#counterrevolution — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Terry Pratchett

Here’s some advice boy. Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 29, Night Watch [Vimes] (2002)

More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/3061…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #terrypratchett #nightwatch #discworld #vimes #counterrevolution #cycleofviolence #government #history #instability #politicalinstability #politicalviolence #radical #revolution

A quotation from Terry Pratchett

Here’s some advice boy. Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 29, Night Watch [Vimes] (2002)

More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/3061…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #terrypratchett #nightwatch #discworld #vimes #counterrevolution #cycleofviolence #government #history #instability #politicalinstability #politicalviolence #radical #revolution

#iran : #war

„In the following #analysis, Somayeh Rostampour shows how the #repression that the Iranian #government has carried out to crush #protests, the #monarchist attempt to co-opt opposition movements and push them to the right, and the military assault that the #USA and #Israel are currently carrying out against Iran are all different fronts within a single #counterrevolution, reinforcing each other and combining to suppress the possibility of real #liberation.“

https://crimethinc.com/2026/03/19/iran-between-repression-co-optation-and-war-three-waves-of-counterrevolution

#iran : #war

„In the following #analysis, Somayeh Rostampour shows how the #repression that the Iranian #government has carried out to crush #protests, the #monarchist attempt to co-opt opposition movements and push them to the right, and the military assault that the #USA and #Israel are currently carrying out against Iran are all different fronts within a single #counterrevolution, reinforcing each other and combining to suppress the possibility of real #liberation.“

https://crimethinc.com/2026/03/19/iran-between-repression-co-optation-and-war-three-waves-of-counterrevolution

ISIS Never Left Syria, It Just Changed Uniforms

Early last month, the forces of the ‘new’ Syrian army flooded across north and east Syria. The troops seized key cities and major oil fields, effectively ending a decade of US-backed Kurdish autonomy – with Washington’s blessing.

One of those cities was Raqqa, the former capital of ISIS’s self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’ in Syria and a symbol of sectarianism, bloodshed, and iron-fist rule.

Raqqa remembers 

It was in Raqqa where scores of soldiers from the now-dismantled Syrian Arab Army (SAA) were executed in cold blood by ISIS militants. Many of these soldiers had their severed heads impaled on pikes on the city’s outskirts.

It was also in Raqqa where countless young girls and women, many of them Yezidis abducted from Iraq in 2014, were sold into slavery in what ISIS called Souq al-Sabaya – the ‘market of female captives.’

As Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s (formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) armed forces entered the city in early 2026, his soldiers were gleeful, excited, and reminiscent. Many of them had been there before.

A closer look at the officers leading this offensive reveals a stark reality: ISIS has not been defeated. It has been absorbed, rebranded, and redeployed across Syria, reclaiming its ‘caliphate.’

ISIS reborn under Turkiye’s shadow

The Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDCNY), a Manbij-based human rights organization that monitors abuses against Kurds, released a report in August 2024 identifying dozens of extremist militants formerly affiliated with ISIS who were later incorporated into the Turkiye-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).

The SNA was formed by Ankara in 2017 and for years served as the Turkish military’s arm in northern Syria. Turkish forces had invaded Syria in 2016 to carry out an operation against the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose dominant component is the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – which Ankara regards as the Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkiye went on to occupy swathes of Syrian territory and maintains that presence today.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions that assisted Turkiye’s 2016 intervention were reorganized into what became the SNA. After Raqqa fell to the SDF in 2017, this coalition absorbed scores of fleeing ISIS members. Over time, the SNA continued integrating former ISIS fighters into its ranks.

The ISIS ‘caliphate’ seemed defeated at a certain point. In reality, much of the heavy fighting against ISIS across Syria had been carried out by the former Syrian army, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, allied Iran-backed factions, and the Russian air force. The credit, however, went to Washington and the SDF – which today has been abandoned once again by the US military.

But ISIS was regrouping and reestablishing itself under a new name, with direct Turkish backing and under the watchful eye of US forces.

As VDCNY bluntly stated: “ISIS grew on the shoulders of the Free Syrian Army.”

Below is a partial list of former ISIS figures who were later absorbed into the SNA:

Abu Mohammad al-Jazrawi

According to the August 2024 VDCNY report, Abu Mohammad al-Jazrawi – born Abdullah Mohammad al-Anzi – is a Saudi national who joined ISIS in 2015 after arriving in Syria illegally via Turkiye – like tens of thousands of others from various parts of the world who did the same.

During his time with ISIS, he participated in battles against the Syrian army in the Syrian Desert and Homs countryside. He ended up becoming a military commander in Ahrar al-Sham, a notorious, sectarian extremist group responsible for many war crimes and atrocities.

Ahrar al-Sham had previously fought alongside Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front before eventually being embedded into the SNA. The extremist group is responsible for numerous war crimes, including the deadly shelling of civilians in the Shia-majority towns of Nubul and Zahraa in Aleppo, during the early years of the war.

Bashar Smeid

Nicknamed Abu Islam al-Qalamouni, Smeid joined ISIS in 2014 and participated in fighting in the Palmyra desert, Damascus countryside, and near Al-Tanf Base – where US forces were training extremist militants.

In 2016, he took command of a security detachment that oversaw the infiltration of three car bombs into Damascus’s Sayyida Zaynab area. He ended up moving to northern Syria’s Idlib in 2017 and worked with his group to funnel ISIS leaders into Turkiye.

A year later, he joined the SNA’s Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction – another criminal sectarian organization that was happy to take in ISIS leaders. In March 2023, members of Ahrar al-Sharqiya murdered four Kurdish civilians celebrating Newroz (Kurdish New Year).

Sabahi al-Ibrahim al-Muslih

Known as Abu Hamza al-Suhail, Muslih was a leader in ISIS’s Shura Council and oversaw trials on charges of apostasy and blasphemy that resulted in dozens of executions. He ended up joining the SNA’s 20th Division. While reports said he was killed in a US drone strike a few years ago, he remains a prime example of the type of characters who were joining the SNA.

Awad Jamal al-Jarad

Jarad joined ISIS in 2015 and commanded a battalion within the organization. He later entered the SNA’s Hamza Division in 2018, participated in Turkish offensives in Afrin, and subsequently joined Ahrar al-Sharqiya.

By August 2024, he was leading a unit of 30 men and had transformed the city of Tal Abyad’s post office into his personal headquarters and command center, according to VDCNY. The Hamza Division is responsible for sectarian violence, sexual assault, and other war crimes.

Majid al-Khalid

Khalid, nicknamed Hajj Abu Omar al-Ansari, formed Liwa al-Haq in Hama during the early years of the war, before incorporating his organization into ISIS in 2014. He was considered one of the founders of ISIS in Hama city.

He ended up becoming the Emir of Hama during his time with ISIS and took command of the suicide (‘Inghimassi’) battalions – which sent thousands of young men to blow themselves up in holy sites and civilian areas. In 2017, he joined the Hamza Division and became a battalion commander in the group.

Salem Turki al-Antari

Antari, nicknamed Abu Saddam al-Ansari, joined ISIS in 2014 in the Badia desert region, where he served as a commander and led extremists in battle against the former Syrian army in Palmyra and near Al-Tanf Base.

He went on to become the Emir of Palmyra. Antari later joined Ahrar al-Sharqiya in 2017 and took part in Turkish-backed assaults against Afrin, Tal Rifaat, and Ras al-Ain. He was also implicated in the roadside execution of Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf in 2019. In 2024, the ex-ISIS chief was appointed as the commander of the US-backed Syria Free Army (SFA), which was formed by Washington in 2022 and trained in the Al-Tanf Base.

SFA now operates under the Syrian Defense Ministry. Between 2015 and 2017, Antari took part in the ISIS takeover of Palmyra and the battles with the Syrian army that ensued. The terrorist organization’s assault on Palmyra destroyed some of Syria’s most cherished cultural heritage. In 2015, ISIS notoriously publicly beheaded renowned 83-year-old Syrian archeologist Khaled al-Asaad for refusing to reveal the locations of hidden antiquities.

Raad Issa al-Barghash

Also known as Abu Zainab, Barghash pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2013. He fought with the group in Ain al-Arab (Kobane) and elsewhere, and was responsible for the killing of many civilians. In 2017, he fled to Aleppo and entered the ranks of Ahrar al-Sharqiya, eventually becoming a top security chief in the group.

Thamer Nasser al-Iraqi

An Iraqi citizen, he joined ISIS in 2013 in Homs and then served as the military fortifications Emir in the Al-Shaddadi area until 2015. In 2016, he became the Emir of the armaments department in Raqqa, and then an advisor to the ISIS Security Office No. 011 in Raqqa.

Iraqi participated in the Battle of Mosul in 2014. Three years later, he fled towards the city of Jarablus, east of Aleppo. In November 2017, he joined Ahrar al-Sharqiya and participated in Operation Olive Branch and Operation Peace Spring, launched by the Turkish army in 2018 and 2019. He also participated in bombings and summary executions of Kurdish civilians in the Jindires district of Afrin.

Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr, now a dual Syrian-Turkish citizen, had defected from the old Syrian military to join the FSA in 2012. These defections were encouraged by foreign intervention and funding. The FSA never maintained the status of a unified opposition force, quickly splintering into different factions that aligned themselves with extremist groups.

He joined ISIS in 2013 and was appointed governor of Al-Bab during the organization’s control over the city. A few years later, he ended up as commander in the Hamza Division, taking part in several Turkish-backed offensives against Kurdish forces.

During his time with ISIS, he appeared in a propaganda video where another member of the group is heard demanding “repentance” from around a dozen prisoners kneeling before them. The prisoners are identified in the video as members of the PKK.

Abu Bakr was also associated with Abdul Jabbar al-Okaidi, an FSA commander who publicly praised ISIS following the capture of Menagh Air Base in 2013.

Abu Bakr is now a senior commander in the Syrian army. In May 2025, the EU imposed sanctions on him, including asset freezes and a travel ban, citing “serious human rights abuses in Syria, including torture and arbitrary killings of civilians.”

Washington’s ‘partner’ in fighting ISIS

These are only select examples.

In 2025, the entire Turkish-backed SNA was formally integrated into the Syrian Defense Ministry. Following the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the SNA – effectively ISIS in new attire – became a core pillar of the current Syrian army, alongside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously the Nusra Front. HTS itself contains numerous former ISIS members and has a long record of war crimes.

After the SDF was thrown under the bus by Washington in early 2026, Syrian forces swept across the north and captured key oil fields and cities. Soldiers were jubilant upon their entry into Raqqa, charged with nostalgia for ISIS’s glory days.

غالبية مدينة الرقة خارج سيطرة تنظيم «قسد PKK». العلم السوري فوق دوار الساعة. pic.twitter.com/Mpm1WO716Y

— زين العابدين | Zain al-Abidin (@DeirEzzore) January 18, 2026

During the assault on northern Syria, tens of thousands of ISIS militants and their families were set free as troops entered Al-Hawl Prison Camp, which was previously run by the SDF.

Videos on social media showed government troops arriving at Al-Hawl and allowing the prisoners to leave. During the fighting days earlier, hundreds of ISIS prisoners escaped from Al-Shaddadi Prison. The SDF lost control of the facility and accused the US of ignoring its calls for help. Two kilometers away from the prison is a US coalition military base.

“The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], we are proud of this,” video footage showed one Iraqi woman, dressed in a niqab, saying as she was leaving Al-Hawl.

The new Syrian army is saturated with former ISIS commanders and fighters – yet Washington now describes it as a “partner” in combating ISIS.

This is the same army that massacred Alawites and Druze in March and July of 2025, and committed heinous war crimes against Kurds during attacks against the SDF in January 2026.

President Sharaa, the former ISIS and Al-Qaeda leader behind deadly sectarian suicide bombings in both Iraq and Syria, (as well deadly attacks in Lebanon and the occupation of the country’s border with Syria) has vowed to protect minorities, and claims he is leading a campaign to rid Syria of extremism.

This is impossible with an army made up of ISIS and a political leadership made up of violent warlords.

An investigation released by The Cradle last year reveals that since Sharaa came to power, Syria has witnessed a government-linked campaign of mass abduction and sexual enslavement targeting young Alawite women. Syrian government forces also committed massacres targeting minorities, including Druze and Alawites.

In a new video from the assault on the north, a Syrian soldier films two female Kurdish fighters captured during battle. As he drives around with the two women in the back of his vehicle, he brags about how they will make a “perfect gift” for his commander.

ISIS is very much alive. And it now rules the entirety of Syria under the protection and sponsorship of the US and Turkiye.

source: The Cradle

The Sun Sets on the Syrian Kurdish Rebellion

The agreement that terminated the Syrian Kurdish enclave was presented by its signatories as a pragmatic settlement. But, in fact, the deal is a major political defeat for the Syrian Kurdish political formations. Certainly, the rapid advance of the Syrian armed groups loyal to President Ahmad al-Sharaa broke the resistance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the largely Kurdish group, but this advance can only be understood by the total backing given by the United States to the Syrian government against the SDF. The SDF was outgunned and had no air support, which is what they had benefitted from in their war against the Islamic State. The SDF’s Mazlum Abdi signed the effective surrender on behalf of his party and their army. US Ambassador Tom Barrack’s tweet (despite its hyperbole) suggested the end of the Syrian Kurdish experiment called Rojava (the Kurdish word for where the sun sets, or the western part of the Kurdish lands.

The deal formalized what months of military pressure had already made clear. Syrian state institutions returned to the northeast not as partners but as authorities keen on a strong central state loyal to al-Sharaa. Over the course of the past year, border crossings that had been in the hands of various groups returned to central government control and oil revenues began to be collected for Damascus. The Syrian Democratic Forces, one of the last remaining independent military challenges to al-Sharaa after the rout of the Syrian Arab Army, agreed to be subordinated to the military’s central command but did not want its units dismantled; in other words, the SDF wanted to retain its own structures within the Syrian armed forces. This was the agreement that Abdi and others in the Kurdish leadership, such as Ilham Ahmed (former co-chair of the SDF), favored, but they were outflanked by sections of the Syrian Kurdish leadership that did not want to lose the autonomy of the Kurdish enclave. But now Kurdish political offices have begun to close, flags are being removed, and the language of autonomy has been erased from official documents.

