We have been covering the detention of Steve Kaczynski in Turkey since he was arrested on April 1st. We have been part of the campaign to get his release (republicancommunist.org/blog/2015/08/07/free-steve-kaczynski/). Steve was freed on September 18th. This article has been written by Steve and describes his experience and the current political situation in Turkey. MY IMPRISONMENT IN TURKEY I was in…
Turkey: A Country At War With Itself
Steve Kaczynski explains the link in Turkey between head scarves and the Turkish army’s invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan Recently, two issues involving Turkey have received wide coverage in the international media. The first is Islamic head scarves, the second is the Turkish army incursion into northern Iraq. I will look at these matters in turn.…
Report on Sandra Bakutz trial, Ankara, Turkey, March 30, 2005
I arrived at Ankara Esenboga Airport early on the morning of March 30, the day of Sandra Bakutz’s trial. I had no problems at passport control and was taken to a flat in Ankara’s Mamak district where I had a few hours’ sleep before going to the trial. It was due to start at 10:45…
International Platform Against Isolation
Steve Kaczynski reports on the IPAI symposium held in Paris in December 2005 In December 2005, I attended a symposium in a cinema in north-eastern Paris, organised by the International Platform Against Isolation. The event sprang from solitary confinement and other forms of state repression – a major fact of our time. Since 2002, these…
Iraqi Kurds – Tools of Imperialism
Steve Kaczynski looks at how imperialism has used the Iraqi Kurds The Iraqi Kurds are the only ethnic group that is considered 100% loyal to the US–UK imperialist occupation of Iraq. So much so that when the US-backed Governing Council tried to introduce a new flag for Iraq, it included a yellow line across the…
Death Squad Britain – the Case of Jean Charles de Menezes
In the aftermath of Jean Charles’ murder, Steve Kaczynski looks at Britain’s shoot-to-kill policy On July 7 and July 21, bombs exploded in London. On July 22, a 27-year-old Brazilian electrician named Jean Charles de Menezes left his flat. He was followed by anti-terrorist police and in Stockwell underground station , he was shot a…
Hooray for Hollywood
Steve Kaczynski looks at September 11, Hollywood and the portrayal of war and terrorism The cinema, like other forms of entertainment and the media, is a powerful means of reflecting what goes on in society. It, like other forms of entertainment and the media, is also used by the powers that be to shape public…
War against terrorism and the threat to freedom of expression
Steve Kaczynski highlights the Blair government’s further attacks on our civil liberties Since September 11, 2001, the bourgeois democratic mask of respecting rights has been slipping. In December, a car bringing the left-wing Turkish language weekly magazine Yasadigimiz Vatan (The homeland we live in) was stopped by British police at Dover, and two issues of…