#constituent assembly

Protests that started over a hike in public transport fares boiled into massive marches. The government responded with heavy repression. At least 18 people have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and over 7,000 arrested.

Over one million people are marching in the streets of the Chilean capital, responding to the convocation of students and labor unions who organized on social media “The Largest March in Chile” on Friday afternoon, with rallies paralyzing major cities.

The march started between 5-6 p.m., local time, from the Plaza Italia, demanding among others the government to send back the Armed Forces to their military base, and to convoke a Constituent Assembly in order to outline a new Constitution.

New research from experts in history, computer science and cognitive science shines fresh light on the French Revolution, showing how rhetorical and institutional innovations won acceptance for the ideas that built the French republic's foundation and inspired future democracies.     

The researchers, including an Indiana University professor, doctoral student and undergraduate, used data-mining techniques to comb through transcripts of 40,000 speeches from the two-year tenure of the National Constituent Assembly, the first parliament of the revolution.

Adopting analytical tools to track word-use patterns, they found the French Revolution's principles, ideals and goals emerged and evolved in the assembly's speeches and debates. They also found that some of the most influential work took place behind the scenes in committees.

April 25, 1974: Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, the opening of an enormous class battle that was profoundly influenced by the anti-colonial liberation struggles in Africa.

Sam Marcy, writing in 1975:

“A Communist takeover of Portugal,” said the New York Times on February 17, “might encourage a similar trend in Italy and France, create problems in Greece and Turkey, affect the succession in Spain and Yugoslavia and send tremors throughout Western Europe.” The Soviet Union is then warned that “détente will be the first casualty.”

In the face of brutal frankness and open threats, can there be any doubt that the imperialist powers are preparing the ground for another Chile on the Iberian Peninsula? Do not the working class parties have the right – in fact the sacred duty – to prepare the mass of the people in advance for precisely this eventuality in the kind of manner which would put an end not merely to fascist threats, but to the ruling class and the system of exploitation upon which it rests?

The way Lenin and Trotsky prepared for the Constituent Assembly in 1917 offers an exceptionally instructive lesson. While utilizing all the legal and electoral opportunities offered, the Bolsheviks, knowing full well the counter-revolutionary nature of the bourgeoisie, armed the masses ideologically, politically, and physically for the insurrection. It was thus that they put an end to bourgeois rule and transferred the real power into the hands of the workers and peasants.

By LUCAS KOERNER

July 31, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The U.S. government slapped sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro one day after the South American country saw record turnout in National Constituent Assembly (ANC) elections amid deadly opposition violence.

On Monday, the US Treasury Department labeled the elected Venezuelan leader a “dictator” and froze his alleged assets in the United States. The measure was legally authorized under Executive Order 13692, which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2015 and brands Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security.

For his part, Maduro fired back at the White House, calling the move an “expression of impotence [and] desperation”.

“They [the US] see Latin America as a lapdog that wags its tail and nods yes. It’s an irate reaction because the Venezuelan people and its president disobeyed [the US’] order to suspend the National Constituent Assembly,” he declared.

“I don’t obey imperial orders and moreover [I am] against US imperialism,” the head of state continued.

The sanctions come on the heels of ANC elections that saw 8,089,432 Venezuelans turn out to vote, a figure that surpasses the 7,587,579 votes Maduro received in his narrow 2013 election victory.

In the lead-up to the elections, Washington sanctioned 13 top Venezuelan officials and threatened “strong and swift economic actions” if the initiative to redraft Venezuela’s constitution went ahead.

Sunday’s vote was rocked by deadly anti-government violence aimed at preventing the election from taking place.

On the eve of the vote, an ANC candidate for the communes sector was assassinated in Bolivar state. Children’s rights activist and community organizer Felix Pineda Marcano (39) was gunned down in his home in Ciudad Bolivar on Saturday evening. Authorities are actively investigating the murder, which they believe could be politically motivated.

Trump targets Venezuela for invasion

By Chris Fry 

Failing to shake the resolve of the Korean people when he proposed war, even nuclear war, on that small country, Donald Trump has now targeted Venezuela. “We have many options for Venezuela and by the way, I am not going to rule out a military option,” he said on Aug. 11. 

The Venezuelan government’s response to Trump’s threats was both swift and decisive.