Middle East

Iranian workers demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to genocide and repression

Fires blaze in Tehran

18 June 2025 The decision by Netanyahu to escalate the brutal genocide of Gaza by launching new and unprecedented attacks on Iran has dramatically increased the danger of an all-out regional war raging across the Middle East.  Fast shifting events are taking place, with the situation changing on an hourly basis. Already it is clear that there is significant loss of life, particularly in Iran, and huge material and environmental damage – especially with oil and gas supplies being targeted. On top of this is the real danger of a nuclear catastrophe.  The potential for further escalation and for unpredictable, dangerous consequences is implicit in the threats uttered by Trump, who is demanding the immediate capitulation of Iran, and is discussing the use of US air forces to support the Israeli military. Over the last 48 hours, Trump has called on the residents of Tehran to flee, argued he knows where the Ayatollah Khamenei is “hiding”, and deployed military aircraft and warships into the region.  The attack on Iran also conveniently shifts attention away from the genocide in Gaza where the daily massacres and humiliation of the starving masses — over 300 people have been slaughtered and more than 2,000 wounded while trying to collect aid from the US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since May 26 — merits little more than a passing comment from the rulers and media outlets of the imperialist powers.  Indeed the statement by Macron, Starmer and Carney in mid-May criticising the attacks of the food aid convoys have been quickly forgotten as once again, the western powers have swung behind Netanyahu. Starmer has already sent fighter jets to the region ready for action if needed.  As public pressure, fueled by the harrowing images of deliberately starved children, mounted and began to create visible cracks and shifts in tone within Western governments, it is clear that the timing of Israel’s attack on Iran was no coincidence; it was designed, in part, to disrupt that momentum and restore a degree of consensus among key allies by resurrecting the narrative of the Israeli state’s supposed victimhood. False claims As if mirroring the attack by western powers on Iraq in 2003, with its non-existent weapons of mass destruction, the ongoing barrage of attacks started on Friday (the Israeli military itself claims it has hit 1,100 targets in Iran in 5 days) is based on the spurious claim of the imminent production and use against Israel of nuclear bombs.  Netanyahu has partly built his political career on claiming that Iran was on the point of producing nuclear weapons – in 1992 he claimed the regime was only three to five years away…and he has been making the same claim, as well as urging military intervention, for over 33 years. Yet in recent months an IAEA report concluded that it had “no credible indications of an ongoing, undeclared structured nuclear programme” and the US Director of National Intelligence has discounted the idea that Iran was involved in a nuclear weapons programme. Ironically, as a result of the attacks, the Iranian regime is now threatening to leave the NPT, or nuclear non-proliferation treaty. By leaving the NPT, Iran would no longer be obliged to forgo nuclear weapons or to accept international inspections.  Rather than preventing the Iranian regime from going nuclear, this attack is providing it the strongest incentive to do just that. As for the official claim that these attacks would enhance the security of ordinary Israeli citizens, it is fundamentally undermined by the deadly missile retaliations launched by Iran in response, which have directly harmed civilians within Israel —including Palestinian citizens living within the ‘48 borders, many of whom are excluded from access to the country’s bomb shelters.  Trump jumps on bandwagon With the Israelis apparently winning aerial dominance, Trump seems to be now more explicitly jumping on the bandwagon to claim credit, although he changes his position from day to day. Trump now says that the Iranians should negotiate, forgetting the fact that there was already a programme of negotiations underway which Israel’s actions effectively torpedoed. Echoing the way in which Israel killed Hamas leader and Chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh last year to delay peace talks, the recent attacks against Iran have targeted Iran’s nuclear negotiators. Israel has clearly not been interested in negotiations at all as they deem violence and destruction to be the most effective method of changing the regional balance of forces more decisively  in their direction.  And it shouldn’t be forgotten that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the so-called Iran nuclear deal, was the result of a painstaking process of negotiation between Iran and the US, China, Russia and other countries, which was sabotaged in 2018 during his first term when Trump unilaterally abandoned US involvement with the support of Netanyahu and the right wing in the US and Israel. Much of the brutal strategy adopted by the Israeli military in Iran follows the Gaza playbook. It is not just military and nuclear sites that are attacked, but key infrastructural facilities, including telecommunications, television and radio and energy as well as a hospital in western Iran, all of which directly impact on ordinary peoples’ lives. And ordinary workers with no stake in the regime live by or work on these facilities, as cleaners, technicians, secretaries, and they are now paying for this with their lives. Meanwhile, echoing events in Gaza, millions of residents of Tehran are told by the Israeli regime to flee for their lives. What of the sick or the old? And what will be left of their neighbourhoods if and when they return? Trump now repeats the call, grotesquely suggesting that he does so out of concern for saving life. Israel seeks more than just an end to the uranium enrichment process. The aim is to degrade Iran’s overall military capability, especially the missile programme, as well as seeking the disbandment of the militias linked to the Iranian regime.  The logic is to exploit the window of opportunity

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Interview with Iranian socialist feminist activist

