Re: [Marxism] US enforces its No Fly Zone over Rojava, leading to World War III …

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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Michael Karadjis says:

'As the SDF advances on Raqqa, US airstrikes (and SDF artillery) are creating 
what UN war crimes investigators described as a “staggering loss of civilian 
life.” The US is literally carpet bombing Raqqa, “destroying the town to save 
it.” '

The UN report does not use the term "carpet bombing", nor say that the US is 
"destroying the town to save it".  However it is true that the report talks of 
a "staggering loss of civilian life" in Raqqa:
  
www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21741=E

Undoubtedly the aerial bombardment of Raqqa has killed a lot of civilians.  The 
US air force often bombs with reckless disregard for civilian lives.

The US currently has an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces on military 
cooperation in fighting ISIS.  But this does not mean that the US bombing of 
Syria is dependent on the consent of the SDF.  US bombing began before the 
agreement was reached, and would undoubtedly continue to occur if the agreement 
was terminated.

The presence of the US air force has been a deterrent to Turkish or Assadist 
bombing of SDF-controlled cities.  Both Assadist and Turkish planes have 
carried out some bombing raids on SDF areas, but only on a small scale.  
However, Turkey has carried out frequent ground artillery bombardments of 
SDF-controlled areas, and would undoubtedly carry out large-scale aerial 
bombardments if not restrained by the US.

It would be preferable if the SDF could defeat ISIS and deter its other enemies 
without US aid.  But I can understand why a society under siege, such as the 
Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, makes use of whatever allies it can 
get.

The US is an unreliable ally.  As Michael says: "Finally, as the SDF leaders 
are no doubt themselves aware, neither the Assad regime, Russia nor the US are 
ever going to be reliable allies, and so they will need to constantly watch 
their backs. Yet this means the only real ally of the Syrian Kurdish people are 
the Syrian Arab people. "

I agree that there is a need for unity between Kurds and Arabs (and other 
nationalities).  The SDF leaders are certainly aware of this.  There are 
increasing numbers of Arabs in the SDF.  This includes fighters from a Free 
Syrian Army background.

However, there are several obstacles to unity between the SDF and most 
anti-Assad rebel groups.  

Many such groups are dependent on Turkish aid, which would be cut off if they 
cooperated with the SDF.  Some groups have been coopted into Turkey's war 
against the SDF.

In addition, many rebel groups are Sunni-sectarian, or allied with 
Sunni-sectarian groups. A democratic revolution must unite people across 
religious and ethnic lines.  Sectarian groups can't do this, because they 
oppress religious minorities.  Hence the SDF can not unite with such groups.

But the relative isolation of the SDF creates its own problems.  Just as an 
isolated socialist state - such as Cuba - is likely to be distorted by the 
pressures of a hostile world, so too a democratic revolution that is isolated 
in one part of a country - such as northern Syria - is subject to pressures 
that are likely to distort it, and may cause it to completely degenerate.

If this happens, the critics will be able to say "I told you so".  But the 
revolution is still continuing, and has spread to non-Kurdish areas, so we 
should not give up hope yet.  

An example of a non-Kurdish area that is part of the Democratic Federation of 
Northern Syria is Manbij (Minbic), a predominantly Arab town:

http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3941-a-trip-to-liberated-minbic-in-northern-syria-from-hell-to-paradise


Chris Slee




From: Marxism  on behalf of mkaradjis . 
via Marxism 
Sent: Tuesday, 27 June 2017 10:37 PM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: [Marxism] US enforces its No Fly Zone over Rojava, leading to World 
War III …

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https://mkaradjis.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/us-enforces-its-no-fly-zone-over-rojava-leading-to-world-war-iii/


US enforces its No Fly Zone over Rojava, leading to World War III …

… well, not quite, just the continuation of six years of genocidal war
as Assad, Russia and the US pulverize Syria

By Michael Karadjis

For the first time in the 6-year Syrian war, the US shot down 

Re: [Marxism] Jack A. Smith (1934-2017)

[A.R. G via Marxism]

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We used to use that newsletter to promote events and the like at Bard. Very
sad to hear he has passed away.

