutal war has entered its 11th month, and yet the army of genocide has failed to achieve any of its objectives. The resistance has regained its vitality, developed its combat methods, renewed its military arsenal, and continues to confront the occupation forces, inflicting heavy losses on them, as even the enemy has acknowledged. Despite attempts to downplay these losses, the extent of the casualties among soldiers and officers, as well as in equipment and machinery, is undeniable. These losses have had a detrimental effect on the cohesion, readiness, and human structure of the enemy’s army, and its ability to continue the war against our people in Gaza and the resistance that stretches from the far north to the far south. Gaza has become a symbol of defiance that has ignited the emotions of people and freedom lovers around the world. Furthermore, the crimes and massacres committed by the occupation against our people have highlighted its fascist nature, which has played a significant role in garnering wide international support for our national cause. This support has manifested in the condemnation of the occupation and its crimes, bringing the Palestinian cause to the forefront of the international community’s agenda. This includes discussions in the White House, the U.S. Congress, the UN Security Council, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and various international and regional summits. Our people and resistance have reaffirmed their determination to persist in their struggle and fight in all forms, until the enemy’s might is broken, and it is humiliated and forced to submit to our people’s legitimate national rights—freedom, self-determination, independence, and the return of refugees to their homes and properties in Palestine.

While saluting our people and their valiant resistance and commending their heroic resilience that has astonished the world, the Central Committee stresses the need for serious efforts in all forums to compel Israel to implement the unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolutions 2735 and 2728. These resolutions call for forcing the enemy’s government to cease its aggressive war, withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip—including the Salah al-Din axis, Rafah crossing, and the Netzarim axis—lift the siege on Gaza, allow the flow of food, fuel, and medical supplies, ensure the return of displaced persons to their homes, provide them with decent shelter to prevent voluntary and forced displacement, and expedite the reconstruction of infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity, environmental services, and health services. The evacuation of critically injured people abroad for treatment, the rebuilding of service institutions such as municipalities and social institutions, and the provision of necessary conditions for the reconstruction of what the occupation has destroyed through its war to restore life once again to Gaza.

The Central Committee also reaffirms the continuation of work with allies and friends to bring the occupying state to justice before the International Court of Justice for its crimes against our people. This includes summoning its military and political officials, foremost among them the killer Benjamin Netanyahu, his war minister Yoav Gallant, his chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and his terrorist ministers, to the International Criminal Court to receive severe punishment for the war crimes their blood-stained hands have committed against our people and our land.

Second:

The Central Committee of DFLP addressed the annexation war that the fascist government has launched against the West Bank in various forms and methods. These include ongoing bloody attacks that have intensified against cities and camps in the West Bank, involving killings, destruction of infrastructure, and mass arrests. Additionally, there are “legal” measures aimed at annexing parts of Area B to Area C, including the Knesset’s decision by majority to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, imposing military rule over Area A, reducing the powers of the Palestinian Authority, and imposing a financial siege on it. This has caused significant harm to the Palestinian economy, led to the demolition of homes under various pretexts, the displacement of hundreds of families, the confiscation of water springs, the seizure of agricultural tools such as tractors and trucks, the looting of sheep herds and poultry farms, and the displacement of their owners— farmers, peasants, and Bedouins—from their lands. As a result, the West Bank, under Israeli law, resembles a part of Israel, with the exception of some pockets under the control of a politically, security-wise, and geographically besieged authority.

The Central Committee also noted The Palestinian Authority's incapacity and frequent silence regarding the entirety of the occupation’s policies and actions. This includes the concerning behavior of some of its security forces, which hints at impending strife, such as pursuing, arresting, and even assassinating resistance fighters in the West Bank, and coordinating in certain areas with the occupation’s army. The Authority’s response has been limited to issuing statements of condemnation and denouncement, devoid of any practical steps to confront the occupation. It even goes so far as to request the White House to pressure Israel to stop its actions (!), ignoring the pressures from the U.S. administration to reshape the Authority’s structures. This is in line with the ten conditions presented by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, aiming to create a more pliable Authority that aligns with the occupation’s policies and its liquidation steps, as well as with the U.S. regional arrangements to extend the Arab-Israeli normalization and establish a political-military Israeli-Arab-American alliance against the regional national liberation movements, including the Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, and Iraqi movements.

