Rang de Basanti from the film Rang de Basanti (2006)
Teri Mehfil Mein from the film Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Rob Van Dam wins the WWE Championship at One Night Stand (2006)
CM Punk wins the World Heavyweight Championship (2008)
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Yet another release! To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
Mike B. June 5 at 9:58am
According to some friends who are close to the situation in Iran, Ali Kantouri was released on May 25, 2008, on $150,000 bail. He is second accused in the case of the Equality and Freedom Seeking Students, and he is currently awaiting trial.
Aluta continua! M.
The Call for Supporting the Campaign to free Davood Bagheri, Iranian activist Imprisoned in Turkey
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
Clara Statello Today at 3:55am
Active member of the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students Movement, Davood Bagheri was forced to flee Iran on winter 200…, after the recent wave of crackdowns on the group by the Islamic government's Intelligence Service agents. Mr. Bagheri arrived in Turkey with the intention to seek asylum where he was captured by the police before he was able to inform UNHCR about his condition in that country. He has been kept in Aderna’s refugee camp under horrific conditions since.
It is in our best knowledge and belief that the Turkey government and the police have acted against Amnesty International’s Refugee Commissary’s Laws and Regulations. Freedom and Equality Seeking Students urge all Human Rights activists and all who believe in social justice and the rights of people who under the threat of their country of origin seek refuge in safer parts of the world, to join this campaign and help us free him from the refugee camp detention center. Davood Bagheri has been treated harshly and brutally in this camp since he was taken into custody. He has attempted suicide in the camp where detainees take their own life as the shortest way to free themselves from the horrors and their hopeless situation in that center.
Freedom and Equality Seeking Students
Sign the petition below and pass it on, please. It's urgent!
We have received word that Equality and Freedom Seeking Students (DAB) Behrouz Karimizadeh and Majid Majedi are now out of jail, which is a very positive development. They were apparently released in mid-April. Of course, "freedom" in today's Iran is a very relative term and it is important to remember that our friends continue to suffer from the physical and mental consequences of their detention and torture. Further, they are awaiting trial on very serious charges and these charges carry significant penalties in the event that convictions are returned. Moreover, as of this date, some DAB students remain imprisoned under harsh conditions.
Our friends need our support now more than ever!
We say "NO" to repressive theocracy AND to U.S. Imperialism!
She was a volunteer, a member of the civilian militia, wearing the blue blouse of a workman. She clasped her rifle with ardour, as though it were not a weapon of death but a much-desired plaything. Amidst the groups of merry militia men who were going smilingly to fight and perhaps to die, she marched in silence, serious and self- engrossed. A light burned in her eyes. They expressed hatred, inflexible determination and courage. I approached her and asked:
"Where are you from?"
"Toledo."
"Why are you at the front?"
She was silent for a few moments, and then answered:
"To fight fascism, to crush the enemies of the working people and…to avenge the death of my brother."
"Was he killed?"
"Yes, he was a soldier and a communist. When the rebellion broke out they wanted to make him, like many other soldiers, fight our brothers and go against the Republic. He refused and they shot him like a dog. I have come here to join the ranks, to take the place he would have occupied, and to avenge his death, to show the fascist scoundrels that when men die, women take their place. We are fight- ing with the same enthusiasm and courage as the men. We have learned from them how to die. It is better to die than to live in the fascist hell in which the workers of other countries are suffering, isn't that so, comrade?"
It seemed to me that she was asking this question of herself, or rather that she was answering a question that rose from the depth of her being.
I questioned her comrades, curious to know how she behaved in battle. They spoke of her with admiration. She was the first wherever the danger was greatest, risking her life with astonishing calmness.
A fighting woman!
She, like the other girls and women who are challenging death, and many of whom are meeting death, is reviving the tradition of the heroines who throughout our history have fought for independence and a constitution—the heroines of Sagunto and Nuinantia, La Vaillida, Augustina of Aragon, Maria Pita, Manuela Sanchez, Mariana Pineda. Women have always played a prominent part, supporting the men in the struggle for liberty and showing them by their example that it is better to die than to bow to the butchers and oppressors of the people.