- Amith

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 7:34 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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> *
>
> (Jack was a long-time Marxmailer who used the list for publicizing his
> Hudson Valley Newsletter.)
>
> Dear friends,
>
> It is my sad duty to inform you that Jack Smith, my life partner and the
> creator and editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and Calendar,
> has died. The announcement appears below.
>
> During Jack¹s long illness, managing the mailing list took a  back seat to
> doing the research and getting the articles out. If you know of other
> movement people who should get this announcement, please pass it along.
>
> With thanks and solidarity,
>
> Donna Goodman
>
> >>
>
> Jack A. Smith, a journalist and progressive activist, died surrounded by
> loved ones at his home in New Paltz, NY on June 29 from complications of
> COPD.
>
> From 1963-1984, Jack worked at the influential leftist newspaper the
> Guardian, as a writer and ultimately as editor.
>
> Jack was born in Queens, NY to a low income family in 1934 and he began
> working full time at 16, attending night school to get his high school
> diploma. Jack's first job as a journalist was at United Press International
> as a copy boy and wire editor, then news writer.
>
> Jack came of age politically as a radical pacifist in his early 20s. At 26
> years old, in 1961, in opposition to rumors that the United States might
> intervene militarily in Viet Nam and against the Cold War nuclear build up,
> Jack returned his draft card to Selective Service, defying the law by which
> young men were required to carry the cards on their person at all times.
> Though Jack was overage for the draft and had two young children, he was
> drafted and when he refused to serve he was indicted and convicted and
> served time in federal prison. After his release from prison, unable to
> find work at most newspapers because of his political views, he found a job
> as a writer at the National Guardian where he remained for 21 years, moving
> from writer to news editor to the paper's editor over a few years
>
> Under Jack's leadership the Guardian built on a tradition of excellent
> reporting on foreign policy with expanded coverage of the political
> movements of the 60s and 70s and the best coverage of the Vietnam War from
> a left Perspective.
>
> After leaving the Guardian Jack remained politically active through
> retirement and until the last months of his life, organizing demonstrations
> and political meetings along with his wife Donna Goodman. A committed
> socialist and Marxist, Jack was a member of Workers World Party and then
> Party for Socialism and liberation.
>
> In his retirement, Jack created and edited the Hudson Valley Activist
> Newsletter and Calendar. The Newsletter offered a left analysis of current
> events, and the Calendar announced local progressive activism. Over the
> years this online publication reached thousands of subscribers every month,
> and Jack's long form articles were picked up by many
> progressive on-line news outlets.
>
> Along with his career as a writer and editor, Jack was an avid camper,
> hiker and cyclist, a lover of music and reading, and, in his healthier
> years, a good martini. Jack was an animal lover and vegetarian from the age
> of twelve.  He was also a brother, a father, an uncle, a grandpa, and a
> devoted husband to Donna. Jack will be remembered not only for his quest
> for justice but also for his hearty sense of humor and his zest for life.
>
> Jack is survived by Donna, his partner of 33 years, his sister Dorothea
> Smith, his daughters and step-daughters: Malissa Smith, Tamar Smith, Laurie
> Davidson, and Leila Nichols; son Kirk Smith; sons-in-law: Jed Stevenson,
> Dan Loomis, Charlie Bengs and Michael Golub; his niece and nephew Lori
> Becker and Jon Becker, their children Nick Monico and Sarah Becker; and his
> seven wonderful grandchildren: Isabella Stevenson, Sophia Smith-Golub,
> Ariel Smith-Golub, Killian Bengs, Asa Bengs, Dylan Loomis and Finn Loomis.
> He was very loved and he will be missed.
>
> His family wishes to express its deep appreciation to Hudson Valley
> Hospice.
>
> A memorial will take place in September in New 

[Marxism] Jack A. Smith (1934-2017)

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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(Jack was a long-time Marxmailer who used the list for publicizing his 
Hudson Valley Newsletter.)


Dear friends,

It is my sad duty to inform you that Jack Smith, my life partner and the 
creator and editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and 
Calendar, has died. The announcement appears below.


During Jack¹s long illness, managing the mailing list took a  back seat 
to doing the research and getting the articles out. If you know of other

movement people who should get this announcement, please pass it along.

With thanks and solidarity,

Donna Goodman

>>

Jack A. Smith, a journalist and progressive activist, died surrounded by 
loved ones at his home in New Paltz, NY on June 29 from complications of 
COPD.


