The attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is a further escalation in the unequal confrontation between the West and the Islamic world, which is increasingly taking the form of a kulturkampf or clash of civilizations. We condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo. At the same time, we do not join the ranks of the united front for the defence of the imperialist West and its “superior civilization”, which is emerging as a reaction to the attack. In France, this front ranges from the secularist left all across to the radical right of Jean-Marie Le Pen. As anti-imperialists, social revolutionaries and “enlightened”, rationally thinking people, we insist: 1. Not to forget the imperialist character of the present world order, which denies the majority of humankind any perspective … [read more]

Demise of the French elites For the EU France is not one country among others. She neither belongs to the southern periphery such as Greece and Portugal, nor the peripheral centre like Italy. Paris used to be the union’s spiritus rector, its very demiurge. It was the French bureaucracy to forge the German-French axis, the European integration with the aim to build a supra-national regime of the capitalist classes. Together with their partners they wanted to institutionally strengthen themselves to wipe out the social and democratic gains achieved by the popular classes after WWII. The goal was a European quasi-state. In this way they wanted at the same time to control the stronger and potentially dangerous German neighbour. The formula: In exchange to adopting the German economic … [read more]

The quintessence: none of the regional and global players want Kurdish self-rule in Northern Syria to survive! The decisive role is being played by Turkey: In Kobani Ankara got the final say. The Turkish calculus is obvious. If Rojava held on it would serve as a precedence enormously strengthening PKK. The pressure on Ankara to grant substantial autonomy also to its own millions of Kurds would increase massively. The US, on its part, is pushing Turkey, pillar state for the NATO, to join their alliance against the Islamic State (IS) thus defining the Jihadis to be the main enemy in the regional civil war. The US air campaign is turning Asad into the lesser evil potentially upgrading his regime even into a partner. This is, however, unacceptable for Turkey’s ruling AKP. For them … [read more]

1) Iraq: The fox set to keep the geese As a start one needs to look at the results of the American war on Iraq: For two decades Washington starved Iraq by a genocidal embargo in order to suppress the worn-out remnants of formerly proud Arab nationalism. In a certain sense we can read it as the continuation of the US strategy of “dual containment” pitting Iraq and Iran against each other by maintaining the balance in the Golf war from 1980 to 1988 and weakening both. After the end of the war the US continued to keep both states in check. Driven by the hubris of the Neocons in 2003 the US went for “regime change” by direct military invasion. The result so far: their arch enemy Iran has been strengthened enormously and is now wielding decisive influence over Baghdad. This … [read more]

In the poorest countries of the world, where hundreds of thousands of people die of hunger and diseases, many have celebrated the massacre of New York. Among those peoples who in the last decades have been suffering from all kinds of humiliations, aggressions, massacres and injustice, many have cheered in occasion of the twin tower collapse. They see the evil where the rich see the good. Only priests with fully stuffed stomachs could condemn these extreme sentiments of the damned of earth. In fact, the poor and miserable consider the USA and their allies as those responsible for their inhuman conditions of life, for the hopeless barbarism they have to suffer from. Are they wrong? The hypocrite governors of the US and the NATO states are threatening, cursing and crying that peace … [read more]

Responding to the contribution of Anton Holberg: While it is obvious that Sunni Islamism is exclusivist, the regime’s secularist narrative constitutes a hidden, more covered de facto communalism. It is true that it does not refer to religion in the same way as Islamism does. It is fair enough to notice this difference but politically it does not matter much. We know that even the French role model behind the formal façade of egalitarism is de facto very exclusivist and elitist. In Syria everybody starts from the assumption that loyalty to the leading group is not based on ideology or whatever criteria but on communalist group solidarity provoking counter-reactions by the excluded, exploited and oppressed. Unfortunately under the given conditions the popular rebellion was susceptible … [read more]

The conflict’s background The base of the antagonism between the West and Iran remains the revolution of 1979 which had a strong anti-imperialist momentum and remains until now one of the most important popular revolutions of the regions or even the world. The Islamic Republic is, however, not a direct, linear, immediate expression of the popular and anti-imperialist tendencies but rather its mediation broken by clerical rule. We just have to remember the Iraq-Iran war. With its approach of dual containment Washington carefully balanced its proxy support to both sides. The war served the Mullahs as a formidable tool to bend the power of the popular movement having emerged during the revolution. Take as further evidence the unequal couple of Rafsanjani and Khatami during the … [read more]

