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	<title>World Socialist Party (US) &#187; Mid-East</title>
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		<title>World Socialist Party (US)</title>
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	<itunes:author>World Socialist Party (US)</itunes:author>
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		<itunes:name>World Socialist Party (US)</itunes:name>
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		<title>Lessons of Recent Events in North Africa</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2011/03/lessons-of-recent-events-in-north-africa/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2011/03/lessons-of-recent-events-in-north-africa/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:07:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ALB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=2229</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Revolution is in the air, or at least the word is. The media talked of a “Tunisian Revolution” in January and of an “Egyptian Revolution” in February. In a weak, narrow sense of the word this could be said to be true. In both countries a long-established dictator was overthrown as a first step towards establishing political democracy, the only kind of democracy that capitalism can offer. Already some changes have been made, even though many of the personnel of the old regime are still in place. There is less arbitrary police repression. There is freedom of speech and to organise into trade unions independent of employers and the government. If this is consolidated it will represent an advantage from a working-class and socialist viewpoint. Workers will have more elbow-room to fight the class struggle and it will be much easier for socialists to express their views. But it is still only a political change, at most a political revolution, that leaves unchanged the capitalist basis of society. Any more representative government that emerges will be no more able to make capitalism work in the interests of all than can the elected governments of countries where political democracy has long [...]


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		<title>Libya: brutality and hypocrisy</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2011/03/libya-brutality-and-hypocrisy/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2011/03/libya-brutality-and-hypocrisy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:07:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=2227</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When the popular movements against long-standing despots in the Arab world spread from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya the Western powers thought that something they had long wanted – regime-change in Libya – was about to be handed them on a plate. But they didn’t have the same control over Gaddafi as they did over Moubarak and Ben Ali and so could not arrange for him to bow out. His own man, and true to form, Gaddafi chose to try to brutally repress the movement. With the support of mercenaries and some sections of the population armed with superior military power, it was looking as if he might succeed. Faced with this prospect, the Western capitalist powers have decided to play the military card too and have launched a series of bombing and missile raids against the armed forces loyal to Gaddafi. Since, under the UN charter, wars not authorised by the UN are “illegal”, they have had to present their action as being to protect the civilian population against the very real exactions of the Gaddafi regime. Even so, when claiming that the military intervention is motivated by humanitarian concerns, British Prime Minister Cameron has always added that it [...]


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		<title>Solidarity with Arab Workers</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2011/03/solidarity-with-arab-workers/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2011/03/solidarity-with-arab-workers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:49:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=2173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saudi Arabian troops sent to help put down the protests for democracy in Bahrain. While the UK government demands action against Gadhaffi , is there a similar call for a move to oppose this military intervention by Saudi Arabia? Will those governments who rightly condemn Gadaffi’s use of foreign mercenaries now condemn this use of foreign military power by oil sheiks to crush majority protestors in Bahrain? The opposition said : &#8220;We consider the arrival of any soldier, or military vehicle, into Bahraini territory&#8230; an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain.&#8221; It is alleged that the deafening silence from the West on this cross-border use of troops to crush democracy in the Gulf, is quid pro quo for the Arab League calling for Western intervention in Libya. do those political commentators who say it is our humanitarian duty to intervene and protect Libyan pro-democracy protestors from Gadhaffi, now demand similar action against the GCC, ( all the more easier accomplished since the American 5th Fleet is already established in Bahrain) Mass protests have not yet materialised in Saudi Arabia, it’s because the monarchy maintains a regime of terror, enforced with the [...]


