If you wish to attend the events, Please call organizers on : Ahivaran Singh – 9811330977; Shree Prakash – 9871880686; Kabir Arora – 9911879675; or S. P. Udayakumar – 09865683735.
Quite contrary to all the fanfare and high-pitched public relations exercises by the DAE, it is one of the most under-performing sectors in India. Just to illustrate, in 1954 a grand three stage program for development of nuclear power was announced. It had at that time been projected that there would be 8000 MW of nuclear power in the country by 1980. As the years progressed, these predictions were to increase. By 1962, the prediction was that nuclear energy would generate 20-25,000 MW by 1987 and by 1969 the DAE predicted that by 2000 there would be 43,500 MW of nuclear generating capacity. All of this was before a single unit of nuclear electricity was produced in the country.
As against these promises, the installed capacity in 1979-80 stood at about 600 MW, about 950 MW in 1987 and 2720 MW in 2000. The only explanation that the DAE has offered for its failures has been to blame the cessation of foreign cooperation following the 1974 nuclear weapons test. At the same time, these sanctions also provided the DAE with an opportunity: each development, no matter how small or routine, could be portrayed as a heroic success, achieved in the face of staunch opposition by other countries and impossible odds, while any failures could be passed off as a result of the determination of other countries to block and prevent India achieving technological advancement. Such continuous failures were, however, not because of any paucity of resources. All governments in New Delhi have favoured nuclear energy and the DAE's budgets have always been high except for a brief period in the early 90s.
Currently 17 nuclear power reactors produce 4,120 MW (2.9% of total installed base – as against the current installed base of renewable energy being 13,242 MW which is 7.7% of total installed base with the southern state of Tamil Nadu contributing nearly a third of it, largely through wind power). The DAE is planning to set up 20 units of indigenous 700 MW of pressurised heavy water (PHWR) type reactors. The DAE hopes to be overseeing a $100 billion investment in nuclear energy in the coming decade and importing some 40 light water reactors that will help India stabilize its demand for power by 2020. The DAE predicts that the nuclear share of electricity by 2020 would be 35,000 MW.
The DAE has claimed that the PWR, built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), forms the powerhouse of INS Arihant, India's indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine. It was a joint endeavour of the DAE, the Navy and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). But the Director of BARC has admitted that "we have used the Russians as consultants. The DAE chief claims "We have the technical expertise and capability to build nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and warships of global standards." He declares, "When the government asks us to build such ships, we will do it… we are confident that we can build even supply propelling energy for aircraft carriers. Now the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and BARC scientists also plan to power some parts of Chandrayaan II, an unmanned mission to the Moon, with nuclear energy.
With the clinching of the nuclear deal with the United States and consequent waiver by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on September 6, 2008, India is now projected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020. Two sites –in Gujarat (Mithibor in Bhavnagar district) and Andhra Pradesh (Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts)– reportedly stand "earmarked" for the US companies such as General Electric-Hitachi and Westinghouse in the wake of the July 2009 visit by Hillary Clinton. A French nuclear company Areva has been setting up plants at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, and at least four additional reactors are in the pipeline from Russia for Koodankulam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. This is an extremely ambitious and massive expansion program.
Similar large-scale expansion plans are on in the Uranium mining sector also. The DAE claims that the capacity of the reactors would go up because the capacity of the mills at Jaduguda in Jharkhand that convert natural uranium into yellow cake has been augmented. Another mill at Turamdih in Jharkhand has been commissioned and its production of yellow cake is also said to be going up. The expansion program at Jaduguda is said to be complete and the Turamdih expansion will be completed in 2010. The uranium mine and the mill constructed at Tummlapalle in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh is expected to go on stream in 2013. Exploration mining is taking place at Gogi (near Gulbarga) in Karnataka, and at Domiasiat in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
 High Cost: Nuclear energy was once promoted as something which will be "too cheap to meter" but it has actually become "too costly to matter." The most conservative estimate has it that one MW of nuclear energy costs approximately Rs. 6.5 crores. This is definitely more expensive than thermal, hydro and other sources of power. If you factor in reactor construction delays, the exploding costs of material, governmental subsidies, departmental mess-ups, waste management costs, decommissioning expenses, and the other "usual" mega-project costs such as PR expenses, bribes, commissions, kick-backs and so forth, nuclear energy is prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, importing Uranium, reactors and other assorted technologies from foreign companies will impose a huge economic burden on the "ordinary citizens" of India while those companies reap high profits at our cost.
 Dangerous Waste: The DAE does not reveal what they do with the nuclear waste or how they will deal with the huge amounts of waste that will be produced by all the upcoming nuclear power plants. The director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) has recently denied news that radioactive waste from IGCAR and other nuclear sites all over India are brought to Kalpakkam and disposed into the sea. The DAE is yet to reveal to the public what they plan to do with the radioactive waste and how the safety of our people, our children, our grandchildren and the successive generations will be safeguarded for the next 48,000 years.
 Safety Issues: Serious hazards are associated with Uranium mining, reactor safety (with the possibilities of damage due to accidents, breakdowns and natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunami), nuclear installation security (with the possibilities of damage due to sabotage, terrorist acts, aerial/missile attacks, or war-time assaults), and short and long-term waste disposal. No one can honestly claim that all these problems of safety and security have been overcome. Neither can anyone guarantee absolute safeguards against the above possibilities. In fact, a major accident in a nuclear power plant would surely be catastrophic in nature as was amply demonstrated by the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986. (This is why and how nuclear industry is unique in that no insurance company insures a nuclear power plant). And this possibility alone, which can never be ruled out, disqualifies nuclear power as a rational option.
 Health Hazards: A heavy dose of radioactivity will cause "radiation sickness" and bring about immediate death. Lower doses can cause fatal cancers, leukaemia, and genetic defects that may not show themselves for 20 years or more and result in delayed death. The carcinogenic hazard associated with nuclear installations is quite severe.
 Environmental Impact: Uranium mining, thorium extraction, emissions from the nuclear power plants, waste dumping and nuclear weapons production all have a serious impact on our natural resources such as the air, the sea, fish catch, the land, ground water, food production, farm animals and so on. These operations have dangerous impact on our people, especially women, children, marginalized communities such as the tribals, dalits and fisherfolk in places like Jadugoda, Meghalaya, Hyderabad, and the coastal villages of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The nuclearization of India exhibits a blatant disregard to the overall environment and to the human rights of millions of people. The land rights, water rights, right to life and livelihood are all seriously impeded by the nuclear estate and its institutions and agents.
 'Developmental' Perils: All the nuclear installations and activities will displace hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Many more people will lose their traditional livelihood activities and there will be a very high people-cost in our highly and densely populated country. Moreover, with highly centralised power generation, nuclear power would militate against decentralised development and further accentuate the "development" pattern, which, in the first place, has brought the humanity to the brink of total ecological destruction. Thus nuclear power is neither 'green' nor 'sustainable' and is definitely NOT a valid answer for climate change concerns.
 Decommissioning Woes: Our future governments will have to incur heavy expenses to decommission the nuclear power plants, maintain those installations and keep them safe for the public for years to come. Similarly, our future generations will have to deal with this deathly heritage just so we can have electricity for 40 years.
 Deadly Weapons & Arms Race: Worst of all, nuclear energy has a strong technical linkage with and thereby provides a strong push for nuclear weaponization program and India itself is a graphic illustration. We are being pushed into a nuclear arms race with both Pakistan and China that renders us all more impoverished, vulnerable and unsafe.
Nuclear power in India has always enjoyed official patronage, financial power, and military backing. Now it is also gaining political power. The most dangerous is the trend of the nuclear estate gaining more prominence, power and a forcible say in the country's socioeconomic-political power structures and decision-making processes. Their gaining an upper hand in the political circles with their autocratic values and tendencies is deleterious to the democratic fabric of our country.
To give just one example, the Land Transfer Act of Meghalaya, introduced in 1972, bars non-tribals from buying or transferring land in that state. Hence the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) cannot go ahead with Uranium mining activities without clearance from the District Council and the state government. To circumvent this dilemma, the Meghalaya government is being pressurized to exempt the Land Transfer Act from the uranium rich belt in Mawthabah so that UCIL can set up a processing unit there for Uranium mining.
The nuclear estate is getting ready for joint ventures in nuclear energy sector where private companies, both Indian and foreign, could join hands with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Ltd. (NPCIL). Secretive efforts are on to rewrite the Indian Atomic Energy Act 1962 in order to facilitate private participation in nuclear activities. This combination of profiteering capitalists, secretive government and careerist scientists and engineers will not auger well for the country.
In the context of the unprecedented threats facing the world due to global warming and the rapid depletion of conventional energy sources, the nuclear establishment is most opportunistically pushing nuclear energy as a climate-friendly energy source. However, all the activities associated with nuclear power generation – the mining and processing of uranium, the building of nuclear power stations involving huge amounts of cement and steel, the long construction process, the decommissioning of plants and the handling of radioactive waste – are highly unsafe and expensive, and cause enormous climate-changing pollution. Nuclear energy is not cheap, safe, clean or sustainable. It also does not offer a solution to our energy problems.
India's nuclear program has been and continues to be vigorously resisted by the people of this country whose struggles in the past have stopped two nuclear power stations – Peringome and Kothamangalam – from coming up. [Similarly, huge public protests by the people of Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh stalled a proposed nuclear power plant in 1988 and a proposed Uranium mining project since 2003.] This convention declares total support and solidarity to the struggles of people resisting the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu. It also declares support and solidarity to people in all other parts of the country such as Jadugoda, Meghalaya, Haripur and Jaitapur who are struggling against uranium mining and nuclear power plants.