From 1963-1984, Jack worked at the influential leftist newspaper the 
Guardian, as a writer and ultimately as editor.


Jack was born in Queens, NY to a low income family in 1934 and he began 
working full time at 16, attending night school to get his high school 
diploma. Jack's first job as a journalist was at United Press 
International as a copy boy and wire editor, then news writer.


Jack came of age politically as a radical pacifist in his early 20s. At 
26 years old, in 1961, in opposition to rumors that the United States 
might intervene militarily in Viet Nam and against the Cold War nuclear 
build up, Jack returned his draft card to Selective Service, defying the 
law by which young men were required to carry the cards on their person 
at all times. Though Jack was overage for the draft and had two young 
children, he was drafted and when he refused to serve he was indicted 
and convicted and served time in federal prison. After his release from 
prison, unable to find work at most newspapers because of his political 
views, he found a job as a writer at the National Guardian where he 
remained for 21 years, moving from writer to news editor to the paper's 
editor over a few years


Under Jack's leadership the Guardian built on a tradition of excellent 
reporting on foreign policy with expanded coverage of the political 
movements of the 60s and 70s and the best coverage of the Vietnam War 
from a left Perspective.


After leaving the Guardian Jack remained politically active through 
retirement and until the last months of his life, organizing 
demonstrations and political meetings along with his wife Donna Goodman. 
A committed socialist and Marxist, Jack was a member of Workers World 
Party and then Party for Socialism and liberation.


In his retirement, Jack created and edited the Hudson Valley Activist 
Newsletter and Calendar. The Newsletter offered a left analysis of 
current events, and the Calendar announced local progressive activism. 
Over the years this online publication reached thousands of subscribers 
every month, and Jack's long form articles were picked up by many

progressive on-line news outlets.

Along with his career as a writer and editor, Jack was an avid camper, 
hiker and cyclist, a lover of music and reading, and, in his healthier 
years, a good martini. Jack was an animal lover and vegetarian from the 
age of twelve.  He was also a brother, a father, an uncle, a grandpa, 
and a devoted husband to Donna. Jack will be remembered not only for his 
quest for justice but also for his hearty sense of humor and his zest 
for life.


Jack is survived by Donna, his partner of 33 years, his sister Dorothea 
Smith, his daughters and step-daughters: Malissa Smith, Tamar Smith, 
Laurie Davidson, and Leila Nichols; son Kirk Smith; sons-in-law: Jed 
Stevenson, Dan Loomis, Charlie Bengs and Michael Golub; his niece and 
nephew Lori Becker and Jon Becker, their children Nick Monico and Sarah 
Becker; and his seven wonderful grandchildren: Isabella Stevenson, 
Sophia Smith-Golub, Ariel Smith-Golub, Killian Bengs, Asa Bengs, Dylan 
Loomis and Finn Loomis. He was very loved and he will be missed.


His family wishes to express its deep appreciation to Hudson Valley Hospice.

A memorial will take place in September in New Paltz and will be 
announced shortly.


_
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[Marxism] Fwd: H-Net Review [Jhistory]: Pillen on Dunaway, 'Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images'

[Richard Sprout via Marxism]

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Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "H-Net Staff" 
> Date: July 2, 2017 at 4:24:58 PM EDT
> To: "" , "H-Net Staff"

