Check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btoEFWRq0q0

The WPC (World Peace Council) denounces strongly the plans of the USA, France, UK, Turkey, NATO
and their allies of Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to attack Syria on the
basis of the alleged use of weapons of mass destruction by the Syrian
government.

The global peace movement and the WPC have experienced these dirty tactics
several times before. The imperialists used the same false pretexts in
Yugoslavia in 1999, later in Afghanistan and Iraq, then in Libya in 2011.
The aims were always related to the goals to control spheres of influence
and resources, to violently change regimes and install willing and
“friendly” ones.

The WPC has many times expressed its principled positions on the right of
every people to determine freely and democratically its future and path of
development and this is more than valid also for the case of Syria that is
the target of local and foreign reactionary, fundamentalist forces, hand in
hand with mercenary groups from the entire region, sponsored, trained and
supported by NATO and its local allies in the Gulf and the Middle East.

The Imperialists were planning the escalation for a long time in Syria,
using Turkey as a springboard for the preparation and infiltration of armed
gangs while installing NATO Patriot Missiles near the Turkish-Syrian
borders.

The European Union played its part through political and economical
sanctions against Syria in full coordination with the USA and Israel, who
are cynically discussing the options to openly attack Syria and Iran in the
future.

The current pretext that Syria used chemical weapons is as false as similar
allegations in Iraq and Yugoslavia. The peace loving forces are used to the
mechanism of provocations, fabrications and lies. Aims of the imperialists
and their global media are the subjugation of the peoples in the region and
the implementation of their plans for the “New Middle East”, the
exploitation of the richest region in mineral resources. The growing
aggressiveness of the imperialists in the region goes hand in hand with the
attack against the peoples’ rights, their sovereign rights for
noninterference in their domestic affairs. All governments of NATO and EU
share responsibility at this moment in face of the planned crime against the
Syrian people.

The WPC condemns the plans to openly attack Syria and expresses its full
hearted solidarity with the people of Syria.

We call upon all members and friends of the WPC to be vigilant and organize
protests in all countries under the slogans: Hands off Syria- No to the
imperialist plans in the Middle East- Solidarity with the peoples of the
region

The Secretariat WPC– August 28, 2013

http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/attack-on-syria-may-cause-massive-damage-to-the-u-s/

Voice of Russia
August 29, 2013

Attack on Syria may cause massive damage to the US
John Robles

The United States of America and its leader Barrack Hussein Obama have spent billions of dollars in Syria, at a time when US taxpayers are suffering, attempting to bring about a change of regime. The money has been spent funding al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorists to destabilize the country, groups that they have parroted time and time again as being the number one enemies of the American people.

Their strategy was failing, like all of their strategies are bound to fail because they lack vision and true understanding of the world and its people. They created a red line, most likely launched a black operation to make that red line a reality and now with extreme desperate irrational urgency, they want to carry out their plan to attack Syria. That is their goal, they set it, and no matter what happens they will obtusely carry it out without regard for the consequences and without forward planning.

I would put forward that the goal of the United States is not to remove President Bashar Al-Assad, just as it is not to protect the Syrian people. As for Al-Assad he offered to step down multiple times in the past and if the true goal was simply removing him, they could have assassinated him years ago. Unless the CIA has grown completely incompetent that is.

As for the Syrian people, it is clear that all of the bloodshed and loss of life in the country has been caused because of, and almost exclusively by, the terrorist elements that the United States has been training, funding, arming and importing.

So if they do not want to remove Assad what do they want? Now this is part of the secret geopolitical agenda they seek for the Middle East. I would put forward that the real goal is to destabilize and destroy the country and the people and throw Syria into anarchy. This will create yet another weak and broken country from which they can steal resources and which they can manipulate as they wish. Look at the record: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and all of the other countries in the Middle East that they have destabilized and destroyed through other means.

A la Zbigniew Brzeznski and his plans to destabilize Russia into sixty-some-odd autonomous republics, the plans for the Middle East are almost identical, and the people of all of these countries just get in the way. Why else attack countries that pose no threat? Iraq never threatened America, nor did Afghanistan or Libya. Neither has Syria.

