AA: Turkey continues to attack Kobani’s women-led reconstruction

AA discusses Turkey continues to attack Kobani’s women-led reconstruction.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Turkey “steals from (Turkey’s) women for more bombs against the women of Kobani,” [Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) Women’s Assemblies Speaker Halide Türkoğlu] said.

The new model implemented in Kobani has created a new joint resistance for those who “insist on living together”, Türkoğlu said. “Kobani is proof that an equal, just and common life is possible together with all its diversity.”

While the autonomous administration in northern Syria is led by a Kurdish majority, the project aims to give equal representation and voice to all ethnicity and faith groups living in the area, including Turkmens, Arabs, Armenians and Syriacs.

“No power, no tank, no weapon is strong enough to tear down this revolution that was built with such strife,” Türkoğlu said, calling on all women to come together against Turkey’s attacks in the region.

The new model implemented in Kobani has created a new joint resistance for those who “insist on living together”, Türkoğlu said.

…

Turkey’s most recent offensive against the region was launched after an attack against the central police headquarters in the capital Ankara. While the Turkish government maintains that the attackers received training in Kurdish-held Syrian territory, the Kurdish authorities have denied any involvement.

The Turkish attacks deliberately target civilian infrastructure and have damaged vital power and water stations serving the region, affecting some five million civilians.

Emphasis Mine

While we are distracted by the genocide in Gaza and the invasion of Ukraine, another genocide is being waged by Turkiye against Kurdistan. The language and culture of the Kurds is being suppressed by the Turks.

The example of Kobani is a threat against the Capitalism and its state actors. That an alternative exists is a grave threat to Capitalism.

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Histyar Qader: Iraqi Kurdish Leaders' No-Good very Bad Year

Histyar Qader writes about Iraqi Kurdish Leaders’ No-Good very Bad Year.

The end of the year brought strife to Iraqi Kurdistan, The northern region has to deal with a reduced area of influence, internal and external political problems, and a financial crisis.

This year brought major transformation to the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan and by the end of the year it had become clear that these changes were not necessarily going to be positive. The future is not looking so bright up north.

…

The federal government made it clear who was actually still in charge, closing Kurdish airspace and demanding that international border crossings be put back under federal control. It became very clear, very fast, that much of what many Kurdish voters had been taking for granted as their regional right, had always just been Baghdad doing them a favour — or perhaps being otherwise preoccupied, who knows.

…

Internal and inter-party conflicts continue and most recently, in late December, the major opposition parties in Iraqi Kurdistan withdrew from the regional parliament altogether.

Part of the reason for all the internal political tension, analysts say, is because of the loss of the region’s long-term political leadership, a leadership that, for all its faults, had maintained political checks and balances and some semblance of unity.

…

Iraqi Kurdish locals had been demonstrating corruption and the fact that many civil servants had not been paid for some months. The Kurdish government has major debts, has seen its revenue sources reduced significantly and owes back pay to hundreds of local workers.

The region that was once doing so well, and seemed so peaceful and prosperous, that it claimed the title “the new Dubai”, has fallen onto extremely hard times, both politically and economically.

Emphasis Mine

Kurdistan has always been an ideal, not a reality. Shared cultural identity is not enough to create a nation state. This has to be a degree of political unity.

In Kurdistan's case, the political unity was personal. As the personalities depart the scene, the political unity dissapates.

It would be difficult to build a shared political vision of Kurdistan based on four (4) separate independence struggles: against Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. The differences between those struggle are currently too great for a united front for the liberation of Kurdistan.

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Dilar Dirik: The revolutionary feminists fighting ISIS

Dilar Dirik writes about The revolutionary feminists fighting ISIS.

Rojava’s revolutionaries are trying to formulate an identity around principles rather than ethnicity. The presence of an autonomous women’s army, unapologetically committed to women’s struggles, in a sea of militarist, patriarchal violence, constitutes the most liberationist, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist element.