The Central Committee affirmed That with its unilateral applications of the Oslo Accords, the occupying state has reached its terminal phase after more than 30 years of Palestinian struggle and sacrifices. As a result, the Palestinian Authority has become a paralyzed entity with no prospect for development, where the highest goal it can achieve is merely administrative self-rule over the population, subordinated to the occupying state and dependent on it politically, security-wise, and economically. This is a practical implementation of Netanyahu's declarations and his fascist government’s projects, affirming that no other state will exist alongside Israel between the river and the sea.

Third:

The Central Committee of DFLP sees these developments as a consequence of relying on the Oslo Accords and their obligations, which, at the same time, represent a practical realization of the Zionist liquidation project. These developments place the national situation in a new reality, where reliance on American promises—including the two-state solution, which has significantly declined in U.S. policy calculations—is no longer viable. The same goes for the attempts to revive the Oslo Accords, including dragging the Palestinian situation into the “Aqaba-Sharm El-Sheikh” security process.

The Central Committee emphasizes That the solution lies in withdrawing from the Oslo Accords, its obligations, and commitments, and reevaluating the relationship with the occupying state. This includes implementing the decisions of the National and Central Councils, which involve:

1. Withdrawing recognition of the occupying state until it recognizes the Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967, borders with Jerusalem as its capital, annuls the annexation of Jerusalem, halts all forms of settlement, repeals settlement laws, and releases Palestinian prisoners.

2. Halting all forms of security coordination with the occupation army and its security apparatuses and reformulating the security doctrine of the Authority’s forces to serve as a protective shield for our people and their mass movement.

3. Disengaging from the “Paris Economic Protocol” and adopting an alternative economic strategy with a popular struggle nature that lays the foundation for building a national economy free from the occupation’s constraints and aggressive measures.

The Central Committee also calls on all national forces To assume their responsibilities by forming and activating a unified national leadership that includes all forces, providing political cover for comprehensive popular resistance in all its forms against the occupation. It is necessary to organize the popular movement, strengthen its resilience, provide it with all means of endurance, and deter the aggressive actions of settlers by defending the lands and agricultural interests threatened with confiscation or destruction.

The Central Committee of DFLP emphasizes That this task must be at the forefront of the national and popular Palestinian movements' priorities to break free from stagnation and fragmentation, and to mobilize all elements of strength within the people, their political forces, and their national and social institutions.

Fourth: "Beijing Declaration" ... A Step Toward Ending the Division

The Central Committee of DFLP reviewed the outcomes of the "Beijing Declaration" and considered it a significant step forward that lays a practical foundation for ending the division and restoring internal unity within Palestinian national institutions.

The Central Committee also praised the important role played by the People's Republic of China in facilitating the dialogue's success, seeing it as a major gain for the Palestinian cause on the international stage. This broadens the circle of regional and international forces genuinely interested in the national cause and supporting our people's legitimate and inalienable national rights under the leadership of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of our people.

In this context, the Central Committee emphasized the importance and necessity of immediately translating the outcomes of the Beijing Dialogue into action. This should begin with the immediate convening of the temporary leadership framework and the formation of a national unity government composed of active and competent individuals to manage public affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This will block any projects aimed at isolating Gaza, separating it from the West Bank, fragmenting the unity of Palestinian state territories, and undermining the material foundations of the national Palestinian project.

The Central Committee stressed the responsibility on the shoulders of the secretaries-general of the Palestinian factions to start implementing the outcomes of the "Beijing Declaration" as outlined in its final paragraph, which calls for adhering to specific timelines for completing the agreed-upon steps. The Central Committee affirmed that, given the significant developments in the national cause, no one can afford to wait or delay in translating the Beijing Declaration's outcomes. Postponing this until the war in Gaza ends would only serve to empty the Beijing Declaration of its content and abandon its essence. This postponement is based on failed bets that do not serve the interests, resilience, or struggle of our people. Instead, it aligns with the U.S.-Arab-Israeli solution, aiming to impose a mandate on our people in Gaza and reshape its structure to align with Israel's vision for its future.

The Central Committee of DFLP calls on all national forces and the entire Palestinian mass movement, both at home and in the diaspora, to assume their national responsibilities by exerting maximum pressure on the political leadership of the Palestinian Authority. The aim is to compel them to immediately implement the outcomes of the "Beijing Declaration" without hesitation or delay. We are racing against time, and the developments in our cause put us all at a crossroads. It is evident that some paths could undermine the national project. Therefore, we must thwart this Israeli-American option by elevating the national option outlined by the Beijing Declaration's outcomes.