Given this situation, there is an immediate and urgent need to mobilise public opinion against the reckless nuclearization of the country and to build up resistance on a pan-national scale. In order to do that, all the various anti-nuclear organizations and movements need to come together and put up a united front. In the spirit of the Kanyakumari Declaration and the newly-formed "National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements," we must plan some national activities jointly.
It is precisely in this context, we propose to organize a "Delhi Rally" on October 2, 2009 (Gandhi Jayanti) in a location as close to Rajghat as possible. The "Delhi Rally" can be a display of our combined strength and a platform to meet each other and plan a national strategy. We all together must monitor the national energy strategy and the developments on the energy market, undertake economic analysis of the development of nuclear energy, carry out independent risk assessments of various nuclear projects and activities, and plan regional and national joint future actions.
 The day-long program may begin with a group of youth and children gathering and wailing at the Father of Nation's grave about the Indian government's nuclear policies and programs and the bleak future these are going to bring about for them.
 Activists could make a national appeal from Rajghat to all the Gram Sabhas across the country to pass a resolution against the nuclearization of the country and send it to relevant authorities.
 These activities may be followed by deliberations by anti-nuclear activists from across the country, songs and dances, exhibitions and demonstrations.
 Anti-nuclear activists may cook food with solar cookers and serve the participants lunch.
 In the afternoon the activists from across the country may rally to the nearby 'Delhi Gate' carrying a giant piece of (fake) yellow cake, (balloon models of) nuclear power plants, (mock) nuclear waste and (imitation) nuclear weapons to highlight the grave dangers that Uranium mining, nuclear power plants, nuclear waste, and nuclear weapons pose to the Indian public.
 A Press Meet could be organized at the 'Delhi Gate'.
 A delegation could meet with the President of India and other select leaders with a memorandum exhorting them to make India nuclear-free.
No Deals, No Mines, No Reactors, No Dumps, No Bombs!
Don't Nuke Our Children's Futures!


text:
What we're writing: Rhys writes THE END, but is it?
On Sunday I wrote those two most magic words to any writer THE END.
I had finished the first draft of next year's Royal Spyness book, called Malice at the Palace. I can't give you a cover picture because there isn't one yet. But it takes place mainly at Kensington Palace. Not nearly as well known as its sister Buckingham, it is older and has housed many generations of royals. It was the home of George I. It was where Queen Victoria was born and at the time I write about it was known as the Aunt Heap--because various daughters and granddaughters of Queen Victoria lived in apartments there. More recently it achieved fame as the home of Charles and Diana. It was where William and Harry grew up. It was outside the gold tipped gates that the incredible tribute of flowers was left for Diana. And now it is where William and Kate are raising their family. (second one on the way, in case you haven't heard).
Oh, and it also houses more than its share of family ghosts, some of whom make cameo appearances in my book. I realize I'm sailing a little close to the wind with this story--a real royal scandal of the time. But it is well substantiated in the newspapers so I feel I will not be treading on too many toes.
And of course those words THE END now means that the hard work starts. Going through the whole thing again, examining every sentence for clumsy phrasing. Reading a lot out loud. Making sure that the plot makes sense and doesn't give too much away. And when my polishing is complete to goes to my husband John, who will pull it apart yet again and we'll argue a lot and then I'll rewrite one more time before it goes off to my agent and my editor.
But if you'd like a little preview now here is the scene when Georgie arrives at the palace.
The rain came down harder and the wind buffeted me as I finally came to what I hoped was the right door. I rang the door bell. Nobody came immediately so I tried the door knob and the door swung open. I stepped into a foyer and looked around with surprise. I had expected something like Buckingham Palace—walls lined with royal portraits, antiques and statues everywhere. But this was more like an ordinary home, slightly outmoded and with a lingering smell of furniture polish and damp. I gave a sigh of disappointment, mingled with a small sigh of relief. At least I wouldn't have to worry about knocking over priceless objects every time I turned around, the way I did at Buckingham Palace. It was also rather cold in that foyer, with a draft swirling about my legs.. Not too welcoming a first impression for a visiting princess, I thought. But perhaps they were not planning to turn on any form of heat until she arrived.
I wasn't quite sure what to do next. I wondered if the queen would have supplied servants of if Princess Marina was bringing her own and they weren't here yet. I realized that I should have asked to be taken to Major Beauchamp-Chough, not have gone straight to the apartment. Protocol probably demanded that he escort me to my quarters. But it was a long, wet walk back to the front of the building. There was an archway at the end of the entry hall leading to a passageway beyond. As I looked in that direction I saw a woman walk across it.
"Hello," I called. "Wait a minute, please."
When she didn't stop I ran after her, and found myself standing in a long dark corridor that was completely empty. Where had she gone? There were no side corridors and she would not have had time to open and close a door. That's when I realized she was wearing a long white dress and her hair had been piled upon her head in curls. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. At that moment I heard the brisk tap of feet on the marble tiled floor and a woman came across the foyer toward me. This one was all too solid. She was probably in her thirties, well fed, in a wool dress that was a little too tight for her, pale faced and with pale hair piled in an old fashioned bun. She spotted me and bore down upon me, wagging a finger.
"Ah, there you are, you naughty girl," she said in strongly accented English. "Where have you been? I have been waiting for you."
"I didn't realize there was a specific time for my arrival," I said, taking aback by her ferocious approach.
"That is no way to address your betters," she said, giving me a haughty stare.
"My betters?" Indignation now overtook surprise. "I'm sorry. I don't know who you are, but I rather think we must be equals, unless you are Queen Victoria reincarnated."
I saw uncertainty cross her face. "Are you not the girl who was sent to bring me pickled herring from Harrods?"
I tried not to grin. "I am Lady Georgiana, cousin to His Majesty," I said. "May one ask your name?."
"Oh, thousand pardons," the woman stammered, thoroughly flustered now. "I did not expect… we were not informed that His Majesty's cousin would be visiting. And I did not expect a royal person to arrive alone in such a manner." And she looked at my sodden mack and the puddle accumulating around my feet.
'Yes, I'm sorry. I realize I don't look very royal," I said. "But it's raining cats and dogs out there and I don't have a motor car."
She went and peered out of the window. "I do not see any cats and dogs," she said.
"Just an expression."
"Ah," she said solemnly. "An English idiom. I must learn these things. Cats and dogs."
And an interesting little thing happened to me when I started writing this book. A friend was moving from a big house to a retirement home. "I thought you might like this old print," she said. It was framed and very old. I thanked her then I looked at the caption at the bottom. Kensington Palace, 1789. I took it as a good omen.
So I'm interested to know, dear Reds and Readers--how do you feel about real people as characters in fiction? I try to keep mine as close to their true lives as possible but what do you think of books that take liberties with them--Queen Elizabeth as a sleuth? Hitler as a sleuth?
Malice at the Palace will be published by Berkley Prime Crime August 2015.
Labels: ghosts, kensington palace, Malice at the Palace, Princess Diana, royal residences, tribute, william and kate
Joan Emerson September 17, 2014 at 3:28 AM
Somehow I'm having a bit of difficulty imagining Hitler as a sleuth and so I guess "not much of a fan" is my answer. Somehow, it just doesn't seem quite right to be taking such liberties with real people . . . or perhaps it simply depends on how believable it all
might be.
And now, of course, I'm anxious to read the rest of "Malice at the Palace" . . . thanks for the sneak peek!
Reine September 17, 2014 at 4:30 AM
Hi Rhys,
I would love to see Queen Elizabeth as a young woman, or even a pre-teen pre-queen seeker of solutions to palace mysteries sleuthing about the palace with little Princess Margaret. Wouldn't that be fun!
Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleib September 17, 2014 at 7:26 AM
This will be such fun Rhys--thanks for giving us a peek!
I use real people quite a bit--and real places too, in Key West. I think readers will love getting this insider's view into the palace, and see the Queen herself too.
Hitler as sleuth? I'm with Joan--preposterous! But it might be fun to see Diana live on...
Hank Phillippi Ryan September 17, 2014 at 8:16 AM
The hilarious Meg Mims (and she/they'll be visiting Jungle Red soon) uses Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins as sleuths in their new mystery..and they're real, right? ;-)
And of course our Susan is perfection at real people in fictional books.
Hitler, can you imagine? That'd be right up (or, down) there with those blood-spattered Kent State t-shirts they tried to sell.
Rhys, there's nothing--nothing!--like typing THE END. I generally cry. Hurray for you!
AND the winner of the TRUTH BE TOLD arc is: PK the Bookeemonster!
Monster, email me at h ryan at whdh dot com and tell me your address.
And anyone who wants a snail mail party invitation--do the same!
Susan Elia MacNeal September 17, 2014 at 8:20 AM
If you'd like to read about the Queen as a sleuth, I highly recommend C.C. Benison's Jane Bee/Her Majesty Investigates series. Such fun!
I think historical figures are fair game, but do realize not everyone agrees. I am respectful though, of course.
Rhys, thanks for the preview. At first I thought that of deafness when the other person? Did not respond to Lady Georgie. Perhaps not. I could see Princess Eluzabeth (now the Queen) and Princess Margaret solving a mystery.
In my WIP, I have a few real historical figures. Look forward to reading malice at the palace. Love the title.