By organising in cooperatives, communes, assemblies and academies, women become the guarantors of freedom.

Male domination has not been overcome entirely, but women have established a political culture that no longer normalises patriarchy and unconditionally respects autonomous women’s decision-making mechanisms.

The YPJ underlines that the most direct way of defeating religious fascism, statism and other forms of authoritarianism is women’s liberation.

Emphasis Mine

Capitalism alienates us from our work and, by doing so, alienates from each other. That product was not made by a person but by a company.

This alienation is maintained through racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, nationalism, etc. I cease to be myself, but I became a white man of certain sexuality who is an Australian.

In order to build a better world, we have to take control of our identities. I need to reproduce myself every day as a worker who is working towards a Communist future. In doing so, I have to fight against the Capitalist molding of my soul.

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Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad

TeleSur reports that Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad.

Kurdish independence “is a reality that will come true,” said Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.

Kurdish parties will meet with the Iraqi government to discuss independence, reported Kurdish media on Saturday.

The delegation will include five Kurdish parties, who will meet with Turkmen, Chaldean and Assyrian delegates, reported Rudaw, which is funded by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP.

Emphasis Mine

Unfortunately, Kurdish independence is a major threat to Turkey who has been fighting and suppressing Kurds within its own borders for decades. Kurdish independence in Northern Iraq will probably be immediately followed by a Turkish invasion and occupation in order to deny the Kurdish resistance groups in Turkey a safe haven and a politcal base.

Also, Kurdish independence would likely devolve into a Kurdish civil war as various factions vie for hegemony. It is not that Kurdistan is a political goal among Kurds, it is just that Kurdistan exists as a vague, feel-good idea. It is not strong enough to overcome the antipathy between the Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian Kurds and their long history of fighting among themselves.

From Iraq's point of view, the loss of a major oil-producing region to an independent state would also interpose another state to control the water supply to Iraq. Already, Turkey is taking large amounts of water away from Iraq. Although, the unification of Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan would mean that there would be a possibly more friendly state controlling Iraqi water supply.

At this stage, I think Kurdistan as an idependent state is a remote dream. Kurdistan as a loose confederation of autonomous regions in Syria and Iraq is far more likely. This is a potential reward for the eventual defeat of Daesh.

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Chris Dillow: Why not full employment?

Chris Dillow asks Why not full employment?.

And, they say — channeling Kalecki:

Guaranteed employment does not conform to the dominant ideology of capitalist societies which is generally internalized by practically everyone in the society, including workers.

This ideology, they say, manifests itself in several ways hostile to full employment policies. For example, the unemployed are blamed for their plight; governments are deemed to incompetent to implement proper macro policies or a jobs guarantee; and there’s a fear that union militancy will price workers out of jobs. In this sense, the lack of demand for full employment policies is another manifestation of the political dominance of the 1%. As Steven Lukes wrote:

Is it not the supreme and most insidious use of power to prevent people, to whatever degree, from having grievances by shaping their perceptions, cognitions and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order of things, either because they can see or imagine no alternative to it, or because they see it as natural and unchangeable? (Power: a radical view)

All this raises a thought. Could it be that the main obstacle to full employment policies is not so much one of technical economics so much as ideology and politics?

Emphasis Mine

I agree that the consciousness of the working class is utterly dominated by the Capitalists. This has impeded the development of SYRIZA, the Occupy Movement, and unions as they try to reform the system. There comes a point when their demands threaten the system. At that point, most people want to preserve the system rather than overthrow because they reasonably see chaos in the collapse. They have no faith in any alternatives.

The examination and publicity of alternatives, such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Rojava (Kurdistan), are important. When people see alternatives existing and surviving against enormous odds, they can see options for themselves.

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Ruken Isik: Women struggle for a new society in Rojava

Ruken Isik writes about Women struggle for a new society in Rojava.

