The following statement was originally published on Yeryüzü Postası
We call on all workers — workers who are exploited under this system,
workers who have become increasingly impoverished and who are being
sent to die — not to join this war, but to unite against it.
At a time when war is taking place in Syria, war which has no purpose
other than death, destruction, and poverty, the AKP government launched
a mission of occupation that will only further increase chaos. Like the
previous occupation of Afrin, this operation shows that neither Russia,
the US, nor other imperialist powers care about the Kurdish people.
This operation is a continuation of the extermination and denial of
the Kurdish state based on the rejection of a peaceful solution to the
Kurdish question and is also part of the AKP’s imperial fantasies that
will only complicate the Syrian problem. The provocation by Turkey, with
the help of other countries, caused more Syrian people to leave their
country and triggered a new wave of migration that made it impossible to
build housing for refugees who were evacuated from the border region.
It is madness.
To eliminate Kurds from the border zone eliminates the possibility of
a peaceful solution to the problem. It makes the war even worse and
only increases the chances of further chaos spreading in the Middle
East.
Worker’s pay has already started to be cut back with the increased
cost of operations in Turkey. The meaning of this operation is “do you
know the price of one bullet?”
The increasing nationalism and militarization of Turkey only
strengthens the capitalist system and the bosses who run it. This
operation and the crisis it creates weakens our struggle against
capitalism.
We are completely against this operation because it means more death
and poverty for our class. We condemn all wars between nations, as a
part of our historical heritage. We believe that it is the historic duty
of the working class to fight against this war and the lie of national
unity that is intended to be promoted in the name of this war. We have
no common interests with the bosses and the governments in their
service!
Furthermore, Turkish workers and thousands of other people have lost
their lives, are getting poorer every minute, and live terrorized
because of the Syrian war. To end this war, the workers of the world
have to organize and move. We must strongly oppose the policy of states
that provoke, deepen and make even more destructive the war for the
interests of the ruling classes.
We call on all workers—workers who are exploited under this system,
workers who have become increasingly impoverished and who are being sent
to die—not to join this war, but to unite against it.
It is time to talk about what we can do against this war from our
shopfloors, how to silence the chauvinists, how to defeat the smell of
nationalist blood in the air, and how to stop the war and mitigate its
effects. We are organizing workers against the war. Immediately! Now!
Chinese regime’s propaganda is riddled with contradictions
Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info
Since Hong Kong’s mass revolt erupted in June, the Chinese
dictatorship (CCP) has pumped out propaganda about a ‘colour revolution’
fomented by the US and other western actors. This is straight from the
CCP playbook. The aim is to mobilise nationalist sentiment to support
state repression while at the same time putting protesters, foreign
media and governments on the defensive.
Internationally there also some ‘lefts’, mostly with a Stalinist
outlook, who parrot Beijing’s line. Mass protests two years ago in more
than 100 Iranian cities against the dictatorship in Teheran were also
dismissed by these groups as a “US backed” movement.
These social media warriors are now among the most ardent defenders
of police brutality in Hong Kong. “Police in America are much worse”,
they say. We agree up to a point, but genuine socialists are consistent.
We oppose police violence in Ferguson, in Paris, and in Sheung Wan.
Those who subscribe to the colour revolution scenario focus a lot on
the role of pan-democratic politicians like Joshua Wong, Martin Lee, and
media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-Ying, who all have connections with the
right-wing political establishment in the US. But these political
figures did not initiate the current mass movement and the truth is
they’ve been side-lined by the more militant youth since the beginning
of the movement. One of the reasons the current Hong Kong movement is
‘leaderless’ – which is problematic as the struggle becomes more complex
and drawn out – is precisely because of the backlash against the timid
and compromising ‘leadership’ of the pan-democrats in the past.
Fairy stories
We can see the CCP’s ‘colour revolution’ narrative is false because
the regime itself doesn’t believe it. If they really believed Trump was
trying to stage regime change in Hong Kong, as a first step to unseating
the CCP in China, why is Beijing still discussing how much soya to
import, and which parts of China’s financial sector it will allow Wall
Street companies to take over?
This is what they’re discussing in the two countries’ stop-go trade
negotiations. You don’t negotiate on this stuff with a foreign power
that you seriously believe is conducting a covert war (colour
revolution) inside your territory.
