Robin Gibb (1949-2012)

New York Mining Disaster 1941, ein Lied der Bee Gees, in welchem es eigentlich um ein anderes Bergbauunglück geht, bei welchem 144 Menschen unzureichenden Sicherheitsmassnahmen und der Profitmaximierung zum Opfer fielen

Vidal Sassoon, Friseur und militanter Antifaschist (1928-2012)

Gestern starb im alter von 84 Jahren der weltbekannte Friseur Vidal Sassoon, der nicht nur wusste, dass mensch im Friseurhandwerk lediglich Kamm und Schere braucht, um eine ansehnliche Frisur zu produzieren sondern dass ein Paar Fäuste eine adäquate Reaktion auf faschistische und antisemitische Umtriebe sind: 1947 schloss sich Sassoon der antifaschistischen, von jüdischen ArmeeveteranInnen begründeten 43 Group an, welche effektiv die sich wieder aus ihren Löchern wagenden britischen Faschos zurückschlug, zu Morris Beckmans 1992 (in deutscher Übersetzung 1995 beim Harald Kater Verlag) publiziertem Buch The 43 Group: Antifaschistischer Kampf in Grossbritannien 1946-1950 verfasste Sassoon ein kurzes Vorwort, aus einem Interview mit Sassoon:

“It was a rather strange situation because the war was over. Before the war there was quite a strong fascist party led by Oswald Mosley and he and his cohorts were put in detention (jail) during the war by Churchill. After the war they came out and immediately started up again with their anti-Semitism and running through the streets and having meetings, it was quite ridiculous. Many truly brave Jewish ex-servicemen started the “43 Group” because there were 43 people at the first meeting they had. These were tough men who had been through the war. Of course volunteers were needed, I was 16 or 17 at the time, most of my friends joined the 43 Group and there were quite a few hundred of us. Truly the fascists were smashed in the streets and yes if you were scared at times because it was scary. But after we saw the pictures that came out and the whole story of the Holocaust, there was actually no way we could allow fascists to run through the streets. I was arrested one night and put in jail, the following day the judge told me ‘to be a good boy’ and let me go. That was our life in those days, we decided that we were absolutely not going to allow what happened pre-war when Jews were just beat up indiscriminately in the streets. It worked beautifully because of mainly the tough Jewish characters that were in the British armed forces during the war, they were the people that did it. But also there were quite a few gentiles who had seen the camps, the horror of Europe and fought with us.”

Gerry Foley (1939-2012)

Am Sonnabend starb, wie Cedar Lounge Revolution und Socialist Democracy (nachfolgend dokumentiert) melden, der revolutionäre Marxist Gerry Foley:

Correspondence – Death of Gerry Foley

21 April 2012

Dear Comrades,

I just learned from Gerry Foley’s friend in Mexico that Gerry died suddenly today in Mexico. Gerry called me a few days ago to say that he was happily moving from his rented home in Mérida to a happy home in San Cristobol de Las Cases, in the mountains of Chiapas.

Just a few moments ago Gerry was walking into his house. He fell down and died almost immediately with no symptoms beforehand other than a mild cough and some shortness of breath, according to his close friend Pete.

Gerry was a founding member of Socialist Action, a fulltime revolutionary for our party for some 20-plus years. Before that he was a full-timer for The Fourth International, magazine International Viewpoint. And before that a full-timer for the SWP since his twenties. Gerry was 72 or 73 years old and perhaps our most dedicated, talented and gifted revolutionary.

Those of us who knew him will never forget his generous spirit, brilliance of exposition, depth of analysis, love of life in all its diversity and enduring friendship.

Gerry not only read in 80 languages but was fluent in more than a dozen. More amazing, his uncommon language facility was matched by a truly unbelievable understanding of the history and culture of each language that he mastered.

He was perhaps the world’s most informed person on Irish history. Tears often came to his eyes when the subject came up during his innumerable talks on virtually any subject he was assigned to. Lessons from the Irish struggle for self-determination, the longest in world history, more than 700 years and still uncompleted, found their way into so many of Gerry’s talks and writing. No comrade that I ever met or knew of could match Gerry’s deep understanding of the national question.

Comrades who knew Gerry will immediately know that this is no exaggeration. He was a champion of all oppressed peoples and despised their oppressors with great passion.

Gerry’s contribution to the revolutionary socialist movement will endure through the generations. His works have been published across the world. His spirit and dedication lives in our
party and comrades.