Al-Sharaa came to the presidency of Syria through his politicization in al-Qaeda’s Syrian fronts. While he has left behind his turban for a suit, there are indications that his own followers are comfortable with the ideology of and links with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State and that they welcome an alliance with both the United States and Israel. In the days leading up to this ceasefire and deal, SDF officials reported that the Syrian armed forces focused their attention on the prisons that held Islamic State fighters who had been captured by the SDF; heavy fighting had indeed been reported near Shaddadi prison (Hasaka) and al-Aqtan prison (Raqqa). These attacks, the SDF said, were a “highly dangerous development” since they suggested that the government forces wanted to free the Islamic State fighters from the prisons and put them back on the battlefield against groups such as the SDF. Now the state has control over these prisons and could do what it wants with these prisoners.

The dawn of Rojava

In 2012, the government of Bashar al-Assad withdrew its military from the northeast so that it could defend the southwest from a cycle of rebellions. This withdrawal provided an opportunity for the Syrian Kurds, who had been fighting for either an independent Kurdistan or autonomy within Syria for decades. The leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim told me in 2013 that the Kurdish political and military forces filled a vacuum. “We organized our society so that chaos would not prevail.” The PYD’s Muslim made three points: Syria must remain united, Syria must belong to all those who live in it, and Syria must be decentralized. The government in Damascus accepted these three points and a tacit understanding was reached between the Syrian Kurdish political forces, other minorities in Syria, and al-Assad’s government. This was the opportunity that allowed for the birth of Rojava.

Over the decade since 2012, the Rojava enclave came under serious attack by the Islamic State (in 2014-15) and the Turkish armed forces (2018) as well as sustained attacks by various smaller groups. In this decade, the army of the SDF, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the Kurdish Peshmerga (from Iraq), and the armed forces of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK from Turkey) defended this enclave, most dramatically from the advance of the Islamic State. When the Islamic State took Sinjar and began to ethnically cleanse the area of Yazidis in August 2014, it was the YPG and its allies that began a long siege of the area that was only won by them in November 2015 at a great cost. US air support began to assist the YPG and the SDF in their quest to defeat the Islamic State and to exist as an independent enclave from Damascus. Neither Salih Muslim nor other leaders of the Syrian Kurdish groups pinned their faith wholeheartedly on the United States, although the balance of forces set in motion an alliance that was always going to lead to betrayal.

Statements from Salih Muslim and Mazlum Abdi that silence about the Turkish invasion of Afrin in 2018 would “cost Syria its unity” or that the YPG was the only “barrier against Turkish occupation” did not count for much. Assad was not going to enrage the Turkish government at this time (in fact, it was in this period that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a deal to demilitarize Idlib and allow the al-Qaeda inheritors, including al-Sharaa’s Hay’at Tahrir al’Sham or HTS to build their strength in peace and wait a turn of fortunes). Perhaps if Assad were a better chess player, he would have provoked Turkey by defending the Syrian Kurds, thereby preventing a deal and forcing his Russian allies to provide air support while the Syrian Arab Army entered Idlib to fight the remainder of the HTS and its allies. But Assad began to allow the Russians to do his strategic thinking and therefore conceded a point of strength in the hope that the Turkish government would cease its attempt to overthrow his government.

Turkey’s Erdoğan refused to see the Syrian Kurdish rebellion as anything other than an extension of the fight of the Turkish PKK. In 2020, he told his party cadre at a meeting, “Turkey will never allow the establishment of a terror state right beside its borders. We will do whatever is necessary and drain this swamp of terrorism.” This should have been clear to both Assad and the Syrian Kurds that there was going to be no support from Turkey and no end to the attempt at destabilization by Turkey’s NATO partner, the United States. Over the past five years, Erdoğan leaned on the political leadership of the PKK to withdraw its rebellion and to effectively capitulate. In 2025, from his Turkish cell, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan announced “the end of the method of armed struggle”. The Syrian Kurdish project, linked with the PKK, lost its broader strategic depth. Pressure mounted from the Turkish side for the Syrian Kurds to end their project of “armed autonomy”, as Turkish officials said. Turkish military pressure continued with reduced international condemnation or even consideration and diminished Kurdish legitimacy.

The mysterious role of Israel in this entire fiasco has yet to be properly written.

The fall of Assad

With the full weight of Israeli and US air strikes, the forces of Hay’at Tahrir al’Sham led by Ahmad al-Sharaa dashed into Damascus. This victory marked a decisive rupture for the Syrian Kurds. Al-Sharaa, the new president, said that his government would reclaim the northern lands (but he said nothing about Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights and nothing about the hundreds of square kilometres of the UN buffer zone seized by Israel after al-Sharaa took Damascus). Statements coming from Damascus sent a warning to the Kurds, although the Kurdish leadership hoped against any logic that the United States would protect them (in December 2024, Abdi said that the Syrian Kurds were in ‘continuous communication with our American friends, who support our efforts to stop the escalation and guarantee the rights of all Syrian components, including the rights of the Kurds within the framework of a unified state’). The United States began a withdrawal, and the Syrian Kurds began to voice their hopelessness. One SDF official told me that their forces had fought ISIS and had taken huge casualties but now were, in her words, ”nothing at all”. Syrian forces flooded the north. “Syria does not need experiments imposed by force,” said al-Sharaa. Rojava was in his crosshairs. It did not take long to finish the job. “We are determined to protect the achievements of the revolution,” said Abdi, but this seems more like wishful thinking.

The example of Syria has sent a cold breeze across the border to the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr posted a message on X with a warning that what happened in Syria “should not be taken naïvely”. “The danger is imminent”, he wrote, “and terrorism is supported by global arrogance”. With the change of strategy of the Turkish PKK and the defeat of the Syrian Kurds, any faith in Irbil (Iraq) that the Kurdish autonomous region is eternal will now fade. Al-Sadr suggested unity in the face of external aggression. It is a suggestion that would be hard to reject in these times.

The collapse of Rojava was not merely the failure of a local revolt to be sustained. It was the defeat of a political wager: that decentralization and armed self-defense could rely upon the support of the United States. The language of democracy and dignity might have appealed to an occasional US diplomat, but it meant nothing in Washington. “We built Rojava on a swamp,” said a Syrian Kurdish official to me a few hours after the deal.

Vijay Prashad
This article was originally pulished by Globetrotter.

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The 60 Minutes Story The Trump Administration Doesn't Want You To See

CBS is dead. Mourn it and move on. The #Counterrevolution will not be televised.

#Cecot #cbsnews #ThisIsFascism #History #TTJ

The 60 Minutes Story The Trump Administration Doesn't Want You To See

CBS is dead. Mourn it and move on. The #Counterrevolution will not be televised.

#Cecot #cbsnews #ThisIsFascism #History #TTJ

‘We Should Determine Our Own Future’: Interview with Sudanese Communist Party

A brutal civil war is raging on the African continent in the nation of Sudan. The injection of illegal weapons and the jockeying of foreign powers for control over the country’s gold and other resources only adds to the misery of colonialism’s legacy and internal armed conflict. And suffering the worst of it all are the country’s children, women, and poor people generally.

International help is desperately needed to halt hostile outside intervention and stop the killing. That’s the message that Salwa Saied wants the world to hear. She’s a longtime member of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), and People’s World had the privilege to speak with her on the sidelines of the convention of the Communist Party of Canada, held in Montreal, Dec. 5-7.

Using the word crisis to describe the current situation in Sudan would be an understatement, and the atrocities accumulate faster than anyone can keep up. Even as People’s World was interviewing Saied, she received a message on her phone from her comrades about an attack on a school back home that killed dozens of kindergartners and their teachers.

A ruthless anti-people war

She said her country is being torn apart by warring factions, none of whom are on the side of Sudan’s poor and working-class population. “Fascist forces, through their two wings, the Islamist movement and the Rapid Support Forces, have been waging a ruthless and large-scale war since April 15, 2023,” Saied said.

The civil war, which features fighting among and between paramilitary forces and the official state army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), is complicated by the actions of regional actors—most notably the United Arab Emirates—which has supplied arms to the RSF in exchange for access to gold from Sudan’s mines.

Saied and the SCP argue that the atrocities and aggression of the Islamist groups and RSF that have been witnessed over the last few years are “primarily aimed at obstructing the December 2019 revolution” in Sudan, which “demanded freedom, peace, justice, and democratic transformation.”

That revolution got its start with mass protests in December 2018 that eventually resulted in the overthrow of dictator Omar al-Bashir and the assumption of state power by the military. The Communist Party, in conjunction with the Sudanese Professionals Association and neighborhood resistance committees, participated in the protests.

The party had long opposed al-Bashir’s dictatorship and stayed in the streets with the people after he was gone, determined to not let the military cement itself in place. It saw the uprising as, essentially, a class revolt against military-Islamist rule that was eventually sabotaged by compromises made with the generals, resulting in a hijacking of the revolution.

Demands for a quick transition to civilian rule by the SCP, labor, and the other forces of civil society were quickly derailed following the launch of the revolution.

The first blow was the “Khartoum massacre” of 2019, which saw SAF and RSF forces—then united in the “Transitional Military Council” (TMC)—kill hundreds and rape dozens in an attempt to disperse the crowds who were still agitating in the streets demanding that the people themselves, not soldiers, should determine the country’s future.

The RSF is a holdover of past fighting, born out of al-Bashir’s genocidal suppression in Darfur in the early 2000s. Many of its troops are thus veterans of past war crimes and mass killing campaigns, so their participation in the Khartoum massacre and other atrocities came as no surprise.

Hopes to salvage the revolution and for the people to re-seize the initiative from the TMC were dashed when a split occurred between the SAF and the RSF in 2023. Since then, the people of Sudan have been caught in the crossfire, leading to the mass displacement of at least 12 million and the deaths of uncounted numbers of people.

Complete social collapse

Saied said it is the details of that human side of the fighting which should spur the world to action. As a mother of four daughters herself, the situation of women in Sudan particularly pains her heart.

“You may have heard about documented genocidal atrocities, such as those that recently took place in the city of El Fasher and its surroundings. Those atrocities have shocked the global conscience with killings and mass rapes of women and sexual slavery.”

But, Saied said, “these have become daily practices for both sides in the war.” Another common tactic is the “enforced disappearance of thousands of citizens, including women and children.” Even if civilians manage to escape or survive, there is also a mental health disaster in the offing that will play out for years and across generations, as Saied warned there is a “total absence of psychological support for the victims.”

People don’t even have time to process the affect the war is having on their psyche, though, because many of them are devoting their days to scrounging for food to keep themselves alive. “There is a crisis of in obtaining enough food… famine stalks the country,” Saied said.

She provided People’s World with documents detailing some of the latest statistics compiled by the United Nations. Over 21 million face “food insecurity.” Another 14 million are determined to be in a “food crisis,” and 6.3 million have entered what the UN calls “a state of emergency food insecurity”—in other words, they’re starving to death.

Whether it’s hunger, disease, sexual assault, or gunshot wounds—the people of Sudan have nowhere to go for medical help when they need it. Saied’s documents show that 70% of the country’s health facilities are either destroyed or out of service.

“Cholera, malaria, and dengue fever have resulted in hundreds of deaths due to lack of healthcare, unavailability of lifesaving medications, and the nearly complete absence of medical staff,” Saied lamented.

These immediate disasters, already horrifying enough, are not the only problem Saied is worried about. There are also the calamities of the future that are currently in the works.

“One of the most notable features in this war, which has become known worldwide,” she said, “is the catastrophe it has caused for children.” She explained that there has been a “complete collapse of education institutions, depriving millions of children of their right to education, threatening the future of an entire generation.”

She said current estimates are that as many as 14 million children who should be enrolled in school are not in the classroom. “Affected schools and displaced people face significant difficulties in providing education, with the situation only expected to worsen if the conflict continues,” Saied told the World.

Many schools have been destroyed, while others have been repurposed as shelters for the people displaced from their homes by the war.

The kind of help that’s needed

Sudan’s Communists remain optimistic and have confidence in their people, despite the disaster that’s engulfed them. They’re asking for international help, but not the military variety of “assistance” that Western imperial powers or their regional accomplices are often eager to provide.

“Peace is primarily in the hands of the Sudanese people and their own living forces,” Saied said. “It is no longer hidden that the ‘Quad’ initiative is not a serious attempt to end the crisis.” The Quad refers to the consortium of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, which claims to be working to achieve peace in Sudan.

Saied asserted that the Quad group’s main goal is to “contain the consequences” of the fighting in Sudan and “restore the balance of influence in the region.” The recent shift in rhetoric by these powers, whereby they express such concern for the humanitarian situation in Sudan, “does not reflect an ethical review” of their past positions and actions, she said.

Instead, the SCP believes the change is “a tactical necessity imposed by the resilience of the people, the exhaustion of the parties to the war, and the exacerbation of regional risks” to peace.

Saied said it’s important to remember that “all the major supporters of the warring parties in Sudan are allies of the United States.”

The SCP remembers well, she told People’s World, that “all of Washington’s dealings with Sudan have proven that the issues and aspirations of its people are merely pretexts employed to serve plans for sustaining dependency and facilitating resource exploitation.”

That’s why the most recent “roadmap to peace” did not deviate from the most minimal of objectives: “a fragile ceasefire, superficial settlements, and a nominal civilian government established outside the will of the Sudanese people.”

What’s needed is an immediate end to foreign interference, including shipments of arms and illicit finances to the warring factions; the termination of illegal outbound shipments of Sudan’s natural wealth, especially gold; and an urgent rush of food and health aid for its beleaguered people.

Saied urged Sudan’s friends and supporters to put these demands to their governments. “We need a campaign of solidarity by all the progressive and peace forces of the world to repel the imperialist assault and its regional agents against our country,” she said.

Sudan’s Communists hope that their “comrades in the world Communist movement will answer that call,” Saied said, and “do whatever they can to build an international movement to help win peace in Sudan and open the path for our people to decide our own future, free of interference and war.

C.J. Atkins is the managing editor at People’s World. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from York University and has a research and teaching background in political economy.

source: Black Agenda Report

Would you wear a pin or shirt with "We are all Jack Smith" on it?
:blobcatthink:
What about put up some stickers?

After all, the #CounterRevolution will be memeticized. Right @paninid? 😉

Please only vote if you are a USian, currently living under occupation. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

#ArtFED #ResINT #JackSmith #Resist #protest #AntifaAF #antifa #antifascist

Would you wear a pin or shirt with "We are all Jack Smith" on it?
:blobcatthink:
What about put up some stickers?