> Subject: H-Net Review [Jhistory]:  Pillen on Dunaway, 'Seeing Green:
The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images'
> 
> Finis Dunaway.  Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American
> Environmental Images.  Chicago  University of Chicago Press, 2015.
> 344 pp.  $40.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-226-16990-3.
> 
> Reviewed by Cory J. Pillen (Fort Lewis College Department of Art and
> Design)
> Published on Jhistory (July, 2017)
> Commissioned by Robert A. Rabe
> 
> Many of us are familiar with the recycling logo that adorns packaging
> and waste containers in the United States. Fewer, however, know the
> history of that logo or have considered the broader implications of
> its design, which suggests that our individual commitment to
> recycling will provide a much-needed solution to environmental
> crisis. Finis Dunaway's _Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American
> Environmental Images_ investigates the role this recycling logo and
> other iconic environmental images played in the "making of popular
> environmentalism" in the United States (p. 1). Organized both
> thematically and chronologically, the book's fifteen chapters address
> a wide range of visual material produced since the 1960s, from Pogo
> comic strips and Hollywood movies like the _China Syndrome_ (1979) to
> news coverage of Three Mile Island and Earth Day.
> 
> _Seeing Green_ offers important insights into various ways these
> images worked to prioritize specific environmental narratives and
> forms of activism. As Dunaway explains, these works successfully
> expanded the public's awareness of particular issues and generated
> concern by appealing to viewers' emotions and visualizing scientific
> knowledge. At the same time, they failed to address important causes
> of our environmental troubles or present a full range of potential
> solutions. For Dunaway, these omissions point to the limitations of
> the appeals, as well as mainstream approaches to environmental reform
> more broadly.
> 
> Many of the images Dunaway addresses, for example, place the
> responsibility for environmental reform and stewardship on the
> individual, ignoring broader, systemic causes of our environmental
> problems. They urge individuals to recycle or conserve energy, for
> instance, but rarely address company packaging practices or critique
> the government for inadequate regulation of industry. Likewise, by
> focusing on individual responsibility, these images disregard some of
> the more far-reaching solutions offered by activists and others. They
> present, in essence, a limited vision of environmental responsibility
> and citizenship, one shaped by unequal power relationships and
> structural inequities.
> 
> In the last section of his book, Dunaway considers the increasing
> prevalence of neoliberal, consumerist approaches to environmental
> problems that perpetuate this belief in individual responsibility. As
> he explains, these campaigns suggest individuals can address
> environmental issues through green consumerism, by buying organic
> foods for example, or boycotting products like canned tuna that have
> been associated with fishing practices that kill dolphins. These
> appeals, however, disregard the fact that some "green" consumer
> choices are too expensive for all but the wealthy or upper middle
> class. They also prioritize immediate reform efforts over long-term
> solutions, particularly those that challenge the basic structures of
> capitalism or dominant national narratives.
> 
> Throughout _Seeing Green_, Dunaway pays attention to the various ways
> these environmental images intersect with social justice issues like
> race and class. As Dunaway notes, a number of the images under
> discussion use white, middle-class children and adults to suggest
> "universal vulne> consequences of environmental degradation. In doing so, they
> disregard the disproportionate effect environmental problems have on
> poor communities, minority groups, and specific laborers. Dunaway
> offers a number of examples, including gas mask imagery, posters
> warning of pesticides in breast milk, and media campaigns focused on
> the danger of Alar on apples. As he explains, these appeals ignore
> the inequities of environmental risk, like the greater exposure to
> pesticides some farmworkers experience, in stressing the fact that
> all viewers are susceptible to environmental harm.
> 
> Contextualizing his analysis of these images, Dunaway 

[Marxism] Fwd: H-Net Review [Jhistory]: Pillen on Dunaway, 'Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images'

[Andrew Stewart via Marxism]

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-- Forwarded message --
From: *H-Net Staff* 
Date: Sunday, July 2, 2017
Subject: H-Net Review [Jhistory]: Pillen on Dunaway, 'Seeing Green: The Use
and Abuse of American Environmental Images'
To: h-rev...@h-net.msu.edu


Finis Dunaway.  Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American
Environmental Images.  Chicago  University of Chicago Press, 2015.
344 pp.  $40.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-226-16990-3.

Reviewed by Cory J. Pillen (Fort Lewis College Department of Art and
Design)
Published on Jhistory (July, 2017)
Commissioned by Robert A. Rabe

Many of us are familiar with the recycling logo that adorns packaging
and waste containers in the United States. Fewer, however, know the
history of that logo or have considered the broader implications of
its design, which suggests that our individual commitment to
recycling will provide a much-needed solution to environmental
crisis. Finis Dunaway's _Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American
Environmental Images_ investigates the role this recycling logo and
other iconic environmental images played in the "making of popular
environmentalism" in the United States (p. 1). Organized both
thematically and chronologically, the book's fifteen chapters address
a wide range of visual material produced since the 1960s, from Pogo
comic strips and Hollywood movies like the _China Syndrome_ (1979) to
news coverage of Three Mile Island and Earth Day.

