Turkey: Erdogan's government removes Karl Marx from school books

According to soL news portal, the Turkish government removed Karl Marx from sociology textbooks, promoted Islamic prophet Muhammad's "holy birth week".

As the debates on Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party-led Islamic school curriculum has inflamed the society, the theme of Karl Marx was removed from the school books of sociology for high school degree.

While the last year’s sociology textbook involved August Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, the topic of Karl Marx has been removed from the 2017-2018 education term curriculum.

Applause and respect for Mikis Theodorakis at the KNE-Odigitis Festival

Under the sounds of "Romiosini"- one of Greek music's greatest compositions- and a warm applause thousands of people welcomed Mikis Theodorakis at the KNE-Odigitis festival, yesterday evening at Tritsis Park in Athens. The legendary composer- also a political figure whose activity left its stamp on the Greek left- was welcomed by the Secretary General of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas and the Secretary of the Communist Youth (KNE) Nikos Abatielos.

KKE welcomes 30 Communist and Anti-imperialist youth organisations participating at KNE Festival

A meeting between representatives of 30 Communist and Anti-imperialist youth organisations which participate at the 43rd KNE-Odigitis Festival and the Secretary General of the CC of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas was held earlier today at the Party's headquarters in Perissos, Athens. 

In his welcome speech, D.Koutsoumbas said:

"We welcome in the headquarters of the CC of the KKE the 30 Communist and Anti-imperialist youth organisations from all over the world which are in Greece for the 43rd KNE-Odigitis Festival.

KKE: Message of solidarity to the Communist Party of Mexico regarding the recent disastrous earthquakes

With a message to the Central Commitee of the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM), the International Relations section of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) expresses the Party's condolences and solidarity to the Mexican people, after the disastrous earthquakes. 

More specifically, as 902 portal reports, the message reads:

The 12 cartoons censored by the EU Parliament as politically "controversial"

Last week, the EU Parliament rejected 12 caricatures by Greek artists for a Brussels exhibition as “inflammatory” cartoons mocking EU leaders and their policies allegedly go against “European values.” 

The exhibition, featuring work from both French and Greek cartoonists, was due to be unveiled at the European Parliament in Brussels on September 25 as part of the year marking 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. However, after evaluating the work for offensive content, Liberal Democrats' MEP Catherine Bearder rejected 12 of the 28 submissions from Greek artists. From their side, organizers denounced it as an act of “violent censorship.”

KKE GS Koutsoumbas: NATO-USA-EU are in no way guarantors of "peace" and "security" in the Balkans

The Secretary General of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas spoke at a major political event of the 43rd KNE-Odigitis Festival in Thessaloniki.

Source: inter.kke.gr.

The political and cultural events of the 43rd Festival of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) and its newspaper "Odigitis", which this year are dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution.

The three days' of events of KNE's Festival in Thessaloniki were held from the 13th to the 16th of September. At the Festival a major political rally was held, where the GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas spoke and called on the youth "from tomorrow, with the impetus of the successful festival, more workers and young people should come with us on the path for revolutionary change.

Cuba slams Trump's defiant and disrespectful remarks at the U.N. General Assembly

Once again, U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated his political appetite as a provocative war-mongering imperialist. This time, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Trump lashed out at Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in a speech full of provocation and hate. 

According to Reuters, Cuba on Tuesday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's latest comments about the island as "disrespectful, unacceptable and meddling," while reiterating it was not involved in the alleged incidents that had harmed U.S. diplomats in Havana.

The 43rd KNE-Odigitis Festival concludes its journey with a three-day political and cultural event in Athens

After passing from numerous cities and town across Greece, including last week's successful three-day festivities in Thessaloniki, the 43rd KNE-Odigitis Festival concludes its journey on 21-23 September in Athens. The events of the festival, which have political and cultural dimensions, will be held at "Antonis Tritsis" Park in the western suburb of Ilion. 

This year's Festival by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) is dedicated to the 100 years since the Great October Socialist Revolution. For that reason, a significant part of the Festival will honour this great historical event, with a large exhibition which will also include material from the KKE archives. 

KKE GS Dimitris Koutsoumbas on Salamina oil spill: Shipowners and the government bear grave responsibility for the environmental disaster

Commenting on the sinking of "Agia Zoni II" tanker, on Saturday, and the subsequent environmental disaster which threatens major beaches in Athens, the Secretary General of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumbas said the following:

"The shipwreck in Salamina, with the huge disaster in caused to the enivornment and the people of Attica, mirrors their (the government's) development. From one side, the timeless governmental prattles about Piraeus as "entrance gate" and "international junction" and, on the other side, very old ships, "floatting coffins" for the workers, damaged professionals and absence of elementary state infrastructure for the protection of Public Health and the Environment. The government and the shipowners bear grave responsibiities and this crime must not remain unpunished".

