ELECTION 2016: The Peace Industry Gets A Big Boost

By Michael Gavor

The Ghanaian peace industry is no longer just thriving. It has received a big boost following the exchanges between supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in front of the residence of Nana Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the NPP.

The story is that the incident started with the exchange of insults and quickly escalated to the exchange of gun fire.

Whiles NPP supporters claim that they were only engaged in an act of self-defense, when the NDC hoodlums attacked Akufo-Addo’s residence, supporters of the NDC have said that armed NPP gangs opened fire on them compelling them to respond in self-defense.

The point is that whoever started the incidence does not take away the fact that it has confirmed that there is a huge potential for violence before, during and after the December 7 elections.

The guns which were fired on both sides demonstrate that the capacity for violence exists within the NPP and the NDC and this must be very good for those who seek to profit from the madness of politicians.

They can now turn to their donors and say here is the evidence that the peace of Ghana is threatened and you need to give us much needed resources to campaign for peace.

Clearly what happened last week in front of Akufo-Addo’s residence is without a shred of doubt senseless and immature.

Why was it necessary for the NDC procession to pass by Nana Akufo-Addo’s house when there were alternative routes?

In any case did the procession have to stop in front of the house blurring loud music and taunting the occupants?

The reaction of the occupants of the Akufo-Addo residence was also very immature, insulting the NDC supporters and calling them names was provocative. The firing of shots at the procession was reckless and the confrontation with the police was completely uncalled for.

As Ghana approaches December 7, it is important for political leaders to restrain their supporters and warn them of the consequences of their unguarded actions and utterances.

No useful purpose will be served by any recourse to needless violence.

Editorial

HE IS RIGHT

Honourable Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa has said it all.

He says that real power belongs to the masses and not pollsters as demonstrated in the recent presidential election in the United States of America (USA).

Yes, it is true that the mainstream media and most pollsters were busily bating for Mrs.

Hillary Clinton and predicting that Trump would end up as a grand loser in the elections.

The outcome of the elections however proved that there was a huge gulf between the elite pollsters and the media personnel hell bent on maintaining the status quo.

The interest of the people lies in promoting the national development agenda to create real jobs, and improve access to social services.

Politicians who depend on only the media and pollsters will always lose out to their competitors who focus on the development agenda.

Real power belongs to the masses not pollsters – Ablakwa

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

By King Nobert Akpablie

The member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said the outcome of the recent elections in America indicates that real power belongs to the ordinary masses and not pollsters.

Speaking at a press conference in Ho on Monday, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who is also Chairman of the Communications committee of the Volta NDC Campaign taskforce, said although polls characterize elections, predictions from pundits, pollsters and the media, do not reflect the true situation on the ground.

He added that, as a political party, the NDC is not perturbed by the various predictions by pollsters; but has its focus on the masses who are witnesses to the development Ghana has seen under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.

“Real power belongs to the ordinary masses. Real power doesn’t belong to pundits, posters and the media. But once we keep faith with the people, we remain loyal to them, we showed them what we have done for them and the plans we have for them, we speak their language, we do not alienate them; we do not refer to them as Togolese, as foreigners , it is they you have the power in. The pollsters and the pundits can engage in all kinds of predictions. We have seen all kinds of predictions that suggest we are losing and Akufo-Addo is making inroads in the Volta Region; but we are inspired by the outcome of the US elections that real power belongs to the ordinary masses and not in the hands of pundits” he stated.

Outlining the various projects carried out in the Volta region by the NDC,the MP said he believes that the NDC has the best Presidential Candidate in John Mahama, who will come out victorious on December 7.

Donald Trump pulled a surprise victory at the just ended elections in the United States of America, defying polls that suggested Hilary Clinton would win the general elections.

Nduom is worried!

Papa Kwesi Nduom

By Austin Brakopowers

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate says residents of the Central Region who support the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 elections have no love for the region.

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom said if the residents are minded by the challenges facing the region, they would support him because he has a better appreciation of the difficulties.

‘I am sad [because] when they talk about poor people in Ghana when you leave out Upper West…the Central Region is number four,’ he told residents of Abura in Twi.

With 22 days to the presidential and parliamentary elections, the seven presidential candidates have intensified their campaigns across the country. 

Dr Nduom who has been making up for lost days was brought into the race following a Supreme Court ruling ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to allow him and other aspirants to effect the corrections on his nomination forms. 

The PPP leader has been reminding the residents of the need to break away from duopoly of NDC and NPP and give him the PPP the opportunity to improve their situation.

He narrated how disheartened he was when he sees oranges rotten by the roadside in Abura.

