NEWS ON CONGO 005: 2/2 CIA "Marxists" hail "rebels" [Posted: 29.08.98] INTRO COMMENT (the same also in NEWS 004) by Rolf Martens, Malmoe, Sweden: For us adherents in the world today of the ideology of Marx, Lenin and Mao Zedong, it's important to support the just defence struggle of the DR Congo against the ongoing aggression, which is the result of a plot by international imperialism, US impe- rialism in particular. This is in the interest of all peoples. I'm striving to contribute some such support, as a member of the DR Congo Committee in Sweden, a united-front organization which is independent of political parties and which aims to support the national independence and the territorial integrity of the DR Congo and its economic and industrial development. As is shown by two postings to newsgroups today by a representa- tive of the so-called "MLPD" in Germany, certain people who're posing as "Marxists" on the contrary precisely are *combating* this, and are *supporting that flagrant aggression*. These postings thus are very instructive, in several ways. And therfore they're reproduced in "NEWS 004" and "005", with some brief comments by me in brackets [ ]. In fact it's known since long, to some of the actual Marxists at least, that the "MLPD" was a fraud from its very beginning, created by forces of reaction in the early 1980s in order to try to fool the real leftists in Germany, lead them on to a wrong track and suppress their genuine strivings. And there are many organizations of the same type, in many countries. In these two postings, the "MLPD" exposes its true character more clearly than ever before. And also, the method by the re- actionaries - which is a quite important one to them - of creating phony"Marxist" parties which in reality are helping imperialism, is demonstrated very clearly. This at least to everybody who can already see that what's going on in the DR Congo *is* an aggression by proxies of im- perialism and is by no means essentially a "rebellion", even less so a "justified" such - which is what the "MLPD" maintains. To those who do not yet see this and perhaps may think that a cause which is being supported by some people who're calling themselves "Marxists" is "probably a just cause", it's necessary to point out: That group in Germany, the "MLPD", since long *is* known, because of its standpoints on some other matters, to be precisely a muppet of imperialism. So you should *not* believe what it says. Perhaps the above warning is not all that necessary, since all must really see that fact which meets the eye at once: This "very revolutionary" group is saying *precisely the same as are all the big bourgeois massmedia in the world* concerning the situation in the DR Congo. Such a group, thus, is nothing else than a very docile *muppet of the CIA*. And one which is so stupid, or so fanatical, that it further exposes its masters too, and once more confirms their great interest in supporting the present aggression. To all who oppose that aggression, I warmly recommend reading those two revealing postings by the "MLPD". Here's the second: [QUOTE:] From: "Peter Weispfenning" Newsgroups: soc.culture.african,soc.culture.zimbabwe Subject: MLPD - Congo Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1998 01:13:44 +0200 Organization: Primus Online GmbH Lines: 166 Declaration of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) Hands off the Congo! The rebellion in the Congo against Kabila's military dictatorship is justified! Hardly more that one year after the overthrow of the dictator Mo- butu, a rebel army is once again fighting against the government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has the support of broad parts of the people's masses and, until last weekend, was advancing to the capital city of Kinshasa. [COMMENT: In its first posting - see NEWS 004 - this CIA "Marxist" muppet group, the "MLPD", had to admit openly that the people precisely is *opposing* that aggression which they das- tardly are supporting. - RM] In the meantime, troops from Angola and Zimbabwe have marched in and are fighting against the rebels on the side of the military forces of the reactionary Kabila government. Uganda and Ruanda, on the other hand, declared their support of the rebels. Troops from the USA, Belgium and France are being concentrated in Braz- zaville and vicinity and, under a pretext, can be brought into immediate action for imperialist intervention. [COMMENT: And if so, *on whose side*? Everybody can see who is *massively opposed* by *all* the reactionary mass media, namely, president Kabila and the DR Congo, and who is *massively suppor- ted* by them - namely, "your" miserable crowd. - RM] This situation demands the solidarity of the workers and other working people of all countries for the liberation struggle of the people of the Congo once again! The rebellion of the people of the Congo is justified. They do not want to be robbed of the fruits of their self-sacrificing struggle to overthrow the Mobu- tu dictatorship. The MLPD declares its solidarity with the justified rebellion and combines it with the strengthening of the new opposition in Germany: internationalism is the order of the day! [COMMENT: So it is! This means: Smashing the aggression and its supporters, such as you! - RM] The struggle between two directions In Mai 1997, after only 7 months of fighting, the people of the Congo overthrew the fascist Mobuto regime that had been ruling for 30 years. This victory was possible because the masses united in spite of dif- fering