The heights of Guadarrama, Madrid and many other cities have witnessed the heroism of women who are battling a strong and brutal enemy. They march to death merrily singing. They cheer those who have lost heart, infuse courage into them. and inspire them with the fighting spirit. So it was at Alto de Leon, in Somosierra and elsewhere. These places, drenched in the blood of many a nameless hero, will shine with an inextinguishable flame in the history of our country's struggle against reaction.
With them will be bound up the revolutionary traditions of our people, with them, the women who are fighting at the front, who are donating their blood to save the wounded, who, forgetting their own fatigue, watch at the bedside of wounded heroes, who died exclaiming: "Long live liberty!"
We dip our colours in honour of you, dear women comrades, who march into battle together with the men.
Today, I received word that greeklish.org has been honored as SovLit.com’s “Comrade of the Month” for our section on Soviet Heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya:
The Story of Zoya & Shura
"Here, comrades! Why do you look so gloomy? Be brave. Fight on, fight on!"
Seventeen-year-old Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was one of the most endearing Soviet heroes from the Great Patriotic War. She was a member of the partisan resistance movement in the western USSR and took part in sabotage and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. She was captured and tortured by the Nazis, but she bravely refused to give up any information. For her stubborn heroism, the Nazis sentenced her to the gallows. Unbowed, before her execution, she taunted her captors: "There are two hundred million of us! You can't hang us all!"
Zoya's brother, Shura, who fell in battle near Koenigsberg, was also recognized as a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Zoya and Shura's mother, Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya, memorialized her children with her book, The Story of Zoya & Shura, the entire text of which is now available on-line.
For posting this text and honoring these two great Soviet heroes, Michael Bessler and greeklish.org are recognized as SovLit.com's Comrade of the Month.
(click here to see the original article from SovLit.com)
It is a distinct honor to receive this recognition from such a prestigious website as SovLit.com. SovLit.com is an outstanding project that serves to provide important resources to workers and students. We extend our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to SovLit.com as well as to our readers and supporters around the world. Aluta continua!
The bust as pictured in the original eBay listing; Click on the picture to view a larger image
In the past, I've written a bit on our site about my interest in art from the "Soviet Realism" school and it's probably pretty apparent that I have a specific affinity for pieces related to the Soviet heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Over the years, I have wondered if I would ever have the good fortune to happen upon a bust or statuette of Zoya K. and I must admit that one more than one occasion, I actually shuddered when considering what I might be willing to spend to add such an item to my collection. Until very recently, my collection of Zoya K. memorabilia had been comprised mostly of ephemera and books, although in recent years, I have been lucky enough to acquire some authentic Soviet-era propaganda posters featuring her likeness (here's one). Late in 2007, I also obtained an original oil-on-canvas painting of Zoya K. from an eBay seller in Ukraine, but because the portrait is so big (almost four feet in height), it remains in storage for now.
One evening in mid-January, I pulled up eBay on my computer and I started running my daily searches for various items of interest when I stumbled upon what would surely be the jewel in my small collection: A genuine, Soviet-era bust of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. The piece was cast in aluminum and bigger than a small "desktop" bust or statuette but not so big as to be a life-sized replica. At the time, I had figured it might be about the size of the bust of La Pasionara that I had purchased some time ago. The representation appeared to be based on the memorial statue of Zoya K. in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). I was astonished to find this item up for auction, as it seemed to be more spectacular that anything I could have ever imagined. The starting bid was kind of pricey – more than I'm accustomed to spending on eBay stuff, for sure – and since the bust was located in Ukraine, shipping would be rather costly. Moreover, I figured that other collectors would surely be as interested such an outstanding piece and I doubted that I could really "hang" with some of the high-rollers of eBay. Over the years, I have seen some pretty wild finishes on auctions for rare Soviet items. Nevertheless, less than 24 hours into the auction, I put my fist bid down – a decent bid, at that – but I pretty much figured I would lose in the end.