Women in Tehran protest Israeli strikes

18 June 2025 After 620 days of aggression and genocide in Palestine, the genocidal state of Israel drove the region further into despair and instability by launching attacks against Iran. Our comrade Shayda, an Iranian socialist feminist activist currently living outside Iran, answered some questions that give an insight to the situation. PRMI: First of all, solidarity with you, your friends, and family and all those in Iran living through this devastating and traumatic time. I can only imagine the fear, horror and anxiety people are living in right now. What is the current mood in Iran?  Shayda: Tehran, with just above 17 million inhabitants (London and New York City combined), is the second largest metropolitan area in the Middle East, making the evacuation orders (read: methods of psychological warfare) all the less realistic. Additionally, the most exploited layers of the working class who are already struggling to put food on the table, cannot stop working for even a day which means they are unable to evacuate. This inability to evacuate also extends to prisoners, disabled people or those with immediate medical needs such as chemotherapy and dialysis, and those with pets. Furthermore, fuel and gas are being rationed which makes evacuation more difficult, and even impossible for those living in farther cities. And finally, Israel has also been bombing roads out of Tehran – a tactic straight out of their Gaza handbook. “I’m scared of evacuation. All I can think about is Palestinian people who held onto their keys for decades and never returned.” This was one of the very first messages I received from my best friend in Iran after the attacks. Her family had to evacuate a few hours after this. The mood is somber, filled with terror, and uncertain. But Iranians are a resilient bunch, and I hope they persevere. PRMI: There is a lot of propaganda from the Zionist regime on the purpose of these attacks and who they target. What is the goal of Israel’s attacks?  Shayda:The illegitimate, genocidal, and bloodthirsty state of Israel has long craved a regional war and a ‘Greater Israel’. Israel has no interest in ‘freeing Iran’, and they made that abundantly clear less than 24 hours after the first attack, with tweets so clearly out of their Gaza handbook, stating anyone who does not condemn the Iranian regime is complicit in the deaths of Israeli civilians and will be attacked by Israel. First, they wanted Palestinian people to use their dying breath to condemn Hamas, then they wanted Lebanese people to make dying declarations condemning Hezbollah, and now it’s Iran’s turn.  Furthermore, Netanyahu claims to be preventing a “nuclear holocaust” by attacking Iran while having already dropped the equivalent of 6 nukes on Gaza. On top of that, Israel has been saying Iran is dangerously close to obtaining nuclear weapons since the 1980s, this is all a ruse. What were ‘tunnels’ and ‘human shields’ in Gaza, are now ‘military bases’ and ‘nuclear sites’ in Iran. For decades, civilians have paid and continue to pay the price of imperialist divisions and wars in Palestine, and now they will in Iran, too.  Additionally, I think these attacks are serving as a mask off moment for Israel among ordinary Iranians whose abuse by the Iranian regime has led them to Zionism, and non-vocal support for Palestine in fear of their solidarity being co-opted by the regime that oppresses them. It has also been preyed upon by opportunist, pro-Zionist royalists for decades – attempting to brainwash them into thinking their enemy’s enemy is their friend. But it is becoming clear to the world and to Iranians that Israel’s ultimate dream is to exterminate innocent civilians across the Middle East and drive the region into a full-blown, further destabilising war, and no country can ever be bombed into freedom. And of course, we have seen how such attempts and imperialist interventions pan out before: in Iraq, in Syria, in Libya, in Afghanistan, etc. – dictators more ruthless than before, infrastructures non-existent, and lives lost, worlds ruined.   PRMI: Iran has retaliated. It’s understandable that after more than 600 days of Israel’s unrelenting genocide many will cheer on any potential blow against the Zionist regime. But what do you say to those on the left who see the Iranian state as a genuine form of resistance?  Shayda: I want to preface this by saying there is a big difference between the problematic cheerleading of the Islamic Republic (IR) by many on the global left and the celebrations by people affected in the region, especially in Gaza. In the context of the endless horrors of occupation and genocide and the fact that Arab regimes have not only abandoned Palestinians but are actively complicit in the extermination campaign we have to understand why any perceived blow against Israel would be welcomed and applauded. But then there are many on the global left commenting from afar who theorise and defend this as the IR being a bastion of anti-imperialism – they are my audience here. I think ironically the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality is peeking through here as well. As those residing in the belly of the beast that is imperialism and neo-colonialism, we must not forget how this regime came to power by hijacking a workers’ revolution and has done everything in its power to ruin the Iranian left, and any voices of dissent, in the decades that have followed. Activists, scholars, and ordinary people are still missing, assumed dead as a result of the 1988 Mass Executions which systematically targeted leftists and revolutionaries. Political prisoners taken hostage at various points during this regime’s rule are still being tortured in their prisons. And the courageous people who took it to the streets in 2022 and during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” revolt are still paying the price: some blinded by the regime’s rubber bullets, some imprisoned for decades, and some given the death penalty. On top of this, the IR is actively occupying and oppressing people

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“Caravan of Steadfastness” heads to Gaza to break the siege

Caravan currently waiting permission to proceed as it waits in the Libyan desert

13 June 2025 North Africa’s ‘Soumoud’ caravan, or “Caravan of Steadfastness” is currently heading to Rafah to break the siege on Gaza. It emerged in an extremely complex context, amid the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. It represents a unique event —not just a humanitarian gesture, but a defiant response to the deafening silence and ongoing complicity of the Arab rulers in the face of the relentless massacre of the Palestinians. It serves as a message of pressure, sent by the Tunisian masses and the wider public across North Africa to decision-makers in Arab governments.  From the beginning, this initiative was rooted in a continuation of a series of mobilizations that erupted across the region after October 7, 2023. Though it carries only symbolic aid like some medicine, food, and clothing, its primary goal is political: to confront state collaboration and help bring an end to the catastrophe in Gaza. At the time of writing, the caravan is near the western Egyptian border, on the Libyan side, making its way toward the Rafah crossing to contribute to breaking the Israeli-led —but also Egyptian-enforced— siege on Gaza, especially after the obstinance of the Zionist government and its ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing. How did coordination and preparation for this caravan begin? What are its expected goals? This caravan is part of the broader international solidarity effort known as the Global March to Gaza, called for by voices from all over the world standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people—who are killed, starved, besieged, and brutalized on a daily basis. Even worse is the silence, betrayal, and permissiveness of global powers, who continue supplying weapons that are used to murder innocent children and civilians—whose only “crime” is their attachment to their land and their right to live. We might call this the Maghreb Caravan, as it includes a significant number of people who set off from Algiers on June 8. They were proudly and enthusiastically received upon reaching the Algerian-Tunisian border, and then joined the Tunisian caravan in the heart of the capital to proceed toward the border crossing between Tunisia and Libya in the early hours of June 9. Preparations for the caravan began over three weeks before its launch, a relatively short period but sufficient to complete all logistical arrangements that could otherwise delay its journey. To clarify, and in light of today’s confusion and conflicting reports on whether the caravan will be allowed to enter Egyptian territory, the Coordinating Committee for Joint Action to Free Palestine officially submitted a request from Tunisia to the Egyptian embassy to facilitate the caravan’s passage toward the Rafah crossing. The main idea was that people from all walks of life decided to participate in this symbolic solidarity action by traveling through Libya and Egypt to reach Rafah by the scheduled date of June 15, joining other caravans and solidarity delegations arriving by land, sea, and air. Thanks to social media and the rapid spread of the idea, coordination was made with activists and volunteers interested in joining. As noted, it was agreed to wait for the Algerian caravan to merge with the Tunisian one before heading to Libya and then Egypt—hoping to reach besieged Gaza, break the blockade, and deliver much-needed aid: food, water, and medical supplies that have been stuck near the border for a very long time. The caravan has been met with widespread public support since the early morning of June 9 at major assembly points throughout Tunisia. According to statistics from the Coordinating Committee for the Defense of Palestine, over 1,500 people are participating—many of them prominent activists from labor unions and human rights organizations, such as the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET), the Bar Association, and others. The caravan also includes doctors and medical personnel, in case emergency care is needed on the long journey. This is not just a Tunisian caravan—it includes people from across North Africa. If they are allowed to continue, they are likely to receive significant support in Egypt, where hundreds more are expected to join them in solidarity. All those who joined or supported the caravan did so voluntarily, driven by deep belief in the Palestinian cause. They carry, every day, the anguish and tragedy of their siblings who have endured hunger, bombings, and genocide for two years. Their decision was to uphold justice and add their voice to the global movement heading toward the Rafah crossing, saying “Enough!” to the genocide and joining this international call to act. The participants and supporters of this caravan strongly believe in its potential to effect change. They see their initiative as a step toward awakening dead consciences in the region, rekindling determination, and strengthening the daily struggle against Zionist oppression—toward lifting the siege once and for all. What has the caravan achieved so far, even before reaching the Egyptian border? In just the past two days, the caravan has covered over 1,500 kilometers. Many have asked about the conditions on the ground. One can respond by pointing to the long history of solidarity between peoples. Many lessons have been learned about mutual support and cooperation. Since entering Libyan territory, the caravan has not had to pay for vehicle fuel or phone charging costs (for internet access and communication). Solidarity has been overwhelming—both materially and morally—including facilitation of movement. These acts of support show how artificial the borders are, and how capitalist governments have failed—subservient to colonial powers and determined to repress their peoples, even denying them the right to move freely. Now, having reached the outskirts of Benghazi, near the Egyptian border—and after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s statement two days ago—the caravan has slowed down. Reports say Egyptian authorities have deployed reinforcements at the border with Libya to block the Caravan, and have been demanding that participants present visa applications before being allowed to proceed. At the time of writing, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime has still not granted permission to the “Caravan of Steadfastness” to

