Greenland: Trump talks tough but Vance comes a cropper

 Written by: (Contributed) on 9 April 2025

 

(Above: US Pituffik Space Base)

Information about Australia providing Canada with a sophisticated long-range radar facility for Arctic defence and security provision has coincided with members of the Trump presidential administration making spectacles of themselves with outrageous territorial claims to Greenland.

It has not proved coincidental; nor has the official visit of US vice-president Vance and other high-level associates to US military facilities in Greenland.

In fact, a major anti-imperialist struggle is already taking place in Greenland; its people appear determined to defend their sovereignty and raw materials and resources.

Studies of the previous Cold War appear highly relevant for our understanding of the present one!

In late March the Canadian government announced they were buying a Jindalee-Over-the-Horizon Radar (JORN) facility from Australia. (1) The JORN facility has a 3,000 kms range and functions by bouncing radar signals off the electricity charged layer in the upper atmosphere known as the ionospehre; it is used to detect aircraft and ships entering sensitive areas. (2)

The move followed US concerns about the defence and security of the Arctic region. The US, for example, has a long history of using Canadian facilities for 'US interests' due to their lower profile overseas, together with other members of the elite intelligence-sharing Five Eyes facilities, including Australia. (3) Canadian military facilities also conduct extensive monitoring bases in numerous countries. (4)

Global warming and climate change has created the conditions whereby the uppermost region is warming at almost four times the rate experienced by the rest of the world; alternative shipping lanes are being created through what were once frozen wastelands and access to rare earth minerals is becoming likely, sooner rather than later. (5)

With China having global control of rare earths, the US has entered panic mode and seek to gain control of Greenland to access their raw materials and resources; it is little other than old-style neo-colonialism, reminiscent of the previous Cold War, being played-out in the present age.

The Trump administration have taken the matter so seriously that vice-president J.D. Vance’s wife Usha, a US-born Indian Hindu, was despatched to Greenland on a charm offensive. (5a) She announced that she was there for three days by invitation, which was promptly denied by Greenland authorities.  It turned out that the invitation was from American Daybreak, a virtually unknown U.S. organization founded by Trump-aligned investor and former government official Thomas Emanuel Dans. (5b) Knowing of the US penchant for running dogs, the Greenland resident had invited the Second Lady to the Avannaata Qimussersua dogsled race beginning March 29. However, public opposition to her presence saw her three-day visit cut back to one day, (6) when husband Vance, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright flew in, also at the invitation of Dans, to visit the US Pituffik Space Base 1500 kms north of the capital. (7) The northernmost US military facility is used for missile warnings, missile defence and space surveillance.

Studies of US military facilities from the previous Cold War have revealed official and non-official uses, including intelligence-gathering and covert operations. (8) There is no reason to believe the Trump administration has behaved any differently toward Greenland than previous Washington administrations, which has explained the high-profile composition of the US diplomatic delegation.

Over a decade ago the Pentagon expanded their Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) 'into a spy service focused on emerging threats and more closely aligned with the CIA'. (9) The US preoccupation with defence and security provision would, nevertheless, appear more focussed upon neo-colonial acquisition of Greenland's raw materials and resources, and preventing other countries from developing diplomatic links with Nuuk to become competitors with the US.

Further evidence to support the view was contained in an official media release following the US diplomatic debacle with Greenland. It noted the Trump administration were considering using their military bases for processing 'critical minerals for national security … and … Danish officials have told US counterparts they would be open to more American military facilities on the islands and mining contracts for US companies'. (10)

Interestingly, the official position of the Australian government and Canberra was released in a formal media statement. It noted that the Trump administration was 'irrational … and … that the Trump administration have embarked upon a course to abuse and anger the people of Greenland'. (11) Further commentary also noted 'Australia is happy to haggle on minerals'. (12)

The brazen interference by US imperialism in Greenland has seen the new government state that it will strengthen ties with China.  On March 28, 2025, four Greenlandic parties signed a new coalition agreement to establish a new autonomous government. Vivian Motzfeldt, the incoming foreign minister of Greenland's new autonomous government, told Xinhua that strengthening ties with China will be one of her priorities. She expressed interest in deepening cooperation with China in areas such as trade, fisheries, and sustainable development while highlighting the potential for a free trade agreement between the two sides. (13)

Just where Canada’s purchase of the JORN system fits into all of this will become clearer in time. Trump’s tariff war on Canada may well frustrate any immediate access to the facility.

Canada, Greenland, Australia – all need an independent foreign policy.