Gerry remained an honorary member of our Political Committee to the end, finding the time once in a while to join our deliberations and take an occasional assignment. He hoped to attend our August National Convention.

I write today just a few minutes after Gerry’s untimely death out of duty to all his many friends and comrades and to express my great sorrow at his loss. In the days ahead I hope to hear from comrades who knew Gerry well and who can take a few moments to record some of the precious experiences that highlighted his mighty contribution to the socialist cause and the love and interests he shared so generously with so many of us.

The coming issue of our newspaper will honour Gerry’s contributions to our common struggle for the liberation of all humankind. We want it to be a sterling call for others to follow in his footsteps.

With great sadness and tears for our magnificent friend and comrade. He taught us all so much and enriched our very being.

Comradely,

Jeff Mackler

Aminul Islam (1971-2012)

Aminul Islam, Aktivist des Bangladesh Centre for Workers’ Solidarity (BCWS) und der Gewerkschaft Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), verschwand am 4. April und wurde am 6. April mit Folterwunden tot aufgefunden: nur zwei Wochen nachdem nachdem BCWS und BGIWF nach langjährigem Kampf gegenüber dem US-amerikanischen Textilkonzern Phillips-Van Heusen die Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedingungen durchgesetzt hatten. Aminul Islam war schon 2010 vom Inlandsgeheimdienst festgenommen und gefoltert worden und hatte in der letzten Zeit wiederholt geäussert, dass er um sein Leben fürchte.

Randy “Prole Cat” Lowens (1960-2012)

In Erinnerung an den anarchistischen Revolutionär Don Hamilton Jennings, besser bekannt unter seinen Pseudonym Randy “Prole Cat” Lowens, der am 8. März im Alter von nur 51 Jahren viel zu früh starb, Anarkismo.net berichtet:

“We will always remember him as a deeply human person with a great sense of humour, calm and reflective, though passionate in his refusal to accept the injustices of this world. He will be missed by everyone who knew him. We take this opportunity to extend our solidarity and sympathy to his family and friends.

…

Don was a former Workers Solidarity Alliance member, a founding member of Atlanta’s Capital Terminus Collective and a supporter of Common Struggle Libertarian Communist Federation.

…

Randy was reared in the north Georgia hills where he worked as welder, machinist and air conditioning repairman. Enraged by the abuses of employers, he began writing for leftist journals. He resided in eastern Kentucky, home schooled his daughter, cooked gourmet meals and composed fiction informed by all these experiences.

Randy received the Tacenda Literary Award for the Best Short Story of 2007, illuminating social injustice. His writing has been featured in JMWW (literary fiction); Fifth Estate (a counter cultural/anarchist journal); Clockwise Cat, Wanderings and Blue Collar Review (poetry); Cherry Bleeds (transgressive fiction); Thieves Jargon (drug lit); Pemmican (working class fiction); Unlikely Stories 2.0 (an insider’s look at The Left); Dogmatica (Small Town Taboos Flagrantly Flouted); Word Riot and elsewhere. Most recently excerpts from a novel-in-progress appeared on Fried Chicken and Coffee and Dew on the Kudzu.”

Ernesto Kroch (1917-2012)

Nur eine Woche nach Jakob Moneta starb mit Ernesto Kroch am 11. März ein weiterer alter Revolutionär seiner Generation: der deutsch-jüdisch-uruguyanische Kommunist Kroch hatte sich als Jugendlicher im damaligen Breslau der Kommunistischen Jugend-Opposition, dem Jugendverband der KPO angeschlossen und war nachdem seine Gruppe von der Gestapo entdeckt worden war 1936/37 im KZ Lichtenberg inhaftiert. Kroch gelang es nach seiner Entlassung aus dem KZ nach Uruguay auszureisen, wo er sich zeitweise der KP anschloss und vor allem in der Gewerkschafts- und Stadtteilarbeit aktiv war, während des Militärregimes 1973-85 arbeitete er im Untergrund und musste 1981 in die BRD fliehen.

Ergänzungen, 15.03. 2012:

- Gert Eisenbürger: Adiós, mein Freund
- Uruguay muss sein Potential nutzen – nicht zerstören: Interview mit Ernesto Kroch zur Energie- und Wirtschaftspolitik der Frente-Amplio-Regierung (Oktober 2011)

¡Ernesto, presente!

mehr Informationen zu dem Film hier

Jakob Moneta (1914-2012)

Am 3. März starb im Alter von 97 Jahren Jakob Moneta, einer der letzten Überlebenden einer Generation von Revolutionären, ein Genosse, der sein ganzes Leben lang gegen Unterdrückung und für die Emanzipation der Menschheit kämpfte, nachfolgend der Film Jakob Moneta: Jude-Gewerkschafter-Sozialist (Untertitel in Esperanto):

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4.

