How the Abandonment of Democracy and Internationalism Has Decimated the Socialist Movement

by Rohini Hensman*

This paper looks not at workers’ struggles, which had their ups and downs over the last two hundred years, but specifically at the revolutionary socialist movement, which aims to eliminate capitalism. While there have been contributions to the vision of a classless, stateless society by utopian socialists and anarchists, the paper concentrates on Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and their legacy. It identifies three bifurcation points in this particular revolutionary socialist tradition where a substantial part of the movement abandoned democracy, internationalism, or both, and argues that this has had a disastrous effect on the movement and needs to be reversed.

The New Zionist Ideal: A Generation of Israelis Devoid of Shame Over the Gaza War

by Gideon Levy

Yair Weigler, an educator and CEO of an organization called "Teachers for Change," has just returned from a lengthy stint in the reserves.

"We saw action in various neighborhoods and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, as well as spending some time on its beaches, followed by action in Lebanon … we were settlers, Tel Avivians, people evacuated from the [Gaza Strip's] Katif Bloc in 2005; we were brothers in arms, people in education and in high-tech … one tank company," he said poetically, as if he were a young man returning from a post-army trip overseas, singing the praises of locations he had visited. Oh, Shujaiyeh, oh, what unity. What an army, what a people.

How Israel Won the West | The Big Picture

How Israel Won the West examines how Israel has come to occupy such a privileged and protected place in the Western world. It traces the journey of the Jewish people from biblical stories of origin through centuries of persecution and the advent of Zionism, all the way to the creation of Israel and its ensuing occupation of the Palestinian territory. Along the way, what is revealed is a process of transformation, of how Jews went from being despised by early Christians as "Christ killers" – seeding a vile anti-Judaism that would mutate into anti-Semitism – to being considered part of the white Western world, sharing a common Judeo-Christian heritage.

Pro-Trump “socialists” channel the history of “Third Period Communism”

By oaklandsocialist on October 16, 2024

“We have the power to take an historic stand and defeat this war mongering Senator Harris…. To win this election [the Democrats] need this city [Dearborn], they need this state [Michigan]. We need to deny them those votes….” (cheers and applause.) So spoke “socialist” leader Kshama Sawant in a speech on Oct. 6 for her fellow “left” Trump/Putin supporter Jill Stein. Sawant’s statement received general applause.

Hamas, “Al-Aqsa Flood”, the West and the Holocaust: A Conversation

by ACHCAR Gilbert, Megaphone (Beirut)

The rising wave of condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war and solidarity with the Palestinian people has occurred despite Al-Aqsa Flood rather than thanks to it.

Megaphone - 1. Al-Aqsa Flood brought “the question of Palestine” back to the centre of world’s attention and exposed the bias inherent in the official and institutional “Western” position, which not only supported Israel, but also sacrificed values, such as journalistic objectivity, freedom of opinion, and others, in order to protect the Israeli government’s narrative, even when the latter was crumbling. By “Western” position here, we do not mean all Western countries, nor do we mean that there is one position without internal objection or different iterations. Rather, we mean a position that defined itself as “Western” and justified its limitations in this light. How can media and cultural attitudes towards the current genocide be assessed and explained? Were there any shifts in these attitudes from last year until now?

Investigating war crimes in Gaza | Al Jazeera Investigations

3 oct. 2024

This feature length investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip through the medium of photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers themselves during the year long conflict. The I-Unit has built up a database of thousands of videos, photos and social media posts. Where possible it has identified the posters and those who appear. The material reveals a range of illegal activities, from wanton destruction and looting to the demolition of entire neighbourhoods and murder. The film also tells the story of the war through the eyes of Palestinian journalists, human rights workers and ordinary residents of the Gaza Strip. And it exposes the complicity of Western governments – in particular the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a base for British surveillance flights over Gaza. “The west cannot hide, they cannot claim ignorance. Nobody can say they didn’t know,” says Palestinian writer, Susan Abulhawa.This is “the first livestream genocide in history … If people are ignorant they are wilfully ignorant,” she says.

ETIENNE BALIBAR: The Genocide in Gaza and its Consequences for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

This text is Etienne Balibar’s memorandum for the conference that took place in Johannesburg during September 18th–20th of 2024, organized by the New South Institute as part of the series “African Global Dialogue” with the title “Narrative Conditions Towards Peace in the Middle East”.