 
1.     Canada trumps US in buying our $6.5 bn radar system, Australian, 20 March 2025.
2.     Ibid.
3.     Spyworld, How C.S.E. spies on Canadians and the World, Mike Frost as told to Michael Gratton, (Toronto, 1995), page 14, page 35, page 40; and, Playboy Interview, Philip Agee – candid conversation, Playboy Magazine, (United States), August 1975, pp. 49-166.
4.     Canada, The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Espionage Spies and Secrets, Richard M. Bennett, (London, 2002), pp. 45-46.
5.     US 'going to have to have' Greenland, Australian, 28 March 2025; and, Greens and present land: Diplomatic battle is hotting up for control of the Arctic, Australian, 27 March 2025.
5a.  Usha Vance suffers fresh humiliation in Greenland
5b. Obscure U.S. group 'American Daybreak' central to controversial Greenland visit - ArcticToday
6.     See: Greenland fury and confusion at 'aggressive' US, Australian, 27 March 2025.
7.     Australian, op.cit., 28 March 2025.
8.     See: The Role of the Bases, A.   Counter-insurgency and the US Bases, B.   Springboards for Intervention in other countries, The Bases of our Insecurity, Roland G. Simbulan, (Manila, 1983), pp. 169-216.
9.     See: Pentagon plays the spy game, The Guardian Weekly (U.K.), 7 December 2012.
10.   Minerals the ultimate bargaining chip, Australian, 7 April 2025.
11.   Vance blunders in Greenland, Editorial, Australian, 31 March 2025.
12.   Australian, op.cit., 7 April 2025.
13. Greenlandic political leaders looks to enhance cooperation with China-Xinhua

 

Preparing to Face a Fascist Regime From the Power of President Prabowo Subianto As the Successor of New Order

Written by: Indorev on 8 April 2025

 

(Above: "Dark Indonesia" protest February 2025    Source: https://alkhaleejtoday.co/ )

 

This document from ICOR affiliate Indorev was written as thousands of students and activists took to the streets in February to protest budget cuts of up to $19 billion announced by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. the protests were lainched on Februart 17 by the All-Indonesian Students Union. Australian Communists have a long history of standing with the Indonesian people and will always support their just struggles – eds.

Indorev, 2/16/2025

Fascism is an open terror against the revolutionary movement and the working class movement. In many ways, fascism came to power through democratic means, using the legality of the bourgeoisie. The experience of Indonesian revolutionaries has been that for more than three decades they have been subjected to the open terror of the power that calls itself Suharto's New Order. Mass killings, torture, pursuit, arrests, exile and ostracism, all without recourse to the rule of law, even if only the laws of the bourgeoisie of their own making.

Now that Suharto has stepped down, there is a fierce battle within the bourgeoisie itself, a conflict among the political elite. It is essentially a battle between the old, but still relatively intact forces backed by fascist elements within religious fundamentalist organizations and the emerging bourgeoisie that still retains bourgeois democratic values. And, like every political battle, it is actually a reflection of the economic interests of the struggling parties.

GOLKAR (Golongan Karya), which represents the interests of the big bourgeoisie, which since its birth has practiced fanatically anti-communist politics, and has been one of the pillars of the New Order's power alongside the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia and the fascist bureaucrats, and now pretends to be a “democratic” and “anti KKN” (Corruption, Collusion, Nepotism) party, cleverly uses the legality of bourgeois democracy to regain power for itself. It is as

if people are being forced to forget their past as the main supporters of the fascist New Order, which practiced corruption from head to toe.

Although there have been five presidential changes since Suharto's death, President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected as the eighth president to replace Joko Widodo who came from the military, has been a faithful successor to Suharto's New Order rule supported by Gerindra, the main party he founded, GOLKAR, and other bourgeoisie parties.

Prabowo, who was once Suharto's son-in-law, has a checkered human rights record as commander of a unit that abducted and tortured several democracy campaigners towards the end of the Suharto regime in the late 1990s. Of the 23, some survived, one died, and 13 activists are still missing. He was later removed from the military and exiled to Jordan in the 2000s. Surprisingly, when Joko Widodo was president, he gave a 4-star honorary general title to Prabowo Subianto when he was defense minister.

President Prabowo owns a number of companies in the coal mining sector in Kalimantan, such as PT Nusantara Energy, PT Nusantara Kaltim Coal, PT Erabara Persada, and PT Nusantara Energindo Coal with a total area of 45,703 hectares. Meanwhile, Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has a mining network through his father's company, PT Rakabu Sejahtera, affiliated with PT Toba Sejahtera owned by Luhut Binsar Panjaitan. The company is also affiliated with Gibran's family, ranging from younger siblings, older cousins, to uncles.