After all, the #CounterRevolution will be memeticized. Right @paninid? 😉

Please only vote if you are a USian, currently living under occupation. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

#ArtFED #ResINT #JackSmith #Resist #protest #AntifaAF #antifa #antifascist

The 2013 Egyptian #coup d'etat or the #Counterrevolution is an event that took place on 3 July 2013. Egyptian army chief General #AbdelFattahElSisi led a coalition to remove the democratically elected #President of Egypt #MohamedMorsi from power and suspended the #EgyptianConstitutionOf2012. The move came after the military's ultimatum for the government to "resolve its differences" with protesters during #widespreadNationalProtests. The military arrested Morsi and #MuslimBrotherhood leaders.

The 2013 Egyptian #coup d'etat or the #Counterrevolution is an event that took place on 3 July 2013. Egyptian army chief General #AbdelFattahElSisi led a coalition to remove the democratically elected #President of Egypt #MohamedMorsi from power and suspended the #EgyptianConstitutionOf2012. The move came after the military's ultimatum for the government to "resolve its differences" with protesters during #widespreadNationalProtests. The military arrested Morsi and #MuslimBrotherhood leaders.

#FollowTheMoney 🧵79/n

2. Melinda Cooper’s brilliant #Counterrevolution (posts 74-76 ⬆️ ) describes how #NewYork was the place that the neoliberal counterrevolution began - where fiscal policies redistributing money towards the rich, assets and property (Trump’s world!) were first tested and then taken elsewhere.

So exciting that New York is now the place where a different, socialist politicsl economy is emerging! Go New York! Let this spread everywhere from here, too!

#ZohranMamdani

#FollowTheMoney 🧵79/n

2. Melinda Cooper’s brilliant #Counterrevolution (posts 74-76 ⬆️ ) describes how #NewYork was the place that the neoliberal counterrevolution began - where fiscal policies redistributing money towards the rich, assets and property (Trump’s world!) were first tested and then taken elsewhere.

So exciting that New York is now the place where a different, socialist politicsl economy is emerging! Go New York! Let this spread everywhere from here, too!

#ZohranMamdani

The #Antifa word of the day is...

Counterrevolution!

#AntifaAF #AntiFascist #CounterRevolution

The #Antifa word of the day is...

Counterrevolution!

#AntifaAF #AntiFascist #CounterRevolution

The Tiananmen Square "Massacre" Never Happened

https://tankie.tube/w/2S836zBaoNzKCYv9k7h8he

#china #tiananmen #cia #massacre #colorrevolution #usa #socialism #counterrevolution

Beyond Defeat in Bolivia: Limits of Left Electoral Strategy

Bolivia’s left lost big in Sunday’s election, and a lot of the analysis in progressive circles has focused solely on the feud between former president Evo Morales and sitting president, Luis Arce. Morales was barred from running in the elections by Arce’s government and subsequently called for a null or blank vote in the contest. On Sunday, August 17, two right-wing candidates, Rodrigo Paz and Jorge Quiroga, emerged victorious, and they will proceed to the second round in October.

The feud between the two former comrades definitely played a factor in the demise of the once-vibrant and electorally successful party, MAS (Movement Towards Socialism). But the real story and the bigger lesson for the Latin American left is about more than just political rivalries. The roots of this defeat are deeper.

Beyond winning elections, winning a base

Bolivia’s left didn’t just lose an election. The loss exposed deeper issues that had been simmering for the last decade. When Evo Morales took office on January 22, 2006, Bolivia was the poorest country in South America. During his first year in office, he nationalized oil and gas production, redistributed revenues from natural gas exploitation, and implemented major projects to socialize healthcare, housing, and other public services. In 13 years, the Bolivian government managed to reduce poverty by almost half, from 60% in 2006 to 34% by 2019, according to World Bank estimates. Furthermore, extreme poverty fell from 37.7% to 15.2% during the same period. In 2009, Evo Morales promulgated a new Constitution that brought autonomy to 36 Indigenous peoples, who were represented for the first time, and guaranteed rights to minority and marginalized groups in this country of 12.41 million people.

These and many other massive reforms during the MAS party’s rule under President Evo Morales lifted millions out of poverty and expanded the middle class. Historic new rights were secured for the working class and Indigenous majority, but the class character of the state was not transformed. The basic institutions of capitalist rule: the military high command, the state bureaucracy, legislative bodies, and the federal structure of the state – that afforded a significant power base for the counter-revolution in the country’s east – remained essentially intact. They failed to fully dismantle the old state inherited from centuries of colonialism and elite rule.

“But the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes.” Karl Marx, “The Civil War in France”.

The MAS party’s efforts to lead political and economic reforms in Bolivia from the beginning faced significant opposition in the US. For instance, between 2013 and 2018, the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID allocated a combined USD 70 million to right-wing organizations in Bolivia. This funding was directed towards civil society initiatives that mobilized opposition against the MAS government. This funding directly contributed to the political instability that culminated in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales.

Ultimately, the biggest winners in Sunday’s election, which saw major abstention, are US economic interests in the region. Taking advantage of the internal factionalism, the barring of Evo Morales from the ballot, and the effective destruction of the MAS party, the US will likely regain control of Bolivia’s lithium reserves and other natural resources, thereby opening the country to a neoliberal takeover.

These challenge are not unique to Bolivia; it’s a challenge every country with a progressive government faces. How can you address the contradictions created by capitalism – namely, unemployment, inequality, and underdevelopment – while fighting off the local bourgeoisie and powerful, right-wing elements of society that seek to overthrow you, empowering the movements that brought you to power, and radically transforming the state and its institutions? It is an intricate dance. And in Bolivia, it remained a constant struggle. Mass movements and trade unions, which didn’t cease their activity, were demobilized during Morales’s time in office from playing an active role in the socialist transformation of the state. Despite MAS cadres and movement leaders taking up roles within the state, the political direction of the state was increasingly in the hands of technocrats like Arce, who administered it with an emphasis on the people but whose aspirations were not transformative, reducing the MAS party to merely an electoral instrument instead of a revolutionary party of the people.

The 2019 coup was one manifestation of this. In the aftermath of the October 20 elections, the right-wing mobilized thousands on the streets across the country under the banner of “electoral fraud”. In some regions, such as Santa Cruz, mobs of armed men targeted state institutions, community centers, and local government figures. The mass organizations, trade unions, and movements that had fought for the process of change and, in some way, seen their demands reflected in it were paralyzed. As the coup was unfolding, fear and defeat took over.

Mobilizations would only re-emerge in November when Jeanine Áñez, in a provocative act, swore herself in as president on the bible, members of the security forces ripped the wiphala (the Indigenous flag) from their uniforms, and the right-wing mobs, more emboldened than ever, intensified their attacks. Security forces were given a free license to shoot and kill protestors by Áñez. Over 40 people were killed during the anti-coup protests. The impressive mobilizations and international condemnation of the coup regime would indeed put enough pressure on the Áñez government to force it to call for elections.

The return to mobilization by the mass movement on the streets was able to force elections to be held and turned out in impressive numbers for the MAS candidate, Luis Arce, who scored 55% and a first-round victory. Yet, the same mass movement alongside the progressive government was unable to engage in a meaningful process to address the social, economic, and political crisis after the election.

The economic crisis and its origins

Luis Arce, despite his role in presiding over the Andean country’s slow but steady economic growth during Evo Morales’s governments, proved unable to offer an effective response to the economic crisis during his term. The economic decline of the last several years is a direct consequence of the coup against Evo Morales and the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which disrupted the state’s ability to carry forward its economic planning, especially as Áñez focused on reversing some of the major achievements of the MAS government and dismantling nationalized industries. A report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) found that the de facto government slashed public spending by 7% of quarterly GDP in the fourth quarter of 2019 alone.

When Arce defeated the right at the polls, he was faced with a deteriorating economy. Instead of robustly bolstering national industries, especially energy like gas and lithium, he was timid, allowing a decrease in national exports and lithium and gas production and processing, leading to an overall economic decline. The far-right exploited the economic challenges and attacked the government, which seemed to offer no political and economic solutions to the crisis.

The infighting between President Luis Arce, a technocrat and economist by training, and former President Evo Morales, a charismatic and revolutionary leader steeled in the struggles of the mass movements, at a time of economic crisis, accelerated the collapse of MAS and its government of change. This division paralyzed the legislature, with Arce unable to pass economic policies, and the Bolivian working class paid the ultimate cost. Inflation soared, reaching its highest level in 38 years, and the national currency, the boliviano, saw a parallel market emerge where its value was nearly half the official rate.

The pink tide faces its limits: a warning for the region

The deeper issue is that the Latin American electoral left has reached its limits. Despite redistributing wealth and lifting over 70 million people out of poverty, it has been incapable of mobilizing the masses of people to make structural changes towards socialism. Instead, a growing number of left leaders like Arce have shifted to the right in an attempt to appeal to a new middle class. Other left governments in the region focused on wealth redistribution without a political project towards building a new state along lines that seek real regional integration, and working-class power will face the same catastrophe as the Bolivian left.

The Bolivian experience offers a sobering lesson. The defeat in Bolivia was not a simple loss at the ballot box. It was a failure to transform the state and to fully empower the very masses who built the MAS party and brought it to power. A genuine socialist project cannot be implemented by a small group of technocrats from above. It requires the active and permanent participation of a mobilized working class and its political organizations, who must take full power to dismantle the old colonial state and build a new one in its place. Ultimately, the defeat in Bolivia will not be a permanent one: Bolivia’s mass movements, rooted in the struggles of the Indigenous and campesino majority that have made history by ousting neoliberal governments in the past, will surely rise again to fight in the streets, in the factories, and the fields for the socialist project.

This article was originally published in People’s Dispatch.

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=21069

#bolivia #counterRevolution #evoMorales #socialism #southAmerica

In this feature #documentary , a #Chilean #filmmaker returns to the motherland for the first time in 23 years. Time is passing. A generation of young Chileans has grown up with no knowledge of the facts surrounding the #MilitaryCoup of September 11, 1973. In his suitcase, The #BattleOfChile his 3-part #cinéma vérité chronicle of the #political tensions in #Chile in 1973 and of the violent #counterrevolution against the democratically elected government of #SalvadorAllende. His documentary toured the world but was never seen in Chile. Discreetly, he shows it to his friends and a small group of students. After the screening, the young people are in a state of shock. They have an urgent need to know the truth, for it is they who must build the Chile of tomorrow. In #Spanish with English subtitles

https://www.nfb.ca/film/chile_obstinate_memory

#SouthAmerica #GlobalSouth #Revolutions #CanadianFilm #NFB #LatinAmerica

In this feature #documentary , a #Chilean #filmmaker returns to the motherland for the first time in 23 years. Time is passing. A generation of young Chileans has grown up with no knowledge of the facts surrounding the #MilitaryCoup of September 11, 1973. In his suitcase, The #BattleOfChile his 3-part #cinéma vérité chronicle of the #political tensions in #Chile in 1973 and of the violent #counterrevolution against the democratically elected government of #SalvadorAllende. His documentary toured the world but was never seen in Chile. Discreetly, he shows it to his friends and a small group of students. After the screening, the young people are in a state of shock. They have an urgent need to know the truth, for it is they who must build the Chile of tomorrow. In #Spanish with English subtitles

https://www.nfb.ca/film/chile_obstinate_memory

#SouthAmerica #GlobalSouth #Revolutions #CanadianFilm #NFB #LatinAmerica

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-John F. Kennedy

#NoKings #CounterRevolution

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-John F. Kennedy

#NoKings #CounterRevolution

US-Backed HTS Syrian Regime Descrates Tomb of PFLP-GC Martyr

US-backed HTS reactionaries in Syria desecrated the tomb of the martyr Ahmed Jibril in Damascus, Syria. Ahmed Jibril was the founder and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The fascists wrote on the tomb: “Curse your soul.”

This phrase has also been used by the zionist enemy against Palestinian resistance leaders who sacrificed everything for the cause. It is no surprise that these groups have adopted the values and phrases of zionism, and desecrated his grave, as they have also targeted resistance figures and factions in Syria — all while moving toward normalization with the zionist entity.

Ahmed Jibril was a prominent figure within the history of the Palestinian cause. His name will forever be recorded in history as a commander who led many heroic operations, including the Jibril Agreement in which the PFLP-GC liberated 1,150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 3 zionists soldiers captured in Lebanon. This was the deal that led to the freedom of Hamas leader martyr Ahmed Yassin, PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad Al-Nakhaleh, and Japanese resistance fighter Kozo Okamoto.

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=19604

#counterRevolution #hts #imperialism #pflpGc #reaction #syria #westAsia

Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis: Attention! The Lackeys of Counter-Revolution Circulate Among Us

On Saturday, April 5th, a large group of relatives of victims of state and parastate murders and state-capitalist massacres are about to meet in a public debate. The whole social movement welcomes such a broad manifestation with joy and humility. The coordination of the discussion was assigned to two journalists, one of whom, driven by his demonstrated ideological-political commitment to the defense of the bourgeois regime, has contributed in the recent past to the policy of criminal extermination of the people of the social resistance in general and me in particular for my political commitment to the guerrilla social struggle and its defense against the bourgeoisie state judges. For this he has been publicly denounced (https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1622067/). Writing political articles about the second instance trial against the Revolutionary Self-Defense Organization and the Holargos case, he boldly sided with the policy of criminal repression of the revolutionary struggle, mocking the expression of guerrilla discourse in the courtroom, sucking up to the judges, advocating the “democratic” condemnation of the “guilty”, exaggerating the false objectivity that bourgeois criminal terrorism wears like a purifying coat and applauding the constant judicial attack for the depoliticization of the counter-revolutionary trial, the depoliticization of the disputed issues and the depoliticization of the subject to be exterminated.