Poland's government tries to distort and rewrite history: Statement by the Communist Party of Poland

Act of barbarity: Polish authorities demolishing
the Red Army monument in Trzcianka.

CP OF POLAND: AGAINST DESTRUCTION OF THE HISTORICAL MEMORY.

We condemn the changes of street names around Poland driven by the government, and the increasing number of devastations and liquidations of monuments commemorating heroes of struggle against fascism. Recent example is the dismantling of the Mausoleum of the Red Army in Trzcianka. Changing names of the streets and attacks on monuments of Soviet and Polish soldiers, communist partisans and militants of the workers’ movement are a result of the historical policy imposed by the state authorities. It is being implemented by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) which is questioning even liberation of Poland in 1944–1945.

Statement of the KKE regarding the "dispute" between SYRIZA government and Eldorado Gold

Regarding the "dispute" between the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government and the canadian miner giant Eldorado Gold about the company's investment in northern Greece, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following comment:

"Once more, we are facing the danger of unemployment which is hanging over the workers, proving through this tragic way that neither the workers' rights nor the environment's protection can be permanently safeguarded, through investments by business corporations which the only thing they seek is their biggest possible profitability. 

KKE: Statement on the dangerous developments in the Korean Peninsula

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following statement regarding the dangerous developments in the Korean Peninsula:

"The KKE expresses its intense concern about the dangerous situation in the Korean Peninsular. The developments reflect the escalation of the economic and military competition and inter-imperialist contradictions in the entire Asia and Pacific region between powerful capitalist states and business interests, at an international and regional level. 

It is not the result of choices of the allegedly "crazy" leaders of the USA and North Korea, as is being deliberately cultivated by the mass media in order to conceal the real causes of the confrontation.

Boyun Eğme! The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) celebrated its 97th anniversary

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) released a written statement on the 97th anniversary of its founding, said: "We are not asking for the impossible but the very possible. We lead the only possible way to remain human."

"TKP founded on 10 September 1920 in Baku. The resistance struggling the occupation in Anatolia met the young Soviet revolution at that city. That very day, the communists of Turkey gathered together in a single party and declared being the comrades from Turkey of the international struggle for a socialist World," the statement said. 

McDonald's workers on historic strike in Britain - Solidarity with their just struggle

Their solidarity towards the strike of the workers at McDonald's fast food chain in Britain expressed labor-trade unions in Greece and Turkey. 

The Trade union of workers in Catering, Hotels, Tourism of Athens issued a statement expressing its solidarity to their colleagues working to McDonald’s in the UK, who went on strike earlier this week, struggling for better salaries and abolition of the “zero hour contracts”. 

More specifically, the union states:

Thousands of workers raised their voice against Tsipras government's anti-people policies

Thousands of working people, farmers, unemployed, pensioners and students participated in the large demonstration organised by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Saturday evening. The rally was held on the occasion of the inauguration, by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, of the city's International Trade Fair. 

Representatives of Trade Unions and labor organisations delivered short greeting messages, while the major speech was given by the member of the executive committee of PAME and General Secretary of the Thessaloniki Labour Center Leonidas Stoltidis. 

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, attended the rally and made the following statement to the Press:

"Proletarians of all countries, unite!": Declaration by communist and workers parties for the 100 years since the Great October Socialist Revolution

Declaration of August (2017) of the participants in the International Theoretical Conference of Communist and Workers parties; "100 years after the Great October Socialist Revolution, the lessons and tasks for the contemporary communists".

Our future is not capitalism, but the new world of the Socialist Revolution and the construction of socialism-communism.

We, the participants in the international conference, which met in Leningrad during the celebrations of the 6th Congress of the RSDLP (B), which adopted a line of immediately preparing the armed struggle for the socialist revolution, present this declaration as the joint position of the parties, which base themselves on Marxism-Leninism-the teachings on the socialist revolution, as an objective scientific law that is determined by the unresolved contradictions of global capitalism.

Great October of 1917 confirmed the correctness of the Marxist-Leninist theory regarding the inevitability of the socialist revolution as a crucially necessary element for the victory of the proletariat in the class struggle against the bourgeois class and the successful construction of socialism and full communism, a society for the free development of all its members. All the efforts to escape from a world dominated by capital through gradual social reforms lead in various ways only to the perpetuation of social inequality and the perfection of the forms of exploitation.

PAME: The anti-workers attack across Europe is unified, lasting and continuous

On the occasion of the visit of French President Macron to Greece, PAME issued the following statement:

The “growth” of the profits of business groups, the competitiveness of capital requires the attack on workers’ rights and gains. 

Therefore, irrespective of the country and the political label of each government, European Union and the political parties of the capital promote anti-workers’ reforms that target to reduce wages, pensions etc., and at the same time to put obstacles (if not to totally ban) in the Collective Action and Demands of Workers, in the trade union rights and freedoms of the working class.