These states did possess independent foreign policies and that has been their only crime. Other than of course, in the case of Iraq and Libya, the fact that hours before the attacks on their countries, the leaders changed the trade in oil from the dollar to the euro. Something that would completely destroy the United States if all of the countries of the world followed suit. Hence they need to destabilize the economy of Europe and all of the instruments that have been implemented to carry that out. The US cannot allow the euro to grow as an alternative currency, because the US economy will be destroyed. The United States has technically long been economically bankrupt. As for moral, well that is also obvious.

It is interesting to note, from a militarily strategic viewpoint, that by intentionally telegraphing that they are planning to attack, and even setting the date, they are guaranteeing that President Al-Assad will be protected and they are contributing to the massive civilian losses that will occur.

There will be no chance of a “surgical strike” because all of the important targets will already be moved or protected. So in order to achieve whatever military objectives there are this will require even more fire power and more missiles, something which of course will be very profitable and beneficial for Raytheon and all of the other US war contractors. Telegraphing will also allow for Syria to set up defenses, if it has not already, to knock all of the US’s million dollar missiles out of the sky. Something it has every right to do.

The plan to strike Syria is not only one of cowardice and an admission of utter and complete failure by the United States on the diplomatic front but it is also illegal without a United Nations resolution and an imminent threat to America itself. It is obviously cowardly because launching missiles while fearfully hiding behind a shield where there is no threat to yourself is not something that an honorable soldier on a battlefield would do. It is the tactic of a coward.

This tactic however is necessary for Obama because when the massive loss of American lives begins, the American people will rise up and no longer support all of the callous unthinking military adventures. Hence what some view as the illogical funding of Al-Qaeda and terrorists to carry out the dirty work.

What will happen when these terrorist elements begin to realize that they have been merely disposable pawns for the US and that they have been killing their own brothers and mothers and sisters? Of course the US has not thought of that. The backlash when Al-Qaeda and all of the motley groups of terrorists realize they have been killing their brethren for the enemy will be monumental and Americans will finally see what real terrorism is all about, I believe that is a given. But that is okay for Washington too, they have all of the plans in place and this will allow the military industrial complex to expand and invade even more countries. What are a few American lives?

What about Israel? As I have said in the past, in reality the United States does not care about Israel. The maelstrom that will occur if the US strikes Syria will be monumental and right in the middle of it will be the Jewish state. Washington, thousands of miles away, behind a missile shield, with all of its leaders protected and hiding in bunkers, will be safe. Of course the US has convinced Israel that they are safe, but I beg to differ.

Let this be a warning then to reactionary proponents of an attack on Syria: the results will be monumental and may lead to the self-destruction of America both economically and politically. Why? For one it will further bankrupt an already decimated economy. Two, it will also polarize enemies and cause countries around the world to strike back, meaning the world community may in fact realize that it is time to reign in and end the continual invasions and aggressive wars being waged by the US.

This will be particularly true when it is revealed that the chemical attack in Syria was a black operation to give Obama his pretext to carry out another Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning-act-of-aggression. If the world wakes up that is.

This last point will no doubt fall on deaf ears, or in this case “on blind eyes”, but in reality the US is missing a very important opportunity in Syria, and that is a chance to rebuild its reputation and become a respected intelligent and grown up member and leader of the world community by simply promoting a peaceful resolution. The world is truly tired of US bombs and bellicose rhetoric and the actions of an arrogant one-world-power wantonly bashing and bullying its way across the globe.

My thoughts are with the Syrian people and my hope is that someone, somewhere, with the power to stop this madness will listen. How about it President of the United States of America Barrack Hussein Obama? Maybe it is time to use diplomacy and work for peace and to finally put the weapons down? You have a Nobel Peace Prize after all. Or does that mean nothing?

August 29, 2013 Leave a reply

Ante la inminente agresión extranjera contra Siria, levantemos nuestras voces
frente a la barbarie

La Red de intelectuales, artistas y luchadores sociales “En defensa de la
humanidad”, convoca a todos los hombres y mujeres honestos de este planeta a
condenar la inminente agresión contra Siria. Nos dirigimos en especial a
aquellos que no aceptan un mundo donde impera la ley del más fuerte, donde ha
caducado el derecho de no intervención en los asuntos internos de las naciones,
donde la muerte masiva de inocentes se ha convertido en un espectáculo
televisivo, donde la maquinaria mediática hegemónica fabrica pretextos, sin
prueba real alguna, para justificar la guerra.

