The 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

I do recognize the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Allied forces. This is certainly an emotional event. We should acknowledge the courageous people of numerous backgrounds who lost their lives, who stood up, and who are alive today after surviving the evil found in Auschwitz. Auschwitz was first liberated by members of the Soviet Union’s Read Army on January 27, 1945. Auschwitz was the name of the Nazi death camp in southern Poland. Auschwitz housed some of the greatest crimes and horrors of the 20th century. The events of Auschwitz represent capitalist barbarism in its most extreme form. From early 1942 to late 1945, transport trains delivered Jewish people from all over Nazi-occupied Europe to the gates of Auschwitz. Its infamous slogan was “Arbeit machit frei” or Work makes you free. Over 1.1 million people were put to death at Auschwitz, hundreds of thousands of them sent immediately to gas chambers. Others were exterminated via starvation, overwork, disease or the hideous medical experiments carried out by people like the devil Josef Mengele (he was called the “Angel of Death”). Over 90 percent of the people who were murdered in the camp were Jewish people. Other human beings who were murdered included: 150,000 Poles, including political prisoners, 23,000 Romani and Sinti (Gypsies), 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and other national minorities, Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals were imprisoned and exterminated there. The Nazis wanted to reduce the population of Eastern Europe including the Soviet Union by some 30 million via starvation and mass deportation. The Nazis wanted to demolish cities and turn the land over to German colonists. That is why the Soviet Union lost 14 percent of its people or 27 million people died in WWII. Poland lost 16 percent of its population or 5.8 million during the war too. Germany’s capitalist ruling class back then wanted to end Germany’s socialist workers movement. The Germany elites wanted to fund militarist aggression and conquest. Many imperialists today ironically observed the public observance of the anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation in 2015. Yet, a few of the dwindling number of survivors of the death camp, most of them in their nineties, were there too. Many made statements of urgency and poignancy, conscious that they would not likely be present at the next major anniversary. “People forget what Auschwitz was, and it terrifies me, because I know to what kind of hell it leads,” said Roman Kent, 85. He concluded his remarks at the ceremony by stating, “We do not want our past to be our children's future.” We live in a time where there is a drive for war not only against Iran, but against Russia too in this war on terror. Russian government of President Vladimir Putin was not invited to join in the observance. The NATO-backed regime in Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko was an honored guest in the ceremony. Asked by a Polish radio station whether Warsaw’s attitude toward Putin wasn’t petty, Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna replied that the Russian president’s presence was superfluous because Auschwitz had been liberated by “the First Ukrainian Front and Ukrainians.” That’s a lie since an unit of Soviet Union’s Red Army first liberated Auschwitz and the adjacent Polish town. The Ukrainian coup was organized by some members of the e fascist bands of Svoboda and the Right Sector, which venerate the legacy of Hitler’s SS and of the Ukrainian fascist units that participated in the Holocaust. Even Hollande (who attended the ceremony) invited the fascist Marine Le Pen to his Presidential Palace (The national Front Party is the political heir to the French Nazi collaborators of the Vichy regime). The Third Reich had central responsibility for the events of the Shoah and WWII as well. The rise of fascism continues in Europe and throughout the Earth. There is a crisis of capitalism. Imperial power want to use militarist aggression to control territories today while our social and democratic rights have been curtailed in many instances. The liberation of Auschwitz was a great moment of human history. We should use that event as motivation for us to fight fascism no matter where it is located. Freedom and justice for all is an ideal that we should all live by.


This situation (of the foreclosure crisis in the black community) further proves that we have to find creative ways in building our wealth. Building our wealth and economic power has nothing to do with someone getting a high paying job and leaving poor black people behind. It is about us getting resources and using our resources to help the poorest members of the black community. Building generational wealth is just plain old common sense. We want our future generations of black people to have not only economic wealth, but political power too. We have a long way to go, but we have to start somewhere. We have seen a growing economic inequality and a stagnation of wages nationally. We have to work together as black people and never believe that the private banks are totally infallible. As Mike Whitney points out, in Counterpunch, “More than 84 percent of the sub-prime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions. It was private-label subprime mortgages that triggered the panic in the secondary market that crashed the financial system.” We have to address not only economic issues, but we have to combat racism & discrimination. Also, we know about the double standards. Wall Street criminality has been rewarded with bailouts, massive subsidies, and record profits. Many homeowners, who have their homes foreclosured, didn’t even receive a temporary moratorium or a bailout. The Bank of America and other corporate entities have had to paid settlements for violations of the law (in dealing with its mortgage lending practices). There are two conflicting accounts about the housing situation from Jimmy McMillan and the landlord. Everyone knows that the rent in NYC (on average) is very high as compared to other locations in America. $872 per month is a low amount of money to pay for rent as compared to other apartments in NYC. Gentrification has definitely negatively affected the poor in many ways. I have doubts on whether his lawsuit will be successful. If he is forced to be evicted, then it should not be the end of the world for him. He has massive popularity. He can organize a fundraiser, work with independent organizations, and do a lot of creative actions in making a living. Tons of humans are creative. Many people respect him and his charisma. The most important thing is for the truth to be known regardless of what the truth is as it pertains to this situation.