Either with memorandums or without, the antiworkers’ attack across Europe is unified, lasting and continuous.

Irma hits Cuba: Firm solidarity with the Cuban people

Source: Granma.

An Alarm Phase is declared for the provinces of Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Matanzas; an Alert for Mayabeque, La Habana and Artemisa; and the Informative Phase for Pinar del Río, as of 10:00am. Other provinces remain in the Alarm Phase. Residents of the Isle of Youth are to remain attentive to information released. 

According to information from the Meteorology Institute’s Forecast Center, Irma continues to be a high intensity system with maximum sustained winds of 250 km/h, at the upper limit of a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

KKE: Comment about the visit of France's president Emmanuel Macron in Greece

Regarding the visit of the President of the French Republic Emannuel Macron in Greece (7-8 September), the Communist Party of Greece issued the following comment:

"When the government welcomes a President, who in his own country has unleashed the biggest anti-workers attack of the last years, even without a memorandum (of austerity), then everyone understands that this visit not only does not bring any positive thing for the Greek people, but (furthermore) proves the anti-people intentions of the government itself, which Macron rushed to greet. 

Mr.Macron comes to Greece for business, as a representative of French business groups that accompany him and which, in order to invest in our country, will demand the same "labor jungle" that they also demand for French workers."

Greek-Bulgarian memorandum for railway connection serves the profitability of monopoly groups

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued a statement about the recent memorandum signed between the governments of Greece and Bulgaria, regarding the construction of a new railway connection. 

"From the advertisement of capitalist businesses to the signing of- needed for the capital- interstate agreements, the SYRIZA-ANEL government continues to promote the known fairy tale of development which- supposedly- can be beneficial for both monopolies and the people. 

The truth is that the interstate agreement for the construction of "Egnatia Railway", which, through a new line, will connect Kavala with Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis and from there with the ports of Ruse, Varna and Burgas (Bulgaria), comes as a demand of the monopoly groups in the Transporation sector and during a period when the privatization of TRAINOSE (Greece's state railways) and ports is under way. 

Commentary by TKP's Kemal Okuyan regarding Turkey's stance on the Korean peninsula crisis

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), Kemal Okuyan reflected on the denouncement statement of Turkey's government regarding the hydrogen bomb test of the DPRK. 

The full text of Okuyan's commentary published on soL news portal is as follows:

I denounce the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the strongest manner...

Previously, they loved to call the German Democratic Republic as “East Germany”, now they like to call the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as “North Korea”. It may be long and complex but still let us not use cold war terminology.

Hurricane "Harvey": Another capitalist crime against the people

The hurricane and tropical storm “Harvey” in Texas revealed the misery and disaster that capitalist “development” spreads at the expense of public security and people's interests. The same, even in a larger scale, had happened 12 years ago with hurricane “Katrina” in the states of Luisianna and Mississippi. In both cases, the heaviest price of the disaster was paid by the poor strata of these states, the working class and immigrants.

The record rainfall and floods, the “extreme natural phenomena”, cannot explain by themselves alone the scale of the destruction. The real cause behind the disaster in Texas is the policy which, in order to maximize business profits, destroys natural envirnoment, creates anarchy in construction, builds huge factories, industries, shopping centers without any fundamental security plan.

Workers-Labor Unions to demonstrate against SYRIZA government's policies in Thessaloniki

Poster of PAME propagandizing
the September 9th rally.

On the occasion of the 82^st Thessaloniki International Trade Fair (TIF), the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) issued an announcement calling the working class, small farmers, women and the youth to participate in mass demonstration against the antipeople policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government.

The demonstration in Thessaloniki will take place on Saturday, September 9th, the day of the International Fair's inauguration by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“Government-Industrialists-EU pave the ground for the next looting! No consensus to the continuation of the slaughter of our rights! No compromise with poverty and miserable life!” underlines the announcement of PAME and calls the working class to give a militant response to the antipeople policy of the coalition government. 

"PAME addresses the workers of private and public sector, the self-employed people, the small farmers, women and young people, calling them to strengthen the struggles, for a militant response and counterattack!". The statement of the All-Workers Militant Front unleashes an attack against the SYRIZA-ANEL government's policy on all levels, including economy, social and foreign policy. 

KKE denounces the extension of the defense cooperation agreement between Greece-USA

Source: inter.kke.gr.

The Press Office of the CC of the KKE mentioned the following regarding the government’s decision to extend the defense cooperation agreement between Greece and the USA:

"The extension of the Defense Cooperation Agreement between Greece and the USA, which also concerns the Souda base, confirms that the SYRIZA-ANEL government is not only continuing the political line of the previous ND-PASOK governments in this sector as well, but is also entangling the country even deeper in the aggressive imperialist plans in the region, in a period characterized by a dangerous intensification of the antagonisms.