Lithuanian patriots struggle for peace!

 

by Anthony Lee

Today we can observe very contradictory political processes taking place in Lithuania. Unfortunately Ukrainian flags fly there just like in many other, but not all, European countries. In some places pro-Ukrainian slogans are even heard like "Let's support the Ukrainian military! They will win!“. However, more and more often we can already hear opposite statements: "Russia cannot be defeated. Ukrainian forces are weakening and losing the war." Most Europeans want peace and believe that there is no reason to support or prolong a distant and unwanted war.
As we know, support for the Ukrainians and their armed forces has raised Lithuania's military budget to almost three billion euros. This is a huge amount for Lithuania. And, unfortunately, the fruits of wrong political tactics are bitter – more than 33 per cent of the Lithuanian population lives well below the poverty line. This is the reason why the Lithuanian people stand for an end to the war and demand a more peaceful policy for Lithuania.
On 20 December 2024 a public protest against the warmongers took place in the city of Siauliai in Lithuania. The demonstration was called by the Socialist Popular Front. During the action, several brave Lithuanian anti-fascists stood in the central square, holding posters with very specific slogans: “Sponsorship of Kiev is sponsorship of terrorism directed against Ukrainians”, "Zelensky is eating our money," and other messages reflecting the position of a significant part of Lithuanian citizens.
A participant in the action, anti-fascist Zhilvinas Razmin, said “the ruling parties in the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) and other places unanimously support the war in Ukraine, they support the Maidan in Georgia, and they exploit us and our people”.
He continues “what is the amount of social pensions these days? Most of us receive only two to three hundred euros. At the same time, they (the government) are increasingly purchasing weapons worth hundreds of millions of euros. We must strive to demand and maintain peace. We should not sit at home. We should not be silent and we must express our position. Do we really want Lithuania to be dragged into war and for our cities to be destroyed? “
In addition Razmin emphasised that “it is necessary to suspend the construction of military bases and military factories, such as the plant of the German concern Rheinmetall and others. Lithuania must be an independent, neutral state”.
A peaceful status can lead to the revival and restoration of Lithuania’s prosperity. War-mongering and inciting Russophobia can only harm Lithuania. Landsbergism (the cult of leader of the pro-NATO counter-revolution that overthrew Soviet power in Lithuania) struck our land, it undermined our roots. People continue to flee to the West (and sometimes to the East), and, in fact, the country is now devastated. And at the same time, the number of soldiers of the occupying German army in our country is sharply increasing. Civil repression is also intensifying: the homes of anti-fascists are being searched, political cases are being brought under the guise of the criminal code and, unfortunately, thousands of Lithuanians are being victimised and forced to flee.
Currently tough measures are being taken against anti-fascist leaders in the city of Siauliai in the north of the country. It was for this reason four more participants who decided to take part in the action were delayed. Their car was stopped by the police. Dmitry Kitov, who was driving the car, and three of his colleagues were forced to spent two hours at a police station. The police deliberately checked their documents for as long as possible and then forced the men to undergo a terrifying search of not only their personal belongings but also their car by a vicious police dog. When they were finally allowed to leave the stated time frame for the protest had long expired.
Many Lithuanians and anti-fascists are against inciting Russophobia in Lithuania including the Lithuanian People’s Party politician Professor Eduardas Vaitkus, publicists Erika Schwentchonene and Henrikas Cherniskas, director Yaras Valukenas and journalists Aurimas Drisius, Laurinas Ragelskis and Birute Dilpshene.
We hope and believe that the time will come when Lithuania will take the path of political and social progress – like Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria – and will strive for peace rather than inciting war!