In addition, Prabowo also emphasized that he was not only the successor of the New Order but also continued the program to maintain the Omnibus Law policy which was very pro-capitalist while harming the working class. This is done to smoothen the interests of foreign and domestic investment. One of the business sectors that received a red carpet from this omnibus law was the mining sector, with the imposition of 0% royalty for business actors. It is no wonder that this omnibus law is considered a recipe book for the structured and systematic looting of natural resources.

The impact of the implementation of this Omnibus Law is environmental damage. More than that is the escalation of agrarian conflicts. The highest cases of agrarian conflict come from the plantation, infrastructure, property, mining, forestry, military facilities, agriculture/agribusiness, and coastal and small islands sectors. The end of this conflict is of course acts of violence by corporations and state violence apparatus.

From the 100 days of Prabowo Subianto's administration, militarism has strengthened, civilian supremacy has weakened, and democracy is on the brink. The Prabowo administration has rolled out the red carpet to the military, but it has also inherited a democracy that has been weakened by the Joko Widodo administration.

During the first three months of his administration, prabowo redeployed the army into many State affairs. The deployment of the military to work on food barns is one of them. Other examples: the control of forest areas, free nutritious meals, and the organization of the Hajj. These tasks are not included in military operations other than war as stated in the Indonesian national army law.

In the next five years, the military will gain even more grip. The defense ministry plans to increase military regional commands from 15 to 37 by 2029. Every year for five years, the government will also add 100 territorial infantry battalions to accelerate development. Each battalion will have a company that takes care of livestock, fisheries, agriculture and health. As if that wasn't enough, the battalions, which will be under the command of military districts, will receive reinforcements from two battalions of reserve components recruited from civil society.

The formation of these battalions will be overseen by each major command commander. This battalion will be different from the existing battalion. The current battalion only consists of one battalion headquarters, one headquarters company, one support company, and three rifle companies. Meanwhile, the 100 battalion will be supported by an agricultural company, a livestock company, a health company and a construction company. Each unit will be equipped with modern equipment and materials. One battalion usually has 500-1000 soldiers. In addition, the formation of 100 battalions will encourage TNI to return to business. The most likely business is the security business and the security business as a guard dog for the capitalist class. This TNI territorial network will become Prabowo's political stronghold both to reduce the opposition and suppress the revolutionary movement.

The strengthening of militarism will be even more unstoppable if the government and the House of Representatives amend the TNI (Indonesian National Army) law, the revised draft of which is already on the list of the national legislation program. With active soldiers free to enter civilian positions, the military is increasingly exerting its influence in various fields and, conversely, civil society is standing on the sidelines. In 2023, there were 2,569 active TNI soldiers in civilian positions. This is in addition to 29 active officers occupying civilian positions outside the institutions stipulated in the TNI law. This military dominance risks reopening the militaristic approach to solving state problems and will pave the way for the creation of authoritarianism in a new form. In addition, mass organizations originating from thug groups began to be given legality and financed to hit the people's movement and pro-democracy activists.

(Above: "Dark Indonesia" rally February 20, 2025)

With a battered democracy, which is much weaker than the first time Jokowi became president, Prabowo immediately consolidated his power to gather parties and political elites to support his government when he was sworn in as president. Without the power of the opposition, authoritarianism can no longer be curbed.

The centralization of economic, technological and financial power in Indonesia can be explained by the fact that decisions, regulations, legislation, are essentially not in the interests of the people, but in the interests of the rulers and businessmen: the capitalist bureaucrats.

The pillars supporting the socio-economic costs for the growth of these capitalist groups, such as in the fields of education, health, environment, transmigration, and urban development, as well as the areas needed for the geographical concentration of industry, must be borne by the sweat, tears, and blood of the people, on behalf of the State so that the corporate machine continues to move for more value, for profits robbed from the working people: workers, peasants and fishermen.

And, in Indonesia, it's even worse. Representative institutions, like all other institutions, have become hotbeds of corruption! It is a waste of time trying to get into representative institutions, including curing the diseases of the bourgeoisie in them. Why, because the decision-making process is bound to be in the interests of the capitalists, and these decisions, especially in the field of industrial production, will not prioritize the needs of the masses of people.
Looking at the facts, the current “democracy” and “reform” in representative institutions and government is poison. Because democracy is like a piece of money, it has two sides, one is democracy, the other side is dictatorship. Learning from the ancient Greek era with the slavery system, democracy is a slave owner, for slave masters. Democracy only applies to slave masters, while for slaves, they are the dictators: slaves are the same as cattle, work, give birth, can be sold, and can be killed. In the days of the feudal system, democracy only applied to kings and nobles. As for the people, the kings and nobles of the dictatorship could seize the property rights of the people, even though they were no longer sold or killed. In the current capitalist system, democracy only applies to the owners of capital, they the capitalists are the dictators of the working people in the fields of production and distribution. The capitalist system is a system of trade. The dictators are the capitalists who control trade. Thus, the working people become merchandise.