What contribution to the public debate on social justice can a sculptural whistleblower dedicated to the Leviathan of the state-capitalist complex have? His invitation already gives movement justification and new energy to his dirty role. The extremes of the political assimilation of the antagonistic mindset into counter-revolutionary terrorism shift deeper into Leviathan, as the central position in the debate has been taken over by an ideological agent of special duties, who defends the judiciary, not only as a regulator of social justice in general, but as a “democratic” institution for the extermination of the armed movement. The organizers, masquerading as libertarians in the political arena, bring the butcher’s cradle to welcome the slaughterhouses. Now, it is reasonable that the sculptor of the counter-revolution will not mock the relatives of the victims for subjecting the judges to “procedural torture”, as he did against an armed militant, but he is here to validate the class-political competence of state judges to render justice, to punish the illegality according to bourgeois institutions, to define objectivity, to conduct a “fair trial”. Assistance in the depoliticization of counter-revolutionary trials is a vanguard in assisting in the conversion of the politicization of social anger, towards assimilation into the institutions of the regime and its defusement. A person who acts on the position that he has “closed his accounts” with revolutionary political ideas and ridicules the revolutionaries at a time when the judicial priesthood of anti-proletarian, anti-social and counter-revolutionary terrorism is fighting with dignity, can today intervene in the mass movement for state-capitalist massacres, only to de-revolutionize the issues at hand. To cause confusion, to instill loyalty and discord in the social movement, to introduce embankments to the common prospective path for the overthrow of genocidal class domination. His position next to the regime’s institutional complex then and now, a position that at that time called for the condemnation of the “guilty” of the revolutionary social struggle having first separated the armed and the unarmed ideas, today is a position of covering up the radical class-political causes of the political massacres, the “why?”, and the self-disguise of the institutional network of their legitimacy and cover-up. Because the truth that the people are looking for comes only through their subversive struggle, while reinvestment in universally discredited bourgeois institutions only brings terrorist silencing orders and new massacres.

The organizing political group should have known, if not in its entirety, the identity of the parastate journalist in question, since some of its cadres participated in procedures of support in the trial of the Holargos case – Revolutionary Self-Defense Organization. Those in the know, by placing the whistleblower among the bloody people of the social movement, have consciously assumed responsibility for an upgrade of provoking conflicts within the movement, something that the whistleblower had attempted. Nice social federalists! If they had at least a little honesty, they would not have called the apologist of the regime’s terrorism who wears the mask of the movement, they would have called directly Theodorikakos (former KKE), who rushed to embrace the murderers of Nikos Sambanis, they would have called Floridis (former PASOK), the rapporteur of the last penal code, they would have called the proud fascist Voridis.

It should be noted, apart from the prominent political hospitality of the sycophantic reporter in the lively dialogue of the resisting social subject, his name decorated with militant rhetoric was projected in the eminently open and federalist structure of the libertarian movement, in Athens Indymedia. The media’s management team cannot control the history of every person for whom a well-known political figure takes responsibility. Federalism is built on mutual trust. However, this raises political responsibilities and requires prudence. The depravity of opportunist arbitrariness must find its wall.

Parenthetically, the OmniaTV channel participates in the same event, members of which had been at the forefront of the reproduction of the imperialist and governmental terrorist propaganda of anti-health fascism and biotechnocratic colonialism on the social body. Fascism always has two legs: one of the traditional right and one of social democracy.

Bourgeois democracy does not prevent anyone from becoming the tail of the PASOK-SYRIZA party. It is the duty of anarchists not to allow the current insurrectionary movement to be driven in the teeth of reformism. The dirty reactionary strategy that exploits the libertarian struggles has a future only along the lines of parainstitutionalism and will sink with it. The revolutionary organization of anarchists is the only hope of a way out of the shackle and the slaughterhouse.

Together with those who come forward in search of justice against state and parastate crimes. Not even an inch of social ground for the reformist gravediggers.

There is no peace without justice

Scumbag snitch journalists

Thugs, opportunists, filth

Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis

3 April 2025

Domokos Prison

Source: https://blessed-is-the-flame.espivblogs.net/dimitris-chatzivasileiadis-prosochi-oi-lakedes-tis-antepanastasis-kykloforoyn-anamesa-mas/

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=18378

#AnarchistPrisoners #counterRevolution #DimitrisChatzivasiliadis #europe #greece #reformism #revolutionarySelfDefense

在马克思主义占主导地位近一个世纪之后，无政府主义是如何从一个“边缘现象”发展成为抵抗资本主义全球化运动的核心力量的？
本文探讨了无政府主义如何在反革命时代获得重生。
对于当下正处于新一轮反动时代大门口的我们这代人来说，本文所提供的历史知识和见解值得更大范围周知 —— 以帮助您发觉和团结身边更有希望的革命力量。

本文和其他相关资料在近期的反法西斯社区新成员学习组中采用，现分享給所有读者。
其中嵌入的链接中很多是相关书籍的免费下载地址，并将部分书籍封面作为插图以方便您寻找。
这些书籍都有一定代表性，我们视其为推荐阅读，尤其是对于初步接触进步派思想的朋友来说。在华语读者熟悉的马列主义和新自由主义反动的两种主导气候中，这些书籍可能不常见。

🧬“超越民主”更新《从旧时代的灰烬中破土而出 - 反革命时代的无政府主义重生》
https://iyouport.notion.site/1ca34ca2d46d8057a8a7e5db7f1d7996

#无政府主义 #新自由主义 #反革命 #资本主义 #美国 #中国 #左翼 #女权主义 #朋克 #民族主义 #监狱 #anarchism #neoliberalism #counterrevolution #capitalism #UAS #china #leftism #feminism #punk #nationalism #prisons

在马克思主义占主导地位近一个世纪之后，无政府主义是如何从一个“边缘现象”发展成为抵抗资本主义全球化运动的核心力量的？
本文探讨了无政府主义如何在反革命时代获得重生。
对于当下正处于新一轮反动时代大门口的我们这代人来说，本文所提供的历史知识和见解值得更大范围周知 —— 以帮助您发觉和团结身边更有希望的革命力量。

本文和其他相关资料在近期的反法西斯社区新成员学习组中采用，现分享給所有读者。
其中嵌入的链接中很多是相关书籍的免费下载地址，并将部分书籍封面作为插图以方便您寻找。
这些书籍都有一定代表性，我们视其为推荐阅读，尤其是对于初步接触进步派思想的朋友来说。在华语读者熟悉的马列主义和新自由主义反动的两种主导气候中，这些书籍可能不常见。

🧬“超越民主”更新《从旧时代的灰烬中破土而出 - 反革命时代的无政府主义重生》
https://iyouport.notion.site/1ca34ca2d46d8057a8a7e5db7f1d7996

#无政府主义 #新自由主义 #反革命 #资本主义 #美国 #中国 #左翼 #女权主义 #朋克 #民族主义 #监狱 #anarchism #neoliberalism #counterrevolution #capitalism #UAS #china #leftism #feminism #punk #nationalism #prisons

How Syria’s HTS is Quietly Dismantling the Palestinian Cause

Since the fall of the Syrian government on 8 December, the direction of the new interim administration, headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa, has become increasingly clear. Politically, militarily, and legally, Damascus now appears aligned with Washington’s long-standing vision of dismantling the Palestinian cause.

This alignment is taking shape on three key fronts: first is the Palestinian Authority (PA), resistance factions such as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other factions splintered from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Second, is the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) tasked specifically to aid Palestinian refugees in the region, and third, are the camps housing Palestinian refugees and displaced Syrians.

Two developments underscore this shift. First, both Turkiye and Lebanon have blocked Palestinians holding Syrian documents from returning to Syria on the same basis as Syrian nationals. Second, US media has revealed ongoing talks between Washington and Damascus over the possibility of Syria absorbing tens of thousands of displaced Gazans, in exchange for sanctions relief or a broader political arrangement, particularly in the aftermath of the Coastal Massacres earlier this year.

Front 1: The PA and the resistance factions

More than four months into the transition to new governance, one thing is clear: former Al-Qaeda affiliate leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, now Syria’s president, is keeping Hamas at arm’s length. Despite repeated requests by Khaled Meshaal – head of Hamas’s political bureau abroad – to visit Damascus, the interim authorities have stalled, aiming to avoid direct confrontation with Israel or the US.

This new Syrian posture takes place in the midst of an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and the occupation state’s aim to eliminate their Islamic resistance.

The Cradle has learned that communication between Hamas and the new authorities is largely being channelled through Turkish intermediaries. Ankara is reportedly facilitating the relocation of several Hamas military officials to Idlib, the stronghold of Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants.

In contrast, Sharaa – who met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in January – has formally opened channels with the PA’s diplomatic mission in Damascus, recognizing it as the official representative of the Palestinian people.

The visiting delegation included senior officials from Fatah and the PLO, most notably Mahmoud Abbas’s son, who arrived to reclaim properties previously held by anti-Fatah factions under former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

On the night the Assad government collapsed, Popular Front–General Command (PFLP-GC) Secretary-General Talal Naji and Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) Chief-of-Staff Akram al-Rifai sought refuge at the PA embassy. Palestinian ambassador Samir al-Rifai reportedly received a sharp rebuke from Abbas for granting them shelter. As for the rest of the faction leaders, each of them remained at home.

The day after HTS forces entered Damascus, they launched a wave of closures targeting Palestinian faction offices. Those belonging to Fatah al-Intifada, the Baath-aligned Al-Sa’iqa movement, and the PFLP-GC were shuttered, with their weapons, vehicles, and real estate seized.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which had maintained a lower profile during the Syrian war, was allowed to continue operating – though under observation.

On 11 and 12 December, several faction leaders convened at the Palestinian embassy in the presence of PLA leader Rifai to discuss their future. They attempted to arrange a formal meeting with Sharaa via Syria’s Foreign Ministry. Instead, a messenger from HTS – identified as Basil Ayoub – arrived at the embassy and demanded full disclosure of all faction-owned assets, including real estate, bank deposits, vehicles, and weapons. No political engagement would be possible, he said, until a comprehensive inventory had been submitted.

The factions complied by drafting a letter declaring that their holdings were lawfully acquired and that they were prepared to limit their activity to political and media outreach, in full alignment with Syria’s new posture. The fate of the letter to Sharaa and its response are unknown.

Decapitation campaign: arrests, confiscations, and settlements

What followed was a systematic decapitation of the Palestinian factional structure in Syria.

In early February, Fatah al-Intifada’s Secretary-General Abu Hazem Ziad al-Saghir was arrested at his home. After hours of interrogation and a raid on his office – where documents reportedly linked him to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – he was released.

A week later, he was re-arrested and held at a newly established detention site behind the Abbasid Stadium. A financial settlement was reached: $500,000 in exchange for his release and deportation to Lebanon. At the request of the committee, the movement’s Central Committee issued a statement terminating Saghir’s duties and dismissing him from the movement. However, Saghir issued a counterstatement from Lebanon, transferring the movement’s General Secretariat there and dismissing those who had made the decision to remove him.

The Palestinian Baathist faction, Al-Sa’iqa, fared no better. Its Secretary-General Muhammad Qais was interrogated and stripped of the group’s assets. Though he was not in command during the Battle of Yarmouk and thus escaped harsher punishment, HTS ordered the removal of the term “Baath” from all official materials. A statement soon emerged from within the occupied territories denouncing Qais as a “regime remnant,” suggesting a growing internal split.

HTS also clamped down hard on the PFLP-GC, whose Secretary-General, Talal Naji, was placed under house arrest and interrogated multiple times. All the group’s offices, vehicles, and weapons were confiscated, their headquarters shuttered, and its members beaten and humiliated. Their radio station, Al-Quds Radio, was seized, and their Umayyah Hospital is reportedly next in line.

The “Nidal Front” – a breakaway faction of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF), a left-wing group within the PLO – was the most controversial of its dealings. At the beginning of the events, Khaled Meshaal was able to mediate for the Front’s Secretary-General, Khaled Abdul Majeed, and protect him and his organization. However, in February, Abdul Majeed fled to the UAE.

His personal residence and vehicles – reportedly privately owned – were seized along with 50 million Syrian pounds (less than $5,000) in assets. Forced to resign by HTS, he handed over authority to a central committee operating out of Damascus and Beirut.

The DFLP has so far escaped the brunt of these purges, and its offices and vehicles remain untouched by the new administration, possibly because it had no ties to Iran or Hezbollah. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (PFLP – different from the PFLP-GC) main office in the Taliani area of Damascus remains open but inactive, while the rest of its offices have been shut down.

As of now, the PIJ, whose fighters have been on Gaza’s frontline battling the Zionist regime since 7 October 2023, remains in its Syrian offices. The faction’s representative has not been summoned for questioning, despite Israel bombing an apartment used by the group’s Secretary-General, Ziad al-Nakhala.

However, key PIJ military figures relocated to Baghdad on the night Damascus fell to HTS. Their activities inside Syria appear largely to have been reduced to conducting funerals for fighters who were killed in battle in southern Lebanon, albeit exclusively inside Palestinian refugee camps.

The Yarmouk camp in Damascus had already witnessed a series of protests in the first days of February, most notably gatherings demanding the closure of the headquarters of pro-regime organizations and the accountability of those involved in the arrest and killing of camp residents. The events escalated into an attempt to set fire to the headquarters of the PIJ’s Quds Brigades, with some youths and children throwing firecrackers at the building. Meanwhile, a demonstration erupted in protest against the decision to reopen the offices of the Al-Sa’iqa brigades in the Al-A’edin camp,

Front 2: Palestinian refugee camps in Syria

The crackdown on political groups has created a leadership vacuum in Syria’s Palestinian camps. Living conditions – already dire – have deteriorated further. In early February, protests erupted in several camps over Zionist regime’s brutal attacks on the occupied West Bank’s Jenin Camp, following the PA delegation’s visit and the Syrian government’s formal recognition of Ramallah’s authority. Many feared this shift would accelerate plans for permanent resettlement of the refugees. At the same time, residents say they were coerced into public rallies in support of Sharaa’s self-declared presidency.

On 24 February, the Community Development Committee in Deraa began collecting detailed personal data from camp residents under the pretext of improving service delivery. A similar census was launched days earlier in Jaramana, but the purpose and funders of these efforts remain unclear.

Into this vacuum stepped Hamas. Through affiliated organizations like the Palestine Development Authority, Hamas began distributing food and financial aid, often via operatives embedded within HTS. This effort came as services once offered by the PIJ – including transportation, communal kitchens, and medical support – were halted. Even the Palestinian-Iranian Friendship Association’s headquarters in Yarmouk was taken over and repurposed by HTS elements.

Other actors, such as the Jafra Foundation and the Palestinian Red Crescent, continue to operate despite significant constraints. Their efforts have been insufficient to meet demand, particularly as the local economy continues to collapse. Most refugees rely on informal work, and with much of the economy paralyzed, daily survival has become precarious.

Of particular concern is a reported settlement proposal, conveyed through Turkish mediation. It allegedly offers Palestinians in Syria three options: Syrian naturalization, integration into a new PA-affiliated “community” under embassy supervision, or consular classification with annual residency renewals. The implicit fourth option is displacement, mirroring what happened to Palestinians in post-US invasion Iraq.