Trump takes centre stage

Two weeks still to go to Inauguration Day but Donald Trump’s already been grabbing the headlines urging Canadians to join the United States and threatening to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal, which he says is now under Chinese control. While few take his pantomime threats seriously it’s amusing to see venal British and European politicians, so used to licking the boots of Uncle Sam, on the receiving end of American abuse for a change.
They turned a blind eye to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They egged on the proxy war against Russia and crippling sanctions on China. Now they’re recoiling in horror at The Donald mouthing off against his own allies. Now they know that “Making America Great Again” can only happen at their expense.
The Trump team are already talking about resuming the dialogue with Democratic Korea and floating proposals to end the Ukraine war which go some way to meeting the legitimate demands of the Russian Federation. We can only hope that this will lead to serious negotiations to normalise US relations with the DPR Korea and end the war in eastern Europe. 
Trump says he’ll end the war in Ukraine at a stroke when he’s back at the helm. But we’ve heard it all before over Korea. Though he promised much when he was last in the White House he still remained a prisoner of the most aggressive elements of the American ruling class. What Trump says and what he can or actually does do is another matter altogether. 

Meanwhile...

...Elon Musk, the South African born tech tycoon said to be the richest man in the world, has clearly got some time on his hands. Not content with the prospect of a key role in the new Trump administration, he’s now calling on Nigel Farage to stand down as leader of the Reform Party and scheming to get rid of Keir Starmer before the next general election. 
Musk is often called a “kingmaker” in the bourgeois media of the United States: possibly by some unaware of the tragic fate of the first man to bear that mantle – Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, who was killed in 1471 during the feudal struggle for the throne known as the War of the Roses. 
Musk is much like George Soros, another immensely rich American, who used his money to finance anti-communist movements in eastern Europe in the 1980s and prop up the venal pro-NATO regimes that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the European people’s democracies in 1991. Soros, a supporter of the American Democrats, poses as a philanthropist. Musk, who likes to be thought of as a “libertarian”, is a Trump Republican. But their common underlying philosophy is simply that of end days capitalism and inherited wealth.
Now Musk can say and do what he likes in the United States – he became an American citizen in 2002 – but poking his nose into our affairs is totally unacceptable. 

Peace on Earth…

...and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. Or so we’re told at this time of the year. But though it’s supposed to be the season of goodwill we won’t see much of it in this sceptred isle the heartland of imperialism. The great and the good will make their annual obeisance to the Prince of Peace, whom they claim to worship, while ignoring his teachings for the rest of the year. They rejoice at regime change in Syria while turning a blind eye to the sectarian violence that is now sweeping the country. They fuel the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine while ignoring the Zionists’ genocidal war against the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Celebrating the winter solstice goes back to hallowed antiquity. Stone Age hunter-gatherers whose lives revolved around the seasons appeased the gods to ensure the return of spring. The Romans called it Saturnalia – when masters served their slaves in orgies of feasting and drinking in a festival in which all the rules of society could be temporarily broken.
Though some of these traditions linger on in today’s orgy of consumer delight we are still supposedly celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the man who told his followers that it was “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. But do any of the rich, or his latter-day apostles, believe it?
The Pharisees churn out the usual platitudes about the “poor and needy” while ignoring the words of their Master who drove the money-changers out of the Temple and told his followers to “go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”. Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury resigns after a report revealed that he failed to act on allegations of boys being flogged by a man closely linked to the Anglican hierarchy while the Archbishop of York comes under similar fire for not taking action against another pervert within the Church of England. 
The Starmer government pleads poverty to justify means-testing the pensioners’ winter fuel benefit. It won’t pay compensation to the three million or so women born in the 1950s who were not properly informed about the state pension age increase. But it can find plenty to fuel the proxy war against Russia and pay for Trident and the rest of our so-called nuclear “deterrent”.  
But there are reasons to be cheerful. The Starmer government is deeply unpopular and the Tories are split over the Faragist challenge. Though Starmer has driven Jeremy Corbyn and most of his supporters out of the Labour Party the former Labour leader is back in Parliament leading the Independent Alliance on the opposition benches. A new fight-back against austerity has begun and London is rocked on a monthly basis by hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding justice for the Palestinians and an end to the genocide in Gaza.
The ruling class maintains that capitalism is the only game in town. And it is – but only for themselves. Capitalism, in the final analysis, is simply a system designed to perpetuate the rule of the landowners, industrialists and capitalists to ensure that a tiny handful of parasites can live the lives of Roman emperors off the backs of the millions upon millions of working people. There is only one solution to the capitalist crisis and that is socialism. Let’s make that our resolution for the New Year. Speed the day!