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		<title>Tunisia – people power, but…</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2011/03/tunisia-%e2%80%93-people-power-but%e2%80%a6/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2011/03/tunisia-%e2%80%93-people-power-but%e2%80%a6/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:25:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=2115</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The lightning rapidity and relative ease with which Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was chased out of Tunisia in January, is a clear testimony not only of the power of the masses but also (though unknown to many) how vulnerable and cowardly many a dictator is. Hours before his ignominious flight, Ben Ali appeared on television visibly shaken and pleading with the people to give him time to address their problems. Too late; the masses were already up in arms. It is said that the capitalist system digs its own grave. But it does not do so willingly. It is an inevitable fate that it must fulfil; it developed the internet to enhance its insatiable crave for profits but, ironically, it is the same internet that the masses will use as a collective organiser to mobilise the exploited to bury the system. The present upheavals in the Arab countries are one such example. Elsewhere in the Arab lands, this defiant action of the Tunisians sent frosty shivers down the spines of the other dictators and, apprehensive of a possible domino effect, some of these rulers started making jittery reforms to avert a similar (and deserved) fall. In Tunisia, discontent with [...]


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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Egypt: The hard road to political democracy</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2011/02/egypt-the-hard-road-to-political-democracy/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2011/02/egypt-the-hard-road-to-political-democracy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:25:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stefan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=2113</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the time of going to press, the “revolution of anger” in Egypt seems to be entering a new phase. Tahrir Square has been reopened to traffic and commerce. Massive political demonstrations are over, at least for the time being, but strikes and protests by various groups of workers continue. The employees of the National Bank of Egypt have forced the resignation of its chairman, a Mubarak ally. Ambulance drivers, public transport workers, and even the police are demonstrating for better wages and conditions. Many Egyptians are dissatisfied with what has been achieved so far, and with good reason. Mubarak has gone. But what sort of democrat is the man who took over from him on 31 January – Omar Suleiman, assassin and torturer-in-chief of the dreaded Mukhabarat (General Intelligence Service)? The demand to suspend the emergency law that permits detention without charge has not been met, nor have political prisoners been released. The ruling military council has set no firm timetable for elections and transition to civilian rule. They have made plenty of promises, but who is naïve enough to trust them? To understand what is happening in Egypt, we must first understand the nature of the ruling regime. [...]


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		<title>Afghanistan – lying about dying</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2009/11/afghanistan-%e2%80%93-lying-about-dying/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2009/11/afghanistan-%e2%80%93-lying-about-dying/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:18:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=1073</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The pressure to misinterpret the deaths, as the bodies come back, as nobly purifying is a cynically orchestrated propaganda exercise intended to justify the war. Among the rituals so consoling to our Servants of the People in Westminster is the solemn roll call of the names of recently fatal casualties of the Afghanistan war proceeding to formulaic assurances of grief, of sympathy for family and friends and an assertion, defiant of a mass of disruptive facts, that from the dead will blossom a victory to bring a happier, freer Afghanistan and a safer Britain. All of this will happen, argue the MPs, through some process so far undefined. Meanwhile it is notable that the casualties&#8217; names are exclusively those of members of the British armed forces; the fighters on the other side and the hapless Afghan people who die terrified in their homes from the blast of the missiles do not get a mention. It is all very satisfactory for the Honourable Members on the green benches, dreaming of their expense claims while scheming of how most effectively to avoid any too probing questions from their constituents about the policy of satisfying the appetite of that voracious war. This is [...]


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		<item>
		<title>Oil or democracy, what do you think?</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2009/09/oil-or-democracy-what-do-you-think/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2009/09/oil-or-democracy-what-do-you-think/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:55:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wspus.org/?p=1061</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our rulers tell us they are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for democracy. Not true. I n June 2009 in Afghanistan a group of heavily armed (with US weaponry) and masked Afghan thugs forced their way into the office of a Provincial Prosecutor and demanded that a detained prisoner be handed over to them. The Prosecutor refused and as the thugs became more threatening he called for the police. When the Provincial Police Chief along with the head of CID and other police arrived there was an escalation in the confrontation that culminated in the deaths of the chief of police, the head of CID and a number of others. The assailants fled the building and “vanished”. Investigations led the police to a US Special Forces camp outside the town where US officers initially denied any knowledge of the incident or the perpetrators. Following several days of intense and very public pressure from the US installed puppet president, and former vice-president of Unocal (Union Oil Company), Hamid Kharzai, some 40 so-called “contractors” were eventually handed over to Afghani custody. (Kharzai, accused by the US of failing to run a tight enough ship, is not currently “flavour of the month”). The [...]


