Capitalism and white supremacy, together the axes around which most of our contemporary existence has revolved, appear to have been dealt a rattling blow with the arrival of COVID-19.
Place: Syria
Syria
The U.S. protests: Lessons from Syria
In the spirit of solidarity with those on the streets, Leila Al Shami offers lessons from the Syrian revolution that might be applicable to the uprising against police violence in the United States.
Revolution in Permanence in Syria, After the Uprisings
Joseph Daher, Syria After the Uprisings: The Political Economy of State Resilience. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2019.
The Swiss-Syrian Marxist academic Joseph Daher’s sweeping study, Syria After the Uprisings, represents an important contribution to our political and historical understanding of Syria’s Revolution. . . .
Nine Years Against Assad
As Bashar al-Assad brutally crushes the last areas not under his control, Joseph Daher, Syrian socialist activist, gave this wide-ranging interview to the UK-based journal Socialist Resistance.
What are the Lessons of the UK Election?
There have been many articles attempting to explain the crushing defeat of the Labour Party in the UK election of 12 December 2019. Some of them are very insightful, and list reasons that undoubtedly played a part in that defeat. . . .
Idlib Resists
Over the past few days a popular uprising has broken out across Idlib against the hardline Islamist group HTS (formerly Al-Qaeda linked Nusra) which is militarily dominant in much of the province.
The recent uprising began when HTS increased Zakaat (taxes) on a . . .
Sunday Nov. 3: Livestream Dialogue on Kurdish Self-Determination and Socialism
Two hours of discussion with Kurdish Turkish, Kurdish Iranian, Syrian Swiss socialists to be followed by 30 minutes for Q and A with the Facebook audience.
Reply to Greg Shupak
Greg Shupak and I, as he notes, differ on one key interpretation of U.S. intervention in Syria. For him, the U.S. intervention, as it shifted its focus to defeating ISIS, never meant a shift away from an anti-Assad stance; rather, . . .
Reply to Ella Wind on Syria and the U.S.
In “Syria, the United States, and the Left,” Ella Wind criticizes my April 2018 article, “U.S. Out of Syria.” Wind says that I misrepresent U.S. policy towards Syria by “demonstrate[ing] the scale and ferocity of the U.S. intervention by a . . .
Syria, Refugees and Solidarity
The recent Turkish offensive on north-eastern Syria and US withdrawal of troops from the region is unleashing yet another humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.
In the past few days over 130,000 Syrians have fled for their lives, in desperate search of . . .
Declaration of Solidarity With the Kurds and People in Resistance in Northern Syria
In response to the U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria, decided by the President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and in anticipation of the impending military attack of the free people in Rojava that this deal enables, . . .
Support Rojava Against the Erdogan-Trump Unholy Alliance to Crush the Kurds!
On October 9, Turkish armed forces began bombarding Rojava, the autonomous self-governing Kurdish enclave in northern Syria and are poised to cross over with ground troops as well. This attempt to wipe Rojava off the map is the product of . . .
On Gutter Journalism and Purported “Anti-Imperialism”
Gutter journalism is unfortunately not the preserve of openly right-wing tabloids. There has existed since the advent of Stalinism a “left-wing” strand of public mudslinging: Zhdanov was the counterpart of Goebbels. The Stalinist slander apparatus originally targeted the USSR’s left-wing . . .
Livestream Dialogue Between Sudanese, Algerian, African American, Syrian and Iranian Socialist Feminists
This Facebook event will happen on Saturday, August 3, 2019, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Geneva time.
Sunday, July 21: Livestream Facebook Dialogue Between Venezuelan, Syrian and Iranian Socialists
A Dialogue Between Venezuelan, Syrian and Iranian Socialists on the Challenges of Offering an Emancipatory Internationalist Alternative to Imperialism, Capitalism, Sexism and Racism. Sunday July 21, 2019, 6:00-8:30 p.m. Geneva Time.
Trump, Syria, and Counter-Revolution
Much has transpired since Donald Trump’s announcement last December that the United States was to withdraw its 2,000 troops from Syria. While the “rapid” withdrawal initially suggested by Trump’s tweet has not come about, discussion among U.S. rulers ultimately points . . .
Call for the Formation of a Transnational Socialist-Humanist Solidarity Network
Critical developments around the globe compel the creation of a new type of transnational socialist and anti-authoritarian solidarity network.
Peel Back Tulsi Gabbard’s “Progressive” Veneer
Tulsi Gabbard is getting a pass from people who should know better, first from Glenn Greenwald and then from the folks at Democracy Now! They describe her as “progressive except that some leftists on some issues . . .
The #MeToo Movement in the Middle East
The #MeToo movement against sexual assault and rape has animated women throughout the world. In the Middle East too, despite the wars led by authoritarian states, various imperialist powers, and extremist religious fundamentalist forces, a #MeToo movement is rising. How . . .
Syria, the United States, and the Left
As the war in Syria draws to a close, the debate on the U.S. left over that conflict seems as intractable as ever.
What do Trump’s ‘withdrawal’ from Syria and the Gulf’s rapprochement with Assad have in common?
In the days since Donald Trump’s announcement that the US was to rapidly withdraw its 2,000 troops from Syria, an enormous amount of speculation about what this means has taken place. In my initial piece, I expressed a number of views that are not widely shared.
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