Syria’s downfall

Baath power began with the Syrian revolution in 1963. It ended this month. For most of that time the Party that led the Syrian Arab Republic was led by members of the Assad family.
Now Bashar al Assad is in Moscow. The Syrian Arab Republic is no more. The Baath Party has been dissolved. The old pan-Arab flag has gone and a new one flies over Damascus – the flag of the bogus “Syrian republic” during French colonial rule. 
Though a pan-Arab movement Syria was always at the heart of the Baath (Renaissance) Party. Born is the 1940s in the struggle to break the chains of colonialism it evolved into a mass movement when it merged with the Arab Socialist Party in 1952 to become the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party under its famous slogan “Unity, Freedom, Socialism – One Arab Nation! One Glorious Destiny!” that would soon be adopted by Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Arab Socialist Union in Egypt. 
Baathist Syria took the road of socialist advance sweeping away the old guard and the feudal order in the countryside to build a better life for the Syrian people with national health and education services funded by a public sector that also had to support the armed forces needed to confront the Zionist enemy. 
From the start Baathist Syria supported the just struggle of the Palestinian Arabs in confronting Israel as well as fighting side by side with Egypt, which was then the United Arab Republic, in two major wars with the Zionist entity. In the 1970s Syria intervened in the Lebanese civil war under an Arab League mandate through a peace-keeping force that remained in the Lebanon until 2005.
Communists and Nasserists had long worked with the Baath as “independents” in the Syrian parliament but in 1972 this was formalised with the establishment of a popular front, the National Progressive Front, that brought communists, Nasserists and social-democrats into government as junior partners of the Baath.
Baathist Syria was always to the fore in the struggle against imperialism. A pillar of the non-aligned movement the Syrian Arab Republic stood with the militant Palestinian resistance movements and other progressive Arab republics in the Rejection Front to oppose any surrender peace with Israel. It joined the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front that included the PLO, Algeria, Libya and People’s Yemen to oppose Egypt’s acceptance of the American and Zionist demands that led to the Camp David surrender peace with Israel.
Baathist Syria was a friend of the Soviet Union and the DPR Korea. Syrian trade with People’s China had soared in recent years and only a few months ago Syria applied to join BRICS, the independent economic bloc of the Global South.
This is why the imperialists, working hand in glove with Turkey, Israel and the feudal Arab oil princes worked to bring down the Assad government. They imposed sanctions and blockades on Syria to force it to end its alliance with the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran. They fomented the sectarian strife that triggered the civil war that began in 2011 and ended in the collapse of the Syrian government last week.   
The imperialists and their Zionist and feudal Arab lackeys cannot bring peace to the Middle East. Nor is that their intention. They believe that the best way to maintain imperialist hegemony and preserve the super-profits of the big oil corporations is by keeping the Arab masses weak and divided. It’s worked so far. But this is by no means the end of the story.  

75 years of outstanding progress.