Therefore, talking about representative democracy, electoral politics, general elections, regional head elections are of no use. Unless, we talk about People's Democracy, true democracy for all the people, and dictatorship in the hands of the people, the working people who determine, end and finish the system of capitalism in Indonesia today.

 

Multipolarism – the new Kautskyism

 Written by: Alan Jackson on 8 April 2025

 

It is extremely clear that US global hegemony is on the decline and sliding further into fascism as a reaction while economic formations the likes of BRICS and Imperialist powers Russia and China are growing in global dominance. 

The U.S., since the dissolution of the social-imperialist Soviet Union in 1991, has been the most powerful economic and military power globally with very little competition due to the destruction of its main contender, the aforementioned U.S.S.R. This led bourgeois journalists, think tanks, politicians, financiers and academia in their refusal to acknowledge imperialism and barbarism, to refer to the global relations situation and the supreme dominance of the U.S as one that was Unipolar. 

 

These same liberal bourgeois or modern day Kautskyites, are deducing that with the rise of contending economic powers (particularly China and Russia) we are on the road to a “Multipolar” world in which powerful states and their monopolies will keep each other in check. 

 

I would not bother myself writing an article against this modern day Kautskyism if it wasn’t for the influx of self-proclaimed “Marxist-Leninists” (particularly in the Anglosphere) that are picking this up as anti-Imperialist and genuine Marxist theory. 

 

Not only is this mischaracterisation erroneous and completely devoid of class analysis. The theory of Multipolarity is crippling if kept unchecked and is an exact reflection of the Ideology Lenin rallied against in “Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism”. This was the capitulatory ideology of the renegade Kautsky and of the German Social-Imperialists who acted as radical Liberals by throwing internationalism in the dumpster for war credits on the eve of the First World War and threw ‘Red’ Rosa Luxembourg into the River Spree on the eves of the German Revolution.  If we wish to avoid these mistakes as well as revisionism and dogmatism this necromancy and resurrection of dead and thereby useless theory must be thrown to the dustbin of history. Thrown in again I must add since our forbearers had already done our work for us. Alas, different times call for different struggles, usually with the same old revisionism.

 

Why is Multipolarity a problem in the International Communist Movement and how does it relate to Kautskyism?

 

To answer the question of what Multipolarity is and how it relates to Kautskyism, we must first make the statement and analysis clear, that both China and Russia are Imperialist Countries by Lenin’s definition.  This analysis has already been undertaken by those much more articulate and studied than I so I will leave some works for further reading on this below. Now that we have established as a starting point that Russia and China are in fact Imperialist and not bastions of the Proletarian Revolution like many delusional and/or disingenuous “Marxist-Leninists” erroneously are stating, we can address the question of Multipolarity and its relation to Kautskyism with much more ease and lucidity. 

 

With the revisionist and ahistorical theory building quite a large following, we can find some of the biggest praises of Multipolarity through Ben Norton, a journalist and self-described Marxist-Leninist, and through the American “Communist” Party, a Communist Party by name but in practice a multi-level marketing scheme/cult that does share some unintentionally humorous work when it isn’t being racist or homophobic. Along with Gabriel Rockhill, Radhika Desai and many other liberal democrats and Thinktanks posing as communists around the globe (again particularly the Anglosphere but also notably India and China). 

 

There has also been some influence in Australia with the Communist Party of Australia publishing an article by Jesus Rojas in 2021 titled “Venezuela, Russia and China: the route to a Multipolar world”, and its 14th Congress in 2022 passing a resolution which included: “Most countries support the trend towards a multi-polar world and against hegemony. China’s framework of win/win diplomacy and community for a shared future are much better suited for the increasingly multipolar world.’’

 

  

This large influence world-wide has led to many aspiring but uninspired Marxist-Leninists supporting Multipolarity as a genuine and viable solution to war and as a ‘Theory” for peace. This is ridiculous as military spending has only gone up since the rise of other imperialist states according to Al Jazeera “reaching all-time high of $2.24 trillion” (2). 

 

Aggression has also only gone up with war and genocide amping up in Palestine. A highly mechanized Genocide is continuing by the Fascist Israeli Government and Settlers; Ukraine is being invaded by Imperialist Russia and is being fuelled and fooled by the Imperialist super power the US; Myanmar, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Congo, Sudan, Burkina Faso and the Guyana-Venezuela territorial dispute are further examples. 