5.

6.

Vermischtes

1.) Die grosse Cesária Évora ist tot

2.) Lesenswertes zu Krise und Klassenkampf: die aktuelle Wildcat und die aktuelle Arbeiterpolitik

3.) Mehr zur Krise: “The result of a long and general crisis is often to clarify the map of the world” von François Sabado auf International Viewpoint

4.) einige neue Texte auf ESSF:

- Pakistan Afghanistan Progressive parties conference joint declaration
- Post Bahadur Basnet: The radicals in the Maoists (zur faktischen Spaltung der UCPN(M) in Nepal)
- Ursula Hews/Ed Lewis: The Crisis and the Left – Crisis as Capitalist Opportunity

5.) einiges Neues von Exit!

- Claus Peter Ortlieb: Lohndumping, Hightech und Krise
- Anselm Jappe: Ist das Geld obsolet geworden?
- Robert Kurz: Kapitalismus wiederholt sich nicht

6.) Vermischtes von Bob from Brockley

7.) auf The Commune: workers’ control in the health-care system von Mike Levine

8.) auf LibCom: Militant anti-fascism and the Occupy movement

9.) Die unendliche Geschichte, Teil 2871

10.) 100 Jahre Fantômas:

Zum Tode eines stalino-nationalistischen Gottkönigs

No Tears for Kim Jong Il!

Berni Kelb († 05.12. 2011)

Am 5. Dezember starb in Bremen Berni Kelb (Bani Barfoot), laut taz “barfüßiger Prophet und gefallener kommunistischer Erzengel” sowie ”Anarcho-Kommunist und Querulant”, (hoch- und niederdeutscher) Schriftsteller und politischer Aktivist, den viele v.a. durch seine 1971 verfasste Betriebsfibel, eine Art Minihandbuch der revolutionären Betriebs- und Gewerkschaftsarbeit, kannten. Berni, möge die Erde dir leicht sein!

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (1954-2011)

Sócrates, brillianter Fussballer, politischer Aktivist, Arzt und Intellektueller … in Erinnerung an eine Zeit, wo der brasilianische Fussball noch schön anzusehen war und noch nicht von einer protestantischen Arbeitsethik verdorben wurde: ¡Sócrates presente!

Christa Wolf (1929-2011)

in tiefer Trauer um eine Sozialistin und Feministin, um eine Autorin, deren literarische Werke (Kassandra, Medea: Stimmen, Kein Ort. Nirgends, etc.) für mich sehr wichtig waren und sind:

Vermischtes

1.) Querstellen!

2.) Zum Nazi-Terror drei lesenswerte Artikel von Kutlu Yurtseven, Andreas Speit und von Jörn Schulz in der Jungle World

3.) Zwei neue Artikel auf Kalima zur Repression gegen sufis in Iran und Pakistan und zu den Protesten in Saudi-Arabien

4.) Eine Reihe von Artikeln auf ESSF zur Entscheidung von Oxford University Press, den Essay Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations von A.K. Ramanujan nach Protesten hindu-nationalistischer Organisationen nicht zu publizieren

5.) Seit vier Tagen streiken die EisenbahnerInnen in Bulgarien gegen Stellenabbau und Lohnkürzungen (Sofia Echo)

6.) Weihnachtsbaumdiebstahl in Oldenburg (regentied)

7.) Die grosse katalanische Sopranistin Montserrat Figueras starb am 23. November im Alter von 69 Jahren:

Georg Kreisler (1922-2011)

Er war einer der grössten seines Faches und wird nie vergessen werden:

Schützen wir die Polizei

Meine Freiheit Deine Freihei

Kapitalistenlied

Wien ohne Wiener

Wir sind alle Terroristen

Der General

My Psychoanalyst Is An Idiot

Der Bluntschli

Telefonbuchpolka

Das gibt es nur bei uns in Gelsenkirchen

Spielen wir Unfall im Kernkraftreaktor

Der Zweck der Kirche

Franz Josef Degenhardt (1931-2011)

Er wird fehlen: