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Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos

Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.

After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.

There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.

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The Country of the Week is Laos! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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1.5K comments

  • Thoughts on the Venezuelan Communist Party's position on the Guyana situation?

    • They are right

      Diplomacy over escalation, like Chavez did in 2004

    • Could you summarize?

      • Not going to lie to you I was hoping by posting this here and asking other people would read it and boil it down for me so my brain could encapsulate. I'm not a good reader.

        • ok so the basic of each point is this

          1. the border issue should be negotiated diplomaticaly between both for the greater good of both peoples, without the influence of foreign actors or the bourgeoisie of both nations
          2. point out that the land grab the brits did was bad, but the way both goverments have took to resolve the conflict (escalation, threats, military, etc.) influeced by oil companies like exxon is the wrong way to resolve it, plus oil companies share the blame of the current situation
          3. the peoples of venezuela and guyana should condemn this accions that only help Capital and the national bourgeoisie, also no US bases
          4. Maduro is trying to gain support after ignoring the demands of venezuelan workers and siding with the local capitalists the old way of using nationalism to gain popular support, and such policies only weaken venezuela.
          5. the PCV wont support a goverment that attacks the labor, human, social and political rights of the venezuelan people.
          6. the PCV asks people to really think about the referendum, and that esequibo under Maduro would just be giving over to the oil companies to exploit just like the consession over Arco Minero del Orinoco and the special economic zones
          7. the PCV denounces the ways the Venezuelan goverment has use to force people to participate in the referendum, like the threat of firing, cut social services, and the use of harassment and persecussion that the public administration has used. Voting is a free and voluntary right of venezuelans and should be respected.
          8. The same people that speak of the defence of the nation against Exxon, are the same that sign a secret agreement with the EUA to let in international oil and gas companies into the country. the workers should fight to defent their independence from foreign capital

          The PCV will do everyting in its power to unite the working class and the other oppresed sectors of Venezuela and Guyana with to goal to make a joint strategy for the good of both peoples and fight against the influence of monopolies and the local bourgeoisie

          i thought it was pretty good

        • The one criticism I have of every communist party is the amount of useless boilerplate in their press releases making my eyes glaze over.

          Intro - we are communist MLs etc etc please read our statement

          1. We support the claim, especially as it stands against oligarchic business interests in Guyana
          2. The claim is just, first the British empire and now the American empire through ExxonMobil are the cause of the conflict
          3. We demand no US military installations in the region, and call on the people on both sides to resist this
          4. Maduro is exploiting this issue just like the bourgeoisie, establishing the belief that this is the most critical issue facing Venezuela to inflame emotions
          5. Criticizing Maduro for banning the communists, freezing wages, ending free press, and attacking workers rights, education, and health
          6. Calls on the people to think in terms of class and say Maduro is being supported now by major multinationals, that he’s using patriotism to justify his government, they highlight resource extraction being enabled by special economic zones for multinational corps
          7. Criticism of the measures used to hold the referendum saying it makes it a false vote that was not democratic
          8. A claim that secret agreements have been made with US multinationals to assure them of continued access to the oil in Esquibo that is against the interests of the people in Venezuela and Esquibo

        • Love this tactic, i myself use it often.

1512 comments