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]

“For Palestinians, the right to return home and the right to live in dignity and equality in their own land are not any less important than the right to live free of military occupation.” –Prof. Saree Makdisi[1] For more than a century, Zionists have sought to construct a “Jewish state” through forced removal of the indigenous Palestinian people. In 1948, this state was established through the Nakba (Catastrophe): erasure and occupation of more than 500 Palestinian towns and villages, dispossession of over 750,000 Palestinians, and a terror campaign of which the massacre at Deir Yassin is but the most infamous example. Since 1967, Israel has also occupied and colonized the remainder of historic Palestine. Today, this relentless ethnic cleansing continues — armed and … [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]

1) As always the US firmly stood on the Israeli side. They, however, pressurized their main partner to accept the truce. Furthermore they made clear that they are strongly opposed to a ground offensive which would further inflame the region. But Hamas refused to accept the usual Israeli conditions. So the cease fire became possible only with significant concessions namely the partial lifting of the blockade. This success for the Palestinian side could be achieved thanks to the unabated resistance (which, whoever, has been a constant throughout the last decade) and the pressure of the regional and international public. 2) The decisive new factor has been the changed role of Egypt, the central Arab power. Until recently the Islamic president Mursi had had only few improvements to offer … [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]

Thus the Assad regime is pushing the country into sectarian civil war. With its marauding Shabiha militia it is lending political ground to armed sectarian forces backed by the Gulf States which search to retaliate in the same way and are calling for a foreign military intervention. The only way to avoid the scenario of sectarian civil war, which will mainly help Israel, imperialism and its Gulf proxies, is an all out popular revolution involving the broad masses engulfing all confessions. Therefore the latest strike movement shaking Damascus shows the way forward potentially marginalising the foreign backed Taqfirist sectarian forces. We fully recognise the right to armed self-defence against the regime’s repression but we still believe that the military escalation is to the … [read more]

When the Arab popular revolt toppled the western-backed tyrants in Tunisia and Egypt, electrified the oppressed masses across the Arab world and eventually reached Syria, we all hoped for a quick victory of the democratic movement. But soon the Assad regime revealed itself to be unable and unwilling to positively respond to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people for freedom and social justice. All promises for more rights turned out to be empty. The only answer has been severe repression, drowning the democratic movement in blood. Thousands have been killed, and tens of thousands injured or arrested. Nevertheless, the movement in the streets continued to peacefully face the guns of the regime for many months despite the utmost imbalance of force. Sooner or later there came … [read more]

Following the list of the first signatories of the International Solidarity Initiative for the Syrian People. • Leo Gabriel, journalist, social anthropologist and member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, Vienna, Austria • Moreno Pasquinelli, Anti-imperialist Camp, Assisi, Italy • Carlos Varea González, university professor and leading member of the “Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq” (CEOSI), Madrid, Spain • Santiago Alba Rico, Spanish writer, resident in Tunis, Tunisia • Franz Fischer, Palestine activist and CC member of the Labour Party of Switzerland, Basel • Thomas Zmrzly, spokesman of “Initiativ e.V.”, Duisburg, Germany • Mustafa Ilhan, journalist, Kurdish activist, Aachen, Germany • Wilhelm … [read more]

The NCB supports the peace plan by Kofi Annan, as for the time being there is no other solution in sight. “The main obstacle for democratic progress is the violence which has already pushed the country on the brink of civil war. We need to stop it. Only then the popular movement can develop enough power.” Haitham Manna reproached the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the armed groups and said that they wanted to foil the Annan plan in order to further militarize the situation and to provoke a foreign military intervention – something which is categorically refused by his own organisation, the SCB. Some people close to the SNC at the meeting in Vienna replied that the SBC in this way saves the regime which has proved to be unable and unwilling to execute democratic reforms. The … [read more]

In terms of the Asian route, we did face many dilemmas and difficulties, due to the increasing political complexity in the region, arising out of the serious crisis in Syria. Thus the Asian convoy had decided to bypass Syria due to the raging conflict within. This brought up many problems in terms of the land route and the costs of the entire journey. We were also well aware that the two key strategic locations were Jordan and Lebanon, where the major mobilization would be organized. The only land route to Jordan was through Iraq and we tried our very best to negotiate with the Iraqi government for permissions. But unfortunately, that was not to be as the Arab League Summit was to be held in Baghdad on the 28-29th of March and that was the priority undoubtedly. The Asian … [read more]

We nevertheless publish the manifesto of the ILC as it gives a good impression of the stage of discussion and elabouration in the mid 1990s which in one way or another paved the way to the AIC. Spring 2012 Part One 1. History The fate of mankind depends on mankind’s history. So far, this history had neither a straightforward trend nor a purpose of its own. Until the Russian revolution, unceasing and frequently catastrophic changes have affected only the form of social systems, not their content. Ever since the time when private property superseded community life based on the collective ownership of the means of production — something which made possible an egalitarian enjoying of the consumer goods produced by labour — all social systems have had a common foundation: the … [read more]

Thursday, August 23 Tunisia: political Islam, the left and the future of the democratic revolution Presiding: Daniela Di Marco • Ajmi Lourimi, member of the political leadership if the Islamic movement Enahda The left in crisis over Libya: the NATO attack and the civil war Presiding: Massimo De Santi • Hamza Piccardo, former leading member of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII), former spokesperson of the European Muslim Network, Islam online • Moreno Pasquinelli, speaker of the Anti-imperialist Camp Syria: democratic transition or civil war? Presiding: Wilhelm Langthaler • Haitham Manna, speaker of the National Co-ordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB) Friday, August 24 Greece: elections or revolution? Presiding: … [read more]