Front 3: UNRWA, sidelined and undermined

Though the new Syrian authorities have not openly targeted UNRWA, their lack of cooperation speaks volumes. UNRWA no longer appears to be viewed as the primary institution responsible for Palestinian affairs in Syria.

In Khan Eshieh Camp, a local committee working with the new administration petitioned the Damascus Governorate to prepare a municipal plan for rehabilitating the camp’s infrastructure. The implication was clear: Syrian authorities are preparing to take over camp management from UNRWA, following the Jordanian model.

Meanwhile, the Immigration and Passports Department resumed issuing travel documents for Palestinian refugees in January, a bureaucratic move that revealed the new government’s intention to reassert control. Around the same time, the Palestinian Arab Refugee Association in Damascus suspended its operations following a break-in that reportedly disrupted pension payments to retired refugees.

Despite limited resources, Hamas and the PIJI remain a point of concern for the occupation state. A recent Yedioth Ahronoth report claimed that both groups are attempting to rebuild military capacity inside Syria, with the intention of targeting settlements near the occupied Golan Heights and northern Galilee. While the report acknowledged no confirmed troop movements south of Damascus, it warned that operational planning is underway.

A close examination of Sharaa’s behavior and the new regime in Damascus reveals no apparent dissolution of these two organizations’ operations, as the Zionists claim. All that is taking place are temporary measures until a “big deal” is reached with the Americans, one of whose provisions will be the official and popular status of the Palestinians. Unless the country descends into chaos, one of the expected outcomes will be a clear Zionist ground military intervention under the pretext of removing the Palestinians from the border.

source: The Cradle

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=17852

#counterRevolution #hts #palestine #syria #westAsia

HTS Offensive in Syria: A Proxy for Imperialist Domination: BAP

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) unequivocally condemns the recent announcement by Colonel Hassan Abdul Ghani, spokesman for the HTS-led Syrian Ministry of Defense, regarding the “second phase” of military operations against so-called “remnants” of the former Assad government. This escalation of violence is not merely a local or regional conflict but a direct manifestation of U.S.-led imperialist intervention in Syria. HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham), far from being an independent actor, functions as a proxy force advancing the geopolitical interests of the United States, Israel, and their allies, whose primary goal is to destabilize the region and maintain control over its resources.

The primary contradiction in Syria is not between competing local factions but between the Syrian people and the imperialist forces that have systematically exploited and devastated their nation. The U.S., alongside its NATO allies and regional partners, has fueled this crisis by arming, funding, and legitimizing extremist groups like HTS to serve as instruments of its imperialist agenda. These groups, under the guise of opposition to the former Assad government, have perpetuated violence, sectarianism, and chaos, all while advancing the interests of their imperialist backers.

The recent massacres in Syria’s coastal regions, where over a thousand civilians were brutally targeted and killed, are a direct consequence of this imperialist strategy. By supporting and enabling groups like HTS, the U.S. and its allies have created the conditions for endless cycles of violence and human suffering. Colonel Ghani’s announcement of a “second phase” of military operations is not a step toward liberation or justice but a continuation of the imperialist project to fragment and dominate Syria.

As the conflict in Syria continues to unfold, it is increasingly evident that large sectors of the U.S. left have failed to ground their analysis in objective materialist principles, instead resorting to subjective moral posturing. This failure is not new; it echoes the left’s misguided alignment with U.S.-led imperialism in Libya, Iraq, Nicaragua, Tigray/Ethiopia, Ukraine, and beyond. Their relative silence in the face of the recent atrocities underscores a betrayal of the anti-imperialist principles they claim to uphold, actively manufacturing consent for these murders in real time.

The recent reports of extrajudicial killings, house-to-house massacres, and the targeted violence against specific communities reveal a grim reality that cannot be ignored. These atrocities are not merely the result of internal strife but are deeply rooted in imperialist strategies of divide and conquer, tactics employed to maintain control over West Asia and its resources. The Black Alliance for Peace calls for an end to these imperialist interventions and stands in solidarity with the Syrian people in their struggle for peace and self-determination.

source: Black Alliance for Peace

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=17555

#blackAllianceForPeace #blackLiberation #counterRevolution #syria #us

Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria Addresses Ongoing Conflict With the Regime

“We will fight against the murderous regime for a free life of all Syrians”

“The identity of youth is an identity that rebels against injustice, injustice and oppression and is always in the midst of struggle against them. Throughout history, youth have led struggles against all systems with a dominant mentality and a slave mentality. The most recent and notable examples of this are the Vietnam War, the Arab Spring and the revolution led by women and youth in North- and Eastern Syria.

When the youth’s reflexes against the current massacres emerged, it was without distinction of race, nationality, religion, language and belief. When ISIS gangs attacked Kobanê, thousands of young people from different nations from all over the world came to Kobanê to put an end to this oppression. We see that such a spirit is preserved and lived in this region, dozens of young people from different nations and beliefs continue their resistance in Tishreen. This existing spirit should be even more widespread and grow today and spread to all regions of the Middle East, especially Syria.

Jolani who after the fall of the Baath regime came to power in Damascus, does not accept any color in Syria. He makes decisions about women and kills thousands of people from the Alawite sect. It destroys Christian cemeteries. Syria, which is a place of wealth, color, historical heritage and dozens of beliefs, is drying up and heading towards destruction. HTS wants to establish its own Sharia order by creating fear and terror in society. It aims to remove women from the public sphere, eliminate differences and silence those who want a free life.

Of course, the system that is being created is also a major attack on the Democratic Confederalism System that is currently being developed in North- and East Syria. The system that is tried being created now is a system of slavery, a system that is far from science, culture, history, art and philosophy and is lived only through blood and terror.

However, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians and Syriacs have lived together on these lands for centuries. The wealth of these lands has been strengthened and found itself through the existence and unity of these peoples. The unity of the people and the power of the youth, who fought ten years ago and did not surrender Kobanê to this poisonous ISIS mentality, will set an example for the whole of Syria today. Thousands of martyrs were sacrificed for these values. Young men and women fought heroically on the front lines to defend themselves and the existence of these peoples.

Making women and young people, who are the foundation of building society, objects and slaves means enslaving society. On this basis, as the Revolutionary Youth Movement, we will never accept a government that is not elected by the will of the people and does not include the people. Therefore, we declare that we will not accept the temporary Syrian government that includes Jolani and the leaders of the murderous gangs and we will fight against it in every field. We promise that we will not remain silent, we will resist, we will work and struggle in every field until a democratic and equal Syria is established. The truth of HTS and ISIS will be defeated again by the truth of women and youth, so we will resist until the end, protecting the values ​​of the martyrs.

As the Revolutionary Youth Movement, we stand with the faiths and religions of Alawites, Druze, Christians and many other identities who are facing these practices. We say, “Long live the struggle for a free and democratic life of unity for all peoples.”

Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria
05.02.2025

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=16767

#counterRevolution #resistance #rojava #syria #westAsia

Wie nennt man das, was gerade in den USA passiert? Staatsstreich? Konterrevolution?

#USA #project2025 #musk #trump #coupdetat #counterrevolution

Syria’s Geopolitical Shift, al-Aqsa Flood, and the Future of the Levant

In an unexpected and precipitous turn of events, Syria’s geopolitical landscape has shifted radically in just a few days. President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s strongman, has been deposed. The Syrian Arab Army, which had withstood, against all odds, a 12-year war against heavily armed and funded terrorist groups, shockingly crumbled in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has taken control of the entire country.

A complete picture of what happened in the days leading up to this cataclysmic geopolitical change, as well as the event itself, may take some time to emerge. However, it is obvious that the new political reality has far-reaching repercussions for the Levant as a whole.

Al-Assad’s Syria was a cornerstone in the Axis of Resistance, and the significant geopolitical shift in Syria has raised concerns about the future of the al-Aqsa Flood, the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, and the broader future of the region.

The Syrian Geopolitical Shift and al-Aqsa Flood

The al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, did not occur in a vacuum. It was the culmination of a series of regional events that had reshaped the Levant’s status quo over the course of nearly two decades.

Hezbollah’s liberation of South Lebanon in 2000 signalled the start of a new chapter in the Arab struggle against the Zio-American alliance. It was the first uncontested defeat for the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) since the creation of the Zionist Entity in 1948.

Following that decisive defeat, the Axis of Resistance (which first emerged in 2003) continued to challenge the IOF’s deterrence in the region. The occupation’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the 2006 assault on Lebanon, and subsequent wars on Gaza—Operation Cast Lead (2008–2009), Operation Pillar of Defence (2012), Operation Protective Edge (2014), and the Sword of Al-Quds (2021), launched by Hamas against “Israel”—all contributed to further eroding the IOF’s prestige. During these two decades of relatively low-intensity battles, the Axis of Resistance managed to push the region’s balance of power against the interests of the Zionist-American alliance, leaving the region in a state of disequilibrium.

The Levant had become a ticking time bomb, awaiting a major military confrontation to resolve the newly established power imbalance, putting the region’s contending forces on an unavoidable collision course. This shift in the balance of power was the primary reason for encouraging Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, to carry out the operation on October 7, 2023.

In other words, the al-Aqsa Flood, aptly described as a political earthquake that shook the entire Levant, was part of a broader chain of interconnected events.

There is broad consensus that the latest events in Syria cannot be viewed in isolation from those of October 7, 2023. However, two conflicting perspectives have arisen on how to interpret the Syrian geopolitical shift in relation to the al-Aqsa Flood:

1. The first interpretation argues that the al-Aqsa Flood revitalised a popular Syrian movement seeking to overthrow oppression and dictatorship, ultimately leading to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

1. The second viewpoint, however, sees what transpired in Syria as a coup against the al-Aqsa Flood itself. From this perspective, the latest events in Syria are a continuation of the ongoing war between the Zionist-American alliance and the Axis of Resistance, which began on October 7, 2023.

The flaw in the first interpretation lies in its erroneous connection between the two events. The latest developments in Syria did not originate internally but were instead a meticulously planned incursion orchestrated from outside. This operation was executed by the well-armed, trained, and funded HTS, backed by the imperialistic West and their regional vassal states.

In any case, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani told Al Arabiya TV on 29 December 2024 that HTS’s actions had averted a regional war between the Iraqi Resistance, backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Israelis in Syria. In another statement, he said that Syria would not be used as a launchpad for attacks on “Israel”. He further reassured “Israel” that HTS had removed the threat posed by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah fighters near the occupied Golan Heights. Moreover, officials in HTS’s new Syrian government have echoed al-Jolani’s views. These remarks lend credence to the perspective that the recent developments in Syria represent a coup against al-Aqsa Flood.

The IOF succeeded in delivering significant tactical blows to Hezbollah and the al-Qassam Brigades during the ongoing war. However, Netanyahu was unable to translate these achievements into a strategic advantage against the Axis of Resistance until the fall of al-Assad’s Syria, prompting him to declare, albeit prematurely, that “Israel” was transforming the face of the ‘Middle East’.

Ceasefire in Gaza

The fall of Syria has shifted the dynamics of the ongoing war. Netanyahu believes he can now conclude the war on Gaza with some gains rather than leaving completely empty-handed. In recent weeks, this has encouraged the Israelis to engage in serious ceasefire negotiations in Gaza for the first time, driven by the need to extricate the IOF from the Gazan quagmire—not to mention that the Israeli assault on Gaza has reached a stagnation point.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu continues to push for better terms to his advantage against a steadfast al-Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian Resistance factions who, even after 15 months of fierce battle, are still inflicting daily losses on the IOF and launching rockets that occasionally reach as far as occupied al-Quds.

While this war has demonstrated that no deal is certain until it is fully realised, indications suggest that a ceasefire agreement is closer than ever in this renewed round of negotiations.

Future of the Levant

Ze’ev Jabotinsky (1880–1940), regarded as the spiritual father of the Israeli right wing and founder of the Revisionist Movement, outlined the foundations of the Israeli security doctrine in his seminal two-part thesis, *The Iron Wall* (1923). Drawing on Jabotinsky’s vision, David Ben-Gurion subsequently articulated the Israeli Security Triangle, consisting of deterrence, early warning, and decisive victory—principles that continue to underpin the IOF’s national security strategy to this day.

As previously noted, the effectiveness of the Israeli Security Triangle doctrine has waned over the past two decades, particularly as the Axis of Resistance shifted the regional balance of power against the Zio-American alliance. This decline culminated in al-Aqsa Flood, a turning point that dismantled all three pillars of the Triangle. Hamas was undeterred, the IOF failed to achieve early warning, and a decisive victory remains elusive.

True to its nature, the Zionist entity reverted to its foundational strategies, echoing Jabotinsky’s doctrine in its rawest form. Netanyahu himself recently invoked the principles of the Iron Wall, reminding the world of its enduring relevance.

In its ongoing war on Gaza, the IOF has adopted Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot’s so-called Dahiya doctrine—a strategy of employing “disproportionate force” to inflict great damage and destruction on civilian areas designated by “Israel” as military bases.

By implementing this doctrine against Palestinian civilians, Netanyahu aims to restore the IOF’s eroded deterrence. However, to re-establish Ben-Gurion’s Security Triangle, “Israel”, according to Ben-Gurion himself, must completely eliminate the enemy’s military forces and equipment—a goal that has yet to be achieved on either the Gaza or Lebanon fronts. Furthermore, despite the tactical Israeli successes against Palestinian Resistance factions and Hezbollah, whether it can effectively deter them, or if these challenges will continue to escalate, remains to be seen.

In conclusion

Given the complexity of the current situation, with myriad new factors in play—such as the uncertainty surrounding Syria’s future, the regrouping of Hezbollah, the fragile ceasefire on the Lebanese front, the ongoing war in Gaza, and the unclear policies of President-elect Donald Trump, to name but a few—it would be unrealistic to predict the exact course of events awaiting the region. Nevertheless, amidst this highly fluid state of affairs, one thing is certain: Al-Aqsa Flood has ushered in a new phase in the Levant that has yet to be concluded.

Amro Allan
Source: Al Mayadeen

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13665

#alAqsaFlood #counterRevolution #palestine #resistance #syria #westAsia

Manufacturing Rebels: How the UK and US Empowered HTS

On 18 December, The Telegraph published an extraordinary investigation into how the UK and US trained and “prepared” fighters in the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA), a “rebel” force that collaborated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the mass offensive toppling of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad weeks earlier. 

In an unprecedented disclosure, the outlet revealed that Washington not only “knew about the offensive” well in advance, but also had “precise intelligence about its scale.” Washington’s now-confirmed “effective alliance” with HTS was described as “one of many ironies” emerging from the decade-and-a-half-long proxy war.