by John Maryon

People's China has been celebrating with its friends around the world, its foundation on 1st October 1949.  Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the new republic in Tienanmen Square 75 years ago. It has enabled the Chinese people to embark upon an epic road that has led from extreme poverty and enormous hardships to rising prosperity in a powerful modern industrial state. Chinese society has been transformed under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
Peasants formed the greater part of Chinese society in those early days.  Serfdom still existed in Tibet and other areas.  With grinding poverty life expectancy in those part of China was less than 35 years.  The impact of colonisation by Japanese and European imperialism had seen a long period of brutal foreign domination and intensive exploitation that plundered the country.  China’s economy had been left in tatters and society in turmoil with any thoughts of a better life little more than an impossible dream.
Mao Zedong's revolutionary leadership enabled the Chinese nation’s rebirth. The Communist leader’s political theories were based upon Marxism-Leninism adapted to Chinese conditions. His achievements transformed China into a major world power and with it came the benefits of basic health care for the masses, education to the countryside, guaranteed women's rights and illiteracy a thing of the past.  Mao is widely regarded as the national hero who defeated foreign domination and secured freedom for his people. He led China from 1949 until his death in1976.
With the foundation of a new China firmly established new policies were introduced in 1978 to take the nation forward.  President Xi Jinping has described this path of development as Chinese Modernisation. This dynamic policy changes to suit new conditions as they arise and in addition to economic matter includes measures to boost social and cultural development. The new policy included an opening-up reform that allowed private investment, including foreign capital, to boost the economy. There is no doubt that the measures have been hugely successful allowing China to grow stronger and be in a position to resist US domination.
Certain aspects of the new policies have caused apprehension among China's friends.  The country now has a mixed economy with a private sector, a stock exchange and what's described as a socialist market economy. Does this mean a partial return to capitalism or does it mirror the New Economic Policy introduced by Lenin in the USSR between 1921 and 1928?
China's leadership is mature and wise so being fully aware of any risks involved. The dialectical philosophy of Marxism examines the development of things and phenomenon that are universally interconnected. In simple terms, as changes take place they will affect other things that may also change. As China's economy grows many changes will occur presenting new challenges and opportunities. What is OK for today may not be so tomorrow.  In the future when science, technology and human endeavour have created an abundance of everything we could possibly require, then money will cease to be important eventually becoming obsolete as Communism is achieved. With the end of money the last chains that bind the working class will be gone for ever. 
For many years China was seen as just a source of cheap labour which, with its raw materials, were to be exploited by the imperialists. Things are very different today. The USA has become alarmed by the People's Republic's rapid progress in developing its economy, its scientific and technical achievements and amazing engineering projects. The American see China not only as a serious competitor but also as a direct threat to its world hegemony.  China, on the other hand would like to cooperate and trade fairly with everyone. 
China's impressive progress is well illustrated by its space exploration projects. With plans to return soil samples from Mars, bring back an extraction of atmosphere from Venus, search for life on Jupiter's moons, develop its new Haolong space shuttle and establish a manned research station on the lunar south pole, it has ambitious plans.  It would like to cooperate with the USA but is prevented from doing so by the notorious Wolf amendment that prevents NASA from from any contact with China. 
Manned space flight is associated with high risk.  It is inevitable that one day someone will become marooned and require rescue. For this reason a joint lifeboat project would make sense.  People's China is firmly opposed to the militarisation of Outer Space.
China produces innovative high quality products at an affordable price.  In the early days of competitive capitalism any competition would be met by an innovative response.  Today in the era of state monopoly capitalism for any challenge the answer is to ban, sabotage, sanction and disrupt supply chains and embark upon an economic war. Attempts to strangle Huawei have failed as the company has been stimulated to develop its own better and cheaper components. Following the implication of trade sanctions against Chinese electric vehicles drivers in the USA and EU will have to pay a lot more for their cars.  However by trading with BRICS and the Global South China will find other partners for honest trade. 
China is a vast country similar in size to the whole of Europe.  In the past it could take many days to travel to more remote regions. Today with China's remarkable transport infrastructure being constructed rapidly both citizens and an increasing number of visitors may within a short period of time experience sublime views, taste new regional dishes and become familiar with vibrant new cultures within the motherland.  Above all to meet different people and to make new friends.  Breathtaking bridges in the clouds carry high-speed trains over wild gorges between rugged mountains. Hundreds of thousands of new roads make driving easy for the growing fleet of green electric vehicles taking advantage of an ample charging network. Assisted by a growing number of their own developed commercial aircraft, the country is becoming more unified. China is alive, dynamic and on the move.  While the capitalist West is in decline the Chinese people are able to enjoy a higher standard of stress free living as a new harmonious society is built. 
China has grown in strength and can no longer be bullied into submission.  It is now able to assist smaller nations facing imperialist threats.  It's development exceeds purely economic attainment and is not only a powerful force for peace but also combines effective governance with cultural and ethical progress.  China's democracy works very differently from the Western models where sham elections achieve very little. It has adopted ‘whole-process people's democracy' which combines elections, consultations, decision making and an overview through a legal constitution. The Chinese Communist Party represents ordinary working people, not big business supported through lobby groups as in America.  Chinese modernisation is based upon harmony and nature. 
People's China's glorious 75 years has seen great advances in all fields under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It is probable that within the next 75 years the great nation will not only achieve all it's development goals within a prosperous socialist society but also will have created communism.  A beautiful new form of society that is based upon full equality and guarantees a level of freedom impossible under exploitative capitalism. 