 

Russia and China have been sinking their Imperialist teeth into African and Asian veins with loans as harsh as what the International Monetary Fund is infamous for, with one resulting in Sri Lanka forfeiting “the port and over 15,000 acres of land around it for 99 years” (3). 

 

It is clear the Imperialist and/or Capitalist countries will not “keep each other in check” but carry on as Imperialism and the Capitalist mode of production has scientifically destined it to carry on as, a blood-starved beast that will seek out Capital wherever it can, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. Lenin taught us this already. But how does this relate to Kautskyism and Ultra-Imperialism? Let see. 

 

Kautsky presented his Ultra-Imperialism by saying “Cannot the present imperialist policy be supplanted by a new, ultra-imperialist policy, which will introduce the joint exploitation of the world by internationally united finance capital in place of the mutual rivalries of national finance capitals? Such a new phase of capitalism is at any rate conceivable.” (4). 

  

A new Ultra-Imperialist policy now emerges and presents imperialism as a desirable set of multiple poles (Multipolarity) with different aims but a common goal of achieving a peaceful environment for their ongoing exploitation and plunder.

 

Marx declared that ‘History repeats itself first, as tragedy, and second, as farce.’ And very farcical it is, watching the lows these subjective “MLs” but objective defenders of Capitalism and Imperialism will drop to in order to promote and defend their misguided analysis and warped ideology. 

 

It sounds just as ridiculous as the ultra-imperialism that Lenin opposed, writing: “From the purely economic point of view,” is “ultra-imperialism” possible, or is it ultra-nonsense?” (5) and going on further to say: 

 

“Therefore, in the realities of the capitalist system, and not in the banal philistine fantasies of English parsons, or of the German “Marxist,” Kautsky, “inter-imperialist” or “ultra-imperialist” alliances, no matter what form they may assume, whether of one imperialist coalition against another, or of a general alliance embracing all the imperialist powers, are inevitably nothing more than a “truce” in periods between wars. Peaceful alliances prepare the ground for wars, and in their turn grow out of wars; the one conditions the other, producing alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle on one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations within world economics and world politics. But in order to pacify the workers and reconcile them with the social-chauvinists who have deserted to the side of the bourgeoisie, wise Kautsky separates one link of a single chain from another, separates the present peaceful (and ultra-imperialist, nay, ultra-ultra-imperialist) alliance of all the powers for the “pacification” of China (remember the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion) from the non-peaceful conflict of tomorrow, which will prepare the ground for another “peaceful” general alliance for the partition, say, of Turkey, on the day after tomorrow, etc., etc. Instead of showing the living connection between periods of imperialist peace and periods of imperialist war, Kautsky presents the workers with a lifeless abstraction in order to reconcile them to their lifeless leaders.” (6). 

 

With everything so far, it is very clear that Multipolarity only means inter-Imperialist rivalry and inter-Imperialist rivalry only means war. In a “Multipolar” world that will only means World War. Capitalist exploitation will never become a joint productive and co-operative endeavour between the most powerful of states. 

 

It is clear and obvious the appearance of Multipolarity is only a rebranded and reskinned Kautskyite Ultra-Imperialism just like Kautsky’s Ultra-Imperialism was a rebranding and reskinning of Hobson’s Super-Imperialism which proclaimed  “Christendom thus laid out in a few great federal empires, each with a retinue of uncivilised dependencies, seems to many the most legitimate development of present tendencies, and one which would offer the best hope of permanent peace on an assured basis of inter-imperialism.” (7).  

 

Understanding that Multipolarity is only modern day Kautskyism, we can throw this crippling and dulling theory to the dustbin of history and carry on in our revolutionary practical and theoretical work. Like Lenin said, “Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” (8) it is clear that Multipolarity is no revolutionary theory.

 

Sources – 

(1.) - https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/russia-is-on-a-path-to-becoming-socialist-again-in-anticipation-of-this-we-must-unite-the-globes-anti-imperialist-forces-by-rainer-shea

(2.) - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/24/world-military-spending-reaches-all-time-high-of-2-24-trillion

(3) - How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port

(4.) Kautsky - Die Neue Zeit, April 30, 1915, S. 144.

(5.) Lenin – Imperialism the Highest stage of Capitalism (Chapter 7)

(6.) Lenin – Imperialism the Highest stage of Capitalism (Chapter9)

(7.) quoted in Lenin – Imperialism the Highest stage of Capitalism (Chapter 9)

(8.) Lenin – What is to be Done?

