Afghan Maoists: "Do not take part in the puppet regime's presidential and local council elections!"
10 August 2009. A World to Win News Service. Following are excerpts from a July leaflet by the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan.
Dear people of our country!
As you know the second round of the puppet regime's presidential election and local council elections will be held in late August. The reactionary-imperialist show has already started. We call on all of you: Do not take part in the puppet regime's presidential and the local council's elections!
We issue this call because:
First of all: Many people believe that participation in this election will be even less than last time, and that only a very small minority of the population will vote. Our people have the right to react to the upcoming elections with indifference. They experienced the results of previous elections: more murdering bombardments, the deepening and spreading of the regime's corruption, homelessness, unemployment, poverty and hunger among the toilers...
Under no circumstances sell your votes, either individually or as a group… resist even if you are faced with threats by regime officials and forces or those of the criminal warlords who may belong to different regime gangs…
We in turn see it as our responsibility to resist any sort of superficial or real threats and also struggle against any kind of trading votes by any means available, or at least to expose such cases.
Secondly, like this regime's previous elections, this campaign, the publicity accompanying it and other aspects will be politically backed, financed and even directly carried out by the occupiers, who are also taking responsibility for its security. The whole election process is firmly controlled by the occupiers…
Taking part in this election means approving the occupation of the country by the reactionary foreign imperialists and also approving the rule of the puppet regime…
Thirdly: the situation today for our country and our people is not basically different than it was during the Soviet social-imperialist occupation and the rule of their lackeys at that time. During the resistance against the occupiers 2.5 million people were killed and millions more suffered pain and grief in many forms, such as homelessness and exile... We did not suffer all that and drive out the Soviet social-imperialists only to allow in the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys. Taking part in this election would mean disrespect for those martyred in the war of resistance against the Soviet social-imperialists and forgetting the suffering and grief that war imposed on our people...
Fourthly: the ruling puppet regime is completely corrupt and plundering. It would be no exaggeration to say it is the most corrupt regime in the history of Afghanistan. Its character cannot be altered by changing its top managers. But your participation in this election, even in the most limited way, would allow this corrupt regime and its corrupted managers to claim that they are elected by the people to continue their corruption and plunder.
Fifthly: most of those who make up the puppet regime are same the criminals who previously belonged to the Khalq and Parcham parties (the pro-Soviet parties who ran the country during the Soviet invasion), the jihadis (the Islamic fundamentalists supported by the West to fight the Soviets) and the Taliban (the extreme fundamentalists in power before the U.S. invasion). Most of the presidential and local council candidates are the same kind of people. The whole process of preparations for this election indicates that open deals have been made, involving deception and widespread fraud, so that the very same ruling criminals, with some small changes, can remain on top. The scandal and disgrace in this respect is such that even many presidential election candidates are talking about boycotting the election. In this situation those who take part in this election spectacle, even with "good intentions", are seeking to cover the fetid smell of a deep swamp with perfume. This is not possible – the only thing to do is dry up the swamp.
We particularly call on the country's workers and peasants: Do not take part in the regime's elections! This regime is the backer and supporter of a bunch of feudal and capitalist exploiters. One of the main goals of this election is to maintain and strengthen the chains of exploitation that bind you hand and foot. Your participation in this election would mean nothing but politically serving your class enemy. Avoid such service to your enemy!
We call on the masses of oppressed girls and women of Afghanistan: Do not take part in the regime's elections! The imperialist occupiers and their puppet regime are using the woman question to serve their occupation and the selling out of the country. Have a look at the regime from top to bottom! Are not the overwhelming majority of the present regime representatives and the presidential and local council candidates in the second round unrepentant, sworn chauvinists and anti-woman elements who make and approve laws to protect and consolidate the gender slavery of women?
We shouldn't be misled by the tiny number of women candidates to become regime managers. This is only for show. How many women in the regime's parliament voted against the woman-enslaving so-called family laws for the Shia community?
We call on the country's youth: Do not take part in the regime's elections! Taking part in the regime's election means participating in the effort to consolidate the puppet rule of this regime. If these efforts are successful, that would only prolong your hopelessness for your future. The more consolidated the occupation state, the longer the occupation war and the more youth will be used as cannon fodder...
We call on the country's oppressed nations: Do not take part in the regime's elections! This regime is inherently a chauvinist regime and perpetrator of the national oppression of the oppressed nations of this country. This character is formally recorded in its constitution. The non-Pashtun (the dominant nationality in Afghanistan) elements in this regime and candidates for a position in it are not true representatives of your national interests. They are traitors who will sell out the national interests in the service of the dominant chauvinism in order to protect the wealth they have plundered and to obtain more wealth.
We call on the country's Pashtun masses: Do not take part in the regime's election! Your share from the present situation is the frequent air bombardment by the regime's occupier masters. Look at your fellow Pahstuns in Pakistan! The Pakistani army's campaign against the Pashtun regions in that country have resulted in the homelessness of four million Pakistani Pashtuns and the murder of thousands more. That campaign was launched by direct order of the U.S., the master of the imposed puppet regime in Afghanistan, and it is supported and backed by this regime. In fact, your participation in this election would mean taking part in the effort to consolidate this regime and the extension of the influence and scope of its rule...You should be aware that the Pashtuns included in the regime and the Pashtun candidates for obtaining a position or a seat in this regime, including Karzai, are not your true representatives. They are in fact seeking to serve their own class, clan and personal interests and misusing your national enthusiasm for their own ends.
Not participating in the puppet regime election is part of the resistance against the imperialist occupiers and national traitors. Let's show the world that the overwhelming majority of our people will take part in this resistance!
The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan is committed to use all its strength for the broader success of the campaign to boycott the presidential and local council elections of the puppet regime on the path of the struggle for to launch and wage the people's revolutionary war of national resistance against the imperialist occupiers and national traitors.
At the present time we invite all personalities, nationalists, democrats and revolutionary circles of the country to join us to organize and carry forward a struggle to advance the campaign to boycott this deceptive election show, based on a joint position and slogans.
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