Hallie Ephron September 17, 2014 at 9:09 AM
Georgie at the palace - I love it! So much fun, to see it through her eyes.
Real people as sleuths... why not? As long as they're dead. (And then why not their ghosts, figuring out who killed them?) Though I agree with Joan, I wouldn't want to read Hitler Detective...
Liz Milliron September 17, 2014 at 9:17 AM
Great snippet Rhys and congrats on typing THE END.
Historical figures? Well, I'm torn. I think, as Susan said, you have to be respectful. And the person has to act consistently with what is known historically. But I could totally see Elizabeth as a sleuth!
PK the Bookeemonster September 17, 2014 at 10:22 AM
Wow, thanks Hank! I'm gobsmacked!
I read A LOT of historical mysteries. It is a fine line to write a book/series with a real person. I prefer that they are walk on or supporting characters to perhaps add flavor, verisimilitude and sometimes humor. That can be done very well indeed.
IMHO, using a real person as the protagonist is a bit lazy, like using a brand that people are comfortable with but not really because it's just the name, if you take my meaning. The writer is imagining conversations and relationships anyway, just create a new person! If the writing is good, we'll follow you every step of the way.
Mark Baker September 17, 2014 at 10:52 AM
If they are done well, I enjoy historical figures as sleuths. However, if they are too out there, it does bug me. Hitler as sleuth? Not so much. But either Queen Elizabeth could make a good sleuth if done correctly.
Karen in Ohio September 17, 2014 at 11:37 AM
Such a fun little teaser of the new Lady Georgie, Rhys. Good luck with the rest of the process.
I enjoy reading about historic figures, especially when they're inserted in stories, a la Susan's Princess Elizabeth cameos, and the real-life people who show up in the Indiana Jones' books. (My grandson and I got into these this past spring--dozens of books, all written in the 30's, on which the movies were based.) It's fun to stretch one's brain a bit to understand those particular characters' motivations and places in the tale. But I'm ambivalent about them as sleuths.
Kensington Palace is exactly as you describe it, Rhys, just a big, rambling house, at least the public parts of it. When I was there with my mother and daughter, my grandson was just walking, and we had tea at the Orangerie. The gardens are so beautiful.
Authorrhysbowen@gmail.com September 17, 2014 at 12:42 PM
"Not much of a fan" of Hitler as a sleuth, Joan! I think I'd agree with that. I confess I have a problem with using a real person as my sleuth because a lot is known about this person's life and we know they didn't have time to play detective.
But I do love introducing real people in cameo roles. It binds us to the time and makes the reader feel that the story is valid. And who wouldn't want to see Charlie Chaplin in a swimming pool with Georgie?
Jackie Jones September 17, 2014 at 12:43 PM
No Hitler, but otherwise I am all for it! The Queen as a young sleuth would be great fun!
Is there any real person that would be off limits?
Looking forward to the new book Rhys!
Hank, Doolittle and Higgins are real, just like Jane Austen, right? (; The Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron are so fun!
Yes, I like your cameos, Rhys. But definitely no on the "Hitler--Boy Sleuth!"
You and Susan have both managed to use historical figures well, and I love Stephanie Barron's (Francine Matthew's) Jane Austen books. So it can be done if you get the voice just right.
Ann Mettert September 17, 2014 at 4:34 PM
Real people in fiction? Depends in how it's done. ;)
This little snippet made me crazy. I WANT MORE!!
Susan D September 17, 2014 at 7:26 PM
II'm not a big fan of real historical characters as sleuths, but I do enjoy running across them in mystery novels. Nice to have them pop in unexpectedly.
Authorrhysbowen@gmail.com September 17, 2014 at 8:05 PM
That's what I think Susan. Sometimes I don't identify mine by name but let the reader suddenly recognize them. Fun
Reine September 17, 2014 at 8:08 PM
Especially fun that way, Rhys!
Kathy Reel September 17, 2014 at 10:42 PM
Oh, Rhys, I do so love Georgie! A ghost will be delightful in the story. Thanks for this wonderful excerpt. I can't wait to read it. And, yes, I do enjoy real people as characters.
Love your books but am tired of waiting for Georgie and her beau to get together probably you didn't think this when u wrote it but even suggesting Hitler is offensive I think u should take this down
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Music was always her first love but back then she didn't know it was possible to make a living out of being a singer and DJ.
right sense of style. Ella is a sought after model for the fashion and lifestyle magazines in her homeland, a small island of new hopes in the dark ocean of so-called Eastern Europe.
And now it is happening. Step by step she goes her own way to reach success. When she was only 16 she has wrote her first song, recorded it and sent it to the record company. She's got signed to Microphone Records. In 2006 the debut album "To reach your dream" was released. She wrote most of the songs herself. At the same time she participated in local "Fame academy" and again, got to the super final.
In 2007 she host a special programme on the most popular radio in Latvia - "Radio SWH". At the same time she started to do her DJ sets at the most prestigious Riga dance club " Essential".
In 2008 the new album " Welcome To The Club" was released.
Most of the album songs are written by famous writers from UK, Belgium and US.
Album contains successful singles "Welcome To The Club", "DJ Take Me", "Shine Like A Superstar "and" Kitchy, Kitchy" what reached airplay top 10 in Latvia and were released across the Scandinavia (TMC) as well as Germany (DDR Records) and France (EMI). Mixes&remixes of the new album tracks appears on many dance compilations (Everybody Dance Now, Tuning Hitz, Summer Hitz etc) . Ella's success story is rising and seems to break more and more borders. Not many of the Latvian artists have ever been released abroad and played on international radio, but Ella is one of these few. And she is a first Latvian artist ever reached French Club Chart Top 40 in 2008 with her single " DJ Take Me".
Ella adds: " I know that I should work hard to get the success. I've never thought that it is an easy way. But I do not know anything that would stop me on my way. I know I've made some mistakes, but I do not care about what's in the past. I live today and think of tomorrow. I know there is people who hates me, but there is always much more who loves me. The most important is that there are no indifferent ones.


text:
require File.expand_path('../../../spec_helper', __FILE__)

describe "Class#allocate" do
  it "returns an instance of self" do
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    klass.allocate.should be_kind_of(klass)
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    klass = Class.allocate
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    klass.methods.should_not == nil
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    lambda do
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    end.should raise_error(TypeError)
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We have 'mandatory evac' orders here (FL) but similar.... you don't go.... Don't call us for help... we HAVE had it happen. You can imagine the 'surprise' when the dispatchers tell them: We're sorry but we are NOT sending anyone. We will log the request and try to respond when it is safe to do so..... They try to provide some over the phone direction of what to do (ie central room, no windows etc) but they do remind them that they WERE told to evacuate.
People have been told to use permanent marker to write their social security number on their arm so we can ID them later if necessary.
Our crews do NOT go out in sustained winds over 40 MPH. Just too dangerous.
Circumstances vary, and these are deeply personal decisions. It would be interesting to do followup interviews with these same people, at least those who will have survived.
I probably would be gone by now. Life safety is far more important than any material goods. By withdrawing now, I would be available to assist in rescue and salvage efforts after the storm.
If we lived on a boat, we too would stay on it for the storm...... IN ANOTHER LOCATION.
Why evacuate from the house, when you can evacuate the house it self, right?
That's just it- the ones who survive will be happy with their decision. The ones who don't... you can't interview. It's called "survivor bias".
Not necessarily. I worked with a guy who hunkered down in place for Andrew, and he definitely regretted that decision. Of course, there are many who would never admit to making less than a wonderful, intelligent decision.
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text:
Get Ready for Grammy Awards Politics
by Joe Scudder
The awards ceremony is supposed to be about entertainment, but expect Grammy Awards politics–which will mean Leftist causes.
The reason for Grammy Awards politics isn't just an overall Leftist agenda that they desperately want to affect a majority of Americans. It's also the fact that these entertainers can't bear to think they're merely entertainers. No, they have to believe they are "champions" and "fighters" for a cause.
Naturally, the media pretends that the people want to be propagandized and this is a completely spontaneous expression coming from the artists themselves in all their integrity. The headline almost hints that they are all hoping to conform to and leverage "the political climate."
The L.A. Times reports, "Grammy rehearsals aim to be true to the political climate while celebrating music."
Trending: Young Autistic Boy Screams for Help as Bullies Nail Wooden Plank to His Head
More eyes likely will be glued to the moments of the show that will address social issues such as gun violence, mental illness and sexual abuse — hotly debated topics that in recent months have jolted the entertainment industry. Producers stressed that they never look to force politics into the show, instead leaving it up to artists to use the platform as they see fit.
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"We really do believe in artists' rights," [Executive Producer Ken] Ehrlich said. "Everything comes from them. They are more than the sum of their lyrics and music. There's certainly more of a magnifying glass on our show because of the [Time's Up show of support at the] Golden Globes."
As Corden and Ehrlich discussed a potential segment, the newscast in the producer's bullpen displayed a press conference of an Arizona woman who was leaving the hospital after recovering from a "non-survivable injury" after being shot in the head at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival. The attack that left 58 dead and hundreds more injured will be addressed on Sunday's show with a tribute performance from Maren Morris, Eric Church and Brooks Osborne; the names of the victims will be displayed on paper lanterns.
The day before rehearsal kicked off, an open letter was circulated among the music industry by a group calling itself the "Voices of Entertainment."