‘This is unacceptable because the farmers depend on it,’ he said, adding he would build a factory to process the oranges for the residents to earn from their sweat. 

Dr Nduom also urged the people to vote for him and the party's parliamentary candidates in the December 7 polls for Ghana to be better and for their lives to be better.

Female aspiring MPs complain

Brigette Dzokpenuku, PPP running mate

By Kwasi Debrah

Female parliamentary aspirants in the Ashanti Region are complaining about what they say are attempts by their male counterparts to sabotage them.

The women, some of them independent candidates, allege unknown persons are vandalising their billboards and other campaign materials.

The issue came up for discussion when the Electoral Commission met with female candidates at a sensitization workshop in Kumasi.

Independent candidate for Atwima -Nwabiagya North, Esther Donkor, set the tone for discussion on the illegality when she revealed at least four of her billboards have been pulled down.

 “For about a month now I realised all the billboards have been pulled down, my posters are nowhere to be found,” she said.

Progressive People’s Party (PPP) candidate for Manhyia North, Betrine Amponsah-Biritwum, says almost all her posters in the constituency have also been removed or defaced.

“I have all my posters in the constituency removed, my banners were hung at vantage points and they were taken away,” she lamented.

Madam Amponsah-Biritwum added, “ men are trying to say all sorts of stories about you.”

Regional Director, Siriboe Quicoe, reminded the public it’s criminal to destroy materials of opponents.

He also advised the candidates to recruit literate polling agents to represent them on Election Day.

The EU-sponsored programme is meant to sensitize women parliamentary candidate about the election process.

Raúl sends message of congratulations to Trump

Cuban President Raul Castro

Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of Cuba's Councils of State and Ministers, yesterday November 9, sent President-elect Donald Trump a message saying, "On the occasion of your election as President of the United States of America, I send you congratulations."

Many such messages have been sent to the President-elect by heads of state and government on all continents. Similarly, organizations like the UN, the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), and the European Union (EU), among others, have conveyed messages to the winning Republican candidate.

Inside the United States, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, congratulated

Trump, while acknowledging her defeat. Current President Barack Obama, invited the Republican to the White House, while at the same time noting that he had serious differences with Trump.

Shortly after the victory was announced, Trump spoke to supporters in the ballroom of New York City's Midtown Hilton Hotel, launching a conciliatory message, far removed from the harsh tones he has used during the campaign. "We will get along with all other nations, willing to get along with us… We will have great relationships… I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone. All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility, partnership, not conflict," he said.

Nonetheless, in several U.S, cities, including Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, and New York, demonstrations broke out condemning the election of Trump as the country's 45th President. Participants expressed their discontent with the results and described the winner as racist and xenophobic. In Pennsylvania, hundreds of students marched out of class

shouting, "He is not my President."

An Open Letter to President Elect Trump 

US President Elect, Donald Trump

First of all, I would like to congratulate you again on your election victory.  Perhaps you perceived a huge sigh of relief from the world community and especially Russia with your election to the presidency.  

I hope you have even a small idea of the huge sigh of relief going across the globe.  Your victory has saved the planet from the globalists, from Clinton and her determination to take things over the edge to the unthinkable.  World War 3.

There couldn't have been more of a difference between your expressed policies and those of your opponent.

The world loves a peacemaker

The world loves a peacemaker and hates bullies with no regard for human life, particularly if they are hypocrites pontificating about freedom and democracy while their actions clearly demonstrate a commitment to something opposite and extremely sinister.  

I've always felt there were two different kinds of people in the world:  builders and destroyers.  The destroyers not only destroy life and societies with their greed, but they enjoy breeding discontent. You, of course, are the first kind.  Your opponent was the second kind.  Russians, too, are of the first kind, builders.

Hillary Clinton earned the ire of the world community by her hawkish, murderous behavior and attitude.  She has left a trail of death and destruction throughout Europe and the Middle East. Her declaration of war during the debates sent shivers down everyone's spines.  

Her only "friends" contrary to her claims of being "respected" in the world community are feudal totalitarian dictatorships, the head choppers and their terrorist proxies and those benefiting from her pay for play scheme.  She is hated, not respected.

Her moronic, and I dare say psychotic paranoia, tried to imply that there's something wrong in getting along with Russia and the Russian people.  This most assuredly made her unfit to lead under any cricumstancces.

True friends and admirers

But you have true friends and admirers throughout the world, such as Mr. Jeremy Corbin and others.  Even before becoming President, you have been regarded as a great statesman.  Your knowledge of the world situation infinitely surpasses your opponent's, despite her long record of "experience" in that area. As you said, her experience was all bad and all failure.