_Seeing Green_ offers important insights into various ways these
images worked to prioritize specific environmental narratives and
forms of activism. As Dunaway explains, these works successfully
expanded the public's awareness of particular issues and generated
concern by appealing to viewers' emotions and visualizing scientific
knowledge. At the same time, they failed to address important causes
of our environmental troubles or present a full range of potential
solutions. For Dunaway, these omissions point to the limitations of
the appeals, as well as mainstream approaches to environmental reform
more broadly.

Many of the images Dunaway addresses, for example, place the
responsibility for environmental reform and stewardship on the
individual, ignoring broader, systemic causes of our environmental
problems. They urge individuals to recycle or conserve energy, for
instance, but rarely address company packaging practices or critique
the government for inadequate regulation of industry. Likewise, by
focusing on individual responsibility, these images disregard some of
the more far-reaching solutions offered by activists and others. They
present, in essence, a limited vision of environmental responsibility
and citizenship, one shaped by unequal power relationships and
structural inequities.

In the last section of his book, Dunaway considers the increasing
prevalence of neoliberal, consumerist approaches to environmental
problems that perpetuate this belief in individual responsibility. As
he explains, these campaigns suggest individuals can address
environmental issues through green consumerism, by buying organic
foods for example, or boycotting products like canned tuna that have
been associated with fishing practices that kill dolphins. These
appeals, however, disregard the fact that some "green" consumer
choices are too expensive for all but the wealthy or upper middle
class. They also prioritize immediate reform efforts over long-term
solutions, particularly those that challenge the basic structures of
capitalism or dominant national narratives.

Throughout _Seeing Green_, Dunaway pays attention to the various ways
these environmental images intersect with social justice issues like
race and class. As Dunaway notes, a number of the images under
discussion use white, middle-class children and adults to suggest
"universal vulnerability"- that all humans will suffer the
consequences of environmental degradation. In doing so, they
disregard the disproportionate effect environmental problems have on
poor communities, minority groups, and specific laborers. Dunaway
offers a number of examples, including gas mask imagery, posters
warning of pesticides in breast milk, and media campaigns focused on
the danger of Alar on apples. As he explains, these appeals ignore
the inequities of environmental risk, like the greater exposure to
pesticides some farmworkers experience, in stressing the fact that
all viewers are susceptible to environmental harm.

Contextualizing his analysis of these images, Dunaway addresses
broader debates concerning environmentalism and some of the responses
these appeals engendered. Discussing toxic waste, for instance, he
explains that some media sources 

[Marxism] Fwd: When Seymour Hersh was interviewed on Infowars | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://louisproyect.org/2017/07/02/when-seymour-hersh-was-interviewed-on-infowars/
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Why Don't the Poor Rise Up? | AK Press

[Thomas via Marxism]

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"Bourgeois revolutions, like those of the 18th century, storm swiftly from 
success to success; their dramatic effects outdo each other; men and things 
seem set in sparkling brilliants; ecstasy is the everyday spirit; but they are 
short-lived; soon they have attained their zenith, and a long crapulent 
depression lays hold of society before it learns soberly to assimilate the 
results of its storm-and-stress period. 

“On the other hand, proletarian revolutions, like those of the 19th century, 
criticise themselves constantly, interrupt themselves continually in their own 
course, come back to the apparently accomplished in order to begin it afresh, 
deride with unmerciful thoroughness the inadequacies, weaknesses and 
paltrinesses of their first attempts, seem to throw down their adversary only 
in order that he may draw new strength from the earth and rise again, more 
gigantic, before them, recoil ever and anon from the indefinite prodigiousness 
of their own aims, until a situation has been created which makes all turning 
back impossible…”