 

 

Resources on Chinese Imperialism – 

 

• China: Revolution and Restoration

• Explaining China: how a socialist country took the capitalist road to Social-Imperialism

• China, a new social-imperialist power

• Pao Yu-ching, From victory to defeat

• Pao-yu Ching, Revolution and counter-revolution

• Deng-yuan Hsu and Pao-yu Ching, Re-thinking socialism

Palestinian cultural day in SA

Written by: Ned K. on 7 April 2025

 

Above: Just days ago, Torah Jews and other anti-Zionnists in the US rolled out a scroll containing the names of 50,000 Palestinians killed by genocidal Israeli Occupation Forces.   Photo source: ILPS)

On Sunday 6 April, the Palestinian community in Adelaide held their annual Palestinian Cultural Day organized by Palestinian Australians at the suburban beachfront of Semaphore. Hundreds of people attended the Cultural Day. There were activities for children, Palestinian live bands and solo artists, and plenty of Palestinian food. 

Notable political attendees were one state ALP Upper House MP, the first Moslem MP in SA Parliament, a Greens Party MP and an Australia's Voice Senate candidate for South Australia, Jordan Shane. Australia's Voice is the Party started up by Senator Fatima Payman from Western Australia. 

There were also several organizations supporting the Day, including AFOPA and Health Workers for Palestine.

Australia is home to First Nations Peoples on whose land many people from many different backgrounds and cultures have come to start a new life. Cultural events are held by many of these diverse communities.

What made this Palestinian Cultural Day of 6 April 2025 so special was that it expressed values of solidarity, optimism and determination by Palestinians despite the continued attempts by the US backed Zionist regime to destroy all remnants of Palestinian culture and Palestinian life itself.

 

Support for the people’s war in India

 Written by: Nick G. on 7 April 2025

 

Today, April 7, marks the beginning of an international week of solidarity with, and support for, the Indian revolutionary movement and the people’s war led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The CPI (M) and its armed forces, the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), have waged armed struggle for years against the Indian ruling class and established a zone of conflict often referred to as the “Red Corridor”.

They have based their mass work on the “untouchable” Dalit villagers and on the tribal peoples, the Adivasis, of the forests and jungles who, despite certain Constitutional rights, have been threatened with dispossession and forced exile so that the big corporations that have state power on their side, can move in and exploit the timber and mineral resources on Adivasi lands.

The key to corporate conquest of Adivasi lands is the crushing of the Maoist insurgency,

It was tried and failed during Operation Greenhunt, which began a decades-long campaign of extra-judicial killings, faked surrenders, forced displacement and attacks on civil liberties.

Now, the fascist Modi government has switched to an even more murderous assault, known as Operation Kagar, deploying more than one hundred thousand paramilitary forces, backed by drones, helicopters and satellite surveillance.

The CPI (M) claims that more than 400 people, including Party leaders, members of the PLGA and local Adivasis, have been killed over the past 15 months.
In response to the increased repression by the Modi government on behalf of Indian finance capital including Adani, Ambani and the big landlords of India, the CPI (M) has offered to join the government in a ceasefire providing it calls off Operation Kagar.

CPI (Maoist) Central Committee spokesperson Comrade Abhay said on April 2, “We welcome the round table organized by the ‘Peace Talks Committee’ in Hyderabad on March 24 on the topic – the Union Government and the CPI (Maoist) should announce unconditional ceasefire and hold peace talks, in the present scenario.”

“We are always ready for peace talks keeping in view people’s interests. Hence, putting forward these proposals to the Central and State governments to create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks. If the Central and State governments positively respond to these proposals, we will immediately announce a ceasefire,” Comrade Abhay said in the statement.

Comrade Abhay further declared in the statement, “The Hindutva fascist BJP-led regime at the Centre launched a military offensive against its own people in the name of Operation Kagaar undermining the lives of tribal people and fundamental constitutional provisions. This brutal offensive is aimed at crushing the revolutionary movement for Jal, Jangle, Zameen rights of Adivasis, promoting corporate interests to allow plunder of the natural resources, eventually decimate the federal system in the country and establish an autocratic unitary State.”

The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) salutes our Indian comrades, and calls on all Australians, including the Indian diaspora here in our country, irrespective of caste or religious identity, to support the call for an end to Operation Kagar and for a ceasefire on the terms offered by the CPI (Maoist). 

 

Only a genuinely anti-imperialist independence will protect our people.

Written by: Nick G. on 4 April 2025

 

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s recent address to the National Press Club, in which he called for Australian politicians to “get up off your knees and stand up for Australia,” represents a further strengthening of the movement for Australian independence.

Turnbull said that there should be a retaliation against Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Australian exports to the US, and that the Albanese government “could start with the $3bn or the $2.5bn left being handed over to support the US submarine industrial base.”