nationalities and tribal boundaries. It was not only a defeat for Mobutu, but for all western imperialists, as well as the Chinese imperialists, Cuba and Libya, who supported Mobutu. [COMMENT: As already pointed out, you sometimes are saying some correct things too. But this is camouflage! - RM] This struggle encouraged the democratic mass movements in other countries of Africa, as well as the Indonesian people in their struggle against the Suharto dictatorship. This victory, the first for a long time in a justified people's war, showed the entire world how unstable imperialist rule is and that it has no perspective at all. [COMMENT: Precisely. That's why *you'll* be beaten too. - RM] Why then is a new rebellion against the Kabila government taking place? The antifascist-democratic revolution against Mobutu did not yet signify a fundamental change in the political and econo- mic relations of power. A struggle between two directions deve- loped: Either rigorously conducting the antifascist-democratic revolution and transforming it into a new democratic revolution with a socialist perspective or setting up a reactionary milita- ry government in connection with a renewed subordination to the imperialist powers. [COMMENT: Hardly any government was vilified as much by the main international mass media, since May 1997, as that of the DR Congo. This indicates it did *not* subordinate itself to the imperialist powers, quite on the contrary. - RM] The revolutionary direction of national and social liberation was represented mainly by the CPL (Congress of the progressive forces for liberation), whose representative Roger Shambuyi Ka- lala was also executive secretary within the AFDL and respon- sible for mass mobilization and mass education. For many years, the MLPD organized solidarity with the struggle against the Mobutu regime in close cooperation with the CPL. In order to support the revolutionary way of liberation, the MLPD conducted in the fall of 1997 a successful and rousing donation campaign among the masses in Germany in support of the CPL's newspaper "Nyota ya Afrika" (Star of Africa). Almost 100,000 German marks were collected. In the meantime, the struggle between the two opposing direc- tions in the Congo intensified. Whereas the CPL rigorously went the direction of mobilizing, educating and organizing the people and fighting against corruption and tribal mentality, Kabila wanted to stifle the revolutionary development from above and subordinate the state apparatus to the Katanga bourgeoisie, from which he himself comes. The ban on parties which Kabila at first held in reserve was now also openly applied against the progres- sive forces, among them the CPL. So for example, the CPL ob- tained no possibilities to print its newspaper. Roger Shambuyi Kalala was arrested twice, each time in connec- tion with mass actions of the people which he was leading. In June 1998, Kabila removed all progressive forces from the AFDL leadership and the government and turned these positions over to members of the Katanga bourgeoisie and former Mobutu functiona- ries. [COMMENT: Your present writings show that the governemt of the DR Congo was *quite right* in taking action against these friends of yours. - RM] The contradiction between the two directions came to a head when, at the beginning of August, Kabila began with the racist persecution of the Tutsi ethnic group and all progressive forces and tried to win the army over to his side. [COMMENT: A lie. What took place in early August was that the Rwandan troops were requested to leave. They had shown tenden- cies towards supporting a plan to govern the DR Congo from abroad, from Rwanda. - RM] But he had made a mistake! The transformation of an originally anti-fascist government into a reactionary military dictatorship got a direct response in form of a justified rebellion. It be- came an armed mass struggle. That is an excellent situation be- cause it shows that the masses are searching for a genuine per- spective and that they will not settle for reactionary dictator- ships. Every "counteroffensive" that Kabila announced up till now was condemned to failure. Only the massive military intervention by Angola and Zimbabwe with tanks and bombers changed the relations of power in favor of Kabila. But in the long run, this will not do Kabila much good because he has lost the large part of his mass basis among his own people. [COMMENT: A lie again, as developments have already shown. - RM] A regime cannot endure on the basis of military force alone. The forces of armed rebellion encompass a wide scope of directions and, despite all differences, are united by democratic goals. They have united in the Congolese Association for Democracy (RCD) and have democratic structures and a collective leader- ship. The MLPD supports this united movement to overthrow the Kabila government and for democratic rights and freedoms. Anti-impe- rialist forces, especially Roger Shambuyi Kalala, have leading positions in it and embody the revolutionary direction of libe- ration. [COMMENT: "Red paint", "red paint" over the aggression! - RM] Down with Kabila's military dictatorship! The rebellion of the RCD is justified! Imperialists - hands off the Congo! The im- perialists are on the alert. The African continent is like a volcano, ready to erupt. The imperialist crisis management, which aims at racist division and pacification of the African peoples, does not work any more. But after various anti-fascist and anti-racist uprisings in the 1990's, for example