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Marxist approach to the struggle for Palestinian Liberation

Woman holds Palestinian flag on shoulders of other demonstrators

By Eddie McCabe & Donal Devlin, Socialist Party Ireland. 9 June 2025 Palestinian socialist and writer Ghassan Kanafani described the Palestinian struggle as “a cause of the exploited and oppressed masses in our era.” These are apt words. The unrelenting horror in Gaza has laid bare the depravity of capitalism today. That a veritable holocaust could happen in the 21st century, with live-streamed massacres almost daily, has exposed all of the hypocrisy, shamelessness and inhumanity of the system and its leading representatives, particularly among the Western imperialist ruling class. The world will never be the same again after this genocide. People across the world have been awakened to political action. Tens of millions have mobilised in solidarity with Palestine. The savagery being inflicted on a defenceless population crammed into a small, blockaded strip of land has been met with a global protest movement not seen since the Vietnam War. The occupation of Palestine is one of global capitalism’s fault lines, serving to radicalise and educate many as to who is ultimately on the side of freedom and justice in our world and who is not. Repression of a movement Throughout it all there has been an uninterrupted flow of arms to the Israeli State from the United States and Europe. Multinational corporations, the giant household name monopolies, are directly complicit in the genocide. Google and Amazon have competed to provide the Israeli military with AI and cloud tools, which it has used with lethal effect against Gaza’s civilian population, including children. In the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians face a new wave of mass displacement, the largest of its kind since the occupation began in 1967, companies like Hewlett Packard and Microsoft have provided the occupiers with the technology to engage in mass surveillance of its populace. Facebook has platformed more than 100 advertise-ments promoting settlements and far-right settler activity.1 The capitalist media – from the BBC, RTÉ, The Irish Times, The New York Times, CNN, and many more – largely act to either under-report, justify, minimise or contextualise the actions of the Israeli State. They sanitise the dynamics of the genocide by refusing to even use the word to describe this appalling campaign of state terror, nor even words like ‘massacres’, ‘atrocities’ or ‘war crimes’. They promote a narrative that two equal sides exist in this ‘conflict’. This wilfully ignores the blatant asymmetry that characterises the relationship between the high-tech, highly militarised, nuclear-armed Israeli State and a dispossessed, impoverished, traumatised people: the Palestinians. Imperialist support for Israel’s agenda has meant a clamping down on basic democratic rights in many so-called democracies in the West. In the US, the recent cruel kidnapping by ICE agents of Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian refugee whose wife is expecting a baby in April, is one blatant example of this. Khalil was one of the main organisers of the solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York City in 2024. His arrest, which Donald Trump publicly boasted about, is designed to create a chilling effect on the broader Palestine solidarity movement. Further arrests and threats of deportation, such as those of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri and Cornell student Momodou Taal, have followed. All of this comes in the wake of the brutal repression of the encampments last year, with thousands of students expelled or suspended from their courses. The scale of pro-Zionist censorship in the US was illustrated by the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land failing to receive a distributor in the US. A Florida mayor went so far as to threaten to close down a cinema in Miami Beach for showing it.2 In Germany, the second-largest exporter of weapons to Israel, the state has engaged in an unprecedented level of suppression of Palestine solidarity protests, targeted in particular against migrants, Muslims and people of colour – arresting activists, banning protests, raiding and forcibly breaking up meetings. This is what happened during a public meeting featuring Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Occupied Territories, an outspoken critic of the genocide. Two Irish citizens are among four foreign nationals facing deportation at the time of writing because of their Palestine solidarity activity. Demonstrators have even been arrested for chanting and speaking in Arabic at a protest in Berlin. Germany’s citizenship law was amended to require new citizens to affirm Israel’s ‘right to exist’. Meanwhile, there is a rush by governments to adopt the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism, which, in essence, equates this vile prejudice with any criticism of the Zionist State. This includes the Irish State, as the government in the South scrambles to prove its pro-Zionist credentials to the Trump administration. Likewise, the government has ditched its commitment to support the Occupied Territories Bill, a basic measure that would ban goods and services from the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The arrest of women from the group Mothers Against Genocide (some of whom were outrageously strip-searched) who were peacefully protesting outside the Dáil at the end of March is a warning that the Irish State is willing to follow the example of other repressive states if it can get away with it. Settler colonialism Western imperialist support for the existence of a client Zionist state in the Middle East has a long history. As far back as 1839, senior Tory politician Lord Shaftesbury, in an article in The Times, wrote of the need for a homeland for Jews in Palestine, speaking of an “Earth without people – people without land”. This was the perpetuation of a myth that Palestine was a desolate land and, therefore, could be easily populated by Jewish migration. A variant of this phrase – “a land without a people for a people without a land” – became the Zionist movement’s rallying cry, notably in Theodor Hertzl’s 1896 pamphlet The Jewish State. This notion consciously ignored the existence of the Palestinian Arab population. It became the justification for ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their land to build a Jewish majority state, a

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Trump-fuelled Israeli genocidal war machine shatters ceasefire in Gaza