Marx; 18th Brumaire

-Original Message-
>From: Gary MacLennan via Marxism 
>Sent: Jun 15, 2017 7:52 PM
>To: Thomas F Barton 
>Subject: Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Why Don't the Poor Rise Up? | AK Press
>
>
>We are in an interregnum - that is a period between centres.  The old
>neoliberal centre is decaying, possibly dead, and a new centre is trying to
>be born. Centres constitute what is thought to be common sense. The absence
>of a dominant commons sense mean that all sorts of surreal phenomena
>manifest themselves. The deal with the Ulster Strasserites that is supposed
>to guarantee a continuation of the Tories in office is just one of these.
>The Tories have once more played the Orange card and they have done it with
>their customary recklessness as to the consequences for Ireland. And those
>consequences are likely to be very immediate with the Loyalist Marching
>Season upon us. the slightest sign that the British state is tilting
>towards restoring Orange Dominance will be met with resistance on the
>streets.  Sinn Fein will be unable to keep control here.
>
>Then there is the plain fact that the Tories have no idea on how to
>proceed. May's favorite projects - fox-hunting, ivory trading and grammar
>schools do not address in any way the multiple problems that have
>accumulated under neoliberalism.  She personally now is manifestly a
>problem.  She visited the fire scene but did not talk to the residents.
>Corbyn went there and talked to them.  Interestingly the residents are
>obsessed with the concept of truth.  Repeatedly they say they want the
>truth to come out.  Thankfully they have been isolated from academic
>bullshit and so no one has told them that we live in post-truth world.
>Instead they feel instinctively the truth will set them free.
>
>That is making them bump up against the edge of the question Why don't the
>poor rise up? My gut feeling is that the question is about to become
>irrelevant, as the poor do in fact rise up.
>
>comradely
>
>Garfy
>

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Re: [Marxism] On matters political

[Doug via Marxism]

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A 'win' against capital means the coming to state power of a party
committed to destroying capitalism: nationalising all industry and
instituting a planned economy, smashing the capitalist state, and, if
history serves as a guide, setting up a one-party state -- although it's
best not to talk about that part at first.

Now is this very likely?

On 2 July 2017 at 01:55, Gary MacLennan via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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> *
>
> My fixation on British politics continues though I do of course not neglect
> keeping an eye on things elsewhere, especially Australia.  However,
> politics here seem to be stuck in the usual go slow.  We have a
> conservative government which is slowly disengaging itself from
> neoliberalism in rhetoric but of course does not have an alternative
> program. Tories can administer a Keynesian settlement but they will never
> initiate one.
>
> So the hegemony of neoliberalism has been threatened but there is no clear
> alternative paradigm being put in place. The onward march of Corbyn has yet
> to really impinge on public consciousness.  Within the Green, though, the
> left wing senator Lee Rhiannon has raised the success of Corbyn in pushing
> explicitly socialist politics.  Were Corbyn to make a serious break through
> soon, then that would call forth some kind of leftism here.
>
> But Corbyn himself still has to manage the contradictions within the
> Parliamentary Labor Party (PLP). It is still a hostile force as the recent
> split over Europe shows.
>
> My own reading of this is that the Blairites in the PLP have grown alarmed
> at the strength of Corbynism.  Corbyn's speech at Glastonbury marked I
> think a deep change in how he is perceived in the popular culture. From
> that alarm came a preemptive strike led by Chuka Umunna a right winger. The
> challenge has been seen as premature by some, but I think that is to fail
> to understand that the Blairites are in a panic.  They think, I believe,
> that they must act now before the Corbyn phenomenon is unstoppable.  Hence
> Umunna's decision to defy his party and put up an amendment around access
> to the single market in the Brexit negotiations.
>
> I do not think the maneuver will succeed. Corbyn's popularity will continue
> to grow and he will form the next government. But it will be a crisis
> government and his own party will betray him over some crisis or other.
>
> How it will all play out is of course unclear.  I just feel that the
> current youth have not experienced a decisive political defeat and they are
> gearing up to have a go. There will be a trial of strength between capital
> and the rest of us. Of that I am certain. Moreover I remain reasonably
> confident that we mi ght even win.
>
> comradely
>
> Gary
>
>  utm_source=link_campaign=sig-email_content=webmail>
> Virus-free.
> www.avg.com
>  utm_source=link_campaign=sig-email_content=webmail>
> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
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[Marxism] How Iran Recruited Afghan Refugees to Fight Assad’s War

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times Op-Ed, July 2 2017
How Iran Recruited Afghan Refugees to Fight Assad’s War
By ALI M. LATIFI

BAMIAN, Afghanistan — War and poverty have scattered Afghans across the 
globe like pieces of shrapnel. Millions of Afghans came of age in 
refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran or as workers in the Persian Gulf 
nations. The migration continues. The past few years have added a new 
lethal geography to the Afghan diaspora: the battlefields of President 
Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.


