Already at the beginning of the day a large consensus was achieved on the need for such a dialogue in order to diminish the suffering of the Syrian population living in fear within the ruins of Daraa, the outskirts of Damascus and the city of Aleppo. The proposals to promote local cease fires by intensifying the interaction with the local population and to give free access to humanitarian organizations were as much accepted by the defenders of the government and of the opposition as the plan to organize, in the near future a peace conference in Vienna, Austria. The discussions dealt also with the problem of the intensification of the civil war-like circumstances along the lines of religious confessions. The participants underlined that also in this respect negotiation and dialogue … [read more]

No idea and no ideal however heroic it might be can justify the death of thousands of innocent people. No matter can be so important that it deserves that millions are fleeing their homes just because they want to survive. And no war should continue if it is aimed at the destruction of one’s own country. This is the lesson of nearly every war and this is also the lesson of the war in Syria which already cost the lives of 70 000 Syrians. However the big question remains: How to stop this vicious circle of violence, which dominates the country since almost two years? Syria is situated in a multicultural environment there are many people on both sides of the political spectrum who just want democracy and social justice to be built from the bottom up in their urban and rural … [read more]

This Alliance seeks to bring together all democratic forces and political parties that are opposed to tyranny and corruption, that reject sectarianism and violence, that rely on the notion, components and execution of the Syrian-based solution, and that accept participation in a political process aimed at ending the Syrian crisis and transition to a democracy through a peaceful political path. The Democratic Civil Alliance sees the necessity for all Syrian parties to participate in creating the solution. The Democratic Civil Alliance does not set preconditions to negotiations with the regime, but maintains that it is necessary for the appropriate climate for this negotiation to be in place, and for this negotiation to have a clear title: to agree on a transitional phase in … [read more]

1. If we consider also the number of non-voters and the spoiled votes (i.e. all the eligible citizens and not only the actual voters), the three parties (PDL – People of Freedom, PD – Democratic Party, UDC – Union of the Center) that supported for one year the worst government of the Italian republican history, obtained all together less than 50%. A blow that needs no further comment. Already this fact denies the thesis of those, many also near to us, who maintained the insignificance of these elections. On the contrary their result represents a real political earthquake. 2. Merkel’s most loved duo Bersani-Monti just obtained 40% of all valid votes. Before the elections we indicated as a goal to bring them under the threshold of 50%. We were pessimistic! The Italian ballots … [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]

We are the family of Mohammed Abdel Ghani Saba'na, who has been arrested by the Israeli Occupation Army as he was coming back home from Jordan through Al-Karama crossing. And since that day his lawyers was unable to meet him and all their requests were rejected. We – Family of Sabaaneh – and after the death of Arafat Jaradat during investigation by Israeli army, at Aljalameh compound or after that in Majeddo prison, We appeals to all parties especially humanitarian organizations all around the world to interfere fast to help us visiting our son to check on him and his safety we appeal to them to work hard to save our our Son and all prisoners from the Occupation prisons to end their suffering by lifting their case up to international forums to assure their safety and their legal … [read more]

I draw my strength from my people, from all the free people in the world, from friends and the families of the prisoners who continue day and night chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation. My health has deteriorated dramatically and I’m hung between life and death. My weak body is collapsing but still able to be patient and continue the confrontation. My message is that I will continue until the end, until the last drop of water in my body, until martyrdom. Martyrdom is an honor for me in this battle. My martyrdom is my remaining bomb in the confrontation with the tyrants and the jailers, in the face of the racist policy of the occupation that humiliates our people and exercises against us all means of oppression and repression. I say to my people: I'm stronger than the … [read more]

For the last two years, people in the Arab region have been trying to take things into their own hands. Their main demand is a change in the political system, bringing social justice, democracy, freedom and self-determination. Foreign powers, parts of the political Islamic movement and members of the old structures seek to control these movements for change. People in the whole area of historic Palestine are part of this regional movement. But militarism, racism, apartheid and the denial of rights to the Palestinian majority in historic Palestine characterize the policy of the state of Israel. This is true of parties from the extreme right through to the liberal left. Egregious expulsions and discrimination against Palestinians inside the Green Line, an intensified land grab as part … [read more]

No sane person can refuse lightly everything that can stop or ease the suffering of our people and their great sacrifices, but this does not mean, that we have to accept and support any initiative claiming it is seeking to do so. The judgment on such initiatives is subject, from our point of view, to the criteria meeting the following conditions: to provide for the masses the ability to re-establish their fight and struggle to topple the dictatorial regime, that does not provide for the latter to prolong its time or survival, and in particular that allow the space for radical change from below in favor of the popular classes and to serve their direct and general interests. (NCCDC) and Sheikh Moaz initiatives both converge in calling for “change from above”, with the difference … [read more]