Building in Gaza ablaze after new Israeli attacks

By Serge Jordan, PRMI. 19 March 2025 In the dead of night, in the midst of Ramadan, the Israeli regime resumed its mass bombing of Gaza, obliterating any remaining semblance of holding onto what was already an increasingly precarious and threatened ceasefire. The claim that Israel merely targeted Hamas operatives in this new barrage of airstrikes is a repugnant whitewashing of industrial-scale slaughter. The latest reports indicate that at least 400 people were massacred across the Strip, including over 170 children, and many victims are still under the rubble. Entire families were wiped out from existence.  For over two weeks before yesterday’s full-blown torpedoing of the ceasefire, Israel had cut off electricity supplies and blocked all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza—no food, water, fuel, or medicine was allowed in. This total blockade was imposed just minutes after the first phase of the cease-fire had formally expired on March 2. As a direct result, the already widespread hunger deepened, with UN rapporteurs calling it “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history.”  Over the past two months of ‘ceasefire’ —which brought relative relief for the population of Gaza after one and a half years of relentless bloodshed— sporadic Israeli airstrikes had also continued. In total, at least 150 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza during that period (an average of three people every 24 hours), mostly through sniper and drone attacks. Across the region, Israel’s war machine never rested either. The Israeli military launched repeated airstrikes on Lebanon and seized on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December to go on a bombing spree in Syria while expanding territorial land grabs in the south. Creeping “Gazaification” In the West Bank, a creeping “Gazaification” has displaced over 40,000 Palestinians and killed hundreds in near-daily military raids. Even as the renewed slaughter in Gaza rages on, the last 48 hours saw a non-ending attack on villages around Hebron and Tulkarm. Moreover, while it is reported that nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been released from Israeli (torture) jails in recent weeks, over 15,640 have been arrested in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Yet the full resumption of the bombardment of Gaza marks the beginning of a new, potentially even bloodier phase. Israel has issued mass evacuation orders for the entire border of the Gaza Strip, designated a “dangerous zone”. Netanyahu, the genocidal warmonger-in-chief, stated that this new assault was “only the beginning” —making clear that from his government’s perspective, this is intended as more than a short-lived pressurising tactic. This is also indicated by the fact that former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose Jewish Power party had left the government in January over the ceasefire deal, has been triumphantly brought back into the war cabinet. Netanyahu’s blood-drenched regime has predictably attempted to blame the collapse of the ceasefire on Hamas. In reality, Hamas had complied with all the terms of the deal’s first phase. The truth is that Netanyahu was opposed to the second phase of the deal from the outset, as it included a ‘permanent’ ceasefire and required a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza —terms that, if implemented, would have precipitated the fall of his far-right coalition.  Israeli officials repeatedly stated that they would not withdraw unless Hamas was completely dismantled. They demanded the release of all remaining hostages while simultaneously sabotaging any transition to phase two (which was supposed to bring about their return). In other words, they were making up new conditions as they go, effectively demanding Hamas’s unilateral and complete surrender, and attempting to decouple the release of the hostages from any commitment to end the genocide.  It is clear that the Israeli regime cynically exploited the initial phase of the ceasefire only to derail it when it no longer served its interests. It used it to extract as many hostages as possible to try and diminish the domestic political backlash in its pursuit of the genocide. Now that the space for this maneuver has been exhausted, the bombs have started falling again, with the full blessing of the Trump administration. Trump’s role in greenlighting the slaughter Trump’s administration was fully consulted prior to the attacks, as confirmed by the White House. The new US President has emboldened Israel’s extermination campaign not just through direct coordination and by flooding the Israeli state with billions in new weapons, but also by waging an unprecedented domestic crackdown on the Gaza solidarity movement.  His executive order allowing for the arrest and deportation of visa holders protesting Israeli policies, the arrest of Palestine solidarity organiser Mahmoud Khalil, and the threats to cut funding to universities that don’t toe the line —all these moves are designed to create a chilling effect amongst those opposing the genocide, and provide Israel with a freer hand to “finish the job”, as Trump himself put it. His open, uninhibited endorsement of the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip has provided additional steroids to the most rabid factions of the Israeli ruling class for this latest war drive. This new US-backed Israeli rampage has come alongside a parallel military escalation in Yemen. In response to the humanitarian blockade of Gaza, the Houthis had announced the resumption of their disruption of shipping routes in the Red Sea. The Trump administration lashed out in response, launching dozens of airstrikes on Yemen over the weekend —the largest US attack on Yemen in years— killing scores of civilians. The masks have fallen. Trump’s earlier self-styled posturing as a “deal-maker” and “peacemaker” lies already in tatters, as he embraces the more ‘classical’ role of directing naked US military aggression. This marks a turning point: his campaign rhetoric about ending “forever wars” is now dramatically colliding with reality, and even parts of his electoral base will be taking note.  In retaliation to the US attacks, the Houthis struck a US aircraft carrier operating in the region. Trump’s administration has vowed to keep bombing Yemen until all attacks on international shipping cease —while holding Iran directly responsible for “every

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Free Mahmoud Khalil! Free Palestine! End the genocide now!

Mahmoud Khalil

Editorial from the latest issue of The Socialist, Ireland. 14 March 2025 As we go to print, Mahmoud Khalil, a key organiser of the Palestine solidarity encampment in Columbia University in New York City, has been arrested and is being threatened with deportation from the United States. This is despite possessing a Green Card, giving him a legal entitlement to reside there. He is married to a US citizen, and the couple are expecting their first child in April. Mahmoud’s arrest and subsequent detention in Louisiana (1,000 miles from his home in New York), flows from one of Trump’s noxious executive orders to deport foreign-born Palestine solidarity activists – outrageously cloaking it in opposition to anti-Semitism.  Mahmoud is a Palestinian refugee born in Syria whose grandparents fled Palestine after the 1948 Nakba, when 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their historic homeland by Zionist militias. Trump has said that his arrest and deportation is the “first of many to come”. Along with his many other racist and draconian measures, he is now ratcheting up a vindictive witch-hunt against the Palestine solidarity movement. This is designed to create a chilling effect and silence voices against the Gaza genocide.  Opposition grows  However, attempts to deport Mahmoud have already been met with active opposition in the form of protests involving tens of thousands, two days after his arrest by ICE – the state agency tasked with enforcing the deportation of migrants. Within a day of its launch, over two million signed a petition demanding his release, and a federal court has temporarily blocked it, reflecting the pressure of this public outcry. Attempts to silence anti-Zionist dissent in the US are not new. In 2007, author and activist Norman Finkelstein was effectively removed from his job in St. Paul University in Chicago and has remained blacklisted ever since. More recently, on Joe Biden’s watch, encampments such as those in Columbia and other campuses were brutally repressed by police last year. Thousands were arrested, and many student protestors were expelled or suspended from their courses. More broadly, numerous states across the US have introduced legislation that seeks to criminalise the advocacy of BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions) against the Israeli State. This is part of a disturbing global trend, with many capitalist states that back Israeli apartheid and genocide dispensing with any pretences to uphold democratic rights in their crackdown on Palestine solidarity activists. Notably, in Germany, the second largest exporter of arms to Israel, the state has engaged in widespread arrests and intimidation. Shortly after the genocide commenced in October 2023, 600 were arrested on Palestine solidarity protests in a two-week period. The genocide continues  The deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is taking place as the genocide in Gaza continues. On the surface, a fragile ceasefire remains in place. However, conditions for the two million deeply traumatised people in the Strip remain unbearable. Food and medicines are blocked from entering this open-air prison, and electricity has been cut off. Basic foodstuffs are becoming increasingly scarce and unaffordable, while only 10% of the population can access clean, safe water. The United Nations is once again warning of the real threat of famine. Trump’s obscene pronouncements to ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” have emboldened Netanyahu’s government to turn the screws on the Palestinian people. In the occupied West Bank, an estimated 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes by the Israeli Occupying Forces, the largest such dispossession since the beginning of the occupation in 1967. The “Gazafication” of the West Bank Major restrictions have been placed on the freedom of movement of Palestinians; work permits for those working within the Green Line have been revoked, and farmers are denied access to their land. Mass arrests are taking place, while new torture centres in the form of detention camps are springing up. What is now being called the “Gazafication” of the West Bank is taking place as airstrikes are hitting civilian areas, including vital infrastructure such as sewage, road and electricity networks, while housing demolition continues apace. For the first time since 2002, tanks have entered the West Bank to beef up the military occupation. Supporting genocide in Palestine and clamping down on democratic rights at home sums up the approach of Western capitalist leaders in the last 16 months of horror. The struggle to tear down the occupation and the Israeli apartheid state is bound up with the struggle to end the rule of their system of capitalism and imperialism globally. In the face of the unimaginable horrors we’re witnessing, we urge all our readers to join the struggle for revolutionary socialist change today. 