Ya en junio del pasado año circulamos a través de la Red un lúcido mensaje de
nuestra compañera Stella Calloni “para impedir otro genocidio bajo argumentos
falsos, que la humanidad no debe aceptar más”. Desde entonces, Stella denunciaba
las amenazas de una intervención de los Estados Unidos en Siria, el verdadero
carácter de la “oposición” mercenaria y “la mayor campaña de desinformación de
los últimos tiempos”, con “laboratorios que han trucado fotografías y filmado
videos falsos que envían al exterior”.

Ahora, ante nuestros ojos, los analistas occidentales evalúan las distintas
opciones militares que tendrían los agresores, sin que importe en lo más mínimo
esclarecer la verdad acerca del uso de armas químicas. Se discute, sin pudor
alguno, qué tipo de armas usar, desde qué bases pudieran lanzarse los misiles y
contra qué objetivos. Nadie habla de la tragedia humana que va a sufrir ese
pueblo. El problema para ellos es técnico y no ético.

Levantemos nuestras voces ante este nuevo capítulo de la barbarie imperial.
Utilicemos todas las vías a nuestro alcance para denunciar la agresión y las
mentiras que la acompañan. Unamos nuestras fuerzas para rechazar y condenar de
manera irrestricta toda acción de fuerza contra el pueblo sirio y contra su
derecho a vivir soberana, dignamente y en paz.

Red de redes “En Defensa de la Humanidad”
Caracas, 28 de agosto de 2013

Para adherirse, llene el siguiente formulario y escriba a

frentealagresionasiria@gmail.com

Nombre y Apellidos
País
Correo electrónico
Profesión/Ocupación

o visite
http://cubaendefensadelahumanidad.blogspot.com/2013/08/ante-la-inminente-
agresion-extranjera.html

Le invitamos a leer el Dossier
http://frentealagresionasiria.blogspot.com/p/la-mentira-tarifada.html

Google translation of this message:1 Original message from

With the imminent foreign aggression against Syria , raise our voices

against barbarism

The network of intellectuals , artists and social activists ? Defending the

humanity? ? , calls all honest men and women of this planet

condemn the impending attack on Syria. We address in particular

those who do not accept a world where the law of the strongest, which has

longer the right of non-intervention in the internal affairs of nations,

where the mass killing of innocent people has become a spectacle

television , where the hegemonic media machine manufactured pretexts , without

any real evidence to justify the war.

As early as June last year circulated through a lucid message Network

our companion Stella Calloni ? ? to prevent another genocide on arguments

false , that mankind must accept more ? ? . Since then , Stella denounced

threat of U.S. intervention in Syria , the real

character ? opposition? ? mercenary ? most disinformation campaign

recent times ? with ? ? laboratories have souped photographs and filmed

fake videos sent abroad? ? .

Now , before our eyes, Western analysts evaluate different

military options would aggressors , no matter in the least

clarify the truth about the use of chemical weapons. Is discussed without shame

any , what kind of weapons use, from what basis could launch missiles and

against which targets . Nobody talks about the human tragedy that will suffer the

people. The problem for them is technical and unethical.

Raise our voices against this new chapter of imperial barbarism .

Let’s use every avenue available to us to report the assault and

lies that accompany it. Let us join forces to reject and condemn

unconditionally all use of force against the Syrian people and against his

sovereign right to live with dignity, in peace .

Network of networks “In Defense of Humanity ”

Caracas, August 28, 2013

To join , fill out the form below and enter to

frentealagresionasiria@gmail.com

Name and Surname

country

e-mail

Profession / Occupation

or visit

http://cubaendefensadelahumanidad.blogspot.com/2013/08/ante-la-inminente-

aggression – extranjera.html

WFTU in solidarity with the Syrian people declares: No to the imperialist “democracy”!

The World Federation of Trade Unions categorically denounces the intensified imperialist aggressiveness against Syria and calls for the immediate termination of any attack and military intervention being pursued against the country and the Syrian people.

In conditions of strong inter-imperialist competition and in conditions of deep and prolonged international capitalist crisis where the rivalries over the wealth-producing resources and the geostrategic crossroads are increasing, the conflict in the Middle East and the Mediterranean reaches new extremes.

The manufactured etiology for the “use of chemical weapons” that is being attributed to the Syrian Army is an obvious provocative slander aiming to provide an opportunity for the military intervention expected and prepared for years by the USA and the other forces.

The global Mass Media, owned by Multinational Groups, are fully coordinated with the imperialist agenda and are enriching the campaign of misinformation, building the people’s inertia or endorsement for yet another slaughter.