Taking its cues from the Times Up campaign that defined the Golden Globes, the group is requesting attendees and nominees wear white roses in support of "equal representation in the workplace, for leadership that reflects the diversity of our society, workplaces free of sexual harassment and a heightened awareness of accountability."
Read the entire story.
Are Women Owed Grammy Awards as Reparations?
U2 Hate Video Calls Trump Voters Klansmen


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Purdue University Northwest News
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You are here: Home / PNW News / PNW's Investments in On-Time Graduation Pay Dividends for Students and State
PNW's Investments in On-Time Graduation Pay Dividends for Students and State
Purdue University Northwest (PNW) was cited for having one of the most-improved on-time graduation rates among Indiana's 14 public four-year institutions, as reported by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
The average rate of change for on-time student completions at PNW over the past five years is 14.95 percent, representing the largest increase among all Purdue-affiliated campuses and third highest among all other Indiana schools studied.
PNW's faculty and staff made graduation rate improvement a priority, recognizing the positive impact on students—namely lowering college debt and accelerating opportunities for graduates to enter northwest Indiana's vibrant workforce. To achieve the ambitious goal, PNW invested in multiple programs designed to anchor students throughout their four-year journey.
15 to finish.
Purdue Northwest actively supports the "15 to Finish" statewide campaign that encourages students to pass 15 credit hours per semester over four years. Adding on to this commitment, PNW instituted "banded tuition" this fall, which allows undergraduate students to pay the same basic tuition rate as 12 credit hours for a course load between ranges of 12 to 18 credit hours per semester. This new initiative helps students graduate on time and reduces the overall cost of their education.
Setting pathways.
PNW developed a robust first-year experience for incoming undergraduate students who are either undecided on a major, or falling short of academic requirements necessary to declare a desired major. Students work closely with full-time, tenured faculty and receive one-on-one advising. Faculty also charted academic plans in a variety of disciplines allowing students to explore potential majors while staying on the path toward a four-year degree.
Student-athlete success.
PNW's Athletics department instituted programs available to all student-athletes to balance the demands of academics and athletics. These programs include academic monitoring and advising, referral services, webinars and personal mentoring. These efforts have helped PNW's more than 200 student-athletes achieve an average collective grade point average (GPA) of 3.21 last year and keeps them on pace to finish in four years.
Academic coaching.
A key factor of PNW's on-time graduation gains was Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program, which contributed to a 17.6 percent increase in one year. According to Christian Trigg, coordinator for PNW's 21st Century Collegiate Scholars Program, academic coaches helped Scholar students identify barriers to success, plan successful solutions, foster leadership opportunities, learn to think critically and advocate for themselves.
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Gaita Memorial Home
Cremations Made Simple
Joseph F. Gaschler
Gaschler, Joseph F., 65, of Vernon, passed away on Friday, January 31, 2020. Beloved husband of Barbara J. Gaschler (nee Day). Loving father of Deborah Gaschler, Rebecca Gaschler, and the late Barbara Ann (1975). Devoted son of Helen Baumgartner Gaschler. Adoring grandfather of Brianna Gonzales, Angelica Gonzales, Edwin Gonzales, and Sierra Gaschler. Great-grandfather of Jordan Montgomery. Dear brother of John Gaschler and his wife Catalina, and the late Michael Gaschler (1968).
Born in Passaic, Joseph moved to Paterson before residing in Vernon for the past 19 years. He was a member of the Christian Faith Fellowship Church located in Franklin, NJ. Joseph was also a member of the Royal Rangers of Paterson.
The family will receive their friends on Thursday, February 6, 2020 from 6-9 PM at Gaita Memorial Home, 154 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Little Falls. A service will be held on Friday, February 7, 2020 at 10 AM at Gaita Memorial Home with Reverend James Henry officiating. Interment to follow at Fair Lawn Cemetery, 22-21 Maple Avenue, Fair Lawn.
Paul G. Oliver
Oliver, Paul G., 62, of Woodland Park, passed away on Wednesday, January 29, 2020. Beloved son of Mona Fayad Oliver and the late Nicholas J. Oliver. Dear brother of Nicholas Oliver, Raymond Oliver, Robert P. Oliver, Olga Simunovich, and the late Barbara N. Oliver. Paul will be greatly missed by his many nieces and nephews.
Born in Paterson, Paul moved to Woodland Park when he was 6 years old. He once took a Naval Aptitude Test and scored with over a 180 IQ. A loving and devoted son, Paul took care of his father for 10 years before he passed away in October of 2018. Paul was a member of St. Ann's Melkite Church in Woodland Park.
A funeral service will be celebrated on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 10 AM at St. Ann's Melkite Church, 802 Rifle Camp Road, Woodland Park. Interment to follow Resurrection Cemetery, Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ.
Maxine Diakos
Diakos, Maxine (nee Balasis), 75, of Little Falls, passed away on Friday, January 24, 2020. Devoted wife of the late Nicholas E. Diakos who passed away December 23, 2011. Loving mother of Tina Diakos Ammendola and the late Emmanuel N. Diakos (1994) and Pauline Diakos-Jimenez (2015). Adoring grandmother of 6 grandchildren. Dear sister of Peter Balasis.
Born in Greece, Maxine lived in Little Falls for the past 54 years. She was the proprietor of the Pilgrim Diner in Cedar Grove for 18 years. Prior to that Maxine and her husband Nicholas were owners of the Clairmont Diner and Clairmont Chateau. Maxine was a member of St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton.
The family will receive their friends on Sunday, January 26, 2020 from 4 - 7 PM at Gaita Memorial Home, 154 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Little Falls. There will be a service at the funeral home at 5:30 PM. A Funeral Service will be held on Monday, January 27, 2020 at 10 AM at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church, 818 Valley Road, Clifton. Please meet directly at church. Interment to follow at Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa, NJ.
Julia E. Jasterzbski
Julia Jasterzbski, age 85, passed away on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. All who shared time with Julia admired and respected her for she was an honest, strong woman with a generous pure heart.
Throughout her life Julia was greatly inspired by the devotion and sacrifices of her parents, Mary and Joe. At age three, Julia, her 1- year old sister, Mary, and her mother left Hungary and traveled one week by boat to reunite with their father who had earned sponsorship in the states. Julia witnessed hardship early on and embraced the importance of hard work and perseverance. After several years living on a dairy farm in Hackettstown, the Wichas moved to a two-family home in Clifton. Julia and her sister Mary attended Holy Trinity in Passaic. Julia's most fond memories were spent with her sister and parents on day trips to Lake Hopatcong, Palisades Amusement Park and Coney Island. It was during her elementary years that she first met her life-long sweetheart "Jazzbow". Joe and Julia attended Holy Trinity together and both continued their religious education at Pope Pius High School.
Her Catholic faith was evident in her daily behavior and had a significant influence in her youth and adult life. Passionate about helping, and focused on learning, Julia, continued advanced studies at Rutgers University where she graduated with a Nursing Degree. During this time Joe enlisted in the US Air Force. Although apart, Julia and Joe were committed to each other and were destined to be together. The couple married shortly after his military discharge.
Julia adored her husband and loved her two sons, Tommy and Richard. Their future and well-being meant everything to her. While Joe worked days, Julia took the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Passaic General Hospital. She devoted 40 years of her life caring for her patients and their families as an OBGYN Registered Nurse. Her loyalty and personal contributions to the hospital earned her professional recognitions, the support of her colleagues, and the love of her patients.
Whenever possible and into retirement, Grandma Julia, along with Grandpa Joe, spent as much time as they could with their boys and their cherished grandchildren Michele, Tommy, Cathryn, Christina and Jennifer. Julia was an avid reader. She had a profound interest in books, but her greatest pleasure and source of fulfillment was in spending time with the grandchildren and helping her family. Grandma Julia was the ultimate caregiver assisting with cooking, housekeeping, babysitting, but most especially she provided a guiding light, a voice of wisdom, a model of goodness.
"You were a very SPECIAL lady MOMMA...we deeply love, admire, and appreciate all you did. You will forever be in our hearts."


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Oct. 1 is the last day for students to vote to approve the ASI/Student Center Merger
Published on : October 1, 2014 Published by : Daniel Rivera
Today is the last day that Associated Students Inc. (ASI) will hold elections for students to approve the merger between the student government and the Cesar Chavez Student Center (CCSC).
While ASI and the Student Center Governing Board have already voted unanimously to approve the merger, ASI bylaws dictate that every member must vote on a resolution in order to pass. Students who are enrolled in SF State are therefore members of ASI because they pay fees funding student government, and would need to approve the motion to finalize the merger.
In a campus-wide email sent out to all students late Monday night, ASI President Sara Padash encouraged SF State students to participate in the confirmation process by voting on the measure between Sept. 30 to Oct.1.
"Because AS is a membership student body government organization, and you are a member of AS, your Board of Directors are requesting you to exercise your voice during the upcoming Vote to Confirm the Merger of AS and the Cesar Chavez Student Center," Padash said.
According to ASI, the decision to merge the two entities came after the University refused to renew the CCSC's operating agreement and lease in October 2013.
A Yes vote on the merger is believed to create several new services while bolstering greater efficiency in informing students of the resources offered on campus, while a No vote would relinquish student control over these service and transfer responsibility for the building back the University.
Hector Hernandez, chair of the Student Center Governing Board, said that while the merger may garner greater student involvement, the board and ASI sped up the process without creating student awareness.
"I feel like it was rushed," Hernandez said. "I think there should of been more time to target specific students."
