DEM VOLKE DIENEN

Five years ago, the editorial staff of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" was attacked by so-called "Islamists" in which twelve people died. On the 1^st of September, the trial against the perpetrators began. At that time there was a big campaign of solidarity with the newspaper and the journalists, the slogan "Je suis Charlie" may still have been remembered by some readers. In the name of the bourgeois freedom of press and art, the religious feelings of millions upon millions were trampled underfoot and their justified anger was met with imperialist chauvinism. The fact that this rage was abused by reactionary forces with an attack is not in question.

In the face of the economic crisis of imperialism, Turkey, too, is experiencing the sharpest drop in economic performance since the beginning of its own data collection (1998): GDP fell by a whole 11 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2020. Since the beginning of the year, the value of the lira has also fallen continuously, reaching a record low of less than one-seventh of a US dollar in August.

NORDIC REPORT

We hereby report on some recent developments in the political situation and class struggle in the various Nordic Countries.

On September 2nd Special Forces of the reactionary Paraguayan Army attacked a camp of the Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo (EPP), the Paraguayan People’s Army. The attack prompted Paraguayans President to have some pictures taken with him on site and to post on twitter about the success of the operation. The only people killed in this army raid however, were two 11 year old girls.

After the German police force got new spy software to decrypt encrypted communication, the German government also wants to equip intelligence (Verfassungsschutz, BND, MAD) with this tool.

Past week, Turkish comrades of Partizan Media have uploaded their 2014 Documentary "Guerrilla Four Seasons" with English subtitles to the Web. The 20-minute video was shot, directed and edited by the guerrillas themselves.

While the participants of the Tour de France riding their bikes through the country as every year, the numbers of infections rise and since weeks it is spoken about a „second wave“.New measures like bars getting stronger terms and the people in Paris have to wear masks also outside, shall serve allegedly to prevent another lockdown. But now there is another factor added because on Tuesday, the 1^st of September, the schools open again and 12.4 million of pupils are allowed to go back to school after up to five months. But that is often related to a health risk for the kids because keeping distance in the classrooms that are filled with more than 20 kids often is not possible. Instead there is the duty to wear masks from the six grade up on the whole day. This has nothing to do with the planned “normality” and protection of the health.

The imprisoned Turkish lawyer Ebru Timtik has died after 238 days of hunger strike, in which she and her fellow worker Aytaç Ünsal had been on since they were sentenced to 159 years imprisonment in February on terror charges. Her law firm, Halkin Hukuk Bürosu ( Advocates of the People), of which 18 lawyers, including Ebru and Aytaç, were captured in a major raid in 2017 and arbitrary trials were opened against them, announced her death last Thursday; on Friday there were attacks on the funeral in Istanbul by the police. Hundreds of adherents and supporters who had come shouted slogans such as "Ebru Timtik is immortal" and that "the murderous state will be called to account". As a result, the cops threatened to attack the assembly and finally did so with tear gas, which led to the dissolution of the assembly. Ebru Timtik joins a long line of revolutionaries who lost their lives on hunger strike for justice.