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It was a scene straight out of the 1950s, but the year was 2017. Travis Allen, a Republican from southern California, took to the floor of the state assembly on 8 May to denounce communism. To allow subversives and avowed communists to now work for the state of California, he railed, is a direct insult to the people of California who pay for that government.

Allen was speaking out against a move to remove language from the California code that that bars members of the Communist party from holding government jobs in the state.

Anti-communist language remains on the books in several states, and in California at least, its not going anywhere. After facing backlash from Republicans, veterans and the Vietnamese American community, the bills sponsor, Democratic assemblyman Rob Bonta, announced last week that he would not move forward with the bill.

Ive been called a commie. Ive been told to go back to China. Ive had death threats, Bonta told the Guardian. He described as ironic and curious the fact that one of his Republican opponents was wrapping himself in the flag while supporting a law that blatantly violates our first amendment rights, but said he respected the emotions that the issue had raised for refugees from communist regimes.

With intrigue about Russia driving the daily news cycle, cold war sentiments are bubbling up again, despite the fact that our erstwhile adversary is decidedly capitalist these days. Its a marked reversal from just a year ago, when an astonishing number of Americans embraced the candidacy of a self-identified socialist, and a reminder of how deep anti-communist suspicion runs through the American psyche.

Bonta is not the first legislator to fail in an attempt to drag state laws into the 21st century. A similar effort was made in California in 2008, when a bill passed only to be vetoed by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. I see no compelling reason to change the law that maintains our responsibility to ensure that public resources are not used for purposes of overthrowing the US or state government, or for communist activities, the governor wrote in his veto statement.

Joe Fitzgibbon, a Democratic state representative in Washington, has attempted three times since 2012 to pass legislation getting rid of his states law barring communists from voting or having government jobs, but has faced considerable opposition from Republicans.

He called the law a mark of shame for Washington state in a recent interview with the Guardian, and said he will keep trying.

I wonder if now that Republicans have a different opinion on Russia, if maybe theyll be more receptive, he said. My hope is that they will change their tune on whether people should be discriminated against for their political beliefs. Maybe they can talk to their Russian friends about that.

Lest there be any misunderstanding: members of the Communist party are currently allowed to hold government jobs in every American state. Such laws were passed around the country during the so-called red scare of the 20th century, but they have long since been ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court.

Some states have managed to move on. Arizona lawmakers voted in 2003 to update the states loyalty oath. Now, instead of swearing they are not members of of the Communist party, elected officials and public employees must vow not to be terrorists. Candidates for elected office in Illinois still receive a loyalty oath when they register to run, but filling it out is optional. Pennsylvania stopped requiring candidates to sign a loyalty oath in 2006, after a Socialist Worker party candidate objected.

While these red scare relics can seem comical, Michael Risher of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said they can still have serious consequences. Occasionally someone will dredge them up and use them to try to scare people to stop them from speaking out, he said.

In 2006, he recalled, a California legislator asked the state attorney general whether an anti-subversive law could be used to go after Mexican American student activists. At the time, there was considerable rightwing suspicion about the student group MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztln) and its supposed goal of reconquista, or returning California and other parts of the south-west to Mexico.

The danger is not so much that someone will be sentenced to life in prison, but that they will be restrained from doing something that they would otherwise do, Risher said.

In New York City, a public school principal has been placed under investigation over allegations of recruiting students to join the Progressive Labor party, a communist group. The principal, Jill Bloomberg, is an outspoken critic of racial inequality in the school system, and she has sued the citys department of education for violating her civil rights.

Bloomberg accused the school district of using a tactic that people have used for years to discredit very, very legitimate anti-racist fight back: to cast it as communism, as if that automatically discredits it. She is not a member of the communist group, she said, but if I were, it would not be illegal or a violation of the schools regulation.

Either way, she said the investigation has placed a pall over her school, as teachers second-guess their ability to speak freely to their students. If youre teaching the Harlem renaissance and the civil rights movement, can you say Paul Robeson was proud to be a member of the Communist party? she asked. Or can you only talk about communism if you present it as a negative?

For Rossana Cambron, a national vice-chair of the Communist Party USA, which has about 5,000 members, the failure of Bontas bill was very disappointing. Still, she said, such efforts are in no way a priority.

Were too busy fighting Trump to be looking into those kind of things.

Read more here:
America's obsession with rooting out communism is making a comeback - The Guardian

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has called on people not to worry about a communist resurgence in the country because he said the government would not let the banned ideology return.

"We must overcome this issue about communism. All Golkar members must be deployed to help the government overcome this issue and we must ensure that there is no room for the growth of communism," the senior Golkar Party politician saidon Sunday during the party's national leadership meeting in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

(Read also:Government will not apologize for 1965 massacre)

"We can't bury the ideology. It will still exist, but ifthose people try to establish a political party or aim to change the country's ideology [of Pancasila], we have to [combat] that because that violates the Constitution," Luhut said.

Despite the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) having been banned for almost 50 years, Indonesian government, law enforcement and military officials are currently experiencing another surge of communist-phobia.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) has cracked down on people selling and wearing T-shirts bearing the hammer-and-sickle symbol and religious zealots have even forced Bank Indonesia to clarify that its signature recto-verso logo on new bank notes have nothing to do with the PKI.

The official fear has grown worse because of unfounded reports about huge numbers of Chinese workers coming into the country.

Luhut said that there were definitely many Chinese workers arriving along with Chinese investment and illegal workers were unavoidable. (wit)

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No room for communism: Luhut - Jakarta Post

May 19, 2017 7:22 PM

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) Rob Bonta is an East Bay assemblyman who thought he was introducing a simple bill.AB 22 would have removed part of California law that bans communists from working in state government.

While it hasnt been enforced in about 50 years, Bonta quickly learned that when it comes to communism, legislation is not that simple.

When asked if he was now or had ever been a member of the Communist party, Bonta replied with a laugh, Yeah, of course not.

But tell that to people on Facebook who wrote things like Rob Bonta wants communism in California!

Currently, California law says it is cause for dismissal to be a member of the communist party. But Bonta says its already meaningless

Thats because in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law barring members of the communist party from working in a defense facility. It said, the inhibiting effect on the exercise of first amendment rights is clear. So Californias law would also be unenforceable.

My original intent was this would be a technical cleanup bill, said Bonta. Take [out] unconstitutional language clearly deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court off of Californias law books. It turned into for some communities to be much more than that.

When it came time to present the bill on the floor of the State Assembly, some Republicans were strongly opposed.

Communism stands for everything that the United States stands against, said Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach). Were for freedom, were for justice. Were for democracy. Were for the rule of law. And communism is none of these things.

Bontas Democratic colleagues also had concerns and several didnt vote for the bill.

And then there were the Facebook posts dozens of them targeting Bonta with virulent criticism.

Go to a communist country if you want communism, read one. Stop communism, Stop Rob Bonta, read another. You are a traitor with all us soldiers.

In the end, Bonta decided the effort to clean up the law wasnt worth the pain it was causing veterans and Vietnamese Americans, so he pulled the bill

There have been experiences in certain communities experiences with communist regimes that are incredibly negative and very painful, said Bonta. So there were some vocal folks from those groups who came forward and you know, that spoke to me.

Bonta said he has no interest in re-introducing the bill, but that he will continue to talk to the offended groups to make sure they understand his intention was not to invite communists into state employment.

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East Bay Legislator Foiled In Effort To Remove Ban On Communists ... - CBS San Francisco Bay Area

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Earlier this month, Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) proposed AB 22, which passed the State Assembly on a narrow vote, over the objections of Republicans, particularly those representing the Vietnamese community in Southern California.

On Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, Bonta announced he was shelving the bill and apologized to veterans and people who fled the communist regime in Vietnam.

TheSacramento Bee quotes Bontas apology, which specifically mentioned the lobbying efforts of Californias Vietnamese community: Through my conversations with veterans and members of the Vietnamese American community, I heard compelling stories of how AB 22 caused real distress and hurt for proud and honorable people. For that, I am sorry.

Bontaspress statement added: I appreciate the candor and heartfelt expressions of concern. As a member of the State Assembly and throughout my career as a public servant, I know that listening is just as important as speaking. I have worked to bring communities together and promote the values of justice, inclusion, equity and opportunity.

Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), who had opposed the bill from the beginning,was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: This bill is blatantly offensive to all CaliforniansCommunism stands for everything that the United States stands against.

The withdrawal of the bill leaves intact state law that defines communism as a national threat: This world-wide revolutionary movement is predicated upon and it is designed and intended to carry into execution the basic precepts of communism as expounded by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the most influential people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author ofHow Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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South Vietnamese Defeat Communism in California - Breitbart News

OTTAWAA Canadian memorial to those who suffered and died under the yoke of communism came a step closer to fruition with the unveiling of the winning design for the monument on May 17.

The winner, titled Arc of Memory, was created by Toronto architect and artist Paul Raff and his team.

The $3 million cost of the memorial, whose full name is the Memorial to the Victims of Communism Canada, a Land of Refuge, will be shared between the federal government and Tribute to Liberty, the charity spearheading the project.

The chair of the group, Ludwik Klimkowski, said in an interview that finally having a design decided on is a major step forward and hes pleased with the jurys choice, calling it intriguing and interesting. He himself was one of the judges.

Canada has been shaped significantly by communist repression, Klimkowski noted. In particular, Canada opened its arms to people from around the world seeking refuge from the pain and suffering inflicted by evil communist regimes.

Arif Virani,parliamentary secretary to Heritage Minister Mlanie Joly

As many as eight million immigrants, descendants of immigrants, came from countries oppressed by communism, he said.

Raff said that approximately 100 million people worldwide lost their lives and suffered under communist regimes.

There have been murders, there have been rapes, there have been people stripped of their possessions, their privacy, security, liberty, their communications, and freedomthis is not something we accept, he said.

This is something we need to commemorate, recognize, and call it for what it is.We have an opportunity and we are doing it now through a creative vision and a physical memorial to express that, and that our heart goes out to the victims.

Toronto architect and artist Paul Raff and his team created Arc of Memory, the winning design for the victims of communism memorial. (NTD Television)

Consisting of 4,000 bronze rods configured into a gigantic arc, the winning design is intended as a dynamic living calendar that would commemorate moments of suffering and injustice that eventually resolve into reflection and gratitude, according to a Canadian Heritage press release.

It features two curving wall-like metal frames totalling 21 metres in length and almost 4metres in height. The walls support the bronze rods, which are densely arranged along 365 steel fins, each pointing at a unique angle of the sun to denote every hour of every day over the span of a year.

There are more than 4,000 daylight hours in a year, and so every moment the entire calendar year is made visible and tangible, is given a sort of form, so that any moment in history, the anniversary of that can be identified, Raff explains.

This is the moment that the Berlin Wall fell, this is the moment that tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, on this day in history.That is when it happened.Through anniversaries, that is how it keeps these memories alive.

The winner was chosen from a shortlist of five designs, the theme being the flight from oppressive regimes to the openness and democracy of Canada.

The announcement of the winning design wasmade at the Canadian Museum of Historyby ArifVirani, parliamentary secretary to Canadian Heritage Minister MlanieJoly.

I am confident that this design will honour the millions ofCanadianswho fled injustice and suffered under repressive communist regimes. This memorial will be a tribute both to those who fled and to theCanadianswho welcomed them into our beautiful country, Virani said.

The victims of communism memorial will sit in a corner of the Garden of the Provinces and Territories near Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (Gerry Smith/NTD Television)

The memorial will be built on a site on the west side of the Garden of the Provinces and Territories in downtown Ottawa. Construction will begin this year and is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2018.

This being the year Canada celebrates its 150th birthday, its a fitting time for construction to start on the memorial, Klimkowski said.

For a lot of immigrants like myself who came to this country, the Memorial to the Victims of Communism gives them an opportunity to say thank you to their fellow Canadians, especially during this year, the 150th birthday of Canadian history.

Raff said the memorial will serve as a reminder to future generations of the crimes of communism.

To commemorate the victims is to carry forward a message to future generations about the reality, the historical reality, of whats happened and what continues to happen, in a way that is striking and emotionally compellingstriking for them, for future generations.

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Winning Design for Victims of Communism Memorial Unveiled - The Epoch Times