Hernandez said the majority of the proposal process was spent composing the concept rather than reaching out to groups such as commuter students.
Johanna Reyes, member of La Raza student group, said the merger would reflect the values of student organizations and allow students to be more active.
"We really want to have a say in what goes on in the student center," Reyes said. "The Cesar Chavez is a very important part of life for all students. This is student life. This is where student life actually begins."
SF State students can cast their vote on the issue online from 9 a.m Sept. 30 to 11:59 p.m Oct.1.
Tagged in : ASI ASI/ Student Center merger Associated Students Inc. Sara Padash
Second ASI official in the fall semester resigns for personal reasons
American Liver Foundation fundraiser brings hope to those suffering from liver disease


In gratitude for knowing the divine purpose each of our lives are – I am sharing this "truth" with you!
← ME @ Week 3/4 of Phase 3 – LEAN MUSCLE GROWTH! *TOPIC: "Sleep" is vital for effective weight loss, lean muscle growth and to be healthy!


with someone he'd met, a Brit.
that way. I was seven, maybe.
A blonde who followed us.
that sent us flying from our seats?
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but if work is accepted elsewhere, please alert us.
Joan E. Bauer is the author of The Almost Sound of Drowning (Main Street Rag, 2008). With Judith Robinson and Sankar Roy, she co-edited Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami (Bayeux Arts and Rupa & Co, 2005). For some years she worked as a teacher and counselor and now divides her time between Venice, CA and Pittsburgh, PA, where she co-hosts and curates the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series.


Posted by Michael Trinchitella on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 at 10:53pm.
In this high paced real estate market many homeowners who are trying to sell their home are also buying a home during the same time. The most important thing to do in this sort of situation is put your home up for sale far in advance of buying a new one. You may want to consider selling first especially in a buyers market. This way you will know exactly how much money you will have when buying a new home. Too many potential sellers start looking at homes before they put theirs on the market and often fall in love with something and then have to rush to get their home on the market. They price it low in order for a quick sale to find a buyer right away to avoid losing the home they like to another buyer who has nothing to sell and is ready to move forward.
The ideal situation would be to sell your home and have a place to stay while you are looking for another home. This will give you more time to find something you really like instead of buying something right away because you found a buyer for your home and needs to close in 45-60 days. Sometimes you can get lucky and will find another seller who is willing to wait for your current home to close and then you can do a simultaneous closing on your sale and purchase the same day.
Most people who are selling a home and buying another one need the proceeds from the sale in order to buy the new home. Finding a seller who will be willing to go to contract with you and wait for your home to close is VERY rare. This situation is called a sale contingency and not something you should expect to find, especially in a buyers market where it takes a while to sell a home.
For people who do not have the luxury of selling and living somewhere else for a while possibly with family or a rental then getting the home on the market right away is still the 1st priority. As soon as the house goes on the market then you can start browsing the market for something to buy. You may or may not find something right away and if you do then you will just have to hope you find a buyer real soon on your home.
Even though most sellers will not accept a sale contingency, I often see sellers willing to work with a buyer who may have not sold their current home but is in contract with a buyer. This scenario is a little more common and makes things a lot easier. Keep in mind though even if you have a buyer for your house and you are in contract, you may run into situations where a seller will not go to contract with you until your buyer gets their mortgage commitment and it can take 30-45 days after you sign a contract with your buyer for them to get the commitment. This can be stressful because during those 30-45 days there is a chance that you may lose the house you like to another buyer.
The reason why a seller of a house you want to buy will not go to contract with you until your buyer receives the mortgage commitment is because not every buyer gets approved for a loan. There is the ever so popular and easy to acquire "pre-approval" but what is important is the mortgage approval. The frustrating part of this process is that the buyer will not find that out for 30+ days after they sign a contract if they are approved for the loan. Many things can happen that would force a bank to deny the buyer a loan. An appraisal on the home can come in way too low, the buyer(s) lose their job, the buyers do not have enough cash in the bank to make it to the closing to cover the rest of the down payment and the closing costs. There are other reasons why a buyer could get turned down for a loan and these are just a few examples. So just because you are in contract with a buyer does not mean that the sale is really going to go through.
There is one way to assure yourself that a seller will go to contract with you even if you have not sold your home and that is to waive the sale contingency. You are essentially saying that you do not need to sell your home to be able to afford the next one. You will have to get approved from your bank proving to the seller that you can get a loan without selling your current home. This tells the seller that if for some reason your buyer does not get approved for the loan and your sale falls through, you will still be buying their home otherwise you will lose your down payment. Though a lot of this seems difficult and stressful, I do double closings all the time. Close on the sale of your home in the morning and close on the purchase of the other one later that day or sometimes 1st thing the next day.
So what happens if you put your house on the market, found a buyer but have not found a new home yet? You do not have another place to stay once you sell your home. You can try to negotiate a long close or convenient rent-back option, where you can stay in the house as a rental tenant until you take possession of your new home. Typical closings take 45-60 days and in this situation you could see if the buyer would wait 90-120 days for your to close. In the event that you are lucky to find a buyer this flexible just realize that you will need to be out of the house by the 120 days regardless if you found another home or not.
Selling a house can be stressful, selling and buying at the same time can be an extremely stressful situation and coordinating the move seems to be the nerve-racking part of it all. Millions of people do it every year but just make sure to give yourself time to prepare for the whole thing. Get your home on the market early and if possible try to have another place to stay if you can't coordinate the sale and purchase around the same time.


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Paper of the
International Communist Party All issues Issue 16 November-December 2019 pdf
Last update on 25 November 2019
WHAT DISTINGUISHES OUR PARTY – The line running from Marx to Lenin to the foundation of the Third International and the birth of the Communist Party of Italy in Leghorn (Livorno) 1921, and from there to the struggle of the Italian Communist Left against the degeneration in Moscow and to the rejection of popular fronts and coalition of resistance groups – The tough work of restoring the revolutionary doctrine and the party organ, in contact with the working class, outside the realm of personal politics and electoralist manoevrings
Turkish invasion of Syrian Kurdistan: Still Clashes among Regional and World Imperialism
Chile: The great fear of the world bourgeoisie
The Awakening of the Lebanon: The Proletariat has Taken to the Streets
The Strike at General Motors
ICP Leaflet: City University of New York Teachers Negotiations
Rome, Saturday October 26: For a class union front
Marco Giacomelli
Turkish invasion of Syrian Kurdistan
Still Clashes among Regional and World Imperialism
As many expected, the occupation of the city of Afrin in Syrian, or Western Kurdistan, by the Turkish Armed Forces, and their Syrian National Army proxies, better known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, following a short battle that took place between 20 January - 24 March 2018, was only the beginning of the Turkish offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces, the military alliance controlled by the Democratic Union Party, the affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party in the region. Since the occupation of Afrin, Turkey had its eyes on the rest of the territory controlled by the Kurdish nationalists and their allies. The Trump administration, who had supported the SDF against the Islamic State, was opposed to such a move and proposed a 30 kilometer deep buffer zone into Syrian Kurdish territory to appease Turkey, though it was uncertain who would enforce it. The SDF protested, as most of the major urban areas they controlled would fall within the buffer zone. Eventually, the Erdogan government sent its troops alongside their FSA proxies, supposedly to enforce the buffer zone on 9 October 2019.
The Turkish government is careful to portray its war effort as just a military operation. Yet President Erdogan aims to resettle the occupied territories with the refugees of the Syrian civil war who live in Turkey, numbering nearly 4 million. Moreover, the Turkish State and companies have been providing services and fulfilling contracts in the occupied regions. In other words, Turkey is essentially planning to annex all the territories it conquers until the Syrian civil war is resolved. Besides, organized religion in the country, controlled by the State, have mobilized to spread propaganda of a glorious conquest. Turkish capital, including the staunchly pro-Western Turkish Industry and Business Association, the regime union confederations, and mainstream opposition parties such as the Kemalist and social democratic Republican People's Party and the Good Party, their far right allies have all came out in favor of the war effort. In particular, the RPP has called on Erdogan to immediately get in contact with Assad, citing that no one, other than the Turkish and Syrian States, have described the Syrian Kurdish nationalists and their allies as terrorist.
Nevertheless, there are many, ranging from the left wing of the RPP to the Kurdish social democratic Peoples' Democratic Party with ties to the PKK, from the Stalinists to the Trotskyists, and including left-wing union confederations such as the Confederation of Public Workers' Unions and Confederation of Progressive Workers' Unions and engineers' and doctors' professional associations, who are opposed to the invasion. Their reasons vary: some are more interested in the territorial integrity of the Syrian State; others are declaring support for the Kurdish nationalists; all of them, however, basing their opposition to war on a democratic idea of peace. Nevertheless, Erdogan government takes opposition seriously, and has went on to arrest over a hundred social media users for their posts against the war.
No one among the international community of bourgeois States other than Pakistan, Qatar and Azerbaijan openly supports the Turkish invasion. The EU is the most major amalgamate of imperialist powers to oppose the invasion, followed by the Arab League. Turkey, a regional imperialist power, feels confident enough in its position to threaten the EU that if the EU calls Turkey's operation an invasion, the 4 million refugees will be allowed to go to Europe. It should also be mentioned that local powers such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and the Syrian government itself have condemned the Turkish invasion.