You will notice how many Afro-Caribbeans have had a huge role in the black liberation struggle too. Marcus Garvey was of Caribbean heritage. Malcolm X's mother was of Caribbean heritage. We can't learn about Malcolm X fully without learning about Marcus Garvey (Malcolm X's OAAU program is all pro-black pan Africanism. The OAAU was invented in 1964). Kwame Ture was born in the Caribbean. I have some Caribbean heritage too on my mother's side of my family. Garvey's words certainly allowed many black people to never be ashamed of their blackness and to study real black African culture as well. His UNIA movement was widespread and extremely popular in our community. Martin Delaney and others during the 19th century believed in the same pan-Africanist ideology as well. One of Garvey's greatest contributions was his promotion of pan-African unity including his promotion of strong black consciousness. The fact that we are one black people irrespective of which country we live is a truism that we all embrace. Nas is right that people have to stop being scared and publicly condemn any form of police abuse. Apathy never solves anything. We have to not only work in our communities. We have to follow the principles of legitimate social activism, courage, and a love of justice. Historically, many athletes, musicians, and authors took a stand on many real issues from war to other domestic issues. That spirit of revolutionary activism should exist not only in the present, but in the future too. I agree with Sister Gabrielle Union that she has the right to speak up about these issues. Our voices are strong and we will express them regardless. Also, she is right that institutional racism is a serious problem in the country. We have to confront not only police brutality, but economic inequality, poverty, housing problems, and other problems if we want to be truly liberated as a people.




Many Westerners have arrogance. This arrogance (which is a wrongheaded form of thinking) has caused many to have a monolithic view not only of Iran, but of the Middle East in general. Iranians are heavily made up of very intelligent, strong, and resourceful human beings. It is obvious that a military strike against Iran during this time will only exacerbate the problems which exist in the Middle East. A lot of these problems ironically have started during the aftermath of WWI, the nefarious Sykes-Picot Agreement, and the imperialist exploitation of the resources including the economies of the Middle East. We have to understand the social dynamics of the world without embracing a rash, hysterical mentality. We will continue to be anti-imperialist and pro-justice. At the end of the day, the life of an Iranian is just as valuable and sacrosanct as the life of an American. First, I am glad that Charles Blow’s son is alive. His son could have been murdered if his son used any movements. Charles Blow’s son never deserved to be pointed a gun at. He was not threatening the officer, he was obeying all of the officers’ commands, and he was unarmed. Unfortunately, these events occur all of the time in the black community. Even many middle class and upper class black Americans have suffered similar treatment before. Many black people are falsely viewed guilty until they are proven innocent. Many people just worship the police. The police are not gods and they are not infallible. There should definitely be an independent investigation to delve into the facts of this incident. Racial profiling and police terrorism are blatantly evils that must be opposed. Having a gun pulled on the young man was totally uncalled for and wrong. The cop who did this should experience accountability. Also, if you research the names like Imani, Tanisha, Adah, Jamila, etc. which some African Americans have, many of them have African origins. Since the 1960's, more and more African Americans are naming their children in a more Africanized fashion as a psychological means for them reject white supremacist conventions and ideologies.



This situation is a paradox. TRNN has done an excellent job in showing the truth about Chris Kyle. Now, people have a clearer picture of the life of Iraqi War veteran Chris Kyle. The movie shows Chris Kyle shooting and killing a young child with a bomb. This is barbarism. The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee has called on the makers and actors of the film to condemn the threats made against Muslims and Arabic people. The journalist and Lebanese American Rania Khalek is doing a great job in confronting the hate tweets and death threat made against Muslims and Arabic people too. Chris Kyle wrote in his book that he wished that he killed more people. He called Iraqis savages. Kyle claimed to have fought with former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Ventura filed and won a defamation suit against him. The Kyle family falsely claimed that they've donated 100 percent of the proceeds from his book American Sniper to wounded veterans and veterans who have PTSD. In fact, they've only donated 2 percent. That fact was revealed by the Conservative National Review. Chris Kyle has falsely claimed to have climbed to the top of the New Orleans Superdome during Hurricane Katrina and sniped to death 30 African-American looters. There's no record of this. Chris Kyle has falsely claimed to have shot carjackers, who he referred to as thugs, with bullets tipped with frog poison. He claimed to possess one thousand bullets tipped with frog poison. There's no record of this.  Chris Kyle was a nihilistic psychopath. Sniper whitewashes the atrocities committed by the U.S. troops in Iraq and Fallujah. Two hundred people were forced to evacuate, 6,000 were killed, and the local population is now beset with a wave of birth defects and cancers. This isn't seen either. Even Pat Tillman was a veterans and he realized the bogus nature of the war on terror. He became anti-war and wanted to do something about it. He was killed in a fratricide and his death was covered up by the Pentagon. The oligarchy praises the military soldiers, but the military industrial complex mistreats them and exploits them in horrendous ways. Many U.S. troops have committed suicides over the pain that they have experienced via the war on terror. The movie Sniper definitely has the overt Arabic/Muslim stereotypes where Arabic people are called "savages" throughout the movie. The Iraq War was a display of Western neocolonialism and imperialism. After the Iraq War, we have seen an upsurge of tensions between the Sunnis, the Kurds, and the Shia. The movie Sniper is definitely pro neo-conservative irrespective if Clint Eastwood says that he is anti-war. Certainly, it is a total tragedy when many troops suffer PTSD. It is total tragedy when Iraqis and Americans have died as a product of that unjust Iraq War. Resources, which should have been used to help them or the troops, have been cut in many instances (on the altar of austerity). So, the Iraq War was unjust and many troops have suffered greatly as a product of it emotionally and psychologically (just like the Vietnam War had emotionally damaged troops. This was explained by late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr). "Sniper" sugarcoats the vicious nature of the Iraq War (and it ignores the neo-cons' role in that war). We have to learn about the truth about the brutality of war (as a revolutionary is inherently anti-imperialist) if we want true peace.


By Timothy