People throughout the world, of course, have been paying close attention to US elections because we all will be greatly impacted by the results.  Especially in Russia.  The words exchanged between yourself and President Putin became a rallying point for all of us who are weary of unjust wars, regime change and bombs falling.

"I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so," Trump said in one of his first comments about the Russian leader since launching his presidential bid last June.

"It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond," Trump said in a statement. "I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect."

"After the conference, Putin said that Donald Trump is a very bright and talented person and the absolute leader of the presidential race." 

Outstanding exchanges such as the above have given the world hope for peace and change.  I almost feel like cringing when I say the word "change" due to what that word became with Obama. We were badly burned with that one.  When you speak of change, however, I believe you.  You have a strong character and a strong personality and I believe it's said with true sincerity.

You have overcome much.  The entire establishment, the globalists and their fellow travelers and the media have come down against you.  They have thrown everything at you.  But you came out victorious, not giving an inch.  And it wasn't just flesh and blood men fighting you, it was all the powers of hell itself.

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Before you began your fight against the establishment and hell itself, people throughout the world wished for the demise of this globalist establishment.  Who would have thought it would come from within?

I must say that you and your supporters have shown the world that your country still has a great number of righteous, decent people...and so who could not wish you well under those circumstances?

The burden you have taken upon yourself as leader of a superpower must weigh heavily on your shoulders.  The country is torn with deliberately created strife, as if your burden is not heavy enough already.  I pray that God will give you wisdom and good endurance and I know you will remain true to all of your promises.  Stay true to yourself as you appoint those who will assist you in your responsibilities.

The forces opposing you are violent, mindless and lethal and I pray for your safety and well being.  We all are.  

If you want Russians to really love you more and you want to get on a really super fast track to better relations with Russia, I suggest you come to Moscow on May 9th, Victory Day, and see for yourself how the Russian people honor the heroes who gave their lives so that we might be free from the Nazi scourge that threatened the freedom and lives of all of us.  See how the Russian people sacrificed and suffered and how terribly they long for peace.  This is something you really need to experience.

I am certain you will receive the invitation when the time draws near.

I believe you will be surprised by what you find when you meet Vladimir Putin and see that Russia has a form of democracy that works for the circumstances that are unique to Russia.  Russia and the US should be natural allies,  During the horrible period of Obama, Russians only asked that they be left alone, left in peace, but he just kept piling it on and piling it on for his own sinister, nefarious reasons.

So in closing, I wish to tell you that you have our prayers and support for your success and safety and I am looking forward to our countries working together for the benefit of all mankind...your focus will be on improving your own country of course and the lives of your own citizens and by doing that and avoiding the stupid foreign interventions, it will be a better world. Удачи! (Good luck).

Lisa Karpova

Pravda.Ru

The Trump presidency and US foreign policy

Donald Trump

By Abayomi Azikiwe

In order to maintain any semblance of what is perceived as economic stability and growth, Trump’s administration must continue the existing capitalist relations of production and international relations. The failure of this phase of imperialist domination could provide renewed opportunities for world solidarity of the working class and oppressed.

Former United States Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Clinton telephoned real estate magnate Donald Trump in the early morning hours of November 9 to concede defeat in the national presidential elections.

During the course of 2015-2016, the corporate media networks were highly critical of all campaigns outside the one conducted by Clinton. Nonetheless, both Clinton and Trump were perhaps the most unpopular and even loathed contestants for this office in the modern history of the U.S.

International financial markets were shaken by the prospects of the unknown quantity of Trump in an election which so-called “mainstream” corporate and government-sponsored media had repeatedly predicted up until the last several hours would result in a Clinton victory.

Reports in the press late into the night on November 8 indicating a Trump victory was inevitable prompted U.S. stock futures to decline by five percent in global trading. Asian markets which are essential in American trade policy responded to the shockwaves sent around the world responding to the rhetorical character of the purported “protectionist” line of the Trump campaign. Although by the close of trading on November 9 it was said that markets were rebounding, it is by no means clear what these developments portend for the next few days and weeks.

An article published in the Wall Street Journal says: “The National Retail Federation is keeping a close eye on how Mr. Trump might alter cross-border trade, tax policy and labor laws. ‘The retail supply chain is a thoroughly global supply chain,’ said David French, senior vice president of government relations at the NRF on Wednesday. ‘Anything that threatens two-way trade can hurt retail and consumers,’ Mr. French said. It is unclear how the results could impact consumer sentiment and spending in the key holiday season. ‘This morning there are a lot of people who woke up very surprised,’ Mr. French said. ‘The divisions in the country are going to be hard to heal.’”