I wonder what does "democracy" mean for the Anti Imperialist Movement, specially when we are facing an armed fascist groups supported by the biggest imperialist power which is USA? What does "democracy" mean for a revolutionary group in such a situation? How come you neglect that Muslim Brothers was the new elites assembled around the generals since 2011? Or should we condemn only the old one but welcome the new faces of these elites? I wonder why the Anti-Imperialist Movement kept silent when a Constitution was announced by Muslim Brothers in November 2012, which was considered the real coup d'etat declaring Mursi the new dictator of Egypt?[fn]see two articles on this topic: Mursi's presumption www.antiimperialista.org/mursi_s_presumtion Mursi: pharao or revolutionary? … [read more]

I. Crisis of unequal distribution II. EU under German hegemony III. The only solution: dissolve the eurozone IV. Breaking with casino capitalism   This catastrophic crisis is at the same time a great chance: in some of the most crisis-stricken countries the rule of the EU financial oligarchy might be toppled. Trying to analyse the acute crisis of the last five years and the build-up that preceded it, we suggest a rough separation into two basic levels: a global momentum on one hand and a specific European one on the other hand. The latter is connected to the actual constitution of the EU and the economic predominance of Germany, combined with the political weakness of its elites. This configuration triggers a powerful amplification of the crisis, turning Europe into its centre … [read more]

For the time being it as been mainly the Tahrir democrats and left around the “National Co-ordination Boy for Democratic Change” (NCB) which systematically warned of the dangerous dialectics unfolding between militarization and sectarianism. From the very beginning they have been calling for a political solution by negotiations and advocating a defensive, de-escalating strategy facing the regime’s repression (option I). Given the rigidity of the ruling apparatus’s reaction the official opposition – “official” because being recognised by the western rulers of the world – could easily sideline and isolate the NCB as “agents of the regime”. This was possible despite their doubtless credentials having spent decades resisting the regime including long-term … [read more]

It is all about this apparently small alteration which is dealt with in this piece – the turn from the struggle to rescind a dictatorial ukase into an attempt to topple the entire regime. For it makes a tremendous difference if one wants to approach this problem in terms of Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. The line of the Tahrir leftists is crystal clear: Mursi is usurping their revolution. They were in the forefront of the mass uprising to topple Mubarak, while the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) only followed suit. Many Salafis even supported Mubarak. After Mubarak’s disposal the MB did everything possible to soften and decelerate the popular movement. They even entered into a block with the army against the Tahrir. While the Tahrir wanted to finish off with the junta, the MB went for … [read more]

The ensuing gun battle reportedly claimed several lives. The “Revolutionary Co-ordination Committee Qardaha”, whose mere existence is an important fact, wrote on October 1 that Mohamed al Assad died from his wounds in the hospital of Tartous. Different Syrian websites reported that the town was cordoned of and communication networks temporarily severed. Conflicts between family clans are not new. In the past years they were mainly revolving around mafia-type businesses as Qardaha is also known a centre of the Shabiha, the pro-governmental militias having emerged from the mafia. Although the illegal businesses have been under the tutelage of the regime conflicts could not always be suppressed. But this time we are faced with an explicitly political clash. Its occasion was the … [read more]

A way out for Syria The main debate in Assisi as well as in the anti-imperialist movement at large has been over Syria. We encountered an overwhelming common spirit that a way must be found to fulfil the legitimate democratic rights of the popular masses while the support to the resistances against imperialism and Zionism can be continued. The only possibility to end the repression against the democratic popular movement, to avert a sectarian civil war, to stop foreign involvement and to prevent foreign military intervention is a political solution by negotiations. This tendency was epitomized by the presence of two outstanding personalities, namely Haitham Manna from the “National Co-ordination Body for Democratic Change” (NCB), the main anti-imperialist opposition coalition … [read more]

Following is a response to Yoav Bar’s criticism “How to support the Syrian Revolution?” on the article “Democratic revolution against Assad AND the Gulf-backed forces”. 1) Popular democratic aspect dominant Starting point of any position-taking on Syria is to refuse the purely geo-political thinking which is ravaging the left. They are employing a method ranging between imperial statecraft and reading history as a permanent conspiracy. The popular masses are per se excluded from playing a role. Actually we are faced with two sides of the same medal. The ruling elites always tend to exclude the masses while the pessimist subaltern intellectuals denounce these elites ruling out any historic intervention form below as well. The Syrian rebellion has been a genuine … [read more]