The US on the one hand threatens extreme economic sanctions, pushed by the most major bipartisan parliamentary effort in Trump era, while withdrawing its troops from SDF held territories and emphasizing the friendship between the two countries, in effect giving the Turks the green light. Indeed, the SDF are merely tactical allies of US imperialism against the Islamic State, whereas Turkey, a member of NATO, is a long term strategic partner. Even if Turkey and the FSA destroys the SDF completely, the Americans will still be on the table, this time through Turkey.
The Russian State, the other major imperialist power active in Syria, is also happy about the situation, hoping it will strengthen the Assad regime's hand. Early on, the Russians expressed that they will be working towards an agreement between the SDF and the Assad regime. Soon, an agreement was reached, and the Syrian army started moving north. The cost of this alliance for the SDF remains to be seen since the Syrian government wasn't offering them desirable terms in earlier negotiations. This being said, the Assad regime had given military support to the SDF in Afrin by sending the National Defence Forces militia, and according to PYD sources, has offered generous military terms, including the closure of the airfield to Turkey, positioning soldiers in key areas in the border and, after repelling the Turkish attack, working towards taking back Afrin without taking over cities from the PYD affiliated democratic assemblies.
The tradition of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or the PKK, is the dominant political tendency of the Kurdish national bourgeoisie in Northern, or Turkish, and Western, or Syrian Kurdistan. The most powerful Kurdish nationalist military organization of Eastern, or Iranian Kurdistan also belongs to this tradition, along with a minor party in Southern, or Iraqi Kurdistan which is under control of the conservative Kurdistan Democratic Party and the social democratic Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The ideology of the PKK has officially changed from Stalinist national liberation to democratic confederalism, giving up the 150 year old Kurdish national aspiration of independence in favor of autonomism.
PYD didn't come to power in Western Kurdistan through a revolution: it was handed power by the Assad regime who withdrew from Kurdish areas to fight the civil war. Especially as they and their multi-ethnic allies advanced out of the Kurdish areas in their fight against the Islamic State, they opted to promote themselves as North and East Syria instead of Western Kurdistan.
At the same time the PYD regime, ever respectful of private property and capitalism as declared by its constitution, tortured and killed dissidents, opened fire on protesters, and engaged in repressive policies against Arabs, Assyrians and other minorities. The fact that the SDF is under attack by a regional imperialist State which overpowers them is no reason to support what is in essence an anti-proletarian regime.
The proletarian attitude against the Turkish invasion of Syrian is not an abstract call for peace, but a call for revolutionary defeatism, for the workers in arms to fraternize and turn the imperialist war into revolutionary civil war.
This call can only be made by a powerful and truly revolutionary Communist Party, which unfortunately exists neither in Turkey nor Kurdistan yet.
The great fear of the world bourgeoisie
South America has experienced constant rioting and turmoil in recent months. Ecuador has experienced many days of bloody unrest. Some of this turmoil has spread to Argentina and Bolivia, and are aspects of a wider trend.
In Chile, immediately preceding these riots, there were protests over the continued increases in subway ticket prices. Groups of young people organized to skip the subway turnstiles in the Capital Santiago. All over a modest increase, from 800 to 830 pesos or about 0.03 US$. However, it must be considered that in Chile the minimum wage is 310,000 pesos per month, or about 430 US$. The cost of utilities and electricity has also risen to be comparable to most American and European cities. These increases have exacerbated workers and middle classes in the process of proletarianization.
After a few days, the government deployed the police forces to the turnstiles across the city. This led to the escalation of the protests and the first riots: destruction of the turnstiles and the burning down of a number of subway stations. All resulting in the Friday October 18th incendiary bomb assault on the headquarters of the power company, Enel, totally destroying it.
That evening President Sebastián Piñera, having learned of the incidents in the capital, proclaimed a state of emergency. He dispatched the police and carabineros to the nerve centers for the Santiago Metropolitan area. This did not stop the spread of the protests, expressed above all in the "cacerolazos". Processions of demonstrators beat pots, alluding to the difficulty of filling them. Along with processions of cars that sound their horns as a sign of solidarity to the gatherings of demonstrators. In a few hours the protests spread to many other cities in the country.
It was then that President Piñera appeared on television, denouncing the protests as works of delinquency. He announced the revocation of the increases in metro prices. Piñera also delegated General Javier Iturriaga to manage public order. This is as a choice that sounds threatening to Chilean workers. Both for the involvement of the army in politics, and the fact that General Iturriaga belongs to a family of soldiers notorious for their ferocity with which they perpetrated infamous crimes against political opponents. Especially for the family's careers during the time of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It is therefore not surprising that Iturriaga soon proclaimed a curfew in most provinces.
However, on the first night of the curfew, thousands of protesters defiantly remained in the streets. Supermarkets and goods depots were stormed and plundered in various parts of the country. Where the mass media all over the world diminish the severity of the struggle in Chile, videos in which the military is seen shooting to kill have been circulating on social media.
After a Sunday with at least eight deaths, the days following saw an intensification of demonstrations and strikes. These demonstrations also saw the mobilization of proletarian strata including the miners in the Antofagasta region. The mobilizations were able to make classist economic demands: increases to the minimum wage and the meager pensions of the Chilean proletarians.
On Tuesday, October 22, processions with hundreds of thousands of participants erupted across Chile's main cities. A sign that the anger of the proletarians and of ruined middle classes do not fear the bullets of army nor the tanks.
At the end of the day, three others were killed by the carabineros. However, the president was forced to make economic concessions of some importance: an increase in the minimum wage from 310,000 to 350,000 pesos, 20% increase in basic retirement pensions allowance, and the cancellation of the recent increase of 9.2% in electricity tariffs.
At the same time, in the style of every bourgeois demagogue, Piñera introduced a tax rate of 40% on incomes above 8 million pesos (11,004 US$) and a reduction in the salaries of public administration staff. A reduction in allowances and the number of parliamentarians as well as other cosmetic positions were also announced. As if it is not capitalism but only its parasitic political apparatus that is responsible for the harsh conditions of workers.
It is of some note that Piñera is forced by circumstances to revive the "reform" of retirement pension allowances imposed by his older brother José, acting as Minister of Labour under the Pinochet regime. The continued survival of the people and institutions of the dictatorship, betray its formal end in 1990, in proving once again that a democratic regime is but the mask of the ferocious dictatorship of capital.
But that is not the reason for the exacerbation of proletarian rage. The real cause is the global economic crisis that has already taken its first steps in slowing down the growth of the manufacturing sector in several large industrial countries. In the background of the South American protests is a drop in the prices of raw materials of which these countries are producers of. Because of the decrease in global demand, Chile is affected by a 6% fall in copper prices, which contributes significantly to Chile's export income.
A false representation of social dynamics, passed off as Marxist determinism, wants riots to come only when the classes are forced to starve. In reality, this is a mechanistic and simplistic parody of Marxism. The "prosperous" Chile remains a weak link in the imperialist chain. Meanwhile the proletarians who have generated its growth in recent decades are driven by the crisis to regain a part of the surplus value extracted from them.
The story of the class movement that is shaking Chile is a matter of great concern for the international bourgeois class: "if it can happen in Chile, a prosperous and socially modern country, then it can happen anywhere". The media all over the world, in charge of reproducing the ideology of the ruling class, repeats themselves.
What most fears the greedy and murderous bourgeoisie is the contagion of the storm throughout Latin America. In one of his delirious speeches, President Piñera, cautioning against a coarse conspiracy theory, literally said "we are at war with a powerful enemy". This time we agree with him. Indeed, this powerful enemy exists, but unfortunately it still does not have an organization that is up to its historical tasks. This powerful enemy, nightmare and terror of the bourgeoisie of every climate, is called the world working class. And the organization in which it will recognize itself is called the International Communist Party.
The Awakening of the Lebanon
The Proletariat has Taken to the Streets
Since October 17, the streets of Lebanon are burning. It is not a new bloody civil war thrown by the various imperialist forces, nor the armed intervention of some imperialism within the territory. The Lebanese proletariat and the middle classes, in a rapid process of proletarization, have taken to the streets with unusual demonstrations and unusual calls for unity and solidarity among the various ethnic and religious groups, for their living and existence conditions, constantly threatened by the economic-political crisis in which the country is plunged, calling for widespread revolt, with a hatred of the entire bourgeois political system and its corruption.
Lebanon, being a crossroads in the Mediterranean Sea, is a home of different ethnic, religious and national groups, a holder of a glorious past, a place of constant conflict and maneuver of the different regional imperialist interests, today finds itself with an unusual reality.
The past has shown that the governments in Lebanon in modern times, due to the plurality of its population, are unstable and anchored on sectarian agreements of the different ethnic groups, and of these with imperialism in turn. This is the case of the current government, led by President Al Harari, the result of the concentration of different bourgeois political sectors, Hezbollah one of them, Christians, Sunnis, under the auspices of the international bourgeoisie.
But the economic situation of the country, with a debt among the three largest in the world (!) Equal to 152% of its GDP, with a level of unemployment that borders 37% among young people, still in the process of rebuilding after the bloody civil war, it is precisely the heavy stone that has to carry on the back of the young Lebanese proletariat. The Lebanese government, in constant fiscal deficit, resorts to the usurers of global capitalism, and these in turn ask for guarantees for their "help". This supposed help for the "benefit of the country". which is in the interest of a bourgeoisie fully adhered to the game of capitalist chess, is opposed to improvements in the living conditions of the proletariat, and is about them that cut measures are directed "for the good of the country".