Last week, Beijing and Washington agreed the stalled trade talks
would resume in early October. The timing is highly significant as the
talks were originally supposed to take place in September. The delay is a
peace gesture by Trump’s administration to push the talks back so they
don’t interfere with Xi Jinping’s plans for a massive, nationalistic and
militaristic celebration of Chinese power on 1 October, the 70th
anniversary of the CCP coming to power.
This is not just about honouring history. For Xi, who is under
mounting pressure within the regime, and whose ‘strongman’ mantle has
been dented by several setbacks including Hong Kong’s protests, the 70th
anniversary pageantry is a badly needed nationalistic vitamin shot.
This aims to strengthen the regime that is repressing Hong Kong. The US
wouldn’t go along with this timetable if it really wanted to mess with
China over Hong Kong. But it only wants to mess with China over soya and
financial deregulation – there’s a big difference.
Young ‘Maoists’ persecuted
The CCP regime uses the ‘foreign agents’ bogey every time it faces a
significant political challenge. The Jasic Support Group, which suffered
brutal repression, arrests and disappearances last year, for
campaigning in support of trade union rights for factory workers in
Shenzhen, was also accused in China’s state-controlled media of being
financed and manipulated by foreign forces.
The youth involved in the Jasic campaign were mostly ‘Maoists’ and
other left wingers, and some had a degree of illusions in Xi’s regime.
Nevertheless, after months in detention under conditions we can barely
comprehend, they ‘confessed’ in forced video confessions to trying to
“overthrow” the CCP and being manipulated by “foreign forces fixated
with China’s bad side”. It is worth repeating: These are ‘Maoists’. The
idea they were acting in league with Trump or Britain’s MI6 is
ludicrous. But under torture you can get people to confess to the most
fantastic crimes.
The truth is that the US, Britain and other Western powers have no
interest in supporting democratic or workers’ rights in China and Hong
Kong. Their sole focus is to fight for their imperialist economic
interests, the biggest possible share of global markets for their banks
and big companies.
Because the global crisis of capitalism means the economic ‘cake’ is
not getting bigger this brings these governments increasingly into
conflict with China. This is the basis for the trade war and also
explains why some of these governments make more noise today over what’s
happening in Hong Kong than they did five years ago. But this doesn’t
mean they’ve changed their standpoint and are now on the side of the
protests. It’s still a diplomatic chess game with Hong Kong’s protest
movement seen as a possible pawn by Washington and to a lesser extent by
London.
Britain and the US
Five years ago at the time of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong the
UK Foreign Office issued a statement saying China’s proposed election
reform offered a “genuine choice”. This refers to the CCP’s infamous
‘831’ ruling, which stipulated that only candidates approved by the
dictatorship could compete for the post of Chief Executive.
The then Conservative Party foreign minister Hugo Swire conceded that
“proper democracy” was not on the table in Hong Kong, but said
Beijing’s offer was “better than nothing”. This pro-CCP line was
dictated by the British government’s desperate hope for Chinese capital
to invest in Britain’s rail, nuclear and financial sectors.
The US position is similar. When former US Consul General Kurt Tong
gave his farewell speech to Hong Kong on July 2, he said the US
government was “disappointed” to see violence and vandalism by
protesters. Tong, the senior US official in Hong Kong, praised Chief
Executive Carrie Lam’s apology as “very sincere” (this was two months
before Lam made her tactical concession to withdraw the extradition
law).
“I think the best thing going forward is to communicate sincerely and
for everyone to talk to one another,” Tong said. This is hardly a
rallying call to support the mass protests.
Tong’s boss, Donald Trump, has made even more Beijing-friendly
statements, calling the Hong Kong protesters “rioters” and declaring the
crisis to be an “internal matter” for the Chinese dictatorship. This is
consistent with Trump’s longstanding position as an admirer of
authoritarian regimes (Putin, Kim Jong Un, al-Sissi). On the subject of
the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Trump also said the workers and students
were engaged in a “riot” and praised Xi Jinping’s predecessors for the
way they handled the crackdown:
“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese
government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible,
but they put it down with strength… That shows you the power of
strength.” [Playboy, Donald Trump interview, March 1990]
In the current situation, the Trump administration is primarily and
cynically concerned with reaching a trade deal with China before the
2020 elections. Hong Kong and its incredible protest movement are
therefore just small change in their eyes.
Still, a few misguided Hong Kong youths continue to bring British and
US flags to demos, probably unaware they are the victims of a political
hoax.