Mao’s Quotations on the Market

by Robin McGregor

the bright red book

 Sixty and a half years ago, in May 1964 to be precise, the first edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao, otherwise known as the “Little Red Book” was first published. 
 This weekend a collection of some 200 editions and related material such as a set of printer’s stereotypes used to print the first edition in English is being sold by Peter Harrington, one of London’s grandest antiquarian booksellers at a book fair in Hong Kong.  
 A brief, but well-illustrated catalogue (on which these notes are based) can be downloaded from https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog. It carries the note “Price on Application” which means “Don’t even think about it”, but readers can spend an agreeable leisure hour learning about its publication history in China and beyond for free. 
 It was first issued by the General Political Headquarters of the Chinese People’s Liberation
Army (PLA), intended as a basic instruction manual for the political instruction of the army’s rank and file who had only obtained their liberation in 1949. 
 It was published many times in print runs of millions and frequently translated becoming something of an icon of 1960s radicalism. Like all icons it was more admired than understood in detail, particularly by foreigners. In China, the book unfortunately became seen by many as the entire body of Marxism rather than the basic starting point it was intended to be.
  Best known in its red vinyl 320-page 33-chapter pocket sized version, the book went through many changes in arrangement, binding and text with authorised and unauthorised editions from friend and foes. Parodies such as Chairman Blair’s Little Red Book (with an aptly blue cover) appeared in 2001 and the Little Red Book of Corbyn Jokes came out in 2017 to say nothing of the 2010 Little Red Book of Liverpool FC. 
 Experimental collections first saw the light of day in 1960 when the PLA issued a Quotations from Mao Zedong’s Philosophical Thought on the poor paper available at the time. The first version of the now famous work publicly appeared in a four million print run for army battalions but were soon in demand by civilian institutions. 
 The first edition appeared in a variety of bindings including wrappers and brown or red vinyl which both had small variations which delight bibliophiles.  
 The first edition had an introduction by Mao’s deputy, Lin Biao, (with a small but telling calligraphic fault) which was of course soon corrected and finally removed after his 1971 sacking. 
 For speed and economy they were printed by stereotype, solid plates of type metal cast from papier-mâché moulds taken from the surface of the type setting. This made large print runs of the first edition possible, but also ensured small errors appeared in large numbers. 
 Provincial governments and individual parts of the PLA produced their own versions. Among many others, in Inner Mongolia, a larger format was produced.  
 A second edition, with substantial revisions appeared in March 1965 from the press of the 
Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee with some additions and cuts. A third, expanded edition, promoted by Lin Biao appeared a year later. 
 By then an estimated 28 million had been issued, some in large-format versions. The variations often show important political changes with excerpts mentioning out of favour individuals removed.   
 In April 1966, national party leadership took it over with a claimed 240 million copies by late 1966. A bilingual Chinese-English version appeared along with editions in many of the minority languages of China, and in Braille. 
 By 1972 10 million copies of translations had been produced by the Foreign Languages Press. These include an Albanian edition from 1967, three English editions between 1966 and 1972. An Esperanto version appeared in 1967 and a Danish one in 1970. Abroad unauthorised versions appeared, including one helpfully entitled Quotations From Chairman Mao-Tse-Tung. Danger! This Book is Communist Propaganda! From the Voice of Americanism publisher in California.  
 In China, modern reprints are sold to the tourists at prices greatly below that which Harrington expects. Apart from this collection Harrington is presently offering a first edition of the Quotations for £13,750, but readers with a more limited budget can buy a Mongolian edition for a mere £225. 