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Syria: Horrific sectarian violence flares—but workers show another way

By Serge Jordan, 11 March 2025 The last few days in Syria have brought another grim chapter in the country’s long and bloody crisis. More than 1,000 people, the majority civilians, were slaughtered in the western coastal areas in three days of clashes and sectarian revenge killings.  The gruesome images of executions have flooded social media, showing men forced to crawl and bark like dogs before being shot, bodies left in the streets as warnings. They paint a chilling picture of the brutality unleashed in this latest round of power struggles in Syria. These massacres erupted after Assad loyalist gunmen launched a series of attacks on the security forces of the newly ascendant Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). They targeted government checkpoints, security convoys, and military positions in the Latakia and Tartus provinces —the heartland of the Alawite minority to which Assad himself belongs.   This set off a wave of reprisals that rapidly spiraled out of control. Armed supporters of the HTS-led government flooded into the coastal regions, unleashing a wave of revenge killings. They targeted not only Assad’s remaining armed supporters but entire Alawite communities— indiscriminately hunted down and portrayed as supporters of the toppled regime.  Villages were looted and torched. Entire families were killed. Many residents, fleeing for their lives, sought refuge at the Russian military base in Hmeymim, Latakia. As these atrocities unfolded, some media outlets —like Al Jazeera— chose the language of obfuscation. The butchery is being downplayed as mere “fighting between security forces and fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad.”  While this framing is not entirely false, the dominant reality—massacres driven by sectarian vengeance—is largely sidestepped in favor of a narrative aligned with the geopolitical interests of those seeking friendly relations with the new regime. Assad’s sectarian legacy  There is no question that pro-Assad forces played a role in fanning the flames of this crisis. The now-deposed regime long relied on sectarian manipulation as a tool of rule. They embedded Alawites into its security and military apparatus while fueling fears of Sunni Islamist domination to justify mass killings, forced displacements, and the arming of sectarian militias like the notorious Shabiha.  This strategy created deep-seated animosities that reactionary elements on all sides now exploit. Assad’s remnants know all too well how blowing on the embers of sectarian tensions bolsters their claim as the sole ‘protectors’ of Syria’s minorities.  However, to paint the massacres of Alawite civilians as merely a backlash against old regime remnants is to excuse what turned into a campaign of sectarian terror by HTS and its ilk. The idea that all Alawites are culpable for Assad’s crimes is a grotesque inversion of justice, one that reproduces the same sectarian logic of collective punishment that his regime perfected to maintain its rule.  Most Alawites were not part of Assad’s ruling elite, which was dominated by a narrow clique of regime loyalists, security chiefs and business cronies. The majority lived in poverty, working as farmers, laborers, or low-ranking state employees. Many were forcibly conscripted into Assad’s military, sent to die in battles they had no stake in, while dissenting Alawites were silenced.  HTS’s double game HTS’s response to these events has laid bare the contradictions of Syria’s ‘new order.’ Its leader, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani (Ahmed al-Sharaa), originally all but endorsed the massacres in a video statement: “Remnants of the ousted regime tried to test the new Syria without understanding it, and today they are relearning Syria.”  He also declared that “What is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges,” which can only be read as an attempt to downplay and normalize the atrocities—dismissing them as little more than some routine turbulence. These remarks reveal HTS’s readiness to condone sectarian violence as a means of consolidating its rule, despite its efforts to present itself as a legitimate governing force. The ruling faction remains also reliant on radical Salafist elements that have no interest in ending the pattern of sectarian divisions.  At the same time, Jolani and his allies are aware that the new regime must maintain a veneer of ‘inclusivity’, ‘peace’ and ‘order’ to court Western and regional imperialist backers. Thus, they have announced an ‘independent inquiry’ into the massacres and vowed accountability for those responsible—a move meant to provide public insurance to external players and contain internal dissent, while changing nothing in practice. Yet these external players have themselves spent years fueling Syria’s destruction. Indeed, what is unfolding is also a byproduct of relentless interference, militarization, and proxy intervention by imperialist and regional powers.  The U.S., Russia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, the Gulf states have all sought to carve out their own spheres of influence, alimenting sectarian divisions in the process. Their competing agendas have entrenched the warlordism and sectarianism that continues to strangle Syria today. Between hammer and anvil The country’s crisis will not end so long as its people remain trapped between the hammer of sectarian-reactionary ruling forces and the anvil of Assadist reaction. The logic of these forces is one of endless vengeance, a dynamic that serves the interests of none but these cliques and their international patrons.  As long as security remains monopolized by such forces, the Syrian people will remain vulnerable to both repression and reactionary terror. Breaking this cycle urgently requires organizing cross-sectarian grassroots self-defense —in neighborhoods, villages, communities and workplaces—independent of the ruling warlords, sectarian militias, and Assadist remnants.  Reports of spontaneous acts of solidarity—such as local Sunnis protecting Alawis from the massacre—offer a hopeful glimpse of what is possible. But without a conscious effort to develop these initiatives into a structured force, they risk remaining isolated and ultimately ineffective against the power of sectarian factions. Self-defense must be consciously built, coordinated, and rooted in democratic control by local committees.  Such structures could enable communities to protect themselves against sectarian violence as well as the new regime’s repression, while rejecting the logic of collective punishment. By taking security into their own hands, the Syrian masses can prevent their country from being torn apart by the forces

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Trump’s abhorrent plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza

By Socialist Party Ireland reporters, 6 February 2025 The Gaza genocide is continuing. Trump has announced an outrageous plan for the wholesale ethnic cleansing of its two million Palestinians, even hinting that US troops may be used to enforce this. As if talking about one of his corrupt land deals, he announced the US would now own this small Strip of land and turn it into the “Riviera” of the Middle East. His comments have provoked outrage and shock among ordinary people globally. This statement was made with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu by his side, with a stomach-turning look of satisfaction on his face. Despite the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) charges of war crimes against him, Netanyahu was given the prestigious prize of being the foreign leader to be invited to Washington under the Trump presidency. This was a clear signal to the Israeli Government that it could continue to act with impunity in its murderous rampage against the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, etc. It comes after Trump appointed Elise Stefanic as the US ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanic has argued that Israel has a biblical right to the lands of the West Bank. Moreover, the new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has stated that “there really is no such thing as a Palestinian.”  All of this is an attempt to further normalise and legitimise the genocidal terror the Israeli State has unleashed on Gaza and the Occupied West Bank since October 2023. It means Netanyahu will feel little compulsion to stick to the ceasefire deal. It further demonstrates why the Palestine solidarity movement must remain an active and mobilised force globally, including significant escalations of industrial action by workers, particularly against the export of weapons to Israel. Normalising genocide It is shameful that in light of this, the Irish Government remains committed to ditching the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods and services from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – prostrating itself in front of Trump and US multinationals who are deemed more essential than the rights and lives of Palestinians. It goes without saying that they plan to rock up to Washington DC on St. Patrick’s Day to present the bowl of Shamrock to this fascistic President Trump, as they did last year with Genocide Joe. Again, we need mass pressure to demand the OTB is implemented and that there is no green-washing of Trump in March.  Trump’s comments illustrate that his administration is abandoning even verbal support a ‘two-state solution,’ much to the delight of Netanyahu’s government. They want to smash the national aspirations of Palestinians in their entirety, not even allowing them a state on a small slice of their historic homeland. For decades now, support for a two-state settlement has been the stated position of imperialist and capitalist states internationally, while previous administrations under Biden, Obama and Bush have given nominal, vacuous nods to it. This section of the US ruling class will be annoyed that Trump has abandoned giving lip service to Palestinian rights, as it will further undermine its standing in the Middle East and the Global South, given that it has already been undermined massively for its support for the genocide. Of course, Western imperialist support for a Palestinian State has been daily contradicted by facts on the ground. These same administrations and many European States have backed the continued occupation, the expansion of settlements and the genocide of Gaza, which have rendered any meaningful form of statehood for Palestinians null and void. At most, Palestinians could expect a truncated, non-contiguous entity modelled on the Bantustans of Apartheid South Africa, where dictatorial puppet regimes administered small pockets of lands at the behest of its white ruling class. The Zionist rulers and their imperialist backers would never entertain the existence of a state based on the June 1967 borders (encompassing the West Bank and Gaza) with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is not to mention the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the rights of Palestinians within the Green Line. Therefore, as utterly despicable as Trump’s announcement is, it’s sickening to see Democrats in the US and representatives of other imperialist powers, such as Britain and Germany, proclaiming their shock and horror. These world leaders have directly armed and politically backed the indiscriminate mass murder, starvation and psychological torture of the entire population of Gaza.  Totally unworkable  Whether or not Trump will seriously act on his rhetoric of whether or not it constitutes just hot air remains to be seen. Notably, in the context of further pushing for normalisation agreements, where the Arab States recognise the Israeli State and have diplomatic and economic ties with it, pushing for the expulsion of Gaza’s population will be difficult. These states and their ruling classes – corrupt and despotic billionaires whose lives are far removed from the poor and oppressed masses of this region – are no friends of the Palestinian people. However, they are conscious of how the genocide has radicalised the working class, poor and young people in their respective societies, consequently, “normalising” the existence of the Israeli State will not be accepted. Indeed, Trump’s comments will make it much more difficult for Saudi Arabia to do so, given that they have made the creation of a Palestinian State contingent on any such agreement, something the new President has stated his unambiguous opposition to. Likewise, the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes will be unwilling to facilitate Trump’s ethnic cleansing by accepting refugees from Gaza despite the pressure he will put them under. There is already a large population of Palestinian refugees in the latter and being seen to be complicit in the further destruction of Palestine will be met with mass anger and potentially revolutionary upheavals. Furthermore, the deployment of US troops to enforce this plan will be met with opposition at home; Trump has cynically and disingenuously built his base on being an ‘anti-war’ President. Crucially, any such move will be met

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Ceasefire in Gaza: The struggle against Genocide and Occupation isn’t over

Destroyed areas of Gaza

By PRMI reporters 18 January 2025 “This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war” (reaction of a displaced Gazan mother to news of a potential ceasefire, one of more than 1.9 million Palestinian men, women and children displaced since 7 October, 2023).  These words provide an insight into the spectrum of emotions gripping the residents of the ravaged Gaza Strip after the news of a ceasefire broke on 15 January. Widely shared videos of jubilant celebrations drove home the sense of relief at the prospect of reprieve from the 15-month genocidal nightmare. A potent display of defiance, they show the determination of Palestinian people to remain on their land in the face of such unimaginable horrors. It also speaks to their broader and unbreakable desire to refuse to abandon their national identity and aspirations that the Zionist project and its imperialist backers have historically sought to destroy, to win their freedom from occupation and apartheid, and for millions of Palestinian refugees to be given the right to return to their historic homeland after 77 years of exile.  The possibility of receiving aid, medical attention and reuniting with relatives is an enormous source of hope. After 15 months of unimaginably horrific bombardment carried out by the Israeli State, Gaza’s population may be afforded a temporary reprieve from the constant fear of death and destruction, and space to mourn. For many, even the opportunity to properly bury the perished is a small but important solace. But with this comes reflection on the sheer scale of the devastation, loss and trauma that will forever change the lives of those who survive the Israeli state’s murderous campaign.  Fragile and Tenuous Deal  Yet, casting a shadow over the cautious optimism is the intensification of the genocide that has killed more than 150 people since the ceasefire’s announcement, and the knowledge that hundreds more Palestinians will likely be murdered before the agreement becomes effective on 19 January.  The parameters of the accepted deal, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US, were already laid out by the outgoing Biden administration in May 2024. While the latter claimed that Hamas blocked its implementation, allowing the slaughter to drag on for a further eight months, this week, in a case of saying the “quiet part loud”, Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir revealed that it was his party and in turn, the Israeli Government, that prevented a ceasefire from coming into place. This is yet another example of how Biden and his criminal gang have continuously provided cover for the Israeli regime in the context of this genocide.  The deal will, in theory, be implemented over three phases. In the first 42 days of the ceasefire, 33 hostages will be released in exchange for 737 Palestinian prisoners ; it also stipulates the daily entry of 600 trucks of humanitarian aid and a partial withdrawal from the populated areas of the Strip —although Israeli forces would maintain a so-called ‘buffer zone’ inside Gaza which would take about 60 square kilometers out of the enclave. This could amount to a de facto annexation of Palestinian land, further shrinking the space available for Gaza’s population while allowing Israeli forces to maintain military control deep inside the Strip.   On the seventh day of this first phase, Palestinians displaced in southern Gaza would allegedly be allowed to return to the north and by the 16th day, negotiations regarding the second phase of the deal are supposed to begin, pertaining to the exchange of the remaining hostages and of further batches of Palestinian prisoners, a “lasting halt” to the fighting, and a supposed total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Strip.   A halt to the bombing of Gaza, the release of abductees on both sides and a scale-up of humanitarian assistance into the Strip will undoubtedly be welcomed by millions; but skepticism about the deal’s implementation and outcomes is more than warranted, and any illusions in the ‘sincerity’ of the bloodthirsty Israeli regime and its accomplices must be cast aside. True to its nature, the risk of the regime exploiting the initial phase of the deal to extract what it can, only to derail the remainder when it no longer serves its interests, is high.  Trump’s Foreign Policy  Despite attempts to claim credit for the ceasefire, Biden will not shed his rightful title of ‘genocide Joe.’ His unconditional support for U.S. imperialism’s most vital ally in the Middle East has been repeatedly tested by mass opposition in the US and internationally, yet each time he has run roughshod over it. This likely cost the Democrats the presidential election; a recent survey of 19 million people who voted for Biden in 2020, but did not do so in 2024, identified the ongoing onslaught in Gaza as the top reason for not doing so (above both the economy and immigration). But aside from periodic and mealy-mouthed condemnations of Israeli atrocities, claims to “tirelessly” be working for a ceasefire, and frayed relations with Netanyahu, this never translated into real pressure through, for example, the halting of financial and military aid. Biden’s support for Israel remained ironclad. That Trump so easily strong-armed Netanyahu is a massive blow to the prestige of the Democrats, consolidating their image as a party of war and imperialism. The Biden administration did not ‘fail’ to achieve a ceasefire earlier, nor did it work “tirelessly” to achieve one; it deliberately chose not to leverage its influence, instead actively enabling Netanyahu’s genocidal cabinet to prolong the slaughter for months on end by generously supplying the means to carry it out. The Biden administration also vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on four separate occasions.  Trump is taking credit for an “EPIC deal” as he