Acute crisis of capital flight The current stage of the crisis of the EU/Euro is marked by capital fleeing the European south. The symbol for this are the increasing interest spreads over German bonds. But also banks and the corporate sector are in acute shortage of capital while private consumption is plunging. Together with the severe austerity imposed by the EU centre the European south is suffering deep recession of which the worst is still to come. Large sections of the population including the middle classes are being impoverished to an extent and in a pace unprecedented since decades. For any peripheral country this would mean immediate default and devastating social crisis as countries like Mexico, Indonesia, Argentina and many other countries did suffer from. Only being … [read more]

Session of the Anti-imperialist Camp Assisi, Italy, August 23-26, 2012 Saturday, August 25, 9pm Cinema: Forbidden (67min, Arabic with English captions) Subsequently debate with the director Amal Ramsis Egypt between military, Islamists and Tahrir “Forbidden” (2011) is the fourth film of Amal Ramsis, after “In Beirut there is still the sea” (1999), “Only dreams” (2005), “One life” (2008). The film is a historic document about the months right before the uprising of January 25 in Egypt. It shows the bans suffered by the citizens under the Mubarak regime as well as the accumulating anger which eventually led to the popular eruption. The protagonists of the film are political activists like Arab Lotfi (film director), Salma Shokralla (journalist) or Mohamed … [read more]

The Assad regime used Kaileh’s Palestinian decent as an excuse to legitimise the deportation. His tendency has been fully immersed in the popular revolt from the very beginning. Salameh Kailah was invited to Vienna by the Arab Austrian Cultural Center (OKAZ) and the Union of Syrians Abroad to deliver a speech on the civil disobedience movement in Damascus. The Anti-imperialist Camp participated in the organisation of the event and in the discussion.. Kaileh’s intervention came in the aftermath of the bomb attack in Damascus which killed four high ranking officials of the security apparatus. The political situation on the ground hints that the final battle is coming closer. For Kaileh it is of utmost importance that the victory of the popular uprising is possible without … [read more]

Speech and public debate with Haytham Manna Thursday, August 23rd, 9pm The NBC is a coalition of democratic forces which are taking part in the popular rebellion under the well-known slogan of the three NOs: No to foreign intervention! No to militarization and civil war! No sectarianism! In difference to the “Syrian National Council” (SNC) it is based within the country and includes representatives of all religious communities as well as the Kurds. It has come into sharp conflict with the SNC which way accuse of committing exactly what the SBC is opposing with the three NOs. The NBC reproaches to the SNC in substance to follow foreign agendas. While fully supporting the popular movement and the democratic demands, it is until now favouring a negotiated transition to avert … [read more]

Editorials in Europe celebrate the victory of someone who does not belong to the WASP elite as the restoration and confirmation of the American Dream—a Black man as elected monarch. The nightmare of the Bush years was supposedly just an aberration that failed, a deviation that is behind us now; the true, liberal America of opportunities is back, bright eyes, bushy tail. The lower and middle class had enough of the anti-social and war-mongering course of that coalition of protestant fundamentalists and neo-conservatives, and voted accordingly. The majority of white America, however, still voted for the zany duo McCain&Palin. One element that makes the United States so attractive is the apparent absence of formal exclusion for social advancement, and Obama seems to be the epitome of … [read more]

Palestine: the impact of the Arab revolt, the one democratic state solution and the solidarity movement • Zaher Birawi, leading Islamic Palestine activist, London • Attia Rajab, Palestine Committee Stuttgart • Yoav Bar, promoter of the Haifa conference for One Democratic State in Palestine • Leo Gabriel, member of the international council of the World Social Forum (WSF) Anti-imperialist Camp, Assisi, Italy, Friday 24 August, morning session The last years have seen a decisive shift in the global solidarity movement acknowledging the both the protagonism of the popular resistance and the impossibility of a compromise with Zionism. Back in the 90s the mainstream of the Palestine solidarity set all its hopes on the Oslo accords operated by Fatah. It was the time of … [read more]