Original oil painting, c. mid-1950s; Click
on the picture to view a larger
image
The next day – much to my horror – I saw that someone had already bid against me. I was still the high bidder because the competing bid was only a couple of dollars. But still, this was enough to throw me into something of a panic. A quick consultation with my pal Randy – a kindred spirit of sorts – revealed that Randy himself was the party responsible for the new bid. As a general rule, we try not to bid against each other, but the seller of the bust had made the listing a "private" auction, so users could not see the IDs of their competitors. Because Randy is such a great guy, he kindly said he would not bid against me any further and he urged me to do everything I needed to do to win the sculpture. We would correspond and talk by phone several more times over the agonizing week that followed, and each time we "chatted," Randy would share words of encouragement and support. I tried everything possible during the 6 or 7 days of the auction to stay calm and to avoid obsessing over whether or not I would end up with the bust, but I was pretty much a basket case at every turn. I even tried an old "thought-stopping" technique I learned as a counselor in which I would wear a rubber band on my wrist and snap it hard when I felt myself obsessing. The short blast of pain kind of forces one's mind to "re-set" itself, thereby temporarily breaking repetitive or obsessive thought cycles. The auction was set to end on a Saturday afternoon and by the morning of that particular day, I had two rubber bands on my wrist (a fat one and a thin one) to provide me with varying levels of pain whenever I needed to change my focus and stop spiraling. But nothing really worked.
In early afternoon on the last day of the auction, Stupsi had slipped out into our garage and tried to make a break for outside as the big overhead garage door was coming down. I chased her out into the garage and tried to stop her from slipping under the door. I barely managed to stop her from getting crushed under the door but I got my leg caught under the heavy door in the process. It hurt like hell and Thomai thought I had been seriously injured. The whole time I sat on the couch with the girls trying to decide if I needed to go to the hospital for a broken leg, I remained fixated on the impending end of the auction. With an hour left to go, I limped upstairs to play several rounds of Fire Pro to try and keep my mind off the end of the auction. I couldn't relax, though, and I ended up returning to the computer with about 20 or 30 minutes left to go so I could watch the finale in real time.
Finally... Safe and home in my
library! Click on the picture to view a larger image
I had been obsessively checking the listing all week – at least 20 times a day – and I had edged my total bid up a number of times to the point of what I knew to be an absolutely absurd level. I thought I was pretty secure in what I had settled on as my high bid and I was optimistic at the fact that nobody other than Randy had bid against me on the item for about five whole days. But within the last half-hour or so, things changed rather quickly. The price jumped a bit, but I still had a decent "cushion" to go. I "white-knuckled" it to the very end, hitting "refresh" every 10 to 15 seconds. The price jumped by almost $100 in the final 10 seconds, but then it was all over. When I saw the "Congratulations!" message on my screen, I knew I had finally come out on top. I was absolutely drained. I slowly walked upstairs and found Thomai in our dining room boxing up Christmas decorations and I plopped down in a chair and whispered...with my voice slightly cracking..."I won." I also told her that I never wanted to be so completely consumed with the pursuit of a material object again. She sat down next to me and hugged me. I am so lucky that she understands me.
The bust made it from Ukraine to Ohio just under two weeks, thanks to an efficient and conscientious eBay seller. I unpacked it after work last Friday. For a few days, I kept it on our kitchen table while I prepared some space in my library room. The girls are pretty impressed with the piece and I have to say that it is a truly magnificent piece of statuary. The details are remarkable, from the quilting on Zoya's coat to the barrel of her rifle and the piece of scarf that flies above her shoulder. The piece is truly the "brass ring" of my years of collecting. We sat at the dinner table for a while on Friday night talking about the bust. K. was particularly interested in where the bust came from and where the real Zoya lived during her lifetime, so we talked a little and we got the globe out of the library to look up Ukraine, Russia, and other relevant places. She told me that she didn't know of anyone else with a dad who collects such cool stuff – and teaches his kids about it, too! It is nice to be appreciated at so many levels.