Two years ago, Abdol Amin, 19, left his home in the Foladi Valley in 
Bamian, one of Afghanistan’s poorest provinces, to find work in Iran. 
Two million undocumented Afghans and a million Afghans with refugee 
status already lived in Iran. His sister and brother-in-law lived in 
Isfahan. He hoped to improve on his life of subsistence farming in 
impoverished Bamian.


Two-thirds of the population in Bamian Province lives on less than $25 a 
month. The intense poverty and the absence of opportunity forces 
thousands of young Afghans from Bamian to travel illegally to Iran in 
search of work. Many, like Mr. Amin, end up fighting other’s people’s wars.


Mr. Amin managed to earn a meager wage, about $200 a month, as a 
bricklayer in Isfahan. Last year, he used his modest savings and went to 
Iraq with a group of fellow Afghan refugees for a pilgrimage to Karbala, 
the city where Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was killed 
in A.D. 680.


Elated after his pilgrimage, Mr. Amin returned to Iran but couldn’t find 
any work for three months. As often happens with Afghan refugees in 
Iran, Mr. Amin was humiliated and discriminated against. He lived with 
the constant fear of being deported. “Iran isn’t our country. It belongs 
to strangers,” Mr. Amin said. “Either you suffer and try to make some 
money or you die.”


Last winter Iranian authorities presented Mr. Amin with a proposition. 
He could gain legal status in Iran and be free of the fear of 
deportation. The Iranians offered him a 10-year residency permit and 
$800 a month if he would go to Syria to “fight to protect” the shrine of 
Sayyida Zainab, a granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.


Around 2013, when Mr. Assad’s military was losing ground to the rebels, 
Iran poured billions of dollars into Syria, brought in Hezbollah 
fighters and began raising Shiite militias from Iraq, Afghanistan, 
Pakistan and other places with significant Shiite populations. Iran does 
want to protect the major Shiite shrines in Damascus, Aleppo and Raqqa, 
but the use of foreign Shiite militias in the Syria war was simply 
another element in the larger battle for control and influence in the 
Middle East run by Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Iranian 
Revolutionary Guards Corps’ elite Quds Force.


The relationship between Iran and Syria goes back to the Syrian support 
for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. They also share an enmity toward 
Israel, and Syria is the essential axis of transit between Iran and 
Hezbollah in Lebanon. Most of the weapons in the Hezbollah inventory are 
sent by Iran through Syria. Mr. Assad’s control over Syria allows Tehran 
to resupply Hezbollah and work toward building a connection to the 
Mediterranean Sea.


A few months after Iran asked Hezbollah to join the fighting in Syria 
alongside Mr. Assad’s forces, it began raising other Shiite militias. 
The Fatemiyoun Division (formerly Brigade), a militia of Shiite Afghan 
refugees, was formed around early 2014 and trained by both the 
Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah veterans. Its strength has been 
estimated at 8,000 to and 14,000 men. The Iranian authorities maintain 
the fighters are volunteers.


The initial recruits to the Fatemiyoun Division were initially Shiite 
Hazara Afghans, who settled in Iran after the Soviet occupation, after 
the civil war in the early 1990s and the subsequent Taliban rule. Their 
recruitment had echoes of how Pakistan — the other major host of the 
Afghan refugee population — recruited the Sunni Pashtun Afghan refugees 
and their children to form the Taliban in the mid-1990s.


In the past few years, Iranians have expanded recruitment to 
undocumented Afghans, like Mr. Amin, recently arrived from Afghanistan 
in search of economic opportunity. Apart from the refugees’ economic 
anxiety and precarious legal status, the Iranians exploit the Shia faith 
of Afghan refugees to recruit them to fight for the Assad regime in Syria.


Iranian propaganda framed the Syrian war to these refugees as a Shiite 
struggle for the defense and protection of the faith and its holy sites. 
“The fighters have little or no knowledge of the political-security 
context into which 

[Marxism] [UCE] “This Tale Is About You!”: On Bini Adamczak’s “Communism for Kids” | Ross Wolfe | Los Angeles Review of Books

[Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo via Marxism]

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https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/this-tale-is-about-you-on-bini-adamczaks-communism-for-kids/





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[Marxism] New on Redline blog

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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We have had a very busy time on Redline in the past fortnight or so.  We've
endeavoured to get up a chunk of material on the Grenfell Tower fire in
London, for instance.