The idea of democratic autonomy is directly opposed to the ideology of the nation-state, which in the Middle East is tightly bound to ideas of cultural and ethnic homogeneity. The new system in Rojava is more of a multicultural, multilingual, and multireligious system that is designed to “allow the legal participation of individuals who will be able to mobilise and organise along the lines of ethnicity, religion, gender, class.”

It is a system of self-governance that rejects the model of centralised administration. This is also the model of self-rule advocated by the Kurdish movement across the border in Turkey. Women in Rojava believe that this system can and does enable them to organise, and to participate in all decision-making processes.

…

The West always presents itself as deeply invested in bringing change and democracy to the Middle East. Yet the Kurds, together with the other ethnic groups now administering themselves for a better future, have been historically and continue to be ignored by the international community, which has turned a blind eye to the Kurds in general and to Kurdish women in particular.

As they work to build a society grounded in a systemic commitment to gender equity, the women in Rojava want to be in dialogue with international women's organisations and share their experiences.

Emphasis Mine

It is in the obscure parts of the world that the real social revolution is occurring.

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Tom Anderson, Eliza Egret: Turkey wages war on its Kurdish population

Tom Anderson & Eliza Egret writes that Turkey wages war on its Kurdish population.

The state and the right-wing in Turkey are maintaining a deafening media silence about the police and military massacres in the south-east through intimidating anyone who dares report it.

Due to this intimidation, coupled with its own racism and bias, Turkey's mainstream media has distorted the killings in Kurdish cities, branding those killed as terrorists and blaming the violence on the PKK and not the state.

On February 7, Today's Zaman reported the impossible figure of 733 'PKK members' killed in Cizre and Sur, while not mentioning any killings of civilians. A columnist in Daily Sabah claimed that the PKK had opened fire on ambulances — in reality it is the police and army preventing medical care reaching wounded civilians.

Similarly, the international press has remained overwhelmingly silent over Turkey's massacres in Bakur. There are two main reasons for this.

First, the Turkish state has imprisoned and deported foreign correspondents reporting from Bakur over the past year, and the mainstream media is unwilling to trust Kurdish media sources, buying into the state's attempts to discredit them.

Second, Turkey is an important ally of NATO and the US, and it is not in the interest of US-aligned governments to criticise it. In London, there have been demonstrations at the BBC, with British-based Kurds and their allies protesting the corporation's silence on Turkey's massacre of its Kurdish population.

“There is a reality in Kurdistan that if you don't have a weapon or gun then you can't live, as you are surrounded by brutal forces who don't let you live in normal conditions,” Baran said. “So the Kurds think that armed struggle is very crucial for them. This armed struggle guarantees their lives. If these people didn't have any weapons then worse things could happen. Kurds know that the armed struggle is very important for their existence.”

Emphasis Mine

The Kurds have been screwed over by the British, French, Syrians, Turks, Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, USA, etc.

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GLW: Turkish government undertaking massacre in Kurdistan

Australian Kurdish Association writes that Turkish government undertaking massacre in Kurdistan.

As a result of the attacks of the Turkish state forces, a comprehensive war is ongoing in Kurdistan since July of this year. The people of Kurdistan, just like all the peoples of the world, want to live freely and govern themselves in their own country. The Turkish state is rejecting all demands for rights by the Kurdish people and is deploying violent suppression. This is the essence and cause of the problem.

In accordance with its own interests, the AKP government put the ongoing dialogue and negotiation process with the Kurdistan Freedom Movement on hold and initialised the war against the Kurds.

As a result, the Kurdistan Freedom Forces took up a position of self-defence. In many towns and cities, the people of Kurdistan have attempted to establish autonomous local administrations in order to govern themselves without rejecting the state. This action in the towns and cities was a completely civil and democratic affair.

However, in an atmosphere in which even the slightest opposition is not tolerated, the AKP government disregarded the rightful demands of the Kurdish people and opted to violently repress this democratic advance. They declared indefinite curfews, targeted civilians and residential areas, killed hundreds of civilians and [destroyed] towns and cities.