Palestinian flag over UK town halls

by Theo Russell

 
Sheffield City Council, along with several other cities in England and Scotland, marked the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29th November by flying the Palestinian flag, following a request by the PCS Yorkshire & Northeast Home Office branch.
Branch secretary Lawrence Barfoot said “we are delighted that Sheffield City Council has agreed to fly the Palestinian flag in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank, who are currently enduring a vicious assault by Israel.”
The branch supports the Sheffield Palestine Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, a local, multi-faith organisation with the aim of making Sheffield an apartheid-free zone through boycotting, divestment, and sanctions.
Three other South Yorkshire local authorities including Barnsley, along with Glasgow, Newbury and Rochdale city councils, also flew the Palestinian flag on 29th  November, while Liverpool's city council refused.
Barnsley recently made a declaration of friendship with the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus, and said in a statement that the council was "exploring ways to strengthen its cultural, educational and young people’s links" between the two cities.
The council's Chief Executive met with political and community leaders and "gathered professional opinions from stakeholders across the city" before approving the decision.
Councillors from Sheffield’s Green Party said the decision was the result of tireless campaigning by the people of Sheffield in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and called on the Labour government to impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and end negotiations for a free-trade agreement with Israel.
They also asked the UK to "cease aiding and assisting in the commission of violations of international law through diplomatic support for Israel, the use of the UK Akrotiri military base in Cyprus, and intelligence sharing, reconnaissance and all other military support", and to "investigate the Israeli ambassador to the UK, and dual-nationals returning from service with the IDF, as potential perpetrators of international crimes and grave human rights violations, including the crime of incitement to genocide".
Unfortunately, The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which has one of England's largest Muslim communities, decided to remove Palestinian flags from council buildings last March, after receiving a letter from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) that claimed that the council's officers and managers, including the mayor Lutfur Rahman, were personally guilty of criminal offences under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. Lutfur Rahman approved the removal of Palestinian flags on council-owned buildings, on advice from the council's chief executive.
The flying of Palestinian flags over public buildings clearly reflects the feelings of the overwhelming majority of the British people. According to an Ipsos poll in October, 73 per cent of people in Britain wanted an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and 60 per cent believed that Israel’s actions in Gaza have "gone too far".
The Ukrainian flag has been flown on hundreds of public buildings since the Russian intervention began in February 2022, in support of the criminal, illegitimate Banderite Nazi junta in Kiev. To see the Palestinian flag being flown on a handful of public buildings in Britain is a very welcome change, and a definite step in the right direction.

Are you not entertained?