Who of these survivors of the 1979 revolution can shut their eyes for a moment, think about the past...years and have one pleasant recollection? Millions of people have been condemned to life under the most reactionary and brutal social system, a society based on terror, poverty, and lies in which happiness is forbidden, being a woman is a crime, living is torment and escape impossible. An entire generation, perhaps more than half the population, has been born in this hell and has no other recollection than this. And for many others, the most living memory is that of the unforgettable faces of admirable human beings who were slaughtered. Wasn't 1979 – the year of the revolution – the beginning of this nightmare?
Several weeks ago, I posted two articles regarding the struggle of leftist students in Iran (Dec. 8 | Dec. 9). Regular readers of our site might recall that the Students' Day articles were written and/or shared by friends in Iran who are intimately familiar with the current political struggles in that county. They have seen the crimes of the Iranian ruling clique with their own eyes and, in efforts to engender solidarity with progressives and radicals worldwide, they have shared their stories with me and others like me in hopes that they might garner further support in their struggle. It was in this spirit that I shared the Students' Day articles with other individuals, including representatives from local and regional progressive and anti-war groups. After reading the articles, an organizer from one such regional group responded to me rather quickly with a reply that was – to say the least – both unexpected and unfortunate. The short reply I received effectively questioned the wisdom of publicizing the crimes of the Iranian ruling clique as such facts might ostensibly weaken the anti-war movement in America by providing fodder for the pro-war propaganda machine. Also included in the writer's reply was the clear inference that the US had incited the Students' Day unrest as part of a larger effort to destabilize the regime in Iran. Additionally, the writer questioned the veracity of the Students' Day stories by noting that the events had not been reported by the "mainstream press." I had, of course, met with such attitudes before but I have never become accustomed to such ignorance and indifference and I found the response to be thoroughly frustrating. I was later advised by an Iranian friend in London that he had encountered similar responses from European "progressives" on the matter of political repression in Iran.
Over one month has passed – almost two months, really – and the bourgeois press has finally picked up the story. The January 20, 2008 edition of The New York Times featured an article penned by Nazila Fathi called "Radical Left, Iran's Last Legal Dissidents, Until Now" which included some discussion of the Students' Day crackdown, along with a broader discussion regarding the systematic repression of leftists in Iran since the hijacking of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Fathi's article is an interesting introduction to the current political situation with Iran for those who rely solely on the mainstream press to form opinions regarding relevant issues of the day. But it is hard to predict whether or not the "legitimacy" afforded to this story by some fleeting coverage by the mainstream press will do much to change the callous indifference displayed by American liberals and "progressives" towards Iranian workers and students.
To the doubters and the dogmatists of the American left who continue to treat the plight of real working-class radicals in Iran with extreme indifference and suspicion, I will repeat here what I have said before, both publicly and privately: To ignore or to cover up evidence that an oppressive regime is torturing and murdering individuals who are, in fact, our brothers and sisters in arms, is more than unfortunate...It is scandalous. The Iranian ruling clique has built its regime on the bodies of women, workers, students and political opponents of every stripe – but especially through the severe repression of political opponents from the radical left. To suggest that these brave people act merely as pawns of imperialist provocation and to subsequently fail to recognize their political struggle is nothing shy of an insult to their efforts. No measure of fleeting attention from the bourgeois press can effectively "legitimize" a revolutionary movement. Only the working class and its allies can establish and maintain a legitimate and principled struggle against reactionaries, imperialists and oppressors of all types.
My good friend Zdravko Saveski recently translated the Wikipedia biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos into Macedonian for the Marxists Internet Archive. When I expressed an interest in posting portions of Zdravko’s new translation on our website – alongside Greek and English translations of the biography of Pouliopoulos – Zdravko kindly agreed to write an introductory text for greeklish.org. Solidarity between the Greek Left and the Macedonian Left is alive and well!
Pandelis Pouliopoulos
Introductionby Zdravko Saveski Nationalists in every nation build idealistic and inflated versions of the history of their people and country. In doing so, they perceive the neighbour peoples and countries as enemies that have, throughout the history, conspired against the nationalists' people and country. The purpose of the leftists, who are internationalists by definition, is to overcome the ethnic prejudices, to present the real instead of romanticized view on history and to build bridges among peoples.