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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Peace in Palestine</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2009/01/peace-in-palestine/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2009/01/peace-in-palestine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:31:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>SPGB</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wspus.org/?p=888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Peace is always better than war. Because wars are never fought in the interests of ordinary people. And because in wars it is always ordinary people who suffer. So, irrespective of the issues involved or the terms agreed, Socialists can only welcome the ending of any war in any part of the world. Stop the killing is our permanent policy. In that artificial subdivision of the old Ottoman Empire known as Palestine, those who suffered from the irrational attempt to set up a Jewish State there have been both the original population &#8211; whether of Muslim, Christian or Jewish religious background &#8211; and those who were misled by the Zionists into emigrating there. Socialists and Zionists have been opponents since the beginning. Inevitably, as they represented two incompatible views as to the solution workers of Jewish background should seek to the problem of anti-semitism. The Socialist attitude was expressed early on by Karl Marx, himself of course of Jewish background even though brought up a Christian. In one of his first articles after becoming a Socialist Marx argued that Jewish people should seek emancipation, not as Jews, but as human beings. To do this they should abandon their religion &#8211; [...]


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		<item>
		<title>Are We All Hamas And Hezbollah?</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2008/04/are-we-all-hamas-and-hezbollah/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2008/04/are-we-all-hamas-and-hezbollah/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:33:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Friend of WSP</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Left]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wspus.org/?p=403</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A Critical Look at the Left&#8217;s Flirtation with Islamic Fundamentalism -from Communicating Vessels Magazine Issue 19 &#8220;I have striven not to laugh at human actions, nor to hate them, but to understand them.&#8221; Baruch Spinoza THE WORLD HAS undoubtedly changed since the late 1980s. No one can deny that when the Berlin wall crumbled and the bureaucratic socialism of the Soviet Union imploded, the Western world was in a state of jubilant euphoria. You could view images of excited people chipping away at the wall that separated East Germany from West Germany. But in the years following those moments of joy, the market would claim its triumph and sovereignty over social experiment and social transformation. The freedom of the individual was victorious over the Soviet cult of the collective. Each individual was supposed to fend for himself and not rely on an overarching state to take care of her needs. Expression, once the province of state-sponsored collective realism and agitprop, would now shift hands and be placed into the mitts of an elite concerned with form over meaning and content. Culture was to be a kind of consumption and a style you chose because of the freedom of the individual [...]


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		<item>
		<title>Class In Pakistan</title>
		<link>http://wspus.org/2008/04/class-in-pakistan/</link>
		<comments>http://wspus.org/2008/04/class-in-pakistan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:19:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>FN Brill</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mid-East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wspus.org/?p=385</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When socialists proclaim that we live in a class dominated society we are rebuked for not taking into account the dreadful poverty of some parts of Asia, but as recent reports indicate capitalism dominates Asia just as much as it does in Europe. &#8220;Gold-trimmed SUVs idle outside parliament. Among new female lawmakers, black Muslim veils are out and Gucci bags are in. Civilian rule has returned to Pakistan, and its politicians have come back with bling. Last month&#8217;s elections ushered into parliament a new crop of business leaders and wealthy elites opposed to U.S.-backed President Pervez Musharraf&#8217;s one-man rule. &#8230;Parliament&#8217;s parking lot was crowded Wednesday with new Mercedes and Toyota sports utility vehicles festooned with flashy tire rims and hood ornaments. &#8230;Economic hardships persist for most Pakistanis. Millions live in poverty despite the recent growth. The country has yet to fully overcome a severe shortage of wheat flour — a staple here — and fuel prices have spiked sharply in recent weeks.&#8221; (Yahoo News, 19 March) RD No related posts.


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