The austerity measures, directed by the Government, such as the cut in pensions, cuts in the salaries of public employees, and the last one, that sparked the present crisis, a tax on the use of the WhatsApp application of 6 dollars monthly, due to a drop in the collection of national teleoperators companies, have driven the proletarians and the middle classes to revolt. In a country where the majority of the working class does not earn more than 300 dollars per month, and unemployment among the youngest is so great, the explosion was only a matter of times and moments.
Capitalism at the global level is showing the beginning of a new great economic crisis of global magnitude, the bourgeois desperately tries to save its profit rate, trying to increase the percentage of benefits that constantly fall, through different methods of cuts in the living and working conditions of the proletarian, of the worker class, the producing class of the surplus value.
A series of manifestations around the globe appear in reaction to the austerity methods, to improvements in living and working conditions, showing a tendency towards the awakening of the proletarian class, which does not distinguish between nations, race, religion, but the division between the classes within society. Ecuador, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Haiti, now Lebanon.
In the case of the Middle East, the former unit of Arab capitalism, Pan-Arabism, today shows itself as a forgotten scam of the past, which is giving way to the real and unique progressive struggle: that of classes, that of the conditions of living and work, in first revendicative, and then in the future political-revolutionary.
It is from this point of view, admirable as in a country that lived an extreme civil war, fueled by the tactics of division of the bourgeoisie into groups of sectarian unity, today show such unity of action around the defense of their common economic interests. Palestinian Arabs, Christian Arabs, and Muslim Arabs, among others, around the same demands and side by side. This certainly in a small country like Lebanon, is a great step forward.
Unfortunately, this is carried out without the necessary class organization, which give direction to this impetuous show of strength in a class revendicative way, according to the working class methods, towards class objectives. This is the result of almost a century of counterrevolution, which has turned the once strong labor movement and its class unions into effective collaborators of the world bourgeoisie, but the main reason above all has been the liquidation of its World Communist Party at the hands of Stalinism.
The reorganization of the working class around class unions, and the intervention of the World Party in this direction, is the most important work today, in light of recent events, for the workers and communists of the world. This process will be a long and hard process, like as has been the reconstitution of the destroyed World Communist Party, today in the International Communist Party.
This reorganization can only be possible with the awakening of the proletarian mass around the world. This is the real terror of the world bourgeoisie, which prefers to protect in a low profile all social explosions, but augustly this is an inevitable, necessary process, as we have defended even in the worst epochs of counterrevolution, against all the detractors and liquidators, who switched to the enemy side.
Today here, in the same place and in the same historical class line, the International Communist Party, faithful to Marxist principles after decades of counterrevolution, and on the eve of the great global economic crisis, is ready to lead the revolution of tomorrow, towards our final goal, the species plan, full Communism.
48,000 members of the United Auto Workers of America (UAW), the regime union representing Auto Workers in the United States, went on an unexpected strike at General Motors from the 16th of September to the 25th of October. The strike cost GM more than $2bn, according to Wall Street estimates. It closed 34 GM manufacturing and distribution facilities across the USA. It also disrupted operations in Mexico and Canada.
General Motors, which produces the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands in North America, is North America's largest automaker.
It's hard to discuss workers' demands as there was no plan and no real membership discussion before the strike vote occurred. The UAW leadership was seen as using the strike as an attempt to regain legitimacy amongst workers after a series of scandals. As typical of regime unions, the scandals continued and the leaderships' handling of the strike has only increased anger towards them.
Labor Notes magazine observed: «The strike was declared suddenly, with no guidance from top bargainers on its goals. When I visited the picket line at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly on the first day, workers couldn't tell me what they were going out for. But remarkably, a consensus soon emerged. Most workers I interviewed over eight visits to the line said their top priority was "make everyone equal" or "hire the temps"».
The above quote shows how workers are open to stuggle when they feel and see that what is going on is a real strike. So the methods of struggle are as important as goals. This is the reason why the ICP always fights to organize real strikes: without notice, with no estabilished deadline, with picket lines to stop entry and exit of goods and to wipe away the scabs.
Pay for GM workers is a series of tiers, depending on when you started. Older workers get paid more for work than more recently hired workers - this a provision pushed through by the "progressive" Obama administration in the U.S. Govern-ment's bailout of GM in 2008. More and more GM is also using temporary (precarious) workers who have no work guarentee and no benefits. In the US, the notoriously expensive health care system is provided, if provided at all, by your employer. By implimenting tiered work scales and through the use of temporary workers, the company can lower costs in providing health care, placing workers in dire straights.
Corruption in the UAW
Just before the GM strike was called a series of corruption charges were brought by the US Federal Government against primarily UAW officials but some company executives as well. The charges dealt with bribes and kickbacks given to UAW officers.
We have to say that in our view is not just the corruption that make a union a regime one but its principles, its methods of struggle, its internal life, and its whole history, since founding forward, across the class struggle. Nevertheless corruption cases like these are a manifestation of the nature of a union which has gone over to the side of the bosses for decades.
Counter Groups
There are small pockets of organized internal resistence in the UAW. The current UAW was called a "One Party State" by a militant and former official back in the 1950s. Since that time the union has become the party of the corporations.
Since 1990 there have been some well organized caucuses within the union fighting for a pro-worker direction.
"New Directions Caucus" especially seemed to have some movement until its leadership was pulled into the union leadership.
"Soldiers Of Solidarity" was more of a rank and file insurgency in the first decade of the 2000s.
Today there are no well organized rank and file groups.
The Solidarity Review is a group organized around publishing articles critical of the present leadership, which is important, but really has no organization.
"Autoworkers Caravan" is a protest movement more in line with Soldiers of Solidarity - loose knit and mainly a social networking phenomenon, but unfortunately not as organized as the Teachers union groups which won so much.
International Aspects
Canada and Mexico play important parts in Auto manufacturing in North America. Mexico makes many of the parts to be assembled in the United States - so the finished product can be marketed as "American made". Canadian auto manufacturing is much more integrated into the much larger American market with many parts and assembly plants located in the Canadian provience of Ontario - just across the Windsor River from the center of American production in Detroit, Michigan.
The Canadian Auto Workers and American union were the same until 1985 when the Canadians split because of American union's willingness to sign concessionary contracts, often to the disadvantage of their Canadian members. The American habit of ignoring their Canadian fellow workers again popped up when the American's showed no organized solidarity with the Candians wildcat strike against the closing of a GM assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario which would eliminate 2,500 production jobs at the plant and 2,500 union workers in auto parts suppliers, etc. The Canadians repaid the American's lack of solidarity in kind.
The Maquiladora are special economic zones of Mexico which provide low cost labor for American industry. In Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico at least five workers at the GM - Silao plant were fired for trying to aid the American strikers by advocating a strike in that plant, a slow down against increased production to substitute for lost American production as well as advocating workers leaving the corrupt regime union. For more on the Maquiladoras see "Wildcat Strikes in Mexico" in "The Communist Party" #12
Class Unionism's lack of Organization vs the Regime Unions
The contract which came out of the strike negated the strikers' desires articulated on the picket lines above. Multiple tiers of pay continue, temporary work remains temporary rather than permanent, health care costs and risks are being dumped upon the workers. The contract was accepted by a 57% to 43% margin. The success was ensured through a number of bribes such as tying bonuses to yes vote.
The failure of the strike is being widely presented as a case of greed and betrayal by the company and union officials. This is an important flaw in analysis.
First of all, capitalist companies are against the workers not because of the bosses' greed but because capitalist competiton imposes a need, in order to survive, to exploit workers. This exploitation will grow more and more as the global economic crisis advances.
Secondly, it is incorrect to talk about a betrayal by the UAW leaders. This union and its leaders, like the whole AFL-CIO, have been for decades openly with the bosses and for class collaborationist unionism. The only class the UAW leadership could betray is the bourgeoisie - somethning that they will never do. The attitude of UAW leaders in this strike is just a confirmation of the regime nature of this union.
But this is just half of the problem. The other is the lack of organization by workers willing to fight and the militants of class unionism, inside and outside the UAW.
The strike failed because there was no counter-organization to the bosses and their union hirelings.
The militants of class unionism have to coordinate themselves to get recognition from workers in struggle that they are the real alternative leadership in the struggle and to achieve the possibility of effectevly jointly organizing an opposition to regime unionism.
This "Coordination" can't be built on a party basis. It can't be a united front of parties – of any nature – but a united front of militant workers for class unionism. To keep it's own nature it has to be open only to workers, employed and unemployed, not to members of other classes or social strata.
ICP Leaflet
City University of New York Teachers Negotiations
On October 21, the Professional Staff Congress announced that the union has formed a contract proposal with the City University of New York. They stated, and the pro-contract faction repeated, that the proposal represents a "historic" victory for the union and its members, and listed all its supposed benefits. These statements were calculated to deceive the rank and file. The truth is that the proposed contract, if ratified by a vote of the membership, will only maintain and legitimize the exploitation of the vast majority of CUNY workers.
Others have already outlined the proposal's failures, but a few of them are worth repeating. The proposal does little to address the poverty wages paid to adjunct instructors, nor the precarious conditions of their employment. The increase in adjunct pay from $3,222 to $5,500 per course comes with the requirement of one office hour per course each week, to be spent in university facilities under the university's watch. Additionally, the increase in pay will not go into effect until Fall 2022, three years from now, meaning that inflation will have reduced its real value significantly. Other salaried workers will see a 2% annual increase in their pay, applied retroactively from 2017 to 2022, for an overall increase of 10.41%. It does not take much consideration to see that a 2% raise is only 0.3% above the national rate of inflation, meaning that in real terms overall salaries by 2022 will only be 1.62% above those in 2017. Considering that rents in New York City have increased by over 5% in the past year alone, this cannot truthfully be called a raise.