Macedonian nationalism and Greek nationalism were both recently resurrected by the redundant "name dispute". Paradoxically, the Greek nationalists help Macedonian nationalists to increase its support in the Republic of Macedonia, and vice versa. To counteract the influence of Macedonian nationalists, I have started to popularize the stances of the Greek leftists who have friendly attitudes towards Republic of Macedonia and Macedonians so the Macedonian public can see that "all Greeks aren't bad." Among others, I have written the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos for the Macedonian section of the Marxists Internet Archive and for the Macedonian Wikipedia, and I want to thank Mike for supporting my efforts. The Greek Left is much stronger than Macedonian Left and I am looking forward to future cooperation with our Greek comrades. Excerpt from the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos from the new Macedonian translation by Zdravko Saveski: Пантелис Пулјопулос (10 март 1900 година – 6 јуни 1943 година) е грчки троцкист, некогашен генерален секретар на Комунистичката партија на Грција и основач на троцкистичкото движење во Грција. Ги бранеше правата на етничките малцинства, вклучително и на македонското, во Грција и тоа беше една од причините за судирот со КПГ.
Во 1919 година Пулјопулос се запишува на Универзитетот во Атина, каде студира право. Истата година се приклучува кон Социјалистичката работничка партија на Грција (претходник на Комунистичката партија на Грција). Во 1920 година, за време на Грчко-турската војна 1919-1922, е регрутиран во грчката војска. Во 1922 година е уапсен за антивоено делување, но со крајот на војната е ослободен. Во периодот 1923-1925 година е активен во движењето на воените ветерани, а во 1924 година е избран и за претседател на Панхеленската федерација на ветераните. (full text) Excerpt from the biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos in Greek, provided by Nikos Loudos: Ο Παντελής Πουλιόπουλος (10 Μαρτίου 1900 6 Ιουνίου 1943) ήταν έλληνας κομμουνιστής και ο πρώτος γενικός γραμματέας του Κομμουνιστικού Κόμματος Ελλάδας (ΚΚΕ). Υπεράσπισε το διεθνιστικό και επαναστατικό χαρακτήρα του κομμουνιστικού κινήματος. Είναι ο ιδρυτής του τροτσκιστικού κινήματος στην Ελλάδα.
Γεννήθηκε στη Θήβα το 1900 και το 1919 πήγε στην Αθήνα για να σπουδάσει νομικά στο Πανεπιστήμιο. Την ίδια χρονιά, εντάχθηκε στο Σοσιαλιστικό Εργατικό Κόμμα Ελλάδος (ΣΕΚΕ), τον πολιτικό πρόγονο του ΚΚΕ. Το 1920 επιστρατεύθηκε για να πολεμήσει στον ελληνοτουρκικό πόλεμο του 1919-1922. Το 1922 συνελήφθη για αντιπολεμική δράση, αλλά απελευθερώθηκε με το τέλος του πολέμου.
Από το 1923 ως το 1925 έπαιξε ηγετικό ρόλο στο κίνημα των βετεράνων του πολέμου και το 1924 εκλέχτηκε πρόεδρος της Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Παλαιών Πολεμιστών και Θυμάτων Στρατών..., η οποία κυκλοφορεί την εφημερίδα "Παλαιός Πολεμιστής" με κυκλοφορία που φτάνει τα 20 χιλιάδες φύλλα. Excerpt from the English language Wikipedia biography of Pandelis Pouliopoulos: Pandelis Pouliopoulos (10 March 1900-6 June 1943) was a Greek communist and onetime general secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). He stood for the internationalist and revolutionary character of the communist movement. He is the founder of the trotskyist movement in Greece.
Born in Thiva, Greece, Pouliopoulos enrolled at Athens University in 1919 to study law. In 1919, he joined the Socialist Labour Party of Greece (SEKE), the forerunner of the Communist Party of Greece.