Emphasis Mine

As I wrote in Rojava fights off new Islamic State attack:

Once again, the Capitalists want the world to know that “There is No Alternative”. They are prepared to use their enemy, IS, in attempt to destroy what they see as a far-greater threat: that of an alternative, functioning society based on grass-roots democracy and socialist ideals.

And there is the historic problem of Turkish nationalism: what to do about the minorities like Armenians, Kurds, and Greeks? The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War meant that the Turkish population faced an identity crisis much like the English on the collapse of the British Empire, and the French on the loss of theirs.

When empire defines a nation, the loss of empires means loss of identity. In these cases, national identity became focussed on racial identity. And the loss of identity was explained by the weakening of the national character through the influx of the inferior races. Thus, xenophobia joined racism as the replacement for empire as the national identity.

Just like England and France, Turkey engages in military interventions in former imperial territories in order to defend its interests. Just like England in Northen Ireland, and France in the Basque country, Turkey suppresses minorities who agitate for legitimate rights under international law.

All of this is the natural consequence of a post-imperial Capitalist society. In Capitalism, a country is built around a nation—however that is defined. Threatened the purity of the nation, and the country is threatened. And a threatened country lashes out. A post-imperial country is still willing and able to use military might to lash out.

As long as Capitalism persists, this suppression of minority rights will continue. Capitalism has no other choice.

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Juan Cole: Why did Turkey dare shoot down a Russian Plane? The Proxy War in Syria

Juan Cole asks Why did Turkey dare shoot down a Russian Plane? The Proxy War in Syria.

We may conclude that Russia’s targeting of Turkmen, an ethnic group that speaks a language similar to that spoken in Turkey, raised nationalist hackles in Ankara. But in addition, these Syrian Turkmen are religious, just as is the leadership of the ruling AKP in Turkey. And, further, they are a linchpin for Turkish, American and Saudi intervention in Syria, since they appear to be among the arms smugglers getting munitions to the rebels against the al-Assad government. Although the CIA maintains that these weapons only go to some 45 “vetted” groups that are not extremists, they in fact get into the hands of al-Qaeda and its allies, grouped as the Army of Conquest, as well. Russia must defeat the Army of Conquest and protect the Alawites of Latakia if it is to achieve its war aims in Syria, and appears to have decided to begin by blocking Turkmen smuggling. The Turkmen had their revenge, claiming to have killed one or both of the pilots who ejected from the downed fighter jet and also taking down a Russian helicopter that attempted to rescue them. [Update: Russia later rescued both pilots, who are actually unharmed.]

Russia and Turkey are now fighting a proxy war in Syria, and have been all this fall. As of yesterday, they are not just using proxies, but are directly in conflict with one another.

Turkey and the Turkmen are carving out a sphere of influence in northern Syria and are insisting that Russia recognize it. How severe the conflict becomes depends in part on how Russia responds to this setback for its war aims. It also depends on whether Turkish goals are more ambitious, to help the al-Qaeda-led Army of Conquest take Latakia. If Jabal Turkmen is a red line for Turkey, Latakia port is a red line for Russia. Red lines have a way of turning into hot wars.

Emphasis Mine

Turkey was able to do this because it has the backing of the USA. Any retaliation by Russia means direct conflict with the USA. An indirect way would be for Russia to overtly support Kurdish rights in Turkey. And covertly support the Kurdish militias.

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The lies that keep the PKK on terror list

Dave Holmes debunks The lies that keep the PKK on terror list.

The Erdogan regime is waging a war on the Kurds. Cities, towns and villages in the Kurdish-majority southeast are under attack by the security forces. People have been killed in their homes and on the streets; thousands have been arrested. More than 100 areas have been declared “special security zones”. Recently, HDP offices across the country were attacked by rightist mobs.

Naturally the PKK is helping people resist these attacks. But despite everything, its response has been limited. PKK leaders have said its forces should attack only those police and army units that are involved in attacks on the people.