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Syria after Assad: rising from the ashes, the struggle for liberation continues

By Serge Jordan 12 January 2025 The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long dictatorship last December has dramatically reshuffled the cards of Syria’s future. A sense of freedom and jubilation broke through among many Syrians following over five decades of tyranny. However, it is tempered by fear and unease, as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now the self-proclaimed authority in Damascus, starts exposing its true nature, while imperialist vultures of all stripes circle once again, eager to tear off their piece of flesh from the country’s battered remains. It was a military offensive by right-wing militias that precipitated Assad’s downfall. However, this outcome was rooted in the regime’s profound internal decay, the evaporation of its social base, and the inability of its foreign backers—Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah—to gather the necessary forces to keep it standing. As Talleyrand (Napoleon’s foreign minister) is often quoted, “You can do many things with bayonets, but you cannot sit on them.” The Assad regime’s reliance on brute force and external support proved incapable of compensating for its eroded legitimacy and internal weaknesses. The House of Assad has disintegrated at a stunning speed, its torture chambers flung open, its mass graves exposed, and its obscene wealth laid bare—a ruling dynasty reveling in grotesque opulence while the Syrian masses endured abject poverty. Testament of the regime’s cruelty and unpopularity, the unveiling of these facts are also a damning verdict on all those on the supposed ‘left’ (like British politician George Galloway, American journalist Max Blumenthal and the Grayzone website, and various stalinist currents around the world) who for years, under some twisted ‘anti-imperialist’ logic, have supported a regime drenched in the blood of hundreds of thousands of people. Now they use their loud critique of HTS as a smokescreen to conceal this unforgivable complicity. Assad’s systematic decimation of much of the Syrian left and organised labour was in fact a key factor enabling the rise of right-wing Islamist forces, who filled the opposition void in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising.  What about Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham?  This said, while HTS exploited the Assad regime’s crumbling state and the momentum of vulnerability of its foreign allies, it is no force for progress. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Assad’s apologists stand the ‘left’ cheerleaders of reactionary Islamist outfits, who now give the benefit of the doubt to Abu Mohammed al-Julani’s group. Abdusalam Dallal, writing for MENA Solidarity Network, claims for example that “Trust-building among communities and promoting tolerance will be essential for a unified Syria. The new administration in Syria has already taken promising steps that align with these revolutionary principles.” Al-Julani may now sport a suit and tie, projecting ‘moderation’ and advocating for a respectful approach to minorities, but his organisation is indissociable from its brutal history of sectarian violence, gangsterism and subjugation of women. Barely two days after the German and French foreign ministers had travelled to Syria’s capital to meet its new de facto rulers —with Annalena Baerbock even declaring Germany’s desire to “overcome scepticism” about HTS— a video footage appeared online showing the Justice Minister in the new HTS-led administration, Shadi Al-Waisi, personally overseeing the execution of two women in Idlib province in 2015. Further underscoring HTS’ entrenched bigotry, a spokesperson for the new government declared that women’s “biological and physiological nature” made them unfit for some government jobs. Economically, as indicated by both its record in Idlib and public pronouncements from its leaders, HTS promises more of the same “free market” recipes that were the hallmark of Bashar’s regime. The finance minister’s announcement of a 400% wage hike for public sector workers next month, partly bankrolled by Qatari funds, seems to be of a different nature. While a relative improvement, wages would still amount to about $125 a month—in the face of runaway inflation and the collapse of the Syrian pound, this barely scratches the surface of what would be needed for a decent standard of living. This one-off measure deepens Syria’s reliance on foreign donors while ignoring the structural problems at the core of the Syrian economy. The experience of Egypt, which has been heavily reliant on Gulf financial injection, demonstrates that this approach not only comes with ‘strings attached,’ but offers no path out of the unrelenting cycle of poverty for the majority of the population. Besides, some figures from Assad’s economic elite, architects of mass impoverishment, subsidy cuts, and the dismantling of public resources for private gain, are still occupying their positions, when they have not been recycled into new roles under the new administration —such as the former deputy governor of the Central Bank, now promoted to the institution’s highest office. More generally, HTS has incorporated a cohort of opportunists and bureaucrats from the disgraced regime, proving itself not a genuine force for change but the custodian, under a new flag, of the same predatory class policies that have ravaged Syria’ social fabric for many years. Among the country’s patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities, few take the HTS’ newfound preaching of inter-communal tolerance at face value. While mostly in check for now, the spectre of sectarian reprisals or reignited tensions remains acute, a tool HTS could wield to consolidate its power and deflect from its inability to address the population’s pressing needs. Meanwhile, remnants of the former regime and social media accounts sympathetic to the ousted president are also actively involved in stoking sectarian discord, trying to tap into the legitimate fears of HTS’ rule among sections of the Alawite population. These forces represent a threat especially in the coastal areas where many high-ranking military officers, security officials, pro-Assad militia and ex-regime loyalists are concentrated.   As for the democratic rights that millions of Syrians are yearning for, al-Julani has declared that the preparation of a new constitution could take up to three years, and elections up to four. These are not timelines of a democratic process but stall, top-down tactics designed to entrench HTS’s grip on power. While much attention has focused on the release of prisoners

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What has just happened shows that “nothing is forever”