by Ben Soton

What did the Romans ever do for us? We remember the roads, the sanitation, law and order, and the monumental architecture that tourists still gape at to this day. But behind the facade of Greco-Roman civilisation there is a darker side – the legions, the crucifixions and the amphitheatres where prisoners were thrown to the lions for the amusement of the crowds and matched pairs fought, often to the death, in “games” that gave true meaning to a Roman holiday.
So what was Rome?  Was it simply a free trade zone covering an area from Scotland to Iraq; where most of its inhabitants toiled either as slaves, or at best plebs, whilst a few at the top lived a life of opulent luxury?  Or is Rome an idea based on honour that gives hope and freedom to its inhabitants provided it is properly run. This is the point espoused in Gladiator 11, Ridley Scott’s latest blockbuster.      
Gladiator II is set several years after the original film during the reign of Caracalla and Geta, two brothers who were joint emperors.  The opening scenes show the Roman conquest of Numidia; a major inaccuracy as the region in north Africa was taken during the Roman Republic, several hundred years before 211 AD, the date shown in the film.  The central character, played by Paul Mescal, is brought to Rome as a slave after heroically failing to defend hearth and home. There he becomes a key feature of Rome’s gladiator scene and is given the name Hanno. 
The film has many similarities with the first Gladiator (2000).  A number of the original cast make a return – most notably Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus and Connie Nielson as Lucilla.  The battle scenes involve extensive use of CGI and AI but are none the less highly realistic, if not historically accurate.  The scenes in the Colosseum point towards European and in particular Italian fascism originating in Classical Rome. And the overriding theme is very much the same; one man’s struggle to survive in the arena and attempts by better and honourable sections of the elite to remove a corrupt and degenerate emperor or emperors. 
Once again, we see Gracchus and Lucilla, who represent the better section of the ruling class, conspire against the dual emperors.  An addition to the film is the character of Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington.  He is a former slave, not from the elite, who wishes to usurp power for himself; although is this not what Gracchus and Lucilla are doing?  Meanwhile Hanno, who is no ordinary prisoner of war and has an interesting back story, becomes embroiled in this web of intrigue.  
The film promotes the notion that empires are great, provided they are run by the likes of Gracchus and Lucilla. Meanwhile the masses, be they Colosseum goers or gladiators are simply there to side with one or other section of the elite.  The recent US election comes to mind...

When the shooting stops…

Hezbollah has forced Israel to cease-fire – but not on Zionist terms. The Lebanese resistance movement has achieved a strategic success by thwarting the Zionist plans to drive the resistance and the UN peace-keeping force out of southern Lebanon and replace it with an Israeli occupied “buffer zone” to pave the way for annexation.
Many towns in Lebanon are now in ruins. The Israelis pounded Beirut and the other towns and cities of the Lebanon for over a year forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to abandon their homes in waves of terror bombing designed to break the morale of the Arab resistance. But they failed. They themselves paid a heavy price for their aggression. Some 300,000 Israelis fled to safety out of the range of the drones and missiles of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.  Over a hundred Zionist settlements in northern Israel were evacuated. The “Generals’ Plan” for Gaza has been put on hold. The dream of a “Greater Israel” died in the fields of southern Lebanon,
After the imperialist inspired "Arab Spring" swept across the Arab world, destabilising them one by one and paving the way for normalisation with Israel came the imperialist attempt to “regime change” Syria. Terror gangs armed and funded by the Americans and their NATO allies fermented sectarian violence and civil war in an attempt to overthrow the Baathist-led government in Damascus. The Western media went into top gear to justify imperialist intervention  spreading lies throughout Europe and the United States while the Arab world became a battleground for one of the most ruthless propaganda wars in modern history. This was the first conflict to weaponise social media, exploiting it to deepen the divide between the Shia and Sunni Muslim communities and to fracture the unity between the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance. 
Syria, the lifeline of the resistance’s weapons pipeline, was targeted for destruction. But the Syrians closed ranks around their popular front government to beat back the sectarian militias and with the help of Russian peace-keepers drove the terror gangs and their Western military advisors out of most of the country. But the fabricated narrative of "Hezbollah’s crimes in Syria", heavily propagated by the feudal Arab media, continues to serve as a tool to attack Hezbollah and the entire Axis of Resistance to this day.
Though the guns fall silent in Lebanon the Yemeni blockade continues and the Palestinians fight on. They have no other choice, The Israelis are continuing to pursue their genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that has now become a wilderness of rubble and ruins. The Zionists still dream of driving all the Palestinian Arabs out to seize their land and make room for more Zionist settlement.
Nevertheless the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon could pave the way for a similar agreement in Gaza. But only if there’s mass pressure in the Western world to force the imperialist leaders to recognise the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arabs. Over the past 14 months millions in Britain have rallied to demand justice for the Palestinians. It’s already having an effect on the people in the corridors of power. We must keep up the momentum for as long as it takes. If Starmer will not speak up for the people living through a genocide in Gaza and under siege in the West Bank, then we absolutely must continue to raise our voices for them.