Death to the System which has hanged Afzal Guru in a dastardly manner! “Let life be dead, but death must not be allowed to live” - Marx Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) condemns the Indian government in the strongest possible terms for hanging Mohammad Afzal Guru at Tihar Jail this morning in a dastardly manner. The process of his arrest, trial, his sentencing by the lower court and the upholding of the death sentence by the Supreme Court, the rejection of his petition to the president, denial of his right to a judicial review of this rejection, and finally his secret hanging – all point towards the farcical nature of Indian judiciary and the complicity of the entire present political system in persecuting political dissidents. Moreover, we also condemn the arrest of Prof. … [read more]

1. Consider the International Geneva Agreement as a valid basis for implementation, and first and foremost to simultaneously stop the violence. 2. To work on the establishment of a political process though negotiations between the opposition and the regime to implement the International Geneva Agreement, for issuing a constitutional declaration to create on this basis a Government with full power to administrate this stage, and work to bring about fair legislature and Presidential elections, under international supervision. 3. To convene the International Geneva Conference 2, which takes into consideration developments on the ground and requirements on the one hand, with the presence of a binding mechanism on the result of negotiation, from the Security Council under Chapter VI on … [read more]

Just as other oppressed Arab people, Iraqis have been demonstrating on the streets not only since February 25, 2011 —the date in which their demands were echoed by some foreign media— but three years before, when the Revolutionary Youth Movement was founded. At that time, Iraqis demonstrated from the Northern —Erbil— to the deepest South — Fao— and also in Nayaf, Kut, Basra and Naseriyah. They demanded public services (water and electricity) and also denounced the Iranian toxic spillages in the South of Iraq. Iraqi Security forces violently repressed the first demonstrations, causing several deaths and injuring many people. The international community made no response. That no one in the media or in the diplomatic sphere did anything to stop Nouri al Maliki … [read more]

The Media Committee for the Syrian International Conference has released more information and details about the Conference: "For a Democratic Syria and Civil State", which is due to take place on Monday and Tuesday, 28 - 29 January 2013 in Geneva. The Committee stressed that the Conference has been arranged following requests by prominent figures and countries, including requests from within the European Union, to promote the democratic civil opposition and to hold a conference for this. In preparing the Conference, the organizers have sought to bring together more than 100 people from the opposition from both within Syria and from different movements and opposition political parties, and to highlight the importance of breaking the siege against the peaceful uprising and the civilian … [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, however, not quite clear which status this proposal has. Did the president approve it? We do not know. But Sharaa dared to speak out and he is still in office. It is obvious that there is a certain bandwidth of positions within the regime, and revolutionary politics must try to weaken the hardliners who are obviously also there. Russia, the main backer of Assad, at the same time made it clear that they will not keep supporting Assad at any cost. This is on one hand a warning to Assad to create the preconditions for a transition, and on the other hand a signal to Moscow’s geo-political rivals that Russia is ready for a compromise. This is in line with the Iranian proposal as well. The change in these positions is that they moved away from elections under the current regime – … [read more]

Q: What are the Unity Brigades (UB) and how did way come into existence? The UB are composed of people and groups originated from the civil revolutionary movement organised in the Tasiqiat [pl. for Tansiqia organisation which are local committees]. Some are also defected soldiers of the regular army. We formed our one brigades to defend us and our movement against the extreme violence and systematic killings by the regime which follows a sectarian method. We think that we ought not to respond by employing sectarian patterns as well as some groups do. This results in a political help to the regime. The armed struggle needs a clear political agenda which many armed groups lack. Q: Are you part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA)? Formally the UB are part of the FSA. But until now there … [read more]

In his hubris the president assumed that the Tahrir would remain marginal. Actually the exclusion of the Tahrir from the constitutional process dates back to the time of the bloc between the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the military. Then came the clash between the MB on one side and the military junta with the judicial apparatus loyal to them on the other side. The idea behind Mursi’s operation looked as if he wanted to draw support and legitimacy by partially adopting the Tahrir’s demands against the judiciary thus taking the wind out of the Tahrir’s sails. The Islamists presumed to marginalise any opposition to their leadership by marking them as secularists and subsuming them under the old regime. They really seem to believe their own narrative of overwhelming popular support – … [read more]

We, the undersigned, who are part of an international civil society increasingly worried about the awful bloodshed of the Syrian people, are supporting a political initiative based on the results of a fact-finding mission which some of our colleagues undertook to Beirut and Damascus in September 2012. This initiative consists in calling for a delegation of high-ranking personalities and international public figures to go to Syria in order to discuss the current situation with the main political actors and to pave the way for a negotiated political solution of the armed conflict in Syria which seriously threatens world peace and the existence of Syria as an independent and sovereign nation. In this perspective we fully support the following declaration: All eyes are presently on the … [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]