The war must be stopped and the settlement process restarted. This is what a big majority of the people of Turkey want. The war is the project of the Erdogan regime.

Australia should not be its accomplice. The government should pressure Turkey to stop the war and re­start genuine peace negotiations. Lifting the ban on the PKK would be an excellent start to such a campaign.

Emphasis Mine

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Did Turkish Pres. Erdogan Make a Historic mistake in dumping Peace Process with Kurds?

JULIE POUCHER HARBIN asks Did Turkish Pres. Erdogan Make a Historic mistake in dumping Peace Process with Kurds?.

Turkey has become increasingly concerned that gains made by Kurds in Iraq and in Syria could encourage its own Kurdish minority to seek independence. Kurdish rebels released a statement on July 25, 2015 following the airstrikes that the conditions for observing the truce had been “eliminated”. The PKK’s military wing, the HPG, denounced this “aggression of war” by Turkey and vowed “resistance”. It described the bombings in northern Iraq as the “most serious military and political error” by Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party.

Emphasis Mine

What is missed in this analysis is that the Kurds are exploring an alternative political and economic system to Capitalism. This makes them more dangerous than ISIS.

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Rojava fights off new Islamic State attack

Tony Iltis writes that Rojava fights off new Islamic State attack.

The Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria was attacked on June 25 by forces from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, which crossed from Turkey. This was the first significant IS attack on the town since a five-month siege was repulsed in January.

The attack appears to be a Turkish-backed response to recent military gains made by the Kurdish-led forces of the Women's Defence Units (YPJ) and People's Defence Units (YPG).

…

The Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Kurdish-led forces as “terrorists”. Pro-government Turkish media has spread false allegations accusing the YPG of ethnic cleansing, which have been repeated by pro-Turkish Syrian opposition groups and some Western media.

Erdogan opposes the Administration of Democratic Autonomy-aligned forces because of their ideological ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a liberation struggle in Turkish Kurdistan, and to the left-wing Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).

Emphasis Mine

Once again, the Capitalists want the world to know that “There is No Alternative”. They are prepared to use their enemy, IS, in attempt to destroy what they see as a far-greater threat: that of an alternative, functioning society based on grass-roots democracy and socialist ideals.

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Kurdistan: Political and cultural revolution unfolds in Rojava

Evangelos Aretaios writes about how the Political and cultural revolution unfolds in Rojava, Kurdistan.

The Rojava model is based on two main pillars which may prove very efficient in the strengthening of democracy in the region. The first pillar is direct democracy as the basis of a communalist system in which citizens participate actively in decision-making and the management of the polis, from the neighborhood to the municipality and as far as the government. The second pillar, equally revolutionary, is the denial of the nation state structure and philosophy as such. In Rojava, many different religious and ethnic groups—Christians, Yezidis, Arabs, Turkmens, Chechens, Armenians—live together with the large Kurdish majority. By officially and insistently denying the nation state and by trying to create administrative structures that incorporate these different elements, the Rojava model gives to minorities a participatory role unprecedented in the Middle East — a role as equals in the management of the polis.

Emphasis Mine

Nationalism was the driving force behind Capitialism. It gave an identity to people who had thrown off the paternal relationships of Fedualism. A person was no longer defined by whom they owed service to, but by the nation they belonged to.

The creation of a nation expands the consciounsess of its citizens beyond that of the village. But the nation creates a new boundary that now restricts the growth of consciousness of humanity. We cling onto our nationality as fiercely as we once did with our feudal identity.

We need to burst this prison of nationalism, and embrace the universal humanity.

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Syria: Why Rojava is different

Jemma Nott explains Why Rojava is different.

With the odds stacked against them, the YPG and YPJ have taken back 20 towns from the IS in the past year — which is a greater achievement than the Levant Front, Hazzm Movement and Al-Nusra put together. What sets Kobane apart from other fighting militias is that their fight is more ideological than it ever will be physical — a fight not just for the liberation of Kurdistan or Syria but a fight for human liberation.