Fifth: The Beijing Declaration ... The Path to Rebuilding the Palestinian System

The Central Committee reflected on the state of the Palestinian political system and its deterioration, noting that the policy of monopolizing national decision-making has become a serious threat to our people's national interests, especially in light of the escalating Israeli aggressions in Gaza as part of a genocidal war and in the West Bank under the "decisive war" declared by the occupying state.

The Central Committee of DFLP emphasizes the need to escalate the national struggle to rebuild the Palestinian political system, which has decayed and become incapable of bearing national responsibilities. The policy of monopolization has turned it into a cover for policies that rely on American promises and alignment with the Arab system's project to generalize normalization with Israel. This is a mistaken bet that, by doing so, it will secure its position in the regional system equation that the U.S. is working to establish, even if it means lowering the ceiling of the national project.

The Central Committee of DFLP asserts that the solution to the crisis in the Palestinian political system lies in rebuilding it on democratic foundations through general elections based on full proportional representation for both the National and Legislative Councils, as well as presidential elections. Meanwhile, until elections can be held, the Democratic Front once again puts forward the initiative it launched on 16/1/2022. This initiative calls for the immediate expansion of the membership of the PLO's Central Council to include all Palestinian forces without exception, and for the election of a new Executive Committee with a comprehensive representative nature. This committee would cooperate and coordinate with the national unity government to organize general elections at the earliest possible opportunity, emphasizing the need to devise a national formula for organizing elections in occupied Jerusalem and preventing the occupation authority from obstructing these elections.

The Central Committee of DFLP believes that the suspension of regular meetings of the Executive Committee has paralyzed its role and its ability to exercise its powers, failing to meet the challenges and dangers facing our national cause and rights. This has further harmed the performance and role of all PLO institutions. The Central Committee insists that there is no alteExecutive Committee's full role with its coalition composition, as the daily political leadership, through its regular meetings under the chairmanship of the Executive Committee's president, exercising its powers as a collective leadership in decision-making instead of relying on the policy of monopolization or resorting to ineffective consultative meetings of Executive Committee members, which lack any decisive powers.

The Central Committee of DFLP reiterates that the outcomes of the "Beijing Declaration," including its affirmation of the PLO's representative position, its political program, and its reference to international legitimacy resolutions, provide a solid foundation for taking effective steps towards rebuilding the Palestinian political system.

Sixth: UNRWA in the Face of the Israeli-American War

The Central Committee of DFLP warned of the dangers posed by the war waged by the Israeli occupying state against UNRWA, with the backing of the U.S. administration. Amid the U.S. decision to abandon its funding obligations to UNRWA, despite being one of the founding countries, the occupying state is launching a fierce war against the agency by preventing it from performing its duties in occupied Jerusalem and destroying its institutions in Gaza, including its schools used as shelters, where thousands of martyrs have fallen under the banner of the international organization. This constitutes a flagrant, multifaceted violation of international law and the sanctity of United Nations institutions. The Knesset has even labeled it a terrorist organization, with a telling and significant silence from the United States.

The Central Committee of DFLP views the open war by the occupying state and the U.S. administration against UNRWA as fundamentally targeting the right of return for refugees to their homes and properties and undermining UN Resolution 194, which guarantees this right. It also daily harms the interests of refugees in Gaza and refugee camps, especially in Syria and Lebanon, where both countries suffer from severe economic and living crises, greatly impacting the lives of refugees and their right to a decent life.

Therefore, the Central Committee of DFLP asserts that defending UNRWA, our people's right to its services, and the necessity of providing sustainable funding to cover its general, emergency, and exceptional program costs is an urgent task for the Palestinian popular movement, its political forces, the PLO, the sisterly Arab countries, and global capitals that still see UNRWA as a factor of security and stability in our region, an urgent necessity, and a political entitlement that cannot be overlooked, especially given the worsening conditions in the occupied territories and Palestinian refugee camps everywhere.

Seventh: "Flood of the Free"... From Support Fronts to World Capitals

The Central Committee of DFLP extends its sincere greetings to the support, engagement, and combat fronts alongside our people, including the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah, the steadfast Syrian front in the Golan, the brotherly Yemen led by Ansar Allah and the Yemeni army, and Iraq led by the Popular Mobilization Forces. The committee views this support as a renewed affirmation of the unity of Arab liberation movements on the ground, facing Israeli occupation and the Atlantic alliance. The national cause has been and will remain the central axis for ensuring the security and stability of the region and defeating the U.S.-Israeli project.