The forces within the country, which are morally and practically supported by the USA, Britain, France as well as Turkey, Israel and the Emirs and Kings of Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc., have nothing to do with the interests of the Syrian people, neither with the “peace” nor with the “democracy” that they are supposedly espousing.

The “democracy” applied in Afganistan, in Iraq, in Libya, in Mali: we do not need it, we do not want it! No more blood for the interests of the multinationals.

We call upon all the trade union organizations, members and friends of the WFTU, as well as all the peace-loving people and mass organizations internationally to protest their condemnation against the imperialist policy and the solidarity with the people of Syria.
The Syrian people without foreign intervention are the only one who can and must decide upon their present and future.

THE SECRETARIAT

Mary Shesgreen, a member of the steering committee of Northern Illinois
Jobs with Justice, reports that her organization has made a “wholehearted
endorsement” of HR 676, Rep. John Conyers’ national single payer health
care legislation. Shesgreen said that most of the members of the steering
committee have long supported HR 676.

“A single payer program as provided by HR 676 is the only affordable
option for universal, comprehensive coverage,” states the resolution
passed.

Hale Landes, a member of IBEW Local Union 134 in Chicago who is also on
the Jobs with Justice steering committee, said that the resolution for HR
676 was unanimously adopted at a retreat on June 27. Landes is also on
the Labor Outreach Committee of the Illinois Campaign for Single Payer.

“We support single payer for all because it is the right thing to do. We
at Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice believe that healthcare is a human
right,” said a release on behalf of the organization.

Northern Illinois JwJ is the 606th labor organization to endorse HR 676.

In other news, on July 30, 2013, three additional congresspersons signed
on to HR 676, bringing the total of co-sponsors in the House to 48. The
news ones are Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY- 12), Robert A. Brady (PA-1),
and Jose E. Serrano (NY-15).

Your can check the list of HR 676 cosponsors here:
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/ Click on 113th Congress in the left
column.
——————————————————————————————————
HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a
greatly improved Medicare to everyone residing in the U. S.

HR 676 would cover every person for all necessary medical care including
prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and
preventive care, emergency services, dental (including oral surgery,
periodontics, endodontics), mental health, home health, physical therapy,
rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care and
correction, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable
medical equipment, palliative care, podiatric care, and long term care.

HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save hundreds of
billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the
private health insurance industry and HMOs.

In the current Congress, HR 676 has 48 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers.

HR 676 has been endorsed by 606 union organizations including 146 Central
Labor Councils/Area Labor Federations and 43 state AFL-CIO’s (KY, PA, CT,
OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX,
IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI, MT, NE, NJ, NY, NV,
MA, RI, NH, & ID).

For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample
endorsement resolution, contact:

Kay Tillow
All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551

Email: nursenpo@aol.com
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org
8/22/13

by Zoltan Zigedy is available at:
http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

In January of 2012, I reviewed Eric Walberg’s book, Post-Modern Imperialism (Clarity Press, 2011). I enthusiastically concluded that:

Walberg has offered a welcome taxonomy of imperialism from its nineteenth-century genesis until today; he has given a plausible explanation of imperialism’s contours since the exit of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialism from the world stage; and he has convincingly described Israel’s unique role in the continuing reshaping of imperialism’s grasp for world domination.

Further, Walberg gave a needed response to misguided leftists who were quick to label Islamic resistance to US and Israeli predation as “Islamo-fascist.” Much of the US and European left took a smug, chauvinistic posture–a posture that coincided with the interests of imperialism– toward fighters in the Muslim world daring to defy Western intervention and interference. They ignorantly announced that religious “fundamentalism” fatally tainted their resistance. Walberg struck a powerful blow against these immature conclusions.

Now Walberg has undertaken a more ambitious project in his new book, From Postmodernism to Postsecularism: Re-emerging Islamic Civilization (Clarity Press, 2013). His argument can be summarized– without too much violence to its nuances– as:

1. The last great secular social justice project– socialism– has failed with the demise of the Soviet Union.

2. Islam and its attendant political-social-economic doctrines are viable alternative routes to social justice.

3. Islam is the only alternative that can deliver social justice. Therefore, Islam is the universal way to social justice.