The Telegraph suggested this collaboration was inadvertent – simply a symptom of how Syria’s grinding, protracted civil war gave birth to “a bewildering array of militias and alliances, most of them backed by foreign powers.” 

US support of HTS: A ‘necessary’ alliance 

Alliances were fluid, with groups often splintering, merging, and shifting allegiances. Fighters frequently found themselves switching sides, blurring lines between factions. Yet, ample evidence indicates the UK and the US maintained deliberate, long-standing ties with the dominant rebels of HTS.

For instance, in March 2021, President-elect Donald Trump’s former lead Syria envoy, James Jeffrey, gave a revealing interview to PBS, during which he disclosed that Washington secured a specific “waiver” from then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo to assist HTS. 

While this did not permit direct funding or arming of the UN/US-designated terrorist organization, the waiver ensured that if US-supplied resources “somehow” ended up with HTS, western actors “[could not] be blamed.” 

The fungibility of weapons on the Syrian battlefield was something Washington counted on heavily. In a 2015 interview, CENTCOM spokesman Lieutenant Commander Kyle Raines was quizzed about why Pentagon-vetted fighters’ weapons were showing up in the hands of the Nusra Front (precursor to HTS). Raines responded: “We don’t ‘command and control’ these forces – we only ‘train and enable’ them. Who they say they’re allying with, that’s their business.”

This legal loophole enabled Washington to “indirectly” support HTS, ensuring the group did not collapse while maintaining its designation as a terrorist organization – a status complete with a now-rescinded $10 million bounty on leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who now goes by his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa. 

Jeffrey rationalized this strategy, calling HTS “the least bad option” for preserving “a US-managed security system in the region,” and thus worth “[leaving] alone.” HTS’s dominance, in turn, gave Turkiye a platform to operate in Idlib. Meanwhile, HTS sent unmistakable messages to their US patrons, pleading:

“We want to be your friend. We’re not terrorists. We’re just fighting Assad.”

‘Safe haven’

Since Assad’s fall, officials in London have markedly taken the lead in legitimizing the HTS-led interim administration as Syria’s new government. The group was added to the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations in 2017, its entry stating HTS should be considered among “alternative names” for the long-banned Al-Qaeda.

While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared it “too early” to rescind the group’s designation, British officials met HTS representatives on 16 December – despite the illegality of such meetings.

This likely signals an impending, highly politicized western rehabilitation of HTS. Throughout Syria’s dirty war, UK intelligence waged extensive psychological operations to promote “moderate rebels,” crafting atrocity propaganda and human-interest stories. 

These efforts were ostensibly aimed at undermining groups like HTS, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda. Yet leaked documents from UK intelligence reveal how HTS remained intertwined with Al-Qaeda post-2016, directly contradicting media narratives.

In other words, throughout the decade-and-a-half-long crisis, HTS was officially considered on par with the most fundamentalist, genocidal elements in the country. 

British documents also make a total mockery of the common refrain that HTS severed all ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016. A 2020 file described how Al-Qaeda “co-exists” with HTS in occupied Syrian territory, using it as a launchpad for transnational attacks. 

The document warned that HTS’s domination created a “safe haven” for Al-Qaeda to train and expand, fueled by instability. British psyops against HTS spanned years but ultimately failed. Instead, leaked files lament HTS’s growing influence, territorial gains, and rebranding as an alternative government.

“[Al-Qaeda] remains an explicitly Salafi-Jihadist transnational group with objectives and targets which extend outside Syria’s borders. [Al-Qaeda’s] priority is to maintain an instability fuelled safe haven in Syria, from which they are able to train and prepare for future expansion. HTS domination of north west Syria provides space for [Al-Qaeda] aligned groups and individuals to exist.”

British-backed propaganda benefiting HTS

British intelligence psyops attempting to hinder HTS were in operation from the group’s founding until recently. Yet, they appear to have achieved nothing. Numerous leaked files reviewed by The Cradle bemoan how HTS’s “influence and territorial control” had “dramatically grown” over the years. 

Its successes allowed the extremist group “to consolidate its position, neutralize opponents, and position itself as a key actor in northern Syria.” But HTS’s “domination” was secured in part by the group rebranding itself as an alternative government.

HTS-occupied territory was home to a variety of parallel service providers and institutions, including hospitals, law enforcement, schools, and courts. The group’s domestic and international propaganda specifically promoted these resources as a demonstration of an “alternative” Syria awaiting rollout across the entire country.

Ironically, many of these structures and organizations – such as the infamous White Helmets, who also operated in ISIS-run territories – were direct products of British intelligence, created for regime change propaganda purposes. Moreover, they were aggressively promoted by London at enormous expense.

Repeated references are made in leaked UK intelligence documents to the importance of “[raising] awareness of moderate opposition service provision,” and providing domestic and international audiences with “compelling narratives and demonstrations of a credible alternative to the [Assad] regime.” There is no consideration evident in the files that these efforts might be assisting HTS greatly in its own efforts to present itself as a “credible alternative” to Assad.

Nonetheless, it is acknowledged that Syrians in occupied territory would accommodate HTS “particularly if [they are] receiving services from it.” Even more eerily, the documents note, “HTS and other extremist armed groups are significantly less likely to attack opposition entities that are receiving support” from the UK government’s Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF). 

This was the mechanism through which Britain’s Syrian propaganda war and organizations like the White Helmets and extremist-linked Free Syrian Police were financed.

These UK-run governance structures and opposition elements, which were allegedly intended to “undermine” HTS, operated in areas controlled by the group safe from violent reprisals for their foreign-funded work, as they “demonstrably provide key services” to residents of occupied territory.

There is also the darker prospect that HTS was well aware these “opposition entities” were bankrolled by British intelligence, and they were unmolested on that very basis.

Coordinated offensive

As The Telegraph‘s report explains, “the first indication that Washington had prior knowledge” of HTS’s offensive was when its RCA proxies were given a rousing pep talk by their US handlers three weeks prior. 

At a secret meeting at the US-controlled Al-Tanf air base close to the borders of Jordan and Iraq, the militants were told to scale up their forces and “be ready” for an attack that “could lead to the end” of Assad. A quoted RCA captain told the outlet:

“They did not tell us how it would happen. We were just told: ‘Everything is about to change. This is your moment. Either Assad will fall, or you will fall.’ But they did not say when or where, they just told us to be ready.”

This followed US officers at the base, swelling the RCA’s ranks by unifying the group with other UK/US-trained, funded, and directed Sunni desert units and rebel units operating out of Al-Tanf under joint command. 

According to The Telegraph, “RCA and the fighters of HTS … were cooperating, and communication between the two forces was being coordinated by the Americans.” This collaboration proved to be of devastating effect in the “lightning offensive,” with RCA rapidly seizing key territory across the country upon explicit US orders.

RCA even joined forces with another rebel faction in the southern city of Deraa, which reached Damascus before HTS. RCA now occupies roughly one-fifth of the country, pockets of territory in Damascus, and the ancient city of Palmyra. 

Hitherto “heavily defended” by Russia and Hezbollah, Moscow’s local base has now been taken over by RCA. “All members of the force continued to be armed by the US,” receiving salaries of $400 monthly, nearly 12 times what Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers were paid.

It is uncertain whether this direct financing of the RCA and other extremist militias that toppled the Assad government continues today. What is clear, though, is that the UK and US supported HTS from the group’s inception, even if “indirectly.” In turn, this covert backing played a pivotal role in positioning HTS financially, geopolitically, materially, and militarily for its “lightning” swoop on Damascus and assumption of government today.

Reinforcing the interpretation that this was the objective of London and Washington all along, following Assad’s ouster, Starmer promptly declared that the UK would “play a more present and consistent role” in West Asia as a result. 

While western and certain regional capitals may celebrate the apparent success of their lavishly funded, blood-soaked campaign to dismantle decades of Baathism, British intelligence had long cautioned that the outcome would grant Al-Qaeda an even larger “instability-fueled safe haven” for “future expansion.”

source: The Cradle

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13405

#counterRevolution #hts #imperialism #syria

Syria’s Fall and Anti-Imperialist Lessons

Similar to a predator realizing it is losing a fight and is reaching its end, the U.S. is lashing out and attempting to deepen its claws into subjugated nations like Syria, which just experienced a coup. The fall of Syria was a serious strike against the Axis of Resistance, but all is not lost. There are lessons to take away from these events in the fight against imperialism.

The fast-paced unfolding of events that took place in Syria shook everyone, including the regime change and color revolution enthusiasts who hoped to destroy Syria only to deliver it on a golden plate to the Zionist entity to annex massive swaths of lands. The forceful overthrow of the government in Syria represents a colossal defeat to the Pan-Arabists in the region and those who center the Palestinian national liberation cause. This is not a rhetorical exaggeration; the demise of Syria will have direct consequences on the Axis of Resistance — given that the land bridge (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon) has been undermined — and the interconnected struggle against imperialist zionism. While the fog of the color revolution has not settled, there are plenty of lessons to learn from the destruction of Syria and how imperialism is still capable of launching deadly blows as we witness the demise of its hegemony.

Syria and the Imperialist Cordon Sanitaire

Any reader of non-mainstream media that is not kowtowing to imperialism and Zionism will know that anyone who questions the usual narratives about Syria will be framed as an Assad apologist. This framing dilutes any contestation of what western media and liberal mouthpieces have produced in terms of defamation and lies about Syria’s government as merely bloodthirsty, dictator-loving, and campist. These mouthpieces of liberal imperialism never look at how those critical of imperialism center the notion of contradiction in the materialist dialectic tradition, especially espoused in anti-western Marxism. Leftists and western Marxists alike, alongside the liberal imperialists, have been constantly referring to Syria as a dictatorship that needs a regime change. Meanwhile, those critical of imperialism understand the notion of contradiction that situates people into a system mired with imperfections. The Syrian government has historically oppressed, imprisoned, and prosecuted dissidents — both right and left-wing. Further, as a state, it promoted neoliberalism since Bashar Al-Assad took over in 2000. Denying these facts would be an injustice to the history and analysis of this conjuncture and would not provide sufficient grounding to understand how western imperialism aided in the mobilization of the many Syrians for a regime change since 2011. While most of the mainstream news and literature will focus on how much blood has been spilled by the war on Syria since 2011, pinning the blame solely on the government, the people who challenge such narrative have been constantly sidelined and the critical literature they produce is being equated as regime propagandists.

The work of Ali Kadri, particularly Imperialism with Reference to Syria and The Cordon Sanitaire: A Single Law Governing Development in East Asia and the Arab World, are arguably the best suited books to understand imperialism and how it operates globally with cases of Eastern Asia and Western Asia — the very places Mao had warned the Arabs about half a century ago when he orated : “Imperialism is afraid of China and of the Arabs. Israel and Formosa [Taiwan] are bases of imperialism in Asia. You are the front gate of the great continent, and we are the rear. Their goal is the same. . . Asia is the biggest continent in the world, and the West wants to continue exploiting it. The West does not like us, and we must understand this fact. The Arab battle against the West is the battle against Israel. So boycott Europe and America, O’ Arabs!”.

Now, we are constantly hearing the Zionist entity as expanding and forming buffer zones to supplant any actors from launching attacks against the entity, a cordon sanitaire. Kadri situates this term within the imperialist system to understand imperialism and anti-imperialism, development and de-development of the regions. He essentially notes that imperialism implants allied regimes and transfers industrial technology to them so that they develop but within subservient status to the US-led imperialism while remaining as a military outpost that protects US hegemony: “There is also a remarkable similarity between these regions [Eastern and Western Asia]. Rich countries in both regions are closely allied with US-led imperialism. In particular, the developed Asian countries serve as part of a Cordon Sanitaire hedging the advance of China …  Accordingly, one may deduce that to develop as such or to grow wealthy and sustain a pro-imperialist working-class consciousness, a given country has to supplement US-led imperialist hegemony.” Liberals will often bring the example of the economic development of the Zionist entity and the so-called ‘Asian tigers’ without a reference to US-led imperialism and how it enabled such economic transformation of those gates to Asia. In their advocacy for such developmental models, they forgo imperialism as a world system and how much geopolitical autonomy these countries have (i.e. just a fortnight ago, South Korea declared martial law, fearing parliamentary budget disputes and sending alarming message to the more than 28,000 American soldiers housed in that satellite state). These satellite regimes, whether in Western Asia or Eastern Asia, have a strategic role in defending US hegemony, and in return, the US protects the regimes sitting there from actual revolutionary change, like what we saw in Bahrain in 2011 and the Zionist entity when Iran retaliated against it in October and April of this year. The enabling of subservient development of those entities serves the interest of the US to create its own imperialist buffer zone.

Libya, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran have been countries that hampered the hegemony of this ever-expanding buffer zone by training, housing, funding and arming the Palestinian resistance, and for that reason, color revolutions have been instigated to allow for the Zionist entity to enjoy its expansionist project unabashedly with the help of the Zionist Arabs and the NATO proxies in the region. In recent days, people have been resharing the video of the war hawk, retired U.S. general Wesley Clark , where he spoke about performing a regime change in seven countries, particularly the aforementioned ones to protect US strategic interests in the region. But it is not about just regime change. It is about dependent development and how to transform the economies of these countries into consumer hubs as opposed to sovereign production localities outside of the orbit of imperialism, so they purchase the excess productions of the imperialist core. Clark, who was spearheading the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, has infamously said “demolish, destroy, devastate, degrade, and ultimately eliminate the essential infrastructure of [Yugoslavia],” where it is clearly to demobilize the infrastructural development of the country to make it docile and economically subservient to the imperialist system — nothing about democracy and popular rule by the masses. While Iraq and Libya have been destroyed, de-developed and deindustrialized alongside the introduction of a market-oriented economy, Syria is awaiting the same fate as its ‘moderate rebels’ want to transform the economy into free-market .

Anti-imperialist Lessons Following a Devastating Defeat Worse than ’67

The loss of Syria is a grand defeat for the Axis because Lebanon’s land bridge has been cut off by these Zionist ‘moderate’ rebels who took power in Syria and vowed to stifle the presence of Shia in the country, namely Iran, Iraq and Lebanon — the very powers that are actually sacrificing their limbs and livelihood for Palestine’s liberation and the resistance in Gaza. The end of Syria is a loss for the Arabs that the region has not experienced anything like it since 1967 when the Zionist entity took over the Golan Heights and swiftly annexed the Sinai Peninsula. In my view, it is even worse because not only is Syria being destroyed here, but people are celebrating it as a revolution and liberation of Syria, and it is done by mostly indigenous hands as opposed to foreign entities inflicting this loss upon us, like what the region witnessed in 1967.