This is the "historic" contract trumpeted by the PSC leadership: a marginal increase on poverty wages for adjuncts with more supervision and much higher demands, and stagnant wages for everyone else. This, as college buildings crumble, classes get larger or get cancelled, and students suffer through tuition hikes. How can the union leadership call it a victory?
The International Communist Party observed decades ago that "the indispensable instruments for opposing the mobilization of the exploited masses are the trade unions officially recognized by the State". We call these regime unions. The PSC as it currently stands serves exactly this function. The leadership who betray adjunct lecturers are themselves adjuncts to the power of the bourgeoisie, expressed through the capitalist State.
The main enemy of the working class remains the bourgeoisie, and most of the blame for our situation lies with the university administration, the mayor, the governor, and the financiers who support them. However, the PSC leadership's collaboration with these exploiters, and their deception and secrecy throughout the entire bargaining process, has done everything to help the administration's cause. Now they attempt to sell the membership on a contract that delivers almost nothing. They have oriented themselves against the working class, attempted to sabotage its organic activity, and now promote a surrender to the bourgeois State.
CUNY Afterwords
The PSC Delegates Assembly (DA) on November 7 was an utterly shameful spectacle. The objective was clear: jam the contract through as quickly as possible, and woe to the opposition. Woe, also, to the members of the union who chose to attend the DA. Members were relegated to the back of the room, to be scolded like children by the pro-contract faction, the so-called New Caucus around union president Barbara Bowen. There was no opportunity for them to address the DA. One member who politely requested to do so was voted down by a huge majority.
The most odious element of this nonsense was the intimidation of the members present by the pro-contract faction, aided by the security at the hotel in which the DA took place. The situation was this: two members opposed to the contract repeatedly heckled the union president. For their sins, all members present were surrounded by about three security guards from the hotel and about three pro-contract delegates. These sentries kept watch over the membership for the rest of the meeting.
Is this what dues-paying members of a trade union deserve: to be relegated to the back of the room, prevented from speaking to the body, and intimidated by some New Caucus loyalists and three hired thugs? The heckling certainly got out of hand, but its cause was desperation: one heckler said he was an overworked adjunct, basically broke, with no health insurance. It was also a symptom of the membership being prevented from speaking to the DA before this critical vote. It did not warrant the collective intimidation of all members present – and, without question, it was intimidation.
Predictably, the contract proposal passed the DA by a vast majority, accompanied by jeers from the pro-contract delegates towards the rank and file. CUNY workers can expect more of this kind of treatment under the contract recommended by the ruling clique. The bullying exercised by the leadership last night is a twin to the abuse adjuncts will suffer under the productivity increases included in this contract. A no vote will be the first step in putting the present leadership in their place. The vote will not be the end of this struggle, however. Whatever the result, the rank and file must organize and act on their own accord, outside and against the opportunists who have shown their true colors in the present contract campaign.
Rome, Saturday October 26, 2019
For a Class Union Front
Capitalism has entered the global crisis of its economy. The masters and their political regimes of all countries – whatever the ideology with which they try to disguise their bourgeois nature – are working to unload the effects of this crisis on the working class in order to postpone the inevitable catastrophic collapse of this dying mode of production.
For years, in fact, the living and working conditions of the workers have been under attack and in on-going deterioration. The regime trade unions (in Italy CGIL, CISL, UIL) have all prevented any real organization of a defensive struggle. They sign give-back national and corporate agreements and limit real struggles to being divided by company and by category.
Base trade unionism – developed by the most combative workers because of the CGIL went to the side of the bosses – also finds themselves in a crisis both because a good part of its leaders did not know how to prepare the base of the members to the harshness of an open clash, demonstrating not to have a really class trade union conception, and because they conducted a war against each other subordinating to it the basic needs of the movement of workers' struggle, first of all the unity of action of the workers.
The SI Cobas is the only base trade union which has in recent years has been able to strengthen itself. By building a militant workers' movement through a long series of hard strikes, the SI Cobas has built itself through the methods of genuine class unionism. But the employers and regime trade unions have succeeded limiting it to the logistics industry – except for important but small exceptions – and especially among immigrant workers.
In order to extend this movement to the majority of the working class, it is necessary to pursue a line of UNITY OF ACTION OF WORKERS AND OF COMBATIVE UNIONISM:
- We need to show other workers the strength and the combativeness of workers in the SI Cobas as much as possible. We must push for joint strikes with workers still members of the regime unions, to help free them from regime control. As well we have to push those organized in the other base unions, to support their more combative groups against the opportunism of the leaders;
- to promote and fight for unified actions of the whole combative trade unionism (grassroots trade unions and opposition in the CGIL) as the most favorable condition for the deployment of strikes – at company, territorial and category level – that come as close as possible to the force necessary to really set the workers in motion;
- to fight within each combative trade union organization to organize unitary coordination to support each individual struggle, to intervene in disputes with the aim of offering workers an alternative to the regime's trade unionism.
It was only as a result of such work that a real general strike could be organized tomorrow. The work to be done today is to try to unite the hundreds of struggles against dismissals for company crises, which are kept isolated by the collaborationist trade unions, those against the repression of employers, which affects more and more workers and militant trade unions, those of national agreements renewals involving millions of workers, starting with logistics, and then moving on to metalworkers, railroad workers and the public sector.
To engage in the construction of organizational fronts with political parties – which are just political fronts – is opposite of workers united actions and of the combative unionism. This operation only perpetuates and aggravates the division in the action of the militant trade union movement, since each trade union leadership subordinates strikes and demonstrations to the support of its own political front.
The task of the evolutionary proletarians, and of class union militants, is to build a trade union struggle movement as united and strong as possible. It is on this material basis, and working to this end, that each party will have to show that it is capable of directing the working class from the trade union struggle to the higher, and necessary, revolutionary political struggle which will break capitalism.
As for the revolutionary communist party, it cannot be born from any political front, which, supporting the illusion of being stronger because they are more numerous, is instead a very weak constructions, ready to collapse at the first social and political earthquake, built on the basis of ambiguous positions, lack of clarity, and therefore opportunism.
On the contrary, the authentic Communist Party is the result of the entire historical path of the proletarian struggle of almost two centuries, which has defined and selected – separating and discarding schools and currents – its theoretical characteristics, program and tactics, through the lessons of huge battles and of tragic defeats.
On 20 August last, the St. Raphael Center for the Blind in Bolzano informed us that Marco Giacomelli had died. Our comrade, with serious sight problems and not being able to take care of himself, was a guest of that institution for several years.
Two years ago a group of our comrades visited him and found him in good health and lucid mind: he wanted to give us his archive of texts and his party correspondence. Returning a year later he was completely absent without even showing signs of recognizing us.
Marco was born on 19 January 1928 in Tiene, in the province of Vicenza. Son of a single mother, he lived with his grandmother until the age of 6. His mother had to leave the village and look for a job far away. When his grandmother died, he was put into boarding school. Then he alternated short stays with his mother, who had married in the meantime, with stays in various schools until the age of 14.
At that age he began to work in a machinists as an assistant to an old communist of the 1921 Communist Party of Italy, who had to emigrate because he was banned by the fascists. From that comrade Marco first heard of communism. At first a few words almost whispered during work, then real meetings, especially on Sundays, in the public gardens of Bolzano where he was erudite on the Manifesto, the Russian revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat...
When he was 17 years old, when the war was over, he joined the Communist Party of Italy (PCI). He dedicated himself to party activities, spread the press, proselytized and founded the "Red Star" cell. His faith in the PCI, however, began to falter when the Communists voted for Articles 7 and 49 of the Constitution: how can religion and democracy reconcile with Communism? In 1949 he did not renew his card, left the party and formed an anarchist group in Bolzano and joined the "Anarchist Groups of Proletarian Action", an interregional organization. The PCI, as per Stalinist method, refused his resignation from the party and expeled him for "anarchic-trotsko-bordighism".
Throughout his life he was a skilled proletarian worker, and he also knew what it means to study. It's no coincidence that in 1953 he helped found the Popular University of Bolzano.
In 1956 his organization, which had changed its name to "Libertarian Communist Party", merged into a grouping called "Quadrifoglio" with the Stalinists of "Communist Action", the Trotskyists of "Red Flag" and "Battaglia Comunista".
Disgusted by the tactics of "Quadrifoglio" and, by now, a reader of the "Programma Comunista", in 1958 he joined the International Communist Party where, with renewed enthusiasm, he put himself at the complete disposal of the party.
After the "dirty split" of 1973, he was the first among the older members to leave the Bolzano section of Programma and join our party. He wanted to make clear to everyone that he wasn't joining a new party but re-entering the party he had joined in 1958.
In the party, as long as it had the strength, it contributed to the drafting of the press, to its diffusion and propaganda, and also wrote reports on difficult subjects.
Three times he organized the Party's General Meetings in Bolzano, as well as several public conferences, with outside speakers providing the propaganda.
Even after his illness, when he could no longer carry out political activities, he continued to keep in touch and to encourage his comrades to work.
We will try to keep our promises.