By Liv from Sweden Published 09 January 2025 This is the transcript of the introduction by Liv to the discussion on the global situation held during the meeting of the PRMI on 14 December 2024. It has been slightly edited for stylistic reasons.  I am going to focus on developments in the Middle East. I think all comrades have been observing and been moved by the scenes of joy, relief, celebration, and liberation from Syria. Only a stone could remain unmoved watching the grip of fear losing its hold on thousands and thousands of people in the streets. Or the grief, as people have looked for their loved ones, some who have been lost for decades, or have been thought dead. Looking for them amongst the thousands who have been streaming out of the torture houses and prisons of the Assad regime, where an estimated 13,000 people were killed over the last 13 years.  At the same time, as we share the joy and welcome the breathing space, we of course, have no trust in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham [HTS]. It doesn’t reassure us when its leader, Al Julani, puts up this rebranded image of a more civil, a more western-palatable statesman. As we mentioned in the article, the HTS has been running Idlib province for the last years, running it as you know as a right-wing Islamist, dictatorship, where over a 180 people were disappeared last year, where torture, executions, and repression against protests are standard.  But protests have been happening, something barely reported on in the Western media, a significant protest movement from February this year running up at least until September with women, young people being amongst those playing important roles. They are protesting against torture and effective executions by the HTS in power and calling specifically for Al Julani’s resignation. Whatever the aspirations of Al Julani and the opportunistic hopes of the various imperialists and regional powers are at this point, there is nothing automatic about developments ahead of us. No certain scheme that we can rely on in predicting them.  And while our familiarity with the situation on the ground in Syria and in the Middle East generally is very weak, to put it mildly, it’s really necessary to recognise that the key factor is the role of working-class people, of oppressed peoples, not least women and gender oppressed people, and of the massive contingent of young people in this region.  The people who are out on the streets celebrating today are a factor that can disturb the plans, the trajectory that would see the HTS establish a right-wing Islamist regime across Syria in cooperation with or tolerated by the western powers, or as a cooperation between Al Julani and the various regional powers. The old inter-imperialist framework is not as simple as a chess game where we can declare, as some on the left seem to be doing, that this offensive by the HTS  was a US, Israeli or Turkish orchestrated manoeuvre.  Of course, geopolitical contradictions will also be a factor in creating unpredictability and complications for HTS as we see with Israel’s offensive and the Turkish offensive against Kurdistan. I will definitely not repeat the points that we made in the article that we rushed together. But we cannot boast about having foreseen this lightning offensive and the fall of Assad. Like most we were caught by surprise, caught very much behind on developments. We have not discussed world perspectives on an international level for at least a year. And that points to this discussion being quite initial and underlines the need for urgency in catching up, but also patience with where we are at. I hope that today and going forward, we can really help one another clarify and deepen our understanding, which has many, many gaps. Not only because we have not been discussing perspectives, but because the way we were doing them has had a number of weaknesses that we need to be reviewing as we go.  So my lead off, and further pieces from other comrades, is not going to be covering nearly a fraction of what we want to cover and what we need to aim for going forward. But I still hope that it can be useful.  I’m going to quote some of the things that were being said and chanted in celebrations across Syria, in the last couple of days. Someone who just had their family member let out of prison after decades kept repeating that what has just happened shows that “nothing is forever”. I don’t feel particularly confident in predicting any precise developments in the Middle East in the next weeks or years. But one thing that is certain is that this region after the last week is in motion. And what seemed fixed and hopelessly immovable can collapse. And just the levels of violence and suppression in Syria and across this region are an important factor in themselves. The violence pressing down on millions of super-exploited workers, on the discarded unemployed millions, on young people, who feel the only future they have is dystopian. Especially as millions are massively oppressed as women, as racialized people, as gender nonconforming people, as ethnic minorities and religious minorities, this is bound to be pushed back at some point.  Another thing that was being chanted yesterday, in Friday prayers and celebrations in Syria was “the people want to bring down the regime”, the slogan of the 2011 revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East. Although what we have just seen in Syria has not been a revolution with the masses setting the scene, it is part of the aftermath of 2011 playing out.  In our recent articles, we’ve been quoting this political analyst whose name I cannot remember, but saying that there’s no doubt about it, that a second so-called Arab spring is coming. He points to all the factors still being present – the inequality, the poverty, the oppression. I can’t mention too many examples

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Celebrations sweep Syria, but what comes next?

The brutal over-half-century-long Assad-dictatorship has fallen in Syria. Thousands and thousands of political prisoners have been able to reunite with their families, many after years during which they were thought dead. Millions more who were internally displaced are rejoicing as they reunite with their families. The grip of fear losing its hold on people has been visible on the streets across Syria and in the diaspora.  As the euphoria dies down, many will worry what the future holds, cautiously hoping that the tragedy of the crushed Syrian revolution is now over. While much is still unclear, history does show that this will take a decisive rebuilding of genuine and politicised workers’ organisations as a mass force armed with the lessons of 2011 and capable of presenting a real alternative to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), all reactionary forces and the imperialist powers: to build a genuinely free, democratic and just society needs the unity of the working and poor masses of Syria to fight against all forms of sectarianism and oppression, and take the revolution to the level of overthrowing also the economic dictatorship of capitalism and its various imperialist representatives. The hated regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad spectacularly collapsed as the military forces of the coalition led by HTS swept through the cities of Aleppo, Hama, Homs before entering Damascus, in a lightning offensive that took only eleven days. On the way the regime’s military forces simply seemed to melt into thin air. In Damascus crowds have been chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free”. However, amid the relief and jubilation, there are also fears and concerns among sections of the Syrian population about what will come next. Already the autonomous areas of Syrian Kurdistan are hammered by Türkiye-backed attacks, and the new rulers’ approach towards Kurdish and women’s rights will be indicative of what lies ahead. In many places the armed opposition forces  seem to have been met with cheering supporters, and faced little if any civil or military resistance. Once they entered Damascus, they liberated the prisoners held in the notorious Sednaya military prison, scene of horrific torture of opposition supporters by Assad’s thugs. The Iranian embassy, seen as a key supporter of the regime was ransacked, while HTS fighters entered the Presidential palace, photographing themselves sitting behind Assad’s desk.  Some of the millions of Syrians who had been forced to flee abroad to escape the brutal regime are reportedly already returning. At the same time rightwing and far-right forces are cynically using the moment to further their racist agenda. Germany, Austria, Greece and Cyprus have already suspended asylum applications from Syria and there are threats to deport refugees already in Germany. This must be opposed, Syrians and all refugees must be guaranteed the voluntary right to return or stay in their new place of residence with full rights and without discrimination.  The Syrian embassies in Istanbul, Athens and even Moscow are flying the opposition flag. Neighboring countries are reinforcing their borders. The Lebanese army has sent military units to ‘protect’ its northern and eastern borders, while the Israeli “Defence” Forces have sent troops and tanks beyond the occupied Golan Heights ‘buffer zone’ , marking Israel’s first entry into formal Syrian territory since 1973. According to the Israeli paper ‘Maariv’, the IDF has been firing at the village of Barika in the buffer zone to keep militants away from the border. Assad left Damascus on a Russian Ilyushin plane which was later seen flying at a very low level before it disappeared from the radar, apparently a manoeuvre to disguise the escape. Russian regime sources now confirm that Assad and his family are in Moscow and have been granted political asylum.  Power, according to the statement by the commander of HTS al-Julani has been handed over temporarily to the sitting Prime Minister al-Jalali who will supervise all state institutions until the official handover. In the first broadcasts on Syrian TV the opposition gleefully announced that “we won the bet and toppled the criminal Assad regime”. Yet despite all its rhetoric about freeing the country from Assad’s rule, it seems that HTS is already willing to collaborate with an Assad-appointed Prime Minister to ensure an ‘orderly’ transition from the top. This should be a warning that HTS would rather not allow the Syrian people to shape their own future. Al-Julani is clearly trying hard to project a rebranded image of a civil, West-palatable statesman – in other words he is signalling that he can offer a pair or reliable hands for establishing a new order within the framework of inter-imperialist tensions. His preaching of tolerance for all ethnic and religious groups and “no revenge” would if realised in practice represent a welcome breathing space. But some of the contradictions inherent in manoeuvring and accommodating between imperialist and regional powers are already on display in the Turkish attacks on the autonomous areas of Syrian Kurdistan. And the HTS record in power in Idlib province points to the risk of an oppressive, right wing and fundamentalist regime, unless workers and the poor organise to ensure this doesn’t happen. Who was Assad? The Ba’athist Party (the Arab ‘Socialist’ Ba’ath Party) first came to power as a result of the March 8 Revolution in 1963, more akin to a military coup although having popular support. This was a period in which the masses in many countries of the world, whose economies had been exploited by decades of imperialist rule, were striving towards revolution. In the absence of genuinely left mass revolutionary forces, layers of the military, leaning on the USSR for support moved to seize power. The one-party, police regime that resulted used the authoritarian methods of the Soviet bureaucracy to maintain control, but gained a certain authority due to its nationalisation of the economy and development of living standards.  Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, who had been an active participant in the 1963 coup, was in 1966 a key instigator of a further coup within the ruling elite, and then

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