Attacking the AUKUS arrangements, he said “Australia was unlikely to ever receive submarines from the US given production challenges in America’s shipyards and there was a bipartisan lack of transparency about the risks to Australian sovereignty and defence capacity from the deal.”

He also said the government should consider withdrawing American access to naval bases in Perth.

He called on both Labor and the Coalition to stop being so timid and deferential, and said that “Australia needed to be more independent in the new world of brute power politics and reclaim sovereignty from the US.”

Of course, there will be some on the Left who will reject Turnbull and remind everyone of his role as Coalition PM between 2015 and 2018 when he did nothing to reclaim our sovereignty from the US, or make any reference to the need for Australian independence. 

He was then, and is now, a supporter of the so-called US-Australia “alliance”.

A person’s background and political record must not be forgotten, but whether their change of heart occurs sooner or later, the important thing is that it does occur.

The same may be said of former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser who was the beneficiary of a US-managed parliamentary coup. Whitlam had ruffled US imperialist feathers by talking of revealing the CIA role in Pine Gap, so hatchet man Marshall Green was despatched as US Ambassador to Australia to lay the ground for Whitlam’s dismissal.  Fraser secured the Australian state within the hold of US imperialism and launched attacks on the working class.

Yet in his later years, he had his own “road to Damascus” awakening and wrote the book “Dangerous Allies” in which he criticised the US hold on this country, warned about US plans to make us take Virginia class submarines, and called for the closure of Pine Gap.

Some on the Left extend their rejection of new-found allies on the Right to those progressive persons who try to establish an alternative to the US stranglehold.

The various Trotskyite groups, for example, have blasted the Greens for proposing a defence policy based on rejection of ties to the US and the development of a policy of armed neutrality, limiting Australian armed forces to the defence of Australia’s territorial integrity.

One Trotskyite organisation pilloried the Greens for “suddenly positioning themselves as defenders of the realm against an undefined enemy”.  The organisation conceded that the Greens had called for the scrapping of AUKUS, but criticised them because the demand “is not particularly progressive”.  It accused the Greens of “floating with the tide when every left-wing organisation ought to be swimming against the current.”

Another group which emerged out of the Trotskyites went further, slamming the Greens as “imperialism’s left-wing”.  

This group aimed its attack at the independence movement, in which it lumped the Greens, saying “Support for an “independent Australia” policy is not anti-imperialist in practice. Rather, it seeks to facilitate an independent Australian imperialism, liberated from its sub-imperial status under the American nuclear umbrella… An independent Australia would simply be an imperialist Australia.”

As long-time supporters of an independent Australia, we know that the question of Australian independence is fundamentally a class question.

Which class will win the right to lead the movement for independence will determine whether it moves in a genuinely anti-imperialist and socialist direction, or whether it suffers defeat and the strengthening of the grip of imperialism and reaction.

We are implacably opposed to bourgeois nationalism. But we are not opposed to strengthening and widening the anti-US movement and do not support sectarian rejection of allies who, whatever their shortcomings as firm anti-imperialists, are nevertheless welcome participants in the movement in which we are trying to establish a proletarian revolutionary main force.

Kiribati and China deepen ties

Written by: (Contributed) on 2 April 2025

 

(Above: Chinese and Kiribati leaders in Beijing in 2020   Source Xinhua)

Moves by Kiribati to negotiate a deep-sea mining deal with China have closely followed similar moves by the Cook Islands. The moves have taken place against a backcloth of underlying trends in the global economy and a changing balance of forces, with far-reaching implications for US hegemony. The two tiny Pacific Island countries have, for example, geo-strategic significance for US-led regional military and security provision.

In mid-March, Kiribati, a tiny Pacific island with 130,000 residents, announced it had initiated high-level diplomatic talks with China about securing a deep-sea mining partnership of a vast area surrounding the country. (1) The seabed deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper are regarded as 'key minerals for the global battery industry'. (2)

Kiribati, furthermore, has a huge Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering 3,437,132 square kms, in comparison to its total landmass of only 811 square kms, ensuring the former is 4,238 times larger than the latter. (3)

In fact, concerns have been expressed in US-led commentary that by switching their diplomatic allegiance to China from Taiwan, small Pacific Island states have provided China with diplomatic access to about 80 per cent of the Pacific Ocean. (4)

Many of the small islands also have a significant role in US-led regional defence and security provision; the Pentagon began a six year and $27.4 billion upgrading plan in 2021 to establish a network of precision-strike missiles along island chains in what was described as the 'Indo-Pacific theatre'. (5) The US-led military plan has also included provision for a 'fielding of an Integrated Joint Force with precision-strike networks … and integrated air missile defence'. (6)

The fact that Kiribati is half-way between Pine Gap and the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii reveals its sensitive geo-strategic position. (7) The Cook Islands, likewise, rests on similar sensitive arcs between US military facilities.

