Geomancer

As anti-government protests resume in Kenya watch Communist Party of Kenya National Vice Chairperson @BookerBiro argue that Kenya only has 'two tribes' the 'haves and have-nots' and that the 'war we have in our country is a class war'. Booker also blasts President William Ruto for his decision to cut subsidies to Kenyans living in poverty as well as the subservience of the bourgeois Kenyan political class to international capitalist institutions like the IMF and The World Bank. Booker argues that the recent protests in Kenya have been motivated by opposition to the 'rogue' IMF and The World Bank while proposed bipartisan talks will do nothing to help the plight of ordinary Kenyans. He also argues that Kenya is still haunted by neocolonial structures. Although the British white settlers left the country many years ago, they have been replaced by 'a Black oppressor'. Multiple protests have broken out in Kenya about the ongoing cost of living crisis in the country since March. Protesters have been furious at the ending of subsidies and rising taxes imposed by President Ruto's government. For example, Ruto has removed fuel subsidies while doubling fuel levies and increasing taxes on basic commodities. Inflation has rapidly increased and the country is at risk of defaulting on its loans. Ruto introduced this brutal austerity regime through the Finance Act which was backed by the US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Police have fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters and according to Amnesty International, at least 30 protesters have been killed by the police since the protests began.

On this day in 1909, the iconic Ecuadorian communist, Indigenous leader, and feminist icon, Tránsito Amaguaña, was born. Amaguaña's early life was rooted in the struggles of Indigenous workers on a ranch in the Ecuadorian countryside. In an era when peasants and workers were effectively bound to landowners as if they were slaves, she began working at just seven years old. At 14, she married an older man and became a mother at 15, eventually having four children with her alcoholic and abusive husband. Breaking norms of the time, she divorced him after the birth of her fourth child, a revolutionary decision for an Indigenous woman. Becoming active in the Ecuadorian Socialist Party, Amaguaña emerged as a leader in the Indigenous movement against the powerful agrarian elite. Her participation included leadership in 26 Indigenous marches known as the "marches of Quito." She played a significant role in the historic 1931 Olmedo strike, the first strike by Indigenous people in Ecuador's history. During this period, her home was destroyed, forcing her to live in hiding for 15 years due to the threat of political persecution. In 1944, she contributed to the founding of the Ecuadorian Indian Federation, and from 1946 onwards, she advocated for establishing bilingual Spanish-Quechua schools for rural children. 1961, she joined the Communist Party of Ecuador and traveled to Cuba and the USSR. Upon her return, she was unjustly accused of arms trafficking and imprisoned for four months. Amaguaña continued her activism into her old age and passed away at 99, leaving a legacy of unwavering dedication to the rights and empowerment of Indigenous people and the working class.

Forty-seven years ago today, Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, died at 82. In 1949, after 28 years of revolutionary struggle, Mao founded the People's Republic of China, bringing the Chinese Communist Party to power in an extraordinary moment in Chinese, 20th-century, and revolutionary history. Mao was born on December 26, 1893, in Hunan Province to a peasant family and later became a teacher. He was strongly influenced by the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which overthrew the emperor, and by the May Fourth Movement, which grew out of protests against the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Mao moved to Beijing, where he became a library assistant at Peking University. Already influenced by anti-imperialism and Chinese nationalism, he converted to Marxism during this period. Mao attended the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921. Mao was elected to the party committee in 1923 and moved to Shanghai. In 1927 forces allied to the Chinese nationalist KMT massacred communists in the Shanghai massacre followed by other attacks which eventually led to a civil war between communists and nationalists. By this stage the Chinese Civil War between the communists and the KMT had begun. Mao mobilized peasants and was instrumental in organizing the 1934-35 Long March from Jiangxi to Shanghai to evade KMT forces. He also became Chairman of the Politburo, supported by Joseph Stalin. During the Second World War, the communists and the KMT formed a temporary alliance to fight the Japanese. However, the civil war eventually resumed, leading to a communist victory on October 1, 1949, when Mao declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Mao sent Chinese troops to fight in the Korean War, which helped push back imperialist forces out of North Korea. He also launched land reform campaigns that significantly reduced economic inequality. Approximately 30–40% of arable land was redistributed to 300 million peasants. Traditionally, Chinese women had been treated as second-class citizens, but they were also granted land in the largest expropriation in history. Mao's Great Leap Forward led to the construction of new factories, hospitals, medical schools, and agricultural People's Communes. Mao and others were concerned that a revisionist elite led by Deng Xiaoping had emerged within the party, seeking to re-establish capitalism in China. In 1966, he launched the Cultural Revolution to combat this capitalist-bourgeois ideology. Mao also distinctly distanced himself from the revisionist direction the Soviet Union took following the death of Stalin. Mao qualitatively developed Marxism by adapting Marxism-Leninism to the unique conditions of China and contributing to Marxist-Leninist ideology. He emphasized that the revolution under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat must continue, particularly within the party, by understanding the internal contradictions. By the time of Mao's death in 1976, his policies had significantly improved the lives of the Chinese people. In 1965, China had 200,000 doctors, and life expectancy increased from 35 in 1949 to 63 in 1975. In 1949, only 20% of the population could read, compared to 65.5% by the 1970s.