The Central Committee also extends its greetings to the free people of the world, in major capitals and other cities, as they express their solidarity with our people's steadfastness, resistance, and legitimate national rights, condemning the occupation and its massacres, and demanding Israel be referred to the International Court of Justice and its leaders to the International Criminal Court.

In this context, the Central Committee calls on the Front's organizations, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities everywhere, and all friends of Palestine worldwide, to continue various forms of activism. They should pressure their governments, parliaments, and unions to boycott the occupying state politically, economically, academically, and culturally, and to stop providing it with arms, ammunition, and other supplies, which the Israeli fascist army turns into tools for mass murder. This has been evident in the major massacres witnessed at shelters in Gaza, most recently at the Al-Tabi’in School, and in so-called safe areas like the massacre at the Al-Mawasi camp.

Eighth: South Africa

The Central Committee DFLP extends its militant greetings to the friendly state of South Africa, the initiator of the historic move to refer the Palestinian issue and the crimes of the occupation, along with its illegitimacy, to the International Court of Justice. The committee also salutes the dozens of countries that adopted the issue alongside South Africa, considering it a crucial step that has significantly contributed to exposing the brutal reality of the Israeli state and the fascist nature of its Zionist project, which is based on a genocidal war against our people and their political extermination by refusing to recognize their legitimate national rights and obstinately obstructing relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

Ninth: Prisoners

The Central Committee of DFLP focused on the issue of prisoners in the occupation's prisons and detention centers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The committee highlighted the brutal practices that detainees endure at the hands of enemy soldiers, marked by extreme savagery, which the Israeli occupation has been unable to hide from public opinion. These practices violate all international laws and conventions, expressing blatant brutality and fascism, reflecting the deep-seated hatred and enmity of the occupiers towards our people.

The Central Committee of DFLP reaffirms the necessity of continuing to expose the occupation's crimes against our prisoners and internationalizing their cause before international forums, including the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the Human Rights Council. The committee also emphasizes the need to organize the broadest possible international movement to condemn the occupation state's practices against our prisoners. It also underscores the importance of energizing all forms of mass movements in the West Bank and the diaspora, organizing national, Arab, and international solidarity campaigns with our prisoners.

Additionally, the Central Committee stresses the prisoners' right, and that of their families and the families of martyrs, to social care, rejecting all Israeli and Western pressures to label our heroic prisoners as terrorists and the dubious calls to deprive them of their legal, social, and human rights.

Tenth: Salute to the Resisters, the Steadfast, and the Martyrs, Leaders and Fighters

■ The Central Committee of DFLP is honored to conclude this communiqué by extending a salute to all the fighters of our Palestinian people across all fields—those within the occupied territories, who are directly confronting the Israeli occupation and its brutal army, and those across the diaspora, who are united with popular movements in world capitals. The committee stresses the necessity of earnest work to provide all elements of steadfastness and perseverance in the ongoing battle against the U.S.- Israeli alliance and its followers.

■ In this context, the Central Committee of DFLP sends a special salute to all arms of the Palestinian resistance and its military wings, as well as to all Arab forces on the support fronts. The committee also extends a particular salute to our heroic comrades in the "Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces," who have not hesitated or faltered for a moment in rushing to the field, engaging in courageous confrontations against the enemy and its officers and machinery, inflicting heavy losses in special operations or in joint operations with other resistance forces, upholding the spirit of unity and partnership on the battlefield.

The Central Committee of DFLP also offers the highest respects and reverence to the noble martyrs who have watered the lands of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen with their precious blood in honorable battles, where they have creatively taught the enemies lessons in courage, bravery, and boldness.

As the Central Committee of DFLP dedicates this session to the names of the martyr leaders—Ismail Haniyeh, Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas; Talal Abu Zarifa, Member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front; and Fouad Shaker, one of the prominent leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah—it pledges before the memory of all the martyrs to continue the struggle in all fields, both at home and in the diaspora, alongside the rest of our people’s forces, factions, and parties, within the framework of the PLO, our sole legitimate representative, until our indomitable goals are achieved: freedom, self-determination, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the resolution of the refugee issue in accordance with Resolution 194, which guarantees their right to return to the homes and properties from which they were displaced in 1948.

And we shall be victorious.

The Central Committee

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

August 2024