In Bahrain as well as in the rest of the Gulf states, the Tunisian and Egyptian method just doesn’t work to attain even the minimum goal of the majority. Calling for negotiation as the ITUC does below, needless to say, is no solution in this case since the Bahraini ruling class has full support […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Syria: Banias Refinery Workers March for Syria and Bashar
Could it be that Syrian refinery workers thought it wise to warn imperialists not to descend on Syria to liberate their oil and jobs from them in the name of liberating them from Bashar? — Ed. Tartous, Syria, 29 March 2011 Cf. “Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean […]
America’s Libyans
The Benghazi council chose as its leader the colorless former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil. Jalil’s brain is Mahmoud Jibril, a former head of the National Economic Development Board (NEDB). A U.S. embassy cable from May 11, 2009 (09TRIPOLI386) describes Jibril as keen on a close relationship with the U.S. and eager “to create a […]
Why Has the Syrian Opposition Failed to Grow? Interview with Bassam Haddad
Paul Jay: So, first of all, talk about what happened on Friday. The protesters, the opposition, were hoping for a big turnout, and apparently they didn’t get it. Bassam Haddad: On Friday, a few hundred people, in some places more than a thousand, came out in protest, to continue the string of protests since last […]
Bahrain: Revolutionaries under Siege
Bahraini government forces backed by Saudi troops have completely blocked access to several villages. Reports say the military have set up checkpoints and deployed secret police around the village of Ma’ameer, to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the village. Saudi and Bahraini troops have also fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the […]
Disturbing Events in Dara’a
Syrian citizens have been shocked by the disturbing events taking place in Dara’a for the last few days, during which violence led to the death of innocent young people, the destruction of public as well as private properties, and demonstrations and unjustified violence. Demands were raised, some dealing with Dara’a, others going beyond the […]
Syrians Living Abroad, Standing Up for Syria and Bashar
Bashar al-Assad is a lucky man. Even the mother of the Angry Arab (himself no fan of the Syrian president) seems to like him: “As my mom says about him: he is the best educated among Arab leaders (many of whom are illiterate) and it shows.” — Ed. Beirut, Lebanon, 27.03.11 Cairo, Egypt, 31.03.11 Bucharest, […]
The Syrian Communist Party (Unified) Emphasizes the Importance of National Unity and Investigation of the Causes of the Recent Events
The Syrian Communist Party (Unified) would like to reiterate what its newspaper An-Nour said on Wednesday, 23 March 2011: it is necessary to restore normal life to Dara’a Governorate, to effectively deal with the consequences of the deplorable events which took place last week, and to do the following while dealing with the problems: 1. […]
Jena Six Activist Convicted, Faces Decades in Prison
March 31, 2011 Caseptla Bailey and Catrina Wallace Civil rights activist Catrina Wallace, who received national acclaim for her central role in organizing protests around the Jena Six case, was convicted today of three counts of distribution of a controlled substance. She was taken from the courtroom straight to jail after the verdict was read, […]
What Do the Syrians Want? Interview with Joshua Landis
Joshua Landis: Well, this [speech delivered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on 30 March 2011] was a classic hard-line speech. It was a nationalist speech. It was an us-against-them speech. And he rallied the nation. And that’s what he sought to do. He was fairly relaxed. He made some jokes. But he said this is […]
Millions of Syrians Rally for Syria and Bashar
Millions of Syrians rallied all over Syria, pledging loyalty to the country, in support of Bashar al-Assad, on 29 March 2011. The dialectic of the regime and the opposition in Syria, it is safe to say, is neither like Tunisia and Egypt, nor like Iraq and Libya. Instead, it is more like what happened in […]
Libya: A Squalid Protectorate That the West Is Going to Create
Yes, “collaborators,” that’s the word, not “revolutionaries.” Calling a spade a spade can at least get rectification started, though, pace the street-fighting intellectual, too late in the game. — Ed. The US-Nato intervention in Libya, with United Nations security council cover, is part of an orchestrated response to show support for the movement against one […]
Is Syria Like Egypt and Tunisia? Interview with Bassam Haddad
Bassam Haddad: The differences between Syria and Egypt and Tunisia are several. This does not mean that things cannot spin out of control to produce the same effect. But, structurally speaking, the Syrian society is far more heterogeneous and divided than either the Egyptian or the Tunisian society. So the opposition is not cohesive. There […]
Loving the Libyan Rebels
The multinational empire has come up with a great deal for itself: using Libya’s own money to finance the Libyan rebels to fight against Libya. Ali Tarhouni, a US-educated economist who just got appointed “finance minister” of the rebel “Interim Transitional National Council,” explains the deal: “Right now, there is no immediate crisis kind of […]
What Wisconsin Means for Immigrant Rights
A few weeks can do a lot to sweep away old assumptions. Last year U.S. leftists were wondering why the worst economic crisis in 70 years hadn’t inspired a stronger response from its victims; now Arabs have toppled neoliberal regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and U.S. workers have fought cutbacks and union-busting in Wisconsin with […]
Syria: Who Backs Bashar?
Bashar al-Assad, unlike other Arab heads of state, appears to have masses of supporters, who took to the streets on 24-26 March 2011, as shown in the videos below. (Search YouTube for تأييد بشار الأسد, and you’ll find many more lovingly uploaded by his fans.) However, “God, Syria, only Bashar” and “With our soul and […]
Al-Jazeera: An Island of Pro-Empire Intrigue
The Empire admits: without Al-Jazeera, they could not have bombed Libya. How did Al-Jazeera, once dubbed the ‘terror network’ by some and whose staff were martyred by US bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, end up becoming the media war propagandist for yet another Western war against a small state of the Global South, Libya? We […]
COSATU Supports Democracy, But Condemns Foreign Military Occupation in Libya
COSATU has reiterated its position in support of the legitimate and genuine struggles of the people and workers of the Middle East and North Africa for democracy, human dignity and social justice. In doing so, we however, seek to exercise caution in the manner Western powers claim to be advancing the struggle for democracy in […]
Joint Statement of 58 Communist and Workers’ Parties against Imperialist Aggression in Libya
The imperialist killers headed by the USA, France, Britain and NATO as a whole and with the approval of the UN started a new imperialist war. This time in Libya. Their allegedly humanitarian pretexts are completely misleading! They throw dust into peoples’ eyes! Their real goals are the hydrocarbons in Libya. We, the Communist and […]
Libya and Yemen — Study in Contrast
It is now clear that the no-fly zone has been expanded in Libya to a military campaign for a regime change, something that the UN Security Council did not authorize. Gaddafi’s residence in Tripoli has been bombed and more strikes are taking place in Tripoli and other towns. The argument of course is that Gaddafi’s […]