Of course Walberg goes to great lengths to shore this argument with a detailed, fascinating history of Islam and its currents that, alone, is worth the price of admission. He explores the relative shortcomings of other religions, a brief that is factually accurate, but, like the account of Islam, tellingly selective.

Hints of this thesis were embedded in the earlier book, Post-Modern Imperialism. I noted in my review:

In the same vein, it is an exaggeration to portray Islam (or any other religion) as inherently anti-imperialist: in his words, “The unyielding anti-imperialist nature of Islam, its rejection of the fundamental principles of capitalism concerning money, its refusal to be sidelined from economic and hence political life…”

Unfortunately, Islam has the same tortured relationship with imperialism as have all the major religions. Precisely because they possess no robust doctrinal opposition to imperialism in general, all major religions have stood on both sides of the barricades.

The Islamist movement, Hamas, for example, stands as an important component of today’s anti-imperialist front.

But it was not always this way. US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, speaking in Jerusalem on December 20, 2001, affirmed that the rise of Hamas coincided with “the promotion of the Islamic movement as a counter to the Palestinian nationalist movement… with the tacit support of Israel” as reported by Dean Andromidas in Global Outlook (Summer 2002). Andromidas quoted Kurtzer: “Israel perceived it as better to have people turn towards religion than toward a nationalistic cause [like the PLO].” PLO leader Yasser Arafat is quoted from the Italian press:

But Hamas is a creature of Israel which gave Hamas money, and more than 700 institutions, among them schools, universities and mosques. Even Rabin ended up admitting it, when I charged him with it, in the presence of Mubarek.

And

Hamas was constituted with the support of Israel. The aim was to create an organization antagonistic to the PLO. They received financing and training from Israel. They have continued to benefit from permits and authorizations.

In the same issue of Global Outlook, author Hassane Zerrouky (Hamas is a Creature of Mossad) outlines how “Hamas was allowed to reinforce its presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, Arafat’s Fatah movement for National Liberation as well as the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal repression and intimidation.” (reprinted in Global Outlook from L’Humanité).

Thus, while honest revolutionaries must recognize Hamas’s role in defending Palestinians from imperialism today, honesty equally demands acknowledgment of its sordid role in collaborating with Israel in the destruction of secular nationalism and the Palestinian left. It’s difficult to find an “unyielding anti-imperialist nature” in this treachery.

Egyptian Communists acknowledge this vulnerability to imperialist manipulation in the August 3 statement of their Central Committee:

One of the objectives of the projects of imperialism in the Middle East is the establishment of states on religious grounds, which serves mainly Zionist plan to declare Israel a Jewish state for all Jews in the world, as well as the important results of pushing these religious countries to inevitably get caught up in sectarian conflict. And it necessarily creates strategic divisions and fragmentations of the Arab countries and brings the conflict between Sunni – Shiite, Muslim – Christian, Muslim – Jewish to replace the Arab-Israeli national liberation conflict, to replace the social class struggle among the peoples of the Arab countries, and to replace the struggle against authoritarian regimes allied with the imperialist global and international monopolies.

Most Arab socialists and Communists have sought unity with organized Islamic anti-imperialist organizations, sometimes successfully, as with Hizbullah and Lebanese Communists. But on other occasions that trust has been brutally betrayed, as with the slaughter of the Tudeh (Communists) in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For Marxists, the major religions are a sometime ally in the struggle against imperialism.

Insofar as they welcome cooperation and reject collaboration with the class enemy, Islam and the other major religions will find consistent friends in Marxist-Leninists. Thus, we welcome and support the current shift in the leadership of the Catholic Church toward the cause of the poor and against the ravages of capitalism, just as we regretted the alienation of past Popes from the fate of the Catholic masses.

Contrary to Walberg’s premise number two– the centerpiece of the above argument– Islam and the other major religions fall far short of offering an adequate ethics of social justice for today’s world. The Quran, like the doctrines of the Catholic Church, forbids usury, the collecting of interest on debt. Absent usury, Walberg believes that a comprehensive practice of charity will provide Islam with a complete program of social justice for today and tomorrow.

Aside from the fact that religious practitioners and their leaders conveniently find ways to sidestep or obscure the prohibition of the collecting of interest, “usury” fails to even remotely capture the prevalence and depth of modern-day labor exploitation. The Catholic Church’s condemnation of “excess” profits fails for the same reasons. To suggest that charity alone can solve the incredible poverty, unemployment, and economic inequality of, say, a country like Mali seems patently improbable. And the solution of charity seems dangerously close to the answer advocated by the apologists for unfettered capitalism.