In 1920, he was conscripted to fight in the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922. He was arrested in 1922 for anti-war activity, but was freed with the end of the war.
God help me, we are women, and this whole cursed abortion thing is a part of the war on women. Do you understand? Try to understand, because I need you. We have to do it together, women and men, and it's a long road to go."
– Abigail Goodman from the conclusion of Howard Fast's The Trial of Abigail Goodman
But I want to point out that the first step, in my view, is that Roe v. Wade be overturned...I am fighting for an overturning of Roe v. Wade.
– Mitt Romey on the Dec. 16, 2007 edition of Meet the Press
A couple of Sundays ago, I was laying in bed, still half-asleep as I watched Meet the Press. Mitt Romney was the big guest for the hour and the interview was pretty run-of-the mill and boring until Russert brought up the topic of abortion. Romney, who was unabashedly pro-choice until recently, struggled to in vain to explain the sense behind his major about-face on the matter. Even after Russert aired an old video clip of Romney pledging, "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard," Romney continued to attempt to present his current political line as being largely unchanged from previous periods. Ultimately, Romney told Russert that it was, in his mind, of the utmost importance that Roe v. Wade be overturned as the first means of banning abortion in the US. With that, Romney fell right into line with the other right-wing zealots of his party. (Read the full transcript here) It's not that this is that much of a surprise to me, but sometimes it takes something like this to really impress me as to how much trouble we're really in these days. Romney's comments about Roe reminded me at once of the novel The Trial of Abigail Goodman by the great novelist Howard Fast. I picked up a cheap copy of the book at an estate sale a few years back, buying it not so much for its content but because I recognized Fast's name from previously reading his work on Josip Tito and also from reading pieces of Fast's own autobiography, Being Red. I read the dust jacket of Abigail Goodman on the way home the day that I had purchased it and the plot was rather intriguing as it was a fictionalized account of what might follow if abortion was banned in the United States. In the book, 41 year-old Abigail Goodman, college professor and mother of two grown children, is put on trial in a small southern town after it is learned that she had an abortion. Regrettably, at the time that I purchased it, Abigail Goodman became so much like many other books that I have acquired in recent years. It is certainly a cliche to say this, but as the saying goes, "So many books, so little time..."
Seeing the Romney interview again piqued my curiosity regarding the Fast novel and thankfully, my home library is not in too much disarray, so I was able to locate the book quickly. Abigail Goodman is a short book and something of a fast read. It only took me a few evenings and afternoons to polish it off. Now, I don't read a lot of novels and I really hesitate to put too much stock into a fictionalized "what if" tale, but Fast's work on Abigail Goodman is very good at a number of levels. Of particular importance is Fast's portrayal of American attitudes towards abortion as having specific class distinctions that are, in real life, both painfully apparent and seldom discussed. Moreover, Fast had the foresight to publish Abigail Goodman in 1993 – the early years of the Clinton Administration – at a time in which most dyed-in-the wool American liberals were content to rest on their collective laurels in the belief that our civil liberties would be secure for the foreseeable future. (As if the Democratic Party's neoliberals won't compromise the reproductive rights of women for political gain if it means winning a dogfight with the Republicans...)
Abigail Goodman is, at the very least, a great piece of literature by a wonderful author. In many respects, though, it is a warning to Americans at what we face from the Romney, Huckabee and many others like them. It is certainly a "must-read" for a time in which our civil liberties – and our common sense – are slowly slipping away amidst very little fanfare.
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
It was interesting to read the article "Remembering Lin Biao" from Workers World a couple of weeks ago. The well-written piece was very informative and included some important background information on an individual who has been all but forgotten by much of the West since his death in 1971. "Remembering Lin Biao" was written on the occasion of the centennial of Lin's birth and accurately praises Lin as "an outstanding military leader in China's anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolutionary war..." To this day, revolutionary groups including elements from India's Naxalites and Nepal's Maoist insurgency still look to Lin as an important strategist. One of Lin's more important contributions to revolutionary theory includes his 1965 piece "Long Live the Victory of the People's War!" which elucidated the doctrines of People's War and set a course for revolution in developing countries around the world. In addition to his work as a military strategist, Lin was capable of speaking on complex components of Marxism-Leninism, as in the matter of his discussion of the theory of the productive forces from his "Secret Address to the Eleventh Plenary Session" in 1966. By the late 1960s, Lin was honing his skills as an up-and-coming political leader, preparing for the role of Mao Zedong's successor.
