Monday 18 October 2010

Israel/Palestine/Middle East Index

1. What If Iran Attacks Israel, turns the question posed by the AWL around to demonstrate why Marxists do not act as defencists in such conditions.

2. Israel And The USS Liberty, looks at the Channel 4 Programme about the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty, and how close the world came to nuclear war.

3. Israel, Iran And Reason, examines the reaction to the AWL's arguments for supporting a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran.

4. The Lessons Of Gaza, argues that the Two State Solution is a dangerous illusion.

5. Sarko In The Middle East, asks why it was Sarkhozy who was sent rather than more prominent EU leaders.

6. Don't Blame The Troops, argues that responsibility for war crimes should be laid at the door of Imperialism and Militarism.

7. The War In Gaza And Two States, argues that the Left's position is confused.

8. The BBC, Workers And Gaza, argues that we need international workers organisations similar to the International Brigade that can intervene to provide Humanitarian Aid, and Physical Support to workers and the oppressed as opposed to the organisations of the bourgeoisie, be they voluntary or state run.

9. Mullah Light gets Creamed, examines the start of opposition in Iran.

10. An Iranian Revolution?, argues that if the struggle in Iran was to progress it had to move from the streets to the factories.

11. Iran Splits In The Ruling Theocracy, examines further developments, and asks what role socialists in Venezuela could play.

12. Palestine And The Theory Of Non-Historic Peoples, argues that the Palestinians deserve our support, but not for the establishment of a separate state.

13. Egypt - What Is To Be Done, is a five part analysis of the nature of the revolution in Egypt, and how various Left theories relate to the events. It argues for the workers to focus on developing their own independent property, organisation, democracy and state organs, whilst supporting the struggle of the broader masses for bourgeois democratic freedoms.

14. Military Coup As Egyptian Workers Appear On The Stage warns against seeing the removal of Mubarak by the military as a success of the Revolution.

15. A Marshall Plan For MENA, looks at the plans of EU Imperialism to incorporate the economies of the Middle East and north Africa, as a wider periphery.

16. Popular Revolt And Civil War, distinguishes between the two, and suggests that the dependence of the rebels in Libya upon the massive firepower of Imperialism, as compared with the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, suggest it falls into the category of the latter more than the former.

17. What Air Strikes? presents a video by RT, which challenges NATO's claims about Gaddafi's air force launching air strikes on Benghazi. Given the reliance upon sections of the Liberal Left on the argument that Gaddafi was about to commit massacres in Benghazi, this is important. Subsequently, Channel 4 News reported that Amnesty International and otehr International agencies had reported that there was no evidcence to support the claims of the Imperialists that were used to justify their intervention.

19. Loose Talk, challenges the failure of many on the Left to conduct any kind of class analysis of events in Libya, and the uncritical nature of the support given to the rebels. It was yet another example of the Left simnply taking the attitude "My Enemy's Enemy Is My Friend". Previous examples of that, such as Iran after 1979, show that the working class deserve better from Marxist analysis, and from Marxists.

20. Imperialists Call For More Death And Destruction In Libya, examines what the plans of Imperialism are in Libya, and discusses what the strategy of Marxists should be.

21. From The Hope Of Spring To The Danger Of Conflagration looks at the stalling of the revolts across the Middle East, the hypocritical position of Imperialism, and the danger that underlying tensions, and global and regional power struggles could result in a militarism and conflict that escalates via its own dynamic.

22. Victory To Libya, Down With Gaddafi, sets out the Marxist position in relation to conflicts such as that in Libya. It consists of a revolutionary opposition to Imperialism, and those forces in alliance with it, whilst also insisting on the continued revolutionary opposition to Gaddafi's regime. The Libyan workers, like workers everywhere can only rely upon their own forces,and those of the international Labour Movement. A Marxist position requires tactical flexibility in relating to the various forces, whilst insisting on the primary role of an independent Third Camp of the working-class.

23. Defend Libyan Workers, examines the possibilities existing in Libya after the fall of Gaddafi. It cautions that the material conditions in Libya, limit the possibilities, and especially for Libyan workers.

24. Imperialism Exposed Again looks at the lies and duplicity of Imperialism in relation to Libya. It also exposes the danger that some of the Liberal Left have wandered into, by their choosing of sides in Civil Wars, on the basis of some form of "lesser-evilism".

25. The Degeneration OF Theory, examines the arguments put forward by the AWL in relation to Libya, and discusses how far they are from the principles of Marxism.

26. Where Now For Libya?, asks what the future for Libya now holds, given the reality of the material conditions existing within the society, and concludes that some form of Bonapartist regime is far more likely than a stable bourgeois democracy.

27. The Egyptian Revolution locates the unfolding revolution in Egypt in its wider context.

28. Yes, Protest The Russian Embassy argues that socialists should oppose all intervention in Syria, and build international working-class solutions instead.