An ornamental wood rod overlaid with gold from the funerary chamber of Kha and presented to him by Amenhotep II, in honor of his work. It is decorated with dedication hieroglyphs on the two ends and on four surfaces, including the bevel face, the top, back, and bottom.
The single scale is on the front surface. This rod is in sharp contrast with undecorated specimen, both from Kha, and both found in his funerary chamber. The contrast provides some insight into the differences between daily life and religious observations.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep II, ca. 1427-1401 BC.
Gilded wood. From the Tomb of Kha (TT8), Deir el-Medina, West Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. Cat. 8647
By Claus Ludwig SAV CWI in Germany. This is an updated version of an article fromsozialismus.info
A new stage of the war in Syria is now beginning after President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Turkish troops are ready to
attack and occupy the Kurdish region of Rojava in northern Syria. The
first wave of troops accompanied by widespread airstrikes has moved
across the border leaving the population of the region in a state of
‘huge panic’. This comes just three days after Donald Trump, in a phone
call with Erdogan, promised that US troops would be removed from
North-East Syria.
Turkish units, having already invaded Afrin, the geographically
isolated western province of the Kurdish region in 2018 have essentially
been given the green light to take over Rojava during Trump’s
phone-call.
This marks the beginning of the next phase of the war between world
and regional powers, which is being fought out on Syrian territory and
at a terrible cost for the Syrian people.
The outcome is uncertain. President Erdogan will use the crushing
superiority of the Turkish army, but he has repeatedly proven to be a
bumbling strategist. The Kurdish People’s Defence Units (YPG) and
Women’s Defence Units (YPJ) that currently control Rojava do not have
the military potential to oppose the Turkish tanks and Air Force. Their
proven heroism, motivated by the defense of their homes will not be
enough to resist Turkey’s firepower. But despite this, Erdogan will not
be able to “pacify” the region. Even if he achieves early bloody
victories, he will not be able to enforce his rule without further
violence. The Kurdish units will, as in Afrin, continue to conduct
guerrilla warfare.
As resistance in south eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northern
Syria increases, the war zone will expand. The longer opposition to the
invasion and the subsequent guerrilla fighting lasts, the stronger this
will impact the Kurdish conflict in Turkey itself. The newly disturbed
balance of power within Syria will become more confused. In stating its
reasons for the withdrawal of the troops, the US government says they
are no longer needed because the caliphate of the “Islamic state” has
been defeated. But the IS was smashed on the ground by Kurdish units.
Thousands of Islamist militants and their relatives are currently in
Kurdish internment camps. The Turkish invasion will release them.
A defeat for the Kurdish forces will instantly create a vacuum, which
the reactionary Islamist forces will be able to break into. The Erdogan
regime has in the past used IS forces directly to terrorize the
population. Now Islamist militias are deployed in Afrin as ground forces
under the control of the Turkish army. But whether Erdogan leans
directly on the Islamists or tries to keep them in check – they will
regroup with the aim of destroying Kurdistan.
If Turkey implements its promise to relocate many Syrian refugees –
mostly of Arab origin – from Turkey to the Kurdish areas, it will
prepare the ground for new ethnic evictions and massacres. These victims
of the war are being offered a new ‘home’ from which others must first
be expelled. This will allow Islamist militias and gangsters of all
kinds to take control of the redistribution of areas of influence and
trade routes. On this basis, the IS or a follow-up organization might
even be able to relaunch an offensive against the Assad regime.
At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that the Assad regime will
exploit the Turkish invasion and use its troops against the Kurdish
region to kill two birds with one stone, by accelerating the overthrow
of Kurdish self-government, while at the same time ensuring that the IS
fighters captured by the Kurds are taken out of the equation by
massacring or imprisoning them.
European leaders too are implicated
A few days ago Federal President of Germany Steinmeier visited
Turkey. Although he probably voiced his “concerns” or “worries” about a
Turkish invasion of northern Syria, he did not try and stop Erdogan or
threaten to take any action. The Federal Government has also given the
go-ahead with their public but toothless warnings. If Turkish units
invade Rojava, they do so with the help of German technology, tanks,
trucks and automatic weapons produced under license. German Tornado
aircraft flown by German Air-force pilots operated from the Turkish
military airport Incirlik until 2017 and now from Al-Asrak (Jordan).