The demise of Syria is a major blow to those who know the weight of Syria in Arab history and civilization. It is a hub of knowledge production and ancient civilization, with rich cultural production and art history. Just like many of Iraq and Libya’s artifacts and heritage are being destroyed and/or sold to western museums to satiate the gaze of museum goers and milking profits from entrance fees and orientalized exhibitions, while we (the people of Libya and Iraq) are left with hollow libraries and museums, Syria will experience the same. There will be a loss of individual freedoms, forced assimilation to an Islamist status quo, discrimination based on sects, and silencing of ideologically anti-imperialist knowledge production. Surely, Syria’s education textbooks that have promoted progressive and peaceful coexistence between the various sects and ethnicities within the Syrian society will be undermined by the anti-Kurd, anti-Shia and anti-religious pluralism spearheaded by the ‘reformed’ jihadists running the country. These are not mere speculations but lessons learned from the destruction of Libya and how Islamist takeover has reduced the country to being run by reactionary and conservative forces that furtively seek to normalize relations with Zionism while the country continues to be under sanctions despite the overthrow of the Libyan government since 2011.

Since 2022, many have been cheering the dwindling US hegemony given the proliferating de-dollarization, the formation and consolidation of BRICS as an alternative, and the rise of China that presents an alternative development model outside of the imperialist orbit. But the imperialist enemy has been detecting its diminishing hegemony and hence, it has passed in its congress the so-called Global Fragility Act — an act that views the world as changing too fast and too far from the imperialist orbit, making it a fragile globe, and hence the need to promote stability. This act was passed in 2019 and is tied to a number of other acts that attempt to stifle the burgeoning popularity of China and Russia as strategic partners for sovereign development for much of the global south.

To claim that imperialism is in decay and incapable of inflicting damage on the Axis forces would only unjustly serve imperialist goals. Imperialism as a system that has withered multiple crises is led by smart billionaires who bankroll numerous functionaries that enable the reproduction of the system and supplant anti-imperialism through various weapons — media propaganda, financial sanctions, and militarism. All three were employed in Syria, such that the mainstream media and the functionaries of imperialism performed the most bizarre mental gymnastics that involved celebrating jihadists rolling into Syria’s capital, overthrowing the government, and claiming liberation while almost half of the country getting annexed by the Zionist entity (and not forgetting that Turkey occupies part of Syria and the US has troops stationed in the country’s fertile lands and oil-abundant region). The inability to question Zionist expansion by the new rulers of Syria – who promised not to  make Syria a launchpad for attacks against the Zionist entity – tells us how blinded by imperialist logic these decadent regime change enthusiasts are.

While surely the Axis of Resistance has received a major blow and needs to reorganize and restrategize vis-á-vis the proliferation of imperialism in Syria given the victory of the Zionist Islamists (they literally thanked the Zionist entity for supporting them in overthrowing the Syrian government), the compass remains Palestine. The ongoing genocide in Gaza ought to be our compass and standing with — ideologically and materially — the anti-imperialist forces should be the prime focus. The enemy is no longer on the other side of the border; the enemy of Palestinian liberation is within us, and it starts with educating and mobilizing against the local functionaries of imperialism.

Essam Elkorghli is a Libyan PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He researches Libya’s modern political history and contemporary imperialism in education. He is a labor organizer with the Graduate Employees’ Organization, assistant editor for Middle East Critique Journal , member of the Global Pan African Movement , and serves on the international advisory board of Pambazuka News .

source: Black Agenda Report

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13198

#alAqsaFlood #counterRevolution #nato #palestine #syria #us

HTS Jolani Declares a Total Halt on Conflict With Zionist Colonialism

In an exclusive interview with The Times on Monday, Syria’s new counter-revolutionary leader Mohammed al-Jolani, now preferring to go by his birth name Ahmed al-Sharaa, pledged that he would not allow the country to be used as a launchpad for attacks “against ‘Israel’ or any other state,” in a new step of collusion with colonialism in the region.

Al-Sharaa called on the Zionist regime to halt its airstrikes and withdraw from Syrian territory it occupied following Assad’s departure.

“‘Israels’ justification was the presence of Hezbollah and Iranian militias, so that justification is gone,” he said. “We are committed to the 1974 agreement and we are prepared to return the UN [monitors].”

He added, “We do not want any conflict whether with ‘Israel’ or anyone else and we will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks. The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions.”

Calls to Lift Sanctions

Sharaa urged the West to lift sanctions imposed during Assad’s tenure, arguing that these restrictions hinder Syria’s recovery and were no longer justified.

“Countries must now lift this designation. Syria is very important geostrategically. They should lift all restrictions, which were imposed on the flogger and the victim — the flogger is gone now. This issue is not up for negotiation.”

HTS, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Syria, remains designated as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, and other countries. Sharaa, himself, was once a member of ISIS and al-Qaeda. According to The Times, Al-Sharaa dismissed the designation, stating, “We did military activities,” but called the label “a political designation” that was more applicable to the Assad government.

Al-Sharaa currently has a $10 million bounty on his head from the US, but he said he did not care about his personal designation.

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13170

#collaboration #counterRevolution #hts #jolani #syria

Manbij Ceasefire Goes Into Effect, Counter-Revolution Threatens Rojava

A four-day ceasefire was announced yesterday in Manbij and its countryside between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Turkish-backed “Syrian National Army,” following three days of intense clashes. The truce, reportedly aimed at facilitating political solutions and prisoner exchanges, was confirmed by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction, which stated that the agreement seeks to “implement humanitarian and security understandings, including the withdrawal of SDF members and their families from the region.” However, skirmishes continued near Tishreen Dam in northeastern Aleppo, sending a clear Turkish message that the agreement applies only to Manbij, signaling its intent to maintain operations until it secures control over the entire border with Syria.

Meanwhile, the SDF and the Autonomous Administration expressed their readiness for dialogue and to initiate a political transition in the country. SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi reiterated the organization’s willingness to facilitate the return of the tomb of Suleiman Shah to Ain al-Arab. Additionally, the Autonomous Administration announced the adoption of Syria’s new flag across its institutions, reaffirming the region’s integral connection to Syria’s territorial unity. The adoption of this flag after the counter-revolutionary offensive signals increased problems for the Rojava experiment.

According to Al-Akhbar, their sources revealed that a delegation comprising SDF leaders, tribal representatives, and local officials from Al-Hasakah will visit Damascus to discuss the future of northeastern Syria. The delegation plans to advocate for the preservation of the Autonomous Administration as a model for Syria’s administrative and military framework. Meanwhile, US and French diplomats are reportedly mediating talks between Turkey and the SDF to address security concerns, including the management of ISIS prisons and camps in SDF-controlled areas. Turkey, however, is expected to demand that the SDF dissolve itself, sever ties with the PKK, and expel PKK members from Syria in exchange for political representation in the new government.

Internally, the SDF faces mounting challenges threatening its military structure. Protests erupted in several cities in Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, and Al-Hasakah, demanding a transfer of control to the Military Operations Administration. Several high-ranking members of the SDF’s Deir Ezzor Military Council have defected, including its leader, Abu Laith Khasham, who joined the Military Operations Administration, in affiliation with HTS. This marks the fifth defection within the council. Amid these tensions, the SDF’s security arm imposed a curfew across northeastern Syria, citing the need to safeguard public safety.

Furthermore, reports state that a draft of terms was sent to the SDF from the HTS regime. The new state demands that the Syrian government be recognized as the sole authority, that Arab areas are handed over to the military, that PKK cadres are expelled from the country (meaning the dissolution of the YPG and allied revolutionary forces), Arab prisoners are released, border crossings would now be administered by the counter-revolutionary state, and foreign ISIS prisoners be released to the new state.

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13106

#counterRevolution #hts #manbij #pkk #rojava #syria #turkey #westAsia #ypg

HTS Orders Palestinian Resistance Factions to Disarm, Close Bases in Syria: Report

Representatives from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new ruling extremist organization in Damascus, informed the representatives of the Palestinian factions in Syria they would no longer be allowed to possess any weapons, training camps, or military headquarters, Ibrahim Amin of Al-Akhbar reported on 13 December.

Amin further reports that the factions must dissolve their military formations as soon as possible in exchange for political and charitable work under the roof of the new Syrian state.

Palestinian factions, including Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the Saiqa, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Martyr Ali Aswad Brigad, have had a presence in Syria as guests of the government for decades.

A source in the PFLP-GC revealed to Erem News that the factions were informed of the decision in meeting headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the capital, Damascus.

Palestinians came to Syria as refugees during the 1948 Nakba. That year, pre-state Zionist militias ethnically cleansed some 750,000 Palestinians from the land that became the state of Israel, making them refugees in neighboring countries.

Many Palestinian refugees settled in Syria in the Yarmouk Camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus. The camp became the capital of the Palestinian diaspora.

The Palestinian factions formed armed resistance groups and provided manpower for the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA), which served as an auxiliary to the Syrian Army.

Amin notes that the practical result of these steps taken by HTS, led by former Al-Qaeda leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who now goes by his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa, is that the Palestinians are prohibited from using Syria as a headquarters or passage for any activity against the Zionist regime.

In 2012, the predecessor to HTS, the Nusra Front, invaded and occupied Yarmouk, seeking to use it as the gateway to conquer Damascus. The camp was largely destroyed over the following years in the course of the fighting. ISIS also occupied the camp and fought against the Syrian army and Palestinian factions there.

Amin says that although the new Syrian government does not talk about establishing relations with the Zionist regime, its representatives talk about taking practical steps to prevent any existing or potential resistance against Israel from Syrian territory.

He writes that the Zionist regime may seek to force the Lebanese government to take similar actions against Palestinian factions in the refugee camps in Lebanon.

source: The Cradle

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=13088

#counterRevolution #hts #palestine #resistance #syria #westAsia

West Asian Resistance Factions React to Ongoing Western-Backed Syrian Counter-Revolution

Western-backed Syrian counter-revolutionary forces pushed deeper into Syria today as regional revolutionary and resistance factions process the challenges and prepare for unprecedented difficulties in the near future.

The Syrian army collapsed on multiple fronts as reactionary militias, supported by Turkey, the West and the Zionist regime, began slowly articulating new plans for the region.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed his state’s collusion in the operation on Friday expressing hope for “a smooth continuation of anti-regime forces’ advance toward Damascus.”

“…Idlib, Hama, Homs, and the target, of course, is Damascus. The opposition’s march continues. Our wish is that this advancement in Syria continues without accidents or disasters,” Erdogan stated to reporters following Friday prayers in Istanbul.

Erdogan also voiced dissatisfaction with Syria’s leadership, saying, “We made a call to (Bashar al) Assad. We said: ‘Come, let’s determine the future of Syria together.’ Unfortunately, we did not receive a positive response to this.”

This operation was launched the next day, after the ceasefire in Lebanon, demonstrating a level of collusion between the Turkish and Zionist regime that has shocked many considering Erdogan’s public, and hypocritcal stance on Gaza.

Furthermore, Turkey has been sleepwalking through a tremendmous defeat to PKK and HBDH guerrillas in the Medya Defense Zones in Iraqi Kurdistan. While trying to find an exit, it seems the Turkish state opted for a more extreme escalation, attempting to bury Kurdistan and Palestine in one step.

PKK-KCK member Sabri Ok stated, “The Turkish state is always looking for an opportunity. It is calculating how to make its plans for Syria succeed. The Turkish state has supported tens of thousands of ISIS gang members and mercenaries and their versions in Idlib, on Syrian soil. Most HTS are essentially ISIS members. The Turkish state says that territorial integrity must be preserved in Syria, but it has occupied three-fifths of Syrian territory. It has not only occupied it but also annexed it. It took its own state system there. It has opened schools, administrative districts, governors, and governors, and annexed it in every sense.”

He concluded that the PKK put up great resistance against ISIS and the “fate of HTS will be the same.”

Throughout the offensive, the Zionist regime has attacked the border crossings between Lebanon and Syria trying to destroy the landbridge that funnels weapons to the Resistance, in collusion with the Takfiri fighters. In a Times of Israel interview today a “FSA” fighter stated, “We are open to friendship with everyone in the region – including Israel. We don’t have enemies other than the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran. What Israel did against Hezbollah in Lebanon helped us a great deal. Now we are taking care of the rest.”

While Hezbollah Secretary Sheikh Qassem noted that the aggression on Syria is “fostered by [the] US and Zionists following their powerlessness in Gaza and their failure in attempts to sideline Syria.”

In a message to the Arab states, he stressed, “Know that every win for “Israel” is a loss for you, not just for Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and it will have ramifications on your countries.”

He added that the Takfiri groups intend to take Syria away from its stance on the side of the Resistance, to a stance that serves the occupation.

“We now face a very dangerous Zionist project against the Middle East,” he warned.

The Central Command of the Palestinian Resistance Forces Alliance confirmed that the aggression carried out by these Takfiri organizations on the provinces of Aleppo and Hama is part of a American-Zionist-Turkish scheme, falling within the framework of the aggressive war being waged against the forces of the Axis of Resistance.

The Central Command considered this aggression to be part of the war being launched by the Zionist entity against Palestine and Lebanon, following its failure to achieve its objectives in both. It emphasized that this aggression, backed by the Turkish regime, the U.S. administration, and the Zionist entity, constitutes a new escalation against the liberation struggle. It described this as a reckless and miscalculated step by these organizations and their sponsors, who will fail to achieve their objectives in Syria, just as they have failed in Palestine and Lebanon.

The statement expressed the solidarity of the Palestinian Resistance Forces Alliance with Syria, which has thwarted the “New Middle East” plan since 2011.

The Palestinian Resistance Forces Alliance is a coalition of Palestinian factions. It includes Hamas, PIJ, PFLP-GC, Fatah Al-Intifada, PPSF, Al-Sa’iqa, PLF, and the Revolutionary Palestinian Communist Party.

Kataeb Hezbollah in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq spokesperson, Hajj Jaafar Al-Husseini, stated to HTS, “Before your masters taught you how to kill innocent people and displace the vulnerable, they should have given you lessons in the etiquette of speech when you mention Iraq and its people. You should ask your instigators in the capitals of evil and normalization what it means if Kataeb Hezbollah decides to enter the battle, and what will happen to you and the zionist monkeys who are cheering for the current events—as well as what will happen to those capitals that support your criminality!”