Memorandum

In this memorandum, I express the positions that I intend to defend in our Dialogue in a very direct manner, which obviously should receive nuances. Hopefully the discussion will make room for that. 

 The fall of independent journalism in Russia Al Jazeera Witness Documentary

At a pivotal time in Russia’s history, a group of independent media outlets face growing pressure. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a series of media laws are introduced making independent journalism all but impossible. Journalists including 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov are forced to make difficult personal and political choices as they face threats of long prison sentences for their work. Should they stay or leave the country? Should they go to jail or save their team? Should they adapt to the new reality or stay true to their principles and close their media? Within weeks, some of Russia's most trusted and best-known independent news outlets will either shut down or go into exile. Of Caravan and the Dogs is a documentary film by Askold Kurov & Anonymous 1.

Grand entretien : Bompard - Besancenot

Παρακολουθείστε το βίντεο της συζήτησης (διάρκεια : σχεδόν μιάμιση ώρα) του συντονιστή του μεγαλύτερου κόμματος του Νέου Λαϊκού Μετώπου La France Insoumise (Η Ανυπότακτη Γαλλία) Manuel Bompard με τον καλεσμένο στο Θερινό Πανεπιστήμιο της LFI Olivier Besancenot του NPA (Νέο Αντικαπιταλιστικό Κόμμα). Άξια προσοχής είναι και τα 600 σχόλια που ακολουθούν…

Editorial Haaretz | Jewish Terror Has Exploded, and Nothing Is Standing in Its Way. It May Bring Israel Down

Sunday 25 August 2024, by Haaretz

The letter sent by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to the prime minister, cabinet members and the attorney general, in which he warns that Jewish terror is a danger to the state’s existence, constitutes a flashing warning light.

In any normal country, there would be no hesitation in doing the right thing. They would remove the radical right from the government and instruct security services to treat Jewish terror with the same gravity they do with Palestinian terror.

But as long as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remain in the government, it will be impossible to fight Jewish terror. As long as the former is in charge of the police and the latter is in charge of the occupied territories, Jewish terror will know that it has the backing of higher authorities.

In Gaza, Israel Lost What Remained of Its Humanity

 by LEVY GIDEON

The screams rose to the skies. His mother heard them. She’ll never forget them. A terrifying, well-trained dog tore into the flesh of her 25-year old son, who had Down syndrome. The dog ripped and tore and she could not save him. The soldiers drove the mother out of the house by force (an IDF spokesman, who has not lost his sense of humor even in wartime, said they “pleaded” with the family to leave), and she was forced to abandon her son to his screams.

Ο Olivier Besancenot για το Νέο Λαϊκό Μέτωπο

Ο Olivier Besancenot εξηγείται για το Νέο Λαϊκό Μέτωπο, τη δυναμική και τα όρια του απέναντι στη νεοφασιστική απειλή, στο νεοφιλελευθερισμό και στην νέα αριστερά που επιβάλλουν οι ανάγκες των "από κάτω" στην εποχή μας.

Besancenot: VICTOIRE DU FRONT POPULAIRE-MAINTENANT, S'ORGANISER - VIDEO

La victoire aux élections du Nouveau Front Populaire est une authentique victoire, rendue possible par la mobilisation de collectifs locaux extrêmement dynamiques. Mais cette victoire ne doit pas être éphémère. On a voté. On a gagné. Maintenant, il faut lutter et s'organiser.

¡No pasarán! Prise de parole d'Olivier Besancenot, Place de la République à Paris, le 30 juin 2024 - VIDEO

Ομιλία του Ολιβιέ Μπεζανσενό (ΝΡΑ) στη συγκέντρωση 15.000 οπαδών του Νέου Λαϊκού Μετώπου, το βράδυ της Κυριακής 30 ΙΟυνίου, αμέσως μετά την ανακοίνωση των αποτελεσμάτων του πρώτου γύρου των γαλλικών βουλευτικών εκλογών.

