Last Week in US Imperialism
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Pal Action UK Hunger Strikers Go Over 40 Days Without Food
Seven political prisoners in the UK are in the life threatening stage of their hunger strike, with five hunger strikers now having been hospitalized. Their names are: Kamran Ahmed, Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Amu Gib, Qesser Zuhrah, and Heba Muraisi. They are among over two dozen political prisoners who are also imprisoned, all being held in “remand”, meaning none have been formally charged with any crimes. Many have been in the UK prison for over a year now.
They are accused of involvement in “criminal activity” tied to the organization Palestine Action; months after they were first imprisoned, Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK (while the proscription went into effect after their incarceration, the hunger strikers report being treated like terrorists in prison, though the UK government denies this mistreatment). This is another tactic of the greater strategy of political repression used to wield against any support for Palestine—merely holding a sign stating “I Support Palestine Action” has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
They have gone over 40 days now without food, with no intent to end their hunger strike until their demands are met. They are calling for:
- An immediate end to all censorship and restrictions on their correspondence and communications
- Immediate and unconditional release on bail
- The right to a fair and transparent trial
- The deproscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization
- The permanent closure of all Elbit Systems facilities in the United Kingdom
Between one to three weeks without food, the body begins burning through stored fats for fuel. Reports from those who have been in contact with the hunger strikers speak of discoloration and gaunt features, significant weight loss, and little energy. As they enter week four of their hunger strike, the stakes have grown increasingly severe.
Qesser Zuhrah, on day 47 without food, is being refused an ambulance by prison staff. As her symptoms grow more severe, reports of chest pains now having spread across her body, she has been left to lay on the floor of her cell, begging for medical attention. A nurse reportedly responded “you don’t decide if you go to hospital, I do.”
The sister of Kamran Ahmed shares that their family has been kept in the dark when it comes to the state of Kamran, not even having been alerted of the first of two times he was hospitalized.
These brave individuals have no intent on ending their hunger strike until their five demands are met. As their lives are on the line, and the stark reality that of death grows closer with each passing day, there needs to be fervent and vocal support for them and their dedicated efforts.
The Palestine Action hunger strike is the largest in UK history since 1981, when Irish Republican Army political prisoners, including Bobby Sands, went on hunger strike. 10 of the IRA hunger strikers died during their strike, with Bobby passing on his 66th day of the strike.
Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media has remained silent on this courageous protest—with the BBC only having reported on the hunger strikers once—but also groups that claim to support Palestine have hardly brought any attention to this dire situation. The unfortunate lack of attention and urgency given to the Palestine Action hunger strikers is seen in other instances, where Palestine political prisoners, from The Holy Land 5 to Casey Goonan, are seemingly forgotten by the greater movement.
By disrupting the Elbit Systems manufacturing locations, there has been the success of shutting down four out of the ten Elbit sites in the UK. 85% of Israel’s drones and land arsenal is produced on UK soil by Elbit, which goes to validate the accusation of Britain’s participation in the genocide against Palestinians. On top of the active involvement from the UK, it is because of British Imperialist history that the Zionist entity exists today; what was once another British colony is now a strategic location for Western interference in the Middle East and North Africa, spearheaded by the US imperialist war machine.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnoSPgU5eTc
Trump Threatens Land Strikes
in Venezuela
On December 11th, Donald Trump announced intentions to carry out land strikes in Venezuela. This threat of escalation comes after three months of boat strikes that have killed nearly one hundred people in a campaign of extrajudicial imperialist murder under the shoddy guise of combatting drug trafficking. As usual, this cover does little to hide the fact that the actual intent of these strikes is to serve as a show of force against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and to threaten Venezuelan oil exports. Just the day before on December 10th, the US seized a Venezuelan oil tanker carrying 1.35 million barrels of oil. And on December 16th, Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers leaving and entering Venezuela.
Not satisfied with robbery and murder at sea, Trump told reporters on Thursday that “We’ll start that on land too. It’s going to be starting on land pretty soon.” With the departure of SOUTHCOM’s Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey the next day on December 12th, cracks in the military command are forming around who is and who isn’t willing to go along with these horrific acts. The Trump administration released a “National Security Strategy” last month that describes how they will “assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” because:
“We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations.”
Chile’s New Far-Right President
On Sunday December 14th, José Antonio Kast won the presidential election in Chile. Kast’s far-right agenda is to crack down on undocumented immigrants from countries like Venezuela that have seen increased immigration to Chile in recent years, including through a campaign of mass deportations inspired by what Trump has done in the US. Like El Salvador’s Bukele, Kast has also promised to put more people in maximum security prisons and use “total isolation” to cut supposed “cartel leaders” off from any communication with the outside world.
Kast is an admirer of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He said in an interview that, “If he were alive, he would vote for me.” To make matters worse, his father, Michael Martin Kast, was born in Germany and was a literal nazi who moved to Chile in 1950.
This pure-blooded reactionary is coming to power as part of a wave of right-wing takeovers all over Latin America following Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama. The US Imperialists couldn’t be more pleased. Marco Rubio congratulated Kast, saying that, “The United States looks forward to partnering with his administration to strengthen regional security and revitalize our trade relationship.”
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q5309k1y5o
CAIR Designated “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by Ron DeSantis
On December 8th, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posted on X that “Florida is designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations.”
CAIR is a non-profit Muslim civil advocacy organization. On their website, they state that “CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.” DeSantis’ baseless smear is another attack on Muslim charities and organizations in the US meant to intimidate and persecute Muslims, like what happened to the Holy Land Foundation in 2007. In fact, CAIR was previously named, along with 245 others, by US Federal prosecutors in a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the case against the Holy Land Foundation.
CAIR was never charged or found guilty of any crime, and in response to this most recent attack, are suing the Governor for violating the US an Florida Constitutions, stating that he has “sought to suppress speech supporting Palestinian human rights and Muslim civic participation.”
Sources:
Last Week in US Imperialism
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