Decades of relative neglect during the previous Cold War by the US toward the Pacific sland nations and neo-colonial relations, however, assured they were 'sovereign and independent in appearance only'. (8) It was the golden age of US imperialism; in fact, the official position of the US during the period was stated clearly by John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State, 1953-59, as 'there are two ways of conquering a foreign nation. One is to gain control of its people by force of arms; the other is to gain control of its economy by financial means'. (9) That US hegemonic regional position has now become history.

The rise of China, particularly in the Pacific region has already seriously challenged US hegemony; even US analysts in Washington have concluded that the US is no longer the dominant power in the Pacific. (10) The US have been quietly pushed aside.

The changing balance of forces has been verified with economic data from within the corporate world itself; figures quoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2008 noted that while the US held about one-third of the world's financial assets with $56.1 trillion and the emerging market economies held $23.6 trillion, the latter were growing at twice the rate of the former. (11) The economic growth of the latter has also taken place with a multiplier effect.

Trade bodies, including the BRICs, have emerged as strong contenders in the global economy, particularly as they expand their membership into other areas of the world, including the Middle East. Studies of the expansion have concluded the emerging markets were collectively averaging nearly six per cent growth rates, with China and India together with 28 other countries, leading the way. (12) ASEAN, likewise, has also emerged as an influential trade bloc, with strong collective growth rates.

The US, however, has failed to reach the same growth rates; in fact, following a high-spot in the mid-1960s, their economy has hovered around two per cent growth rates for decades. (13) The problem has become a major factor behind the recent political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration and their financial advisers; they are in panic mode and frantic to deal with China, by whatever means they regard as warranted, including real-war scenarios.

The move by Kiribati to foster stronger links with China, therefore, is best assessed in the context of a subsequent changing balance of forces away from traditional US hegemonic positions. Chinese social-imperialism, in pursuing a policy promoted as supporting mutually beneficial trade and financial support, has presented a credible challenge to US diplomatic positions with tiny, and seemingly, forgotten countries, previously assessed by Washington as barely significant.

As a result of Kiribati pursuing closer links with China, its link with regional partners, Australia and New Zealand, have been noted to 'have become strained … there has been a … tectonic shift in the region'. (14) The fact that Australia's aid budget for developmental assistance has now dropped from 1.2 per cent of the federal budget to a mere 0.68 per cent remains a factor when studying the Pacific Island countries. (15)

Governments across the Pacific are now clearly looking at alternatives to traditional US-led support. More are likely to follow the lead of both Kiribati and the Cook Islands.

It is important to note that moves by the Kiribati government have also fostered some economic development in favour of the more vulnerable sectors of society in recent times. A recent government study noted poverty rates amongst the elderly, unemployed and disabled had been slashed by seventy per cent. (16)

1.     See: Kiribati floats Chinese deep-sea mining deal, Australian, 19 march 2025.
2.     Kiribati explores deep-sea mining deal with China amid global regulatory talks, The Investing News Network, 20 March 2025.
3.     China now controls 80% of the Pacific EEZ; US v. China, Japan Forward: Politics and Security, Rieko Hayakawa and Jennifer L. Anson, 14 February 2020.
4.     Ibid.
5.     US to build anti-China missile network along first island chain, Nikkei, 5 March 2021.
6.     US Indo-Pacific Command proposes new missile capabilities to deter China, RFA., 5 March 2021.
7.     See: Peters Projection, World Map, Actual Size.
8.     See: The plunder of the poor nations, Why are they poor? in The Enemy – Notes on Imperialism and Revolution, Felix Greene, (London, 1970), Chapter 4, pp. 135-151.
9.     Quoted, ibid., page 139.
10.   Study: US no longer dominant power in the Pacific, Paul D. Shinkman, Information Clearing House, 22 August 2019.
11.   Davos salutes SWFs in a celebration of global capitalism, Australian, 29 January 2008.
12.   'Nearly 6% growth', The Economic Times, 25 April 2024.
13.   US GDP growth rate, 1961-2025, Macrotrends.
14.   Pacific nation of Kiribati explores deep-sea mining deal with China, Radio Free Asia, 17 March 2025.
15.   Marles' $1bn snub for Trump, Australian, 25 March 2025.
16.   Kiribati's targeted support slashes poverty by 70%, The Tarawa Times, 19 March 2025.