Here is a very powerful piece by one of the firefighters who fought the
inferno.  He deals with the experience of the fire, the deaths, and also
some reflections on firefighter pay and conditions: https://rdln.
wordpress.com/2017/06/23/grenfell-tower-the-voice-of-a-firefighter/

Here is Paul Embery, the firefighters' union's London organiser, warning of
the dangers as a result of the closure of fire stations in London:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/firefighter-organiser-2014-warning-re-
closures-of-london-fire-stations/

Here is an interview we did last year with Paul about issues facing
firefighters (and much more): https://rdln.wordpress.
com/2016/07/15/interview-british-firefighter-organiser-
paul-embery-on-firefighters-issues-the-state-of-the-
british-working-class-and-the-brexit-vote/

An interesting short piece by an ex-firefighter in Britain:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/ex-firefighter-on-
the-grenfell-tragedy/

And, of course, the tenants had been predicting the fire for some time:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/grenfell-fire-tenants-predicted-the-
disaster/


*An important victory in Ireland*

Several years ago, at a protest against the vicious austerity programme of
the coalition Fine Gael/Labour government, a number of protesters sat down
around the car of deputy prime minister Joan Burton, who was also the
minister of social welfare, and one of the most anti-working class
politicians in the government.  She and her party (Labour) connived with
the police to get very serious charges of false imprisonment brought
against a number of the local working class activists.  They have now been
found not guilty in a unanimous jury verdict.  Moreover, the state and the
cops tried to prevent pickets outside the court and ban defendants from
speaking publicly against the case.  This was a very serious test case for
free speech, the right to organise and protest, and it has been won:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/jobstown-not-guilty-working-class-
activists-beat-labour-state-assault-on-right-to-protest-in-ireland/

Here is a short video with a statement by the Jobstown Accused as they
walked free from the court: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/jobstown-
innocent-labour-guilty-statement-of-victorious-working-class-activists/

*An important victory in London*

Cleaners at the LSE in London, mainly migrant workers, have won an
important victory against casualisation:  https://rdln.wordpress.com/
2017/06/20/important-workers-victory-in-london-the-
cleaners-at-the-london-school-of-economics/

*Other features*

If North Korea didn't exist, the US imperialists would have to invent it:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/if-north-korea-didnt-exist-the-us-would-create-it/

We've put up a piece by a member of the Working Class History Association
in the States on the origins of the police force:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/27/the-police-were-
created-to-control-working-class-and-poor-people/

We've also been running a series of articles by an American reader about
his experience as an older worker in an increasingly casualised workforce
in 21st century America.  Here's pt 6: https://rdln.wordpress.com/
2017/06/30/our-brand-is-uselessness-part-6/

Irish comrades write about the discovery of substantial human remains at a
Catholic nun-run 'home' for mothers and babies:  https://rdln.wordpress.com/
2017/06/29/ireland-even-more-sins-by-the-catholic-church/

*Theory*

We're very aware that we exist in the West (the imperialist world) and
solidarity with the struggles of the oppressed peoples of the globe are
crucial - workers in the West need to see ourselves as part of a global
class, otherwise we're in danger of simply fighting for ourselves at the
expense of the working class in the rest of the world:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/07/02/the-relevance-
of-lenins-imperialism-and-the-split-in-socialism-today/

And we should look at Jeremy Corbyn's election campaign in this light.  JC
supports every repressive institution of the British imperialist state:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/british-election-results/

In solidarity,
Philip Ferguson
for the Redline blog collective
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[Marxism] 'Not One Day More': Large London march says no to austerity, privatisation

[Stuart Munckton via Marxism]

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Corbyn continued: "The Tories are in retreat, austerity is in retreat, the
economic arguments of austerity are in retreat. It's those of social
justice, of unity, of people coming together to oppose racism and all those
that would divide us, that are the ones that are moving forward. This is
the age of imagination, this is the age in which we will achieve that
decency and social justice that we all crave."

https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/not-one-day-more-large-london-march-says-no-austerity-privatisation


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[Marxism] An excellent new biography of Irish revolutionary Constance de Markievicz

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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https://theirishrevolution.wordpress.com/2017/07/02/lindie-naughtons-biography-of-markievicz/
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