Abolish the Death Penalty - Everywhere!

Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old a father-of-three - who suffered from a Bipolar mental disorder - has been executed by the Chinese state. Last year the venal Stalinist-capitalist dictatorship executed at least 1,718 people, and some 72% of the world's total executions in 2008 took place in China. The death penalty to 60 offences, including non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement. Those sentenced to death are usually shot, but some provinces are introducing lethal injections.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8433285.stm

'Jesus the communist' - the Video!

Guaranteed no CGI.

The Video - Communist Students

Very Merry Solistice!

Have a very jovial, convivial, atheist, humanist, revolutionary and - of course - Christianity-free Christmas! And remember to spend some quality time with your computer, as it is not only old-people and single-people who get lonely at this time of year: an AI is for life, not just for Xmas.

"Wishing you a very merry Solstice
Mithra's won his fight
From now on the days grow longer than the night ..."

Hanky-Panky at the Office Party

 

Don't Trust Anyone Online!

"A Heart Needs a Home" (Richard Thompson)

The almost achingly brilliant Richard & Linda Thompson performing on the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1975

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD4Qz51CWR4&feature=player_embedded

"I know the way
That I feel about you
I’m never going to run away
I’m never going to run away
Never knew the way
When I lived without you
I’m never going to run away
I’m never going to run away

I came to you when
No one could hear me
I’m sick and weary
Of being alone
Empty streets and
Hungry faces
The world’s no place when
You’re on your own
A heart needs a home

Some people say
That I should forget you
I’m never going to be a fool
I’m never going to be a fool
A better life, they say
If I’d never met you
I’m never going to be a fool
I’m never going to be a fool

Tongues talk fire and
Eyes cry rivers
Indian givers
Hearts of stone
Paper ships and
Painted faces
The world’s no place when
You’re on your own
A heart needs a home"

Defend the Miracle of Life that is planet Earth!

 

"Outside the Bella Centre in Copenhagen many of the demonstrators have been holding banners proclaiming - 'There is no Planet B'. Communists thoroughly share this exact sentiment. Capitalism, as a destructive and irrational mode of reproduction, can only bring environmental and ecological disaster to the planet: by definition, its upholders and supporters are totally incapable of ‘saving the planet’ - regardless of subjective good intentions (or not). Retarded technological fantasies aside, there are no other planets to act as a bolt-hole when things get too sticky - or hot - on this one. So we have to defend and preserve the miracle of life that is Earth. Only a communist world can do this, not the assembled grandees and bureaucrats at Copenhagen or the UN building in New York". READ MORE:
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/798/thereisno.php

Robert Crumb's Third Eye

Defend & Support Peter Watts!

 

The outstanding science fiction author and scientist, Peter Watts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_watts), has recently been the victim of an unprovoked and vicious assault by members of the US Border Patrol. Now, Watts - the victim - faces a felony charge of "assaulting a federal officer" and a possible two-year prison sentence. Of course, defending this charge will cost a fortune, and an inadequate defence could cost Peter his home, his livelihood and his liberty. Peter's friends and supporters are now busily raising money for his legal defence and fees - unfortunately, and grotesquely, justice does not come cheap. Give him your support!
To find out more, go here: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr-peter-watts-canad.html; and also here: http://tinyurl.com/ybbojlb

And in Peter's own words:
"If you buy into the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum physics, there must be a parallel universe in which I crossed the US/Canada border without incident last Tuesday. In some other dimension, I was not waved over by a cluster of border guards who swarmed my car like army ants for no apparent reason; or perhaps they did, and I simply kept my eyes downcast and refrained from asking questions.
Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle. In that other timeline I was not punched in the face, pepper-sprayed, shit-kicked, handcuffed, thrown wet and half-naked into a holding cell for three fucking hours, thrown into an even colder jail cell overnight, arraigned, and charged with assaulting a federal officer, all without access to legal representation (although they did try to get me to waive my Miranda rights. Twice.). Nor was I finally dumped across the border in shirtsleeves: computer seized, flash drive confiscated, even my fucking paper notepad withheld until they could find someone among their number literate enough to distinguish between handwritten notes on story ideas and, I suppose, nefarious terrorist plots. I was not left without my jacket in the face of Ontario’s first winter storm, after all buses and intercity shuttles had shut down for the night.
In some other universe I am warm and content and not looking at spending two years in jail for the crime of having been punched in the face.
But that is not this universe.
Stay tuned."
(http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=932 )
For general updates, see: http://www.rifters.com/crawl/ ("Squidgate")
For what it's worth, I know how it feels - albeit on a smaller scale, of course - to be the victim of a vicious assault, only to find yourself become the target of victimisation & lies: while your assailants not only get off scot-free, but are actually 'rewarded'. It can really rankle, if you let it!

Copenhagen Fiddles, While the Planet Burns

 

"The spirit of neo-colonialism - or carbon imperialism, if you like - appears to be alive and well in Copenhagen. Needless to say, communists are not in the slightest surprised by such undemocratic and elitist machinations, whether they eventually prove to be successful or not - they are only to be expected. Given that the rulers of the advanced capitalist countries have so much invested - in every sense of the term - in the status quo, they will not give up their privileges lightly: after all, centuries of global plunder have enriched the ruling class almost beyond measure.
"Also, as we in the CPGB never tire of pointing out - as opposed to crusty ‘official communists’ and reformists/legalists like the Communist Party of Britain/Morning Star group - for all its democratic and internationalist pretensions, the UN is in essence no different from its League of Nations predecessor. Which is to say, in reality it is a “thieves’ kitchen” - to use VI Lenin’s apt description. And there is no honour, or commitment to radical and revolutionary change, amongst thieves". READ MORE:
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/797/copenhagen.php

To Save the Planet, Fight for a Red World!

"It is the historically specific world capitalist system, with its own concrete laws of motion and development, that is wreaking environmental and ecological devastation upon the planet - not an abstract and supposedly rapacious humanity torn from any real and living historical context, as implied by the misanthropic ‘deep’ Greens and eco-theocrats. Let alone individual ‘greed’ or overconsumption. Rather the finger of blame must be pointed directly at capitalism and the exploitative nature of class relations and society - for capital affords nature no value, except as an ‘asset’ to be stripped and ripped away. True manna from heaven. Capitalism as a social system is inherently destructive and therefore incapable of ‘saving the planet’". READ MORE:
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/796/tosavethe.php

The Stupidty Crisis

Another great cartoon from Tom Morrow (aka 'The Modern World').