They monitor the situation in the border area and thus safeguard Turkish
operations, as their intelligence is gathered to be used “against other
actors”, “against the IS” and “against terrorism”. Turkey, is of course
a NATO partner.
Although Kurdish people living in Europe are active in protesting
attacks on their region, they often find they do not have wider support
for example against the Erdogan regime itself. But if this aspect, that
of the involvement of the European powers and arms corporations was to
be brought out, and people realized how much profit was being made out
of the deaths of people in Syria the basis of protests could be widened.
If those courageous Kurdish organizations, who are already prepared to
speak out in Europe were to make an open appeal to left organizations,
trade unions and social movements they could get wider support.
During the battle for Kobane in 2014/15, although the Kurdish units
of the YPG and YPJ were highly motivated and determined, US air support
was critical in ensuring their success. By cooperating with US
imperialism in this way, the Kurdish movement gained tactical advantage
but ended up in a strategic dead-end. It did so at the cost of losing
part of its biggest asset, its principled position of fighting for a
multi-ethnic, multi-religious, democratic Syria, renouncing territorial
gains and oppression.
Response of the US
Trump’s statement about the withdrawal of US troops came as a shock
not only to the Kurdish people, but it has met much resistance within
the US itself, even within the Republican party. Critics describe it as a
present for Russia and Iran, as it will strengthen their alliance with
Assad. It is now suggested that a section of the Kurdish leadership is
looking to Russia to broker some kind of deal with Assad, which would
mean sacrificing Kurdish autonomy to stop further Turkish encroachments.
But neither regional powers, the US imperialists or Putin’s Russia
can be real allies. For US imperialism, their alliance with the Kurds
was just a tactical measure, not for strategic interests. As a result,
it was clear that sooner or later that support for the YPG / YPJ units
would be dropped to serve US imperialism’s overarching and long-term
interests. In the end, the Kurds can only secure their democratic rights
by struggling in alliance with the oppressed and exploited of other
nations in the region for common interests and most importantly against
the capitalist powers which are not prepared to ensure their political
and economic rights.
However, years of sectarian conflict and war have meant that the
national and religious divides are very wide. It is necessary to start
the very difficult and sometimes politically sensitive work to overcome
these divides and build a truly multi-ethnic force in the region.
The joint march on conquest of the Sunni city of Raqqa by the YPG and
US forces has not helped advance this key strategic task, but has
thrown back the Kurdish movement. From a military point of view, it
could possibly be argued that it was necessary to take-over certain
Arab-inhabited areas to create a defensive zone around Rojava. But
Raqqa, a distinctly Sunni Arabic city is far from the Kurdish settlement
areas. There, too, part of the population welcomed the end of IS
terrorism – this could have laid the basis for a certain unity with the
Kurdish population. Instead, many civilians died during the US bombing
of the city. New wounds were torn open, new hate sown. There is now the
danger that, unlike in 2014, the YPG and YPJ units will not be seen as a
force for liberation, but as another of the ethnically defined militias
in the Syrian war, which is ready to ally themselves with any other
forces in their own interests and, in the process take responsibility
for more death and terror in the country.
The situation in the Middle East can only change if it succeeds in
building a multi-ethnic, socialist movement of the oppressed of all
countries. The Kurdish movement can play an important role here, because
of its geographical location, its socialist roots and because of its
current policy against ethnic divisions and for equal democratic
self-government. But it needs a deliberate strategy to reach Turkish,
Arab and Iranian workers and peasants. It needs a program to promote the
unity of working and oppressed people. For this, it must be completely
independent of the capitalist class and reject any alliances with the
criminal gangs of the ruling elites.
In the dark hour of the Turkish invasion, there are events such as
the massive social protests in Iraq and the strike of teachers in
Jordan, which show a different perspective for the region. The Kurdish
movement should do well to look at its own experience, at the way the
women have struggled, its defense of the environment and in support of
direct democracy – and look beyond the Kurdish horizon. It needs to be
clear that there can be no progress on the basis of capitalism in the
Middle East, but the common class struggle across national and religious
borders is the key, the common struggle for the overthrow of all
regimes, for a voluntary socialist federation of the Middle East.
Hank hill was a conservative who recycled and composted while burning efficient and clean burning propane. He’s anti racism and anti homophobia (as uncomfortable as sex as a whole makes him). Hank Hill is a true old school man who believes in minding your own lawn and not looking over the fence to judge your neighbor.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
