Middle East
Adam Hanieh on Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood, the military and the continuing revolution
Thousands of Egyptian protesters cross the Kasr al-Nile bridge to attend a rally in Cairo on January 27, 2012, to demand democratic change, a year after the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
[For more analysis and discussion on Egypt, click HERE.]
By Adam Hanieh
August 12, 2012 -- Socialist Resistance -- Eighteen months after mass protests and strikes ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak from power, the basic aspirations that drove Egypt’s uprising remain largely unfulfilled. The vast majority of the population has seen little substantive improvement in living conditions. Political decision making continues to be dominated by a military junta closely tied to the United States.
Syria: Assad regime near end amid rising violence
[Click HERE for more analysis of the situation in Syria.]
By Tony Iltis
August 12, 2012 -- Green Left Weekly -- The 50-year rule of the Ba’ath Party in Syria looks to be effectively over. In the past month armed clashes have spread to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the largest city, Aleppo. Armed opposition forces have taken control of several border points. On August 6, Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to the opposition.
The regime of Bashar al-Assad — who inherited the presidency in 2000 from his father, Hafez al-Assad, who seized power in a 1970 military coup — no longer controls the country.
However, an end to the violence, which has claimed 20,000 lives since the uprising that broke out in March last year against Assad, looks far away. So, too, does the realisation of the uprising’s original aims: democratic rights and economic justice.
The regime has indicated it will cling to whatever power it can with counter-offensives in Damascus and Aleppo. Western demands that Assad face an international war crimes trial, and the nastier fate of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi who was brutally murdered after his overthrow and capture by NATO-led forces, has given Assad no incentive to compromise.
Palestinian People's Party's Shamikh Badra: 'Palestinians must unite to tackle occupation'
Shamikh Badra, youth leader of the Palestine People's Party, speaking at a forum in P
Richard Seymour: The Syrian revolt enters a new phase
Anti-Assad protest in Syria organised by the Local Coordinating Committees.
Israel’s environmental colonialism and eco-apartheid
The construction of Israel’s mammoth apartheid wall has separated Palest
June 18, 2012 – Police fire tear gas at protesters.
Egypt: 'Reject the Supplementary Constitutional Declaration' military coup
June 18, 2012 – http://www.e-socialists.net/node/8845 -- The signatories to this statement announce their complete rejection of the Supplementary Constitutional
Australian socialists: 'No imperialist military intervention in Syria!'
Western military intervention will cause more death and suffering in Syria.
‘Closing the doors of learning’ to the Israeli state opens the doors of freedom
By Patrick Bond and Muhammed Desai
The Arab uprisings, democratic demands and the Saudi payroll
Hillary Clinton (centre) meets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (right) in Riyadh to discuss Syria. Photograph: AP.
By Rupen Savoulian
May 21, 2012 -- Antipodean Athiest, submitted to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal by the author-- In April 2012, a number of high-level political officials attended conferences in Paris and Istanbul organised by the Friends of Syria group. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton attended these meetings, and joined the foreign ministers from the NATO powers and Arab Gulf monarchies in denouncing the killings committed by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Bahrain: Democracy activists call for trade union solidarity
May 15, 2012 – GreenLeftTV – Bahrai