It is important, however, to note that Lin's legacy is not one-sided by any means. It is relatively well-known that Lin's political differences with Mao and with Zhou Enlai led him to flee the People's Republic of China in relative disgrace in late 1971. In the course of Lin's hasty exit, he met an untimely end which remains shrouded in mystery to this day. But from an historical perspective, Lin's role as the so-called "architect" of China's Great Proletarian Revolution is much more significant than the circumstances of his controversial death. The Cultural Revolution is now widely regarded by much of the world's revolutionary left as a campaign fraught with errors and excess. Indeed, the greatest push to Lin's ascent to power came in the early years of the Cultural Revolution after the purge of Lin's political rival Liu Shaoqi. In one of the more unfortunate chapters of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi was ultimately killed after a lengthy period of imprisonment, abuse and medical neglect. In a manner of speaking, the legacy of Lin Biao is – at the very least – tainted with the blood of Liu Shaoqi and many others who suffered needlessly during the Cultural Revolution. Moreover, it was Lin's political miscalculations which ultimately paved the way for the political dominance of China's "Gang of Four," led by Jiang Qing. The darker, latter portion of the Cultural Revolution saw Jiang complete the posthumous sacking of Lin with an extensive and pervasive campaign of public criticism. The downward spiral which Lin created through his own mistakes was to ultimately swallow him like some kind of Orwellian memory hole. Lin Biao's image and name were quickly erased from China's collective memory following his demise. Chinese citizens went so far as to publicly tear out pages from their Little Red Books which featured introductory notes by Lin, including Lin's legendary directive to China's masses:
"Study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings, and act according to his instructions."
The Workers World piece notes that Lin's portrait was returned to public display in the Beijing Military Museum in July 2007, amounting to a nunc pro tunc recognition of Lin as a "hero" of the People's Republic. However, the move by itself is not necessarily an indication of a full-scale effort to rehabilitate Lin. His 100th birthday ultimately came and went with no fanfare or formal recognition by the PRC. Lin's legacy – with so many considerations regarding his political character and his relationship with Mao at at the time of his demise – is an issue which all sides of the controversy, from anti-revisionists to post-coup market socialists, will have difficulty reconciling for some years to come.
The following message regarding the continuing aftermath of the University Students’ Day was passed along by our friend “K.” I have made a few corrections to address minor grammatical and spelling errors.
As can be seen in the following address, our society has witnessed a huge number of arrests, before, during and after the ceremony celebrating the University Students' Day in Iran. The pivot of this ceremony held by the students known as "Equality and Freedom Seeking" was opposition with war and sanctions.
We do need your support by your signature and widespread circulation and condemnation of this act.
If we can not have international support, everything may happen to the arrested students – now numbering more than 30 – their respective families.
You may be kind enough to pass this over to as many people, organizations and universities as possible.
Please announce your condemnation of this act by sending an email to: seeking.committee@gmail.com . More information may be found at: http://13azar.blogspot.com
Do not forget that we do need your support. Proclamation of the arrests on the University Students’ Day
On the threshold of the 16th of Azar (December 7) the University Students’ Day in Iran, more than 30 “Equality and Freedom-seeking Students” have been arrested. Surprisingly, 16th of Azar – the symbol of the struggle against dictatorship of the ex-imperial regime – is not tolerated by the Islamic government either.
What has happened during this ceremony – the main pivot of which was the opposition with war and sanction – is the repetition of the same scenes of the previous government.
The commemoration of the University Students’ Day is the tradition of more than 50 years and the ones who have been arrested this year are the most honest children of our country. We want the unconditional and immediate release of our captivated students.
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
