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The response of the US/western-trained Iraqi army when faced with ISIS has often been to run away. It is the Kurdish militias that have stopped ISIS and pushed it back. The fact that the PKK, whose forces have done a whack of the fighting and whose armed forces include a significant number of women, is on the terrorism list in this country is indicative of the lies of imperialist governments about the region and their involvement in it. If any of them were primarily motivated by the desire to help defeat ISIS in order that the people of the region could improve their lives, they could just hand over a load of weapons, medical supplies and money to the Kurdish fighters, with no strings attached. Instead, they have made it illegal in their countries to help one of the key Kurdish movements which stands for people’s liberation and that has thrown back the ultra-right forces of ISIS, by having the PKK on their 'terrorism' list. Several things can be done here: 1. Demand that the PKK be removed from the list of terrorist organisations 2. Demand that people be able to raise funds and other support for the Kurdish liberation movement; and people could raise support and funds for them anyway, regardless of what the governments do 3. Demand the withdrawal of all imperialist forces but hand over to the Kurdish forces the equivalent in funds and/or equipment of what they would spend on having their armed forces there; this to be handed over with no strings attached. In other words, if the deployment of western forces to Iraq was going to cost X million dollars, then X million dollars should be handed over to the Kurds. Of course, I'm fully aware that none of them would do this, but that simply exposes their real concerns as having nothing whatever to do with the welfare of the people of the region. The Kurds have been screwed over continuously by western powers – for instance, when France and Britain carved up the Ottoman Empire after WW1, the Kurds never got a country. Some pieces: The Kurds: treated as pawns by the western powers: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/the-kurds-treated-as-pawns-by-western-powers/ The ‘other’ Kurds fighting the Islamic State: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/the-other-kurds-fighting-the-islamic-state/ PFLP calls for international support for Kurds fighting ISIS at Kobane: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/pflp-calls-for-united-revolutionary-support-for-kurds-at-kobane/ Phil _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