Likewise, the Hebrew concept of “Jubilee,” as an admirable moral prescription of debt removal and property restoration and an answer to the inequities of antiquity, will not put a moral dent in contemporary capitalism. That said, the vital principles of economic justice found in the Torah, the Gospels, and the Quran suggest a posture toward the ravages of capitalism. A casual reader of the texts held sacred by the respective religions will find much encouragement for a condemnation of the process of capitalist accumulation. Should believers read those texts with earnestness, they would undoubtedly become Communists as well as believers!

My own– perhaps eccentric– view is that the major religions cannot escape the charge of hypocrisy unless they embrace socialism, the contemporary embodiment of the moral codes of their founders. Unfortunately, most religious leaders in our time choose to accommodate capitalism.

Walberg is not insensitive to the alternative vision of Marx and Communism. He devotes a full chapter to “Postsecularism: Marx and Muhammad,” going to great lengths to show that Islam answers the questions posed by Marxism while avoiding its “shortcomings.”

Destructive to his argument, he misunderstands the Marxist theory of value as follows:

Kapital’s weakness– the labor theory of value– is a materialist reductio ad absurdum, denying the ‘value’ of ‘unproductive’ labor (the elements brought to bear by the capitalist related to securing markets, research, innovations, factor management)…

This is fatally confused. Marx recognizes a value contribution in ALL necessary labor culminating in the production of a commodity, including the research, innovation, essential organizational management, etc. Further, he sees a necessary value deduction in the labor essential for a commodity’s circulation. What he does not recognize is any value created or socially necessary from the mere fact of ownership. And this contradiction between ownership and labor is precisely the element missing in all of the social doctrines of traditional religions including Islam.

Walberg’s confusion about Marx’s value theory leads him away from the resolution of the contradiction between value created by labor and the ownership of that value by the capitalist, a contradiction only resolved by class struggle.

This error dooms his well-meant, but naive synthesis of Islam and Marxism:

The ijtihad-jihad process is in a sense just a more comprehensive version of Marxist praxis [by] emphasizing:

●social unity rather than class struggle

●the family and spiritual life rather than material production

●evolution rather than revolution

While the sentiment is noble, it is irreconcilable with Marxism. Capitalism’s rapaciousness– acknowledged by Walberg– cannot be eliminated by a retreat to mere spirituality, an unconditional appeal to unity or a common destiny, or the virtue of patience. These are simple facts that religions cannot escape.

I would propose a counter synthesis:

●class struggle as the path to social unity

●the family and spiritual life AND material production

●revolution leading to the realization of these values

which could readily open the road to a Marxist-Islamic understanding and cooperation.

Walberg’s book is timely, coming in the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring.” One feels a veritable joy in his writings bursting from the optimism generated by the risings in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Unfortunately, that optimism proved short-lived.

The Islamic governments established in Tunisia and Egypt generated great social rifts culminating in overthrow in one and growing tensions in the other. Open opposition in Libya and Syria drew the intervention of outside forces that swiftly transformed the struggle into imperialist regime change, destabilization of the regions, and enormous human and infrastructure destruction. Grievances were quickly appropriated by US and NATO meddlers who seized an opportunity to shape the outcomes.

In a little over a year, the rise of Islamic civilization that Walberg foresaw was dashed on the rocks of divisiveness and foreign intervention, just as it has in other times and places.

For the Marxist left, the Arab Spring provoked reservations and guarded sympathy, even apart from nefarious outside interference. On one hand, the rising against entrenched, reactionary authority was a welcome expression of popular will. On the other hand, the risings appeared to be more rebellions than revolutions. That is, the goals of the insurgents were neither united nor well-formed.

As events unfolded, these fears were borne out. Rather than challenge the structures of privilege and exploitation, sides were drawn around different attitudes toward tradition and “modernity,” secularism and spiritualism. While real and not fanciful, these differences do not touch the deeper relations of oppression. As with modern-day Western liberals who are occupied with lifestyle decisions and personal choices, the battles contested in the Arab Spring guaranteed that the poverty and exploitation of the masses would remain untouched.

One hopes are for the revival of a vibrant Marxist-Leninist movement in these countries to nurture these developments from rebellion to revolution.

Zoltan Zigedy

zoltanzigedy@gmail.com