in Ethio- pia, Eritrea or South Africa, we also see that this stage of the revolution does not suffice and can be destroyed if it is not transformed into a new democratic revolution and connected to the international struggle for liberation. A victory for the rebels in the Congo could introduce a new phase in this direction. That makes the situation so dangerous for the imperialists. At the same time, Chinese social imperia- lism has had a growing influence upon the Kabila government. Along with Libya and Cuba, China is taking on the same shameful role that it had 15 months earlier in defending the fascist Mo- butu regime, even after the western imperialists had already given him up. That is the background for the intervention of Angola and Zim- babwe. This "Chinese direction" of the suppression of the libe- ration struggle misuses the word "socialism" and reminds of the role of the former social imperialist Soviet Union. [COMMENT: Again, this criticism - in words - of present-day China is quite correct. Only, the DR Congo by no means is "a muppet of China". And the demagoguery of the "MLPD" does not make its vile support of the plot and the aggression against the DR Congo any better in the least. - RM] It once supported numerous African military dictatorships under the guise of "anti-imperialism" and ruthlessly subordinated li- beration movements to its own interests. The bourgeois media in Germany are spreading skepticism and prejudice. The rebellion supposedly merely demonstrates that Africans take every oppor- tunity for massacring each other because they are not capable of taking their affairs into their own hands. This is intended to serve as an excuse for the imperialists preparing a military in- tervention. The terror attack of the USA on August 20, 1998 on a factory for medical drugs in Sudan is a part of this plan. US president Clinton makes a claim on the right to violate the sovereignty of any country at any time and to attack with missiles and tactical atomic weapons. This is encountered by strong and justified pro- tests in the entire world, while this aggressive and inhumane course is supported by the parties in Bonn, CDU, FDP and SPD. [COMMENT: This is quite typical for this particular kind of CIA muppets: Some "very harsh attacks" on their masters, the US im- perialists, on such points where the truth is known anyway and it hardly matters if the muppets support it too. This is all camouflage, to cover up the important thing: The *lying* of the "MLPD" on a question where the truth is *not* so well known to everybody - that of the aggression against the DR Congo. - RM] In February 1998, foreign minister Kinkel already pointed out the special interests of German imperialism in Africa, "We have long range interests, economic ones, too. Not to forget the question of security. If you get into a helicopter and look at the world from above, you can observe the most conflicts in Af- rica." (from an interview with the German newspaper SZ). The MLPD condemns every imperialist intervention, whether by the western imperialists or by the Chinese social imperialists, Cuba or Libya or other followers of theirs in Africa. [COMMENT: And "only" SUPPORTS the ACTUAL intervention by proxies of imerialism, that WHICH IS TAKING PLACE RIGHT NOW, by Rwanda and Uganda. - RM] Africa's masses are taking their fates into their own hands. They are neither helpless nor do they need self-acclaimed "pro- tectors"! What they need is their own leadership. The MLPD sup- ports the Marxist-Leninists in the Congo, whose most important task is the building up of a Marxist-Leninist party of the mas- ses in connection with the liberation struggle of the people. The rebellion in the Congo is not an isolated national occur- rence. In numerous countries there is an upswing of liberation struggles and the development to the working class offensive. All of these are dealing with the same enemy, which opposes so- cial progress - the international monopolies and their imperia- list governments. The MLPD is organizing the solidarity with the rebellion in the Congo. In the political offensive in connection with the na- tional elections, the MLPD is going to make the solidarity with the justified rebellion against the military dictatorship of Kabila to an important focus of its election campaign on the streets within the next weeks. [COMMENT: Please note this, readers. They're making this "an im- portant focus". This indicates that the aggression against the DR Congo and the support of that aggression is a quite important matter for the entire imerialism at present. - RM] Solidarity with the revolutionary road to liberation! Secretariat of the Central Committee of the MLPD August 26, 1998 On its behalf: Stefan Engel Peter Borgwardt Party Chairman Secretary for Internationalism [END OF QUOTE] ________________________________________________________________ "NEWS ON CONGO" postings bring statements by the Congo National Association in Sweden and the DR Congo Committee in Sweden and also reproduce information and analysis from other sources. For French-readers we recommend the sites Agence Congolaise de Presse, ACP: (temporarily closed from 16.08.98 on) and Congonline (Belgium-based, brings info from various sources): . Contact addresses: Congo National Association Box 5343 SE - 102 45 Stockholm Sweden Tel: +46 - 8 - 471 96 26 (chairman) +46 - 8 - 84 57 18 (facility) Fax: +46 - 8 - 751 26 06 DR Congo Committee Box 17513 SE - 200 10 Malmoe Sweden Tel: +46 - 40 - 12 48 32 E-mail: congocomse@hotmail.com