Overnight after the polls closed the U.S. dollar declined and gold futures gained value along with other commodities seen as a “safe haven” for capitalist investors. This unsettled situation had surfaced the previous week when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey indicated that the criminal investigation into the Clinton e-mail scandal was being reopened. Although two days before the final elections Director Comey announced that Clinton had been “cleared” once again, the damage had already been done. The potential for a newly-elected president facing a lengthy Justice Department probe weighed on the psyche of the electorate and the financial markets.

The New York Times called the critical state of Pennsylvania at least an hour before the television networks resigned to the loss of Clinton. The former Secretary of State during the first administration of President Barack Obama refused to even come before thousands of her supporters at the Javits Conference Center in New York City. Prospects for an even more divided political landscape in the U.S. will compound the existing economic anxieties surrounding the persistent problems of high unemployment, increasing poverty, rising racial unrest and intensifying class conflict.

Impact on financial blocs, imperialist political groupings and military alliances

The European Union (EU) had already experienced a reaction to the capitalist economic crisis when the British public voted in June to leave the imperialist federation which grew out of the post-World War II scenario imposed by the dominance of the U.S. A court case filed by Members of Parliament to involve them in the Article 50 process of disengagement from the EU will prolong the Brexit, causing further uncertainty within both economic and political institutions.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officials are also concerned since there is speculation of a possible thawing of relations between the western imperialist states and the Russian Federation. At a NATO Summit several months ago in Poland resolutions were adopted which will enhance the military presence on the border with Russia as well as the escalation of Pentagon and its allies’ interventions in the Asia-Pacific region.

A consistent military policy of intervention by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Pentagon and NATO in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen has devastated the Middle East and Central Asia.  These wars of regime-change and genocide have created the worst crises of displacement both domestically and internationally since the conclusion of WW II. Some 60-75 million people have been driven from their homes due to initiatives launched in Washington and on Wall Street.

Over the last decade the world capitalist system has undergone the most profound decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Millions have lost their homes, jobs, savings and pensions. A quarter-century of failed military policies has drained the economies not only of the impacted states and regions but also those within the industrial states themselves particularly in Western Europe and North America. A Trump presidency cannot fulfill its promises because modern day imperialism is representative of the notions of “free trade”, neo-liberalism and globalization.

Africa policy and the Trump administration

Over the last two administrations of Obama and his predecessor, President George W. Bush, Jr., the militarization of Africa has escalated. The founding of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in early 2008 has engendered greater instability and displacement on the continent.

The bombing of Libya under false pretenses, its destabilization and brutal assassination of longtime leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi can still be felt some five years later. Today Libya has become a major source of human trafficking and flight from the African continent across the Mediterranean into Europe. Pentagon bombing operations are being conducted on a daily basis in this North African state. Several attempts by Washington and its allies to create a stable neo-colonial dominated regime in Tripoli have failed miserably. Thousands are dying in their desperate attempts to reach a Europe under distress itself which is facing monumental economic challenges including unemployment and rising poverty.

In the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, a burgeoning military base at Camp Lemonier is serving as a staging ground for an ongoing air and ground campaign under the guise of fighting “Islamic terrorism” in Somalia. The Republic of Sudan, once the largest geographic nation-state in Africa, was partitioned at the aegis of Washington in order to undermine the emerging country’s oil industry which was in partnership with the People’s Republic of China.

Zimbabwe and South Africa are being subjected to efforts by Washington and London aimed at installing right-wing regimes which are compliant to imperialist foreign policy imperatives. These same policies are very much in operation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean considering the attempts and actual political coups which have been carried out against Honduras (2009), Ecuador (2010), Paraguay (2012), Brazil (2016) not to mention the present destabilization campaign against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Despite the public posture of “normalization” of relations with the Republic of Cuba, the Obama administration along with Congress are not working towards the lifting of the decades-old embargo nor halting their covert intelligence programs with the expressed intent to reverse the course of the national revolutionary and socialist trajectory.

A Trump presidency in order to maintain any semblance of what is perceived as economic stability and growth must continue the same capitalist relations of productions and international relations. The failure of this phase of imperialist domination could provide renewed opportunities for world solidarity of the working class and oppressed.

The global capitalist system must inherently find markets to exploit in order to earn ever-increasing rises in profits. Such a program will place the Trump administration and its corporate backers on a collision course with the majority of people both inside the U.S. and the world. 

* Abayomi Azikiwe is Editor, Pan-African News Wire.