FRONT POPULAIRE :
APPEL D'OLIVIER BESANCENOT- VIDEO

 Olivier Besancenot appelle à rejoindre le Front Populaire dans les urnes et dans la rue pour empêcher l'arrivée au pouvoir de l'extrême droite. L'extrême droite ça ne s'essaye pas, l'extrême droite ça se combat.

“Avant la nuit”: plus qu’un polar, une descente à l’enfer des préparatifs du génocide rwandais

par Yorgos Mitralias

Le livre de Maria Malagardis « Avant la nuit »* est beaucoup plus qu’un polar ou un roman, beaucoup plus qu’un simple retour en arrière au génocide des Tutsis au Rwanda. Il est tout ça mais plus que ça parce qu’il marie le suspense du polar au travail d’historien, l’émotion à la réflexion. Et en plus, il tombe à point nommé pour éclairer le « phénomène » génocidaire en faisant imperceptiblement le pont avec ce qui est en train de se passer actuellement à Gaza, en direct sur nos écrans cette fois…

La réussite de l’entreprise de Mme Malagardis tient en grande partie à son originalité : centrer le récit non pas au massacre lui-même mais à sa préparation. Presque automatiquement, un tel choix élimine toutes les approches « métaphysiques » du génocide rwandais, celles qui attribuent d’habitude ce « désastre humanitaire » soit au sous-développement (moral?) de l’Afrique noire, soit aux éternels « instincts primitifs » des humains. En effet, s’il a eu préparation du génocide, alors il a nécessairement des... « préparateurs » en chair et en os, avec nom et adresse. Et aussi avec des motivations et des plans précis qu’il s’agit de chercher et de dévoiler aux yeux de tout le monde.

Israel is a rogue state. Who will stop them?

by Jewish Voice for Peace

The images from that night will never leave us. Human beings, including babies, were torn apart, asphyxiated, and burned alive, their plastic tents and makeshift wooden shelters set ablaze as Israeli missiles rained down on them. These are the actions of a rogue state and the direct result of decades of impunity for systematic abuses and countless war crimes. This genocide must end now — and the U.S. must impose an arms embargo on Israel.

War Culture Hates the Ethical Passion of the Young, In the Thrall of a Dominant Death Culture

by Norman Solomon

Persisting in his support for an unpopular war, the Democrat in the White House has helped spark a rebellion close to home. Young people — least inclined to deference, most inclined to moral outrage — are leading public opposition to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. The campus upheaval is a clash between accepting and resisting, while elites insist on doing maintenance work for the war machine.

I wrote the above words recently, but I could have written very similar ones in the spring of 1968. (In fact, I did.) Joe Biden hasn’t sent U.S. troops to kill in Gaza, as President Lyndon Johnson did in Vietnam, but the current president has done all he can to provide massive quantities of weapons and ammunition to Israel — literally making the carnage in Gaza possible.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement is Making History:
Thoughts from a 1968 Columbia University “Outside” Organizer

by Eric Mann

Today, on college campuses in the U.S., and around the world, there is a powerful student/faculty/staff/community movement supporting the self-determination of the people of Palestine. It is winning the battle of ideas by challenging the murderous state of Israel, long a proxy for U.S. and British imperialism as these anti-Semitic countries claim to “love the Jews—or in fact, those Jews who support settler colonialism and carry out their objectives.

The protests against the daily mass murder of Palestinian civilians, and freedom fighters, is challenging the entire ideological and institutional structure of U.S. imperialism. Like Israel, the system’s idealization of the “university” as a neutral site of intellectual discourse covers up the university as a defense contractor, police trainer, CIA and Defense Department strategist, agribusiness, and toxic polluter think tank, while it tries to recruit its students as the next generation of mass murderers—U.S. imperialism’s willing executioners.

Ukraine and the Contested Meaning of Nonalignment

Neutrality is not the answer. Internationalism is

By Rohini Hensman 

Almost everyone seems to agree that the war in Ukraine has pulled into focus the notion of non-alignment among states of the Global South.

Observers have drawn parallels with the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that formed in the wake of the 1955 Bandung Conference, seeking to organize postcolonial states into a movement for decolonization, nonaggression, and noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations. The first summit of the NAM was convened in Belgrade by Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sukarno of Indonesia, and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia in 1961. One of its core principles in the context of the Cold War was that members should refrain from allying with either of the superpowers, the United States and the USSR.