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=12977

#alAqsaFlood #counterRevolution #hamas #hezbollah #hts #kurdistan #palestine #rojava #syria

As we are unfortunately repeatedly confronted with groups that support the Ukrainian side in the war between Russia and the Ukraine from an allegedly “anarchist” position, and as an article appeared in April (When ideology gets in the way of solidarity) in which ABC-Belarus was surprised that we described them as supporters of the war and therefore we did not invite them to the bookfair, here are a few words from us. More than once we have had the dubious pleasure of being involved in discussions with people who call themselves “anarchists” and supporters of the Ukrainian side in the Russian-Ukrainian war, people who are also referred to by some as anarcho-militarists, anarcho-nationalists, NATO anarchists and the like – specifically, we are talking about ABC-Belarus, ABC-Dresden, Operation Solidarity/Solidarity Collective and all groups that support the war – whereby it should be noted that we personally deny that they are anarchists as a matter of course. Among other things, it has been shown that, contrary to their claim to seek debate, they do not do so, but instead skillfully ignore every counter-argument and move deftly at a level that can sometimes be confidently described as populist and statist. What they are looking for is an approval and anyone who doesn’t give it to them is then accused of Putinism, Westplaining, etc. And even if their arguments have changed over the course of time and certainly also due to the course of the war in the Ukraine, they are still generally repeated again and again. In the following lines, we will address these arguments, as they have been expressed to us and in some cases published, and explain once again why these groups support the war and why we do not consider them as anarchist comrades, despite all the praiseworthy and important work they do and have done in the field of prisoner support.

It is striking that these nationalists in anarchist garb are constantly using emotional arguments. The suffering of the Ukrainian population and the tragic individual fates of fallen soldiers (perhaps also female soldiers – so far, we have only heard or read reports about male soldiers), who are said to had been anarchists at some point in their lives, are described at length, but it is difficult to verify all this and it basically doesn’t matter. The point is rather that the gruesome reality of war is portrayed here, and indeed of any war. It would certainly be possible to find tragic stories about Russian casualties who enlisted because of their poverty or about ethnic Russians living in Ukraine (which, according to some of these people, do not even exist, although the Ukrainian government still counted 17.2% Russians in the total population in 20011 – so either this is simply a case of questionable ignorance or ignoring the facts, or will they possibly also describe such sources as Russian propaganda and disinformation?) who were massacred, tortured and killed as alleged spies and collaborators. Are their lives less valuable? Or are we now going to start counting the dead in wars and which side has the most, that is to say the good guys, the side worth supporting? And do they seriously want us to believe that the Ukrainian army is the only army in the world to be composed only of blameless men and women? Well, at least with the Azov brigade they don’t seem to deny their fascist orientation, but they relativize it and their training camps were the only ones that were easily accessible, what made out of them actually quite correct comrades to fight side by side with. After all, they have the same nationalist goals and, as with all nationalism, it goes without saying the other nation must be disparaged, in this case the “fascist” aggressor Russia and therefore all Russians in the same time. That is as for the solidarity that is so loudly demanded by these people, but which stops at national borders. And ignoring or even denying the presence of fascists in the Ukrainian government also speaks for itself…

In addition, the cruelty of the Russian soldiers is emphasized, who are all ruthless murderers, sadists and fascists whose only goal is to kill all Ukrainians. There would be no forced recruitment in Russia because it would not be necessary, as the Russian soldiers would all go to war voluntarily because they get money for it. Since these self-proclaimed “anarchists” don’t seem to have realized it yet and just to be clear: Most people do the disgusting profession of soldiering because it pays money. You don’t have to be a professor of linguistics to realize that the word soldier derives from soldo [= the soldier’s pay] (which in turn derives from solidus, a Byzantine coin) and this soldo, as we all know, is simply another word for payment or remuneration for a particular service. The job title alone therefore implies that someone is doing something for which he or she receives money. And the fact that in all armies it is primarily those from the poorest backgrounds who, seeing no other way of earning money legally, make up the majority of ordinary soldiers, those who are the first to die, should point out that we can only speak of voluntary service to a limited extent. The fact that the Russian army is also recruited from migrants hoping to improve their residence status or naturalization and from prisoners, which is also the case in the Ukrainian army, also plays a not insignificant role in this question.

And in all of this, they do not seem to be concerned at all with alleviating the suffering of people in war zones, as they like to claim ostensibly. If this was the case, they would have to consistently call for anarchist auxiliary battalions for all war zones in the world, because we should show solidarity with all oppressed people, not least with those who suffer directly from the barbaric wars of capital. But no, for them only the suffering on the Ukrainian side counts. It becomes particularly absurd when it is even admitted in the meantime that this war can probably no longer be won for the Ukraine and that recruitment on the Ukrainian side is increasingly being resisted (because although Ukrainians are supposedly all going to war voluntarily for freedom, there is still forced recruitment and corresponding resistance to it), but all “anarchists” in Ukraine are firmly convinced that they must continue to fight now, because if Russia wins this war, it will mean the death of the anarchist movement in the region. We reject this logic that one way or another the downfall is imminent and that is why we are now supporting some kind of suicidal action, as a result of which only people will die and lose their children, parents and friends. Because the end of anarchist movements in certain regions had happened many times in the past and it is neither a new phenomenon nor a total downfall; in such cases, these movements have to be rebuilt, as it happened time and again in history. The humanity to which they appeal and which they require from anarchists all over the world, especially in the form of monetary donations, is only shown very selectively; the Russian soldiers, turned into murderers by capitalism, do not seem worthy of humanity to them, their deaths are irrelevant. The Russians have always hated the Ukrainians for centuries… Sometimes even we are astonished by so much undifferentiated thinking and no longer know what else to write.

On May 1, 2023 in Dresden, one could hear, among other things, the following: “We should call for the Ukrainian population to be armed to the teeth so that thousands of bullets are fired from every window or door against the occupiers and their collaborators. If many in the West are not willing to fight for freedom – then so be it, but at least supporting those who are willing to do so is a duty that rests on the shoulders of everyone in the so-called first world.”2 And after this martial war cry, which we have heard too often in this way and in similar forms from warmongers at all times and in all places in the world, are they really still surprised that we write that they support the war? And what a meaningless and purely agitational use of the term freedom. What freedom are they fighting for? Capitalist freedom? Freedom to die for the seemingly kinder, more humane or even more “anarchistic” oppressor, to push the exhaustion of concepts to the extreme? In return, they want to kill “collaborators” and “occupiers”, assuming that the thousands of bullets hit them. Who is considered a collaborator? People who desert, who evade recruitment? All people who do not support Ukraine? Once again, the nationalist component oozes from the word occupier. But since actions are not important, only names count, they can claim they are not nationalists because they don’t call themselves so. And the whole thing is paired with banners and slogans that reek of glory and honor to the fallen and the cult of martyrdom.

We still don’t know why they think it has anything to do with anarchism to support one side in a war between two capitalist States or to defend one’s homeland, whatever it is supposed to be. The proletariat has no homeland, and certainly none that it should defend against another nation-State. In the above-mentioned article, we also find no answer to the question they formulated themselves, “Does ABC-Belarus support the war in Ukraine?” There is only talk of the ignorance with which they are met and the fact that the specific situation, regional history and conditions are allegedly not sufficiently included in analyses. But what are these particularities that lead them to think that it is something of an “anarchist duty” to support the Ukraine in this war, this is something they remain silent about. And how did it come about that all these “anarchists” suddenly became blossoming patriots overnight? We don’t know and we won’t get an answer, but it doesn’t matter how or why it happened. What is much more crucial and worrying is that it happened and that it is happening now. Because all the other anarchist and revolutionary groups in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, who have a different point of view and a different attitude to these saber-wielding war supporters, could not be trusted anymore. Well, that is difficult to verify, but at least in some cases it seems to us to be more defamation and denunciation (should they all be shot?) than serious advice and note. Especially as some of the things published by these groups have now also been adopted or confirmed by the “anarchist” militarists… We don’t want to go into the argument that the army now has a revolutionary potential, as has been shown historically in the formation of soldiers’ councils. That a handful of anarchists could awaken this potential, if it exists at all, seems illusory to us and this illusion is downright dangerous when we consider the price that is paid for it. Let us just briefly recall what the goals of these historical soldiers’ councils were, namely to put an end to the capitalist war and capitalist peace in a revolutionary way and not to wage war in a self-organized way on the side of a nation-State and get killed in the process.

For us as anarchists, all wars are capitalist wars and wars of capital. The only thing that wars produce are losers, death, misery and a pile of profit in the pockets of the capitalists. It is necessary to fight both capitalist war and capitalist peace, because both are only two sides of the same coin. After all, what do these “anarchist” warriors in Ukraine want to fight for? Defending the capitalist normal state because it is so much better to be exploited and oppressed by Ukrainians than by people who see themselves as Russians? We clearly say no, this is not what we are fighting for and if others want to do it because they think it is right, let them do it, but we will not support them or give them a platform because they are acting against basic anarchist principles. Because the conflict is not between right and left, but between “for the State” and “against the State” and as for anarchists it is very clear to us which side we are on. This does not make us ideologues or sectarians, as we are so often accused of being, but advocates of a clear and consistent anarchism that must not be watered down by the exhaustion of concepts and arbitrariness, otherwise anarchism will ultimately lose all its meaning and will not only disappear into insignificance for good, but will take on the kind of perverted forms and excesses that we can observe in groups such as ABC-Belarus, ABC-Dresden, etc.

Long live the betrayal of the country!
For anarchy

English translation: The Friends of the Class War

1 https://web.archive.org/web/20111217151026/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/
Incidentally, the CIA’s “World Fact Book” also gives the same figure.

2 https://abcdd.org/2023/05/02/1-mai-in-dresden-internationale-solidaritat/

source: The Friends of Class War

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/07/29/when-the-exhaustion-of-concepts-intensifies/

#anarchism #collaboration #counterRevolution #europe #russia #ukraine #ukraineWar

This afternoon, James R. Brennan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) will tell us all about his research on the the history of a Zanzibari counter-revolutionary radio station based in northern Mozambique and supported by Portugal in the final months of the Colonial War.

https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/en/events/clandestine-radio-counter-revolution/

#Histodons #Mozambique #LiberationWars #Colonialism #Zanzibar #Pemba #Radio #CounterRevolution #Colonialismo #GuerraColonial #Moçambique

On 5 June, we will host James R. Brennan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) for a seminar on the the history of a Zanzibari counter-revolutionary radio station based in northern Mozambique and supported by Portugal in the final months of the Colonial War.

ℹ️ https://ihc.fcsh.unl.pt/en/events/clandestine-radio-counter-revolution/

@histodons

#Histodons #Radio #ColonialWars #CounterRevolution #Mozambique #GuerraColonial #MOçambique #ContraRevolução #Zanzibar

To #Save Our #Democracy, #Stop #Fascist #Florida #Governor #RonDeSantis’ #Racist #Education #Crusade

A #personalreflection on the #counterrevolution against #Black #history from a #civilrights #attorney.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Florida #Education #Hate #Bigotry #Discrimination #Religion #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Racism #Homophobia #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate #EmptyThePews #BlackMastodon

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/stop-desantis-racist-education-crusade

https://archive.org/details/watchful-state

The Watchful State: Security Police and Opposition in Russia, 1906–1917 by Jonathan W. Daly

Topics
#russianrevolution, #russianempire, #tsarism, #tsaristrussia, #politicalpolice, #policeviolence, #politicalrepression, #counterinsurgency, #counterrevolution, #imperialism, #policing, #departmentforprotectingthepublicsecurityandorder, #okhrana, #ministryofinternalaffairs, #mvd, #imperialrussia, #russianimperialism, #politicalviolence

Why did the imperial Russian government fail to prevent revolution in 1917? Were its security policies flawed? This broadly researched study of Russia's security police investigates the government's efforts to maintain order as it struggled against political opposition and threats of violence during the last decade before the Revolution. Historian Jonathan Daly brings to life the men who, often with reformist intentions, took on the task of defending Russia against political dissent and revolution from within.

https://archive.org/details/slavery-and-the-french-revolutionists

Slavery and the French Revolutionists (1788-1805) by Anna Julia Cooper; Frances Richardson Keller

Topics
#slavery, #blackchattelslavery, #antiblackness, #frenchrevolution, #HaitianRevolution, #frenchempire, #frenchcolonialism, #frenchimperialism, #Haiti, #paris, #translatlanticslavetrade, #abolitionists, #abolitionism, #Martinique, #Matinik, #Matnik, #counterrevolution

The first translation and publication of a 1925 doctoral dissertation written for the University of Paris by a 67-year-old Black amerikan expatriate woman who had been born a slave. Her study of the french revolutionists' view of slavery is crucial to understanding the growth of human rights.

https://archive.org/details/allianceforglobaljustice-npic

Alliance for Global Justice IRS Forms 990

Topics
#neocolonialism, #unitedstatesofamerika, #nonprofitindustrialcomplex, #NPIC, #imperialism, #capitalism, #philanthropy, #staterepression, #501c3, #AllianceforGlobalJustice, #AFGJ, #foundations, #liberaldemocracy, #bougeoisie, #liberalism, #progressivism, #controlledopposition, #counterrevolution, #counterinsurgency

this item includes IRS Forms 990 for the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) is an organizing group that serves as a fiscal sponsor to numerous liberal-progressive initiatives.

https://archive.org/details/whofundsbyp100

Black Youth Project / BYP100 financial backers

Topics #BlackYouthProject, #BYP100, #neocolonialism, #unitedstatesofamerika, #nonprofitindustrialcomplex, #NPIC, #imperialism, #capitalism, #philanthropy, #staterepression, #501c3, #BlackLivesMatter, #foundations, #liberaldemocracy, #bougeoisie, #liberalism, #progressivism, #BlackYouthProject100NFP, #BYP100EducationFund, #WomenDonorsNetwork, #AstraeaFoundation, #AstraeaLesbianFoundationForJustice, #RudolfSteinerFoundation, #MacArthurFoundation, #MsFoundationforWomen, #ChicagoFoundationforWomen, #QuixoteFoundation, #BorealisPhilanthropy, #AmericanFederationofLaborandCongressofIndustrialOrganizations, #AFLCIO, #BenjaminFund, #controlledopposition, #counterrevolution, #counterinsurgency