Emphasis Mine

A superior politcal and economic system has a good chance of prevailing over an inferior one because the former is able to mobilise and deploy resources is a better and more focused manner.

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Kurdistan: Why Kobanî did not fal

Dilar Dirik explains Why Kobanî did not fall.

Rojava is an alternative for the region, torn by ethnic and religious hatred, unjust wars and economic exploitation. It does not aim to build a new state, but to create an alternative system to the global capitalist, male-dominated nation-state paradigm, by advocating regional autonomy through women’s liberation and in cooperation with all peoples of the region, termed as “Democratic Confederalism” by Öcalan.

The refusal to accept the parameters of the global system is what has mobilised the population in such a devastated region, in between war and embargo, and this is precisely the reason why Kobanî will never fall. In the midst of war, Rojava’s cantons have managed to establish an incredibly empowering women’s movement, a self-governance system that operates through local councils in a bottom-up grassroots fashion, and a society in which all ethnic and religious components of the region work hand in hand to create a brighter future.

This is in radical contrast to the monopolist “one religion, one language, one nation, one state, one flag” policies, the dictatorships, monarchies, sectarian tyrannies and patriarchal violence in the region. And the anticipation of such a free life is the main motor of the Kobanî resistance. The dominant system makes us believe that principles and ideals are dead, which is why a collective mobilisation and sacrificial resistance such as the one in Kobanî seems so unbelievable to most people. But the fact that the second-largest city of Iraq, Mosul, fell into ISIS’s hands within days, even though the US had put billions of dollars into training the Iraqi army, while the small city of Kobanî, where elderly women created their autonomous battalions, has become a fortress of resistance for people across the globe, shows us that the possibility of a different future is well alive!

You cannot separate the political mobilisation of the people in Rojava from their victories against ISIS. That is why the least we can do to honour the fighters of Kobanî is to respect and support their political aims! The recognition of the Rojava cantons is long overdue. But even if the world does not recognise Rojava, it will still insist on being, because it has proven that it does not need anyone’s approval to exist. It is exactly this resistance and self-reliant struggle, this refusal to subscribe to the Stockholm-Syndrome-like state in which the Middle East finds itself, so much so that it is forced to be happy over “democracy” that comes in the form of breadcrumbs, that has not allowed Kobanî to fall.

Emphasis Mine

A superior economic and political system can defeat an inferior one because the superior one mobilises more resources and used them mor wisely.

This is achieved by having a more thorough-going democracy. It is not a democracy that only exists once every few years; but it is a democracy that lives and thrives on a daily basis.

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Kurdish journalist on Rojava's inspiring revolution

Dylan Murphy interviews Kurdish journalist on Rojava's inspiring revolution.

This revolution is developing cooperatives based on a social economy as its economic alternative. The communes will be a primary force within the people's assemblies.

The cooperatives that have been founded are being given enough space within the economic sphere to sustain themselves. There exists the strength in the three cantons to found an economy along a socialised principle in the agriculture, livestock, industry and service sectors.

Emphasis Mine

The Kurdish struggle is a mixture of national liberation, resistance to genocide from ISIS, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, as well as a socialist revolution.

The development of a socialist society and economy has enabled the development of a successful military resistance which has enabled the Kurds to survive. This is similar to what happened in Vietnam where a nationalist struggle against imperialism became a communist revolution.

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The Rojava revolution's radical democracy

A brief interview with Saleh Muslim Mohamed about The Rojava revolution's radical democracy is posted in Links magazine.

We have, in essence, developed a democracy without the state. That is a unique alternative in a region plagued by the internally conflicted Free Syrian Army, the Assad regime and the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

Another way of referring to this concept of democratic confederalism or democratic autonomy is radical democracy: to mobilise people to organise themselves and to defend themselves by means of peoples armies like the Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Women's Defence Units (YPJ). We are practicing this model of self-rule and self-organisation without the state as we speak. Other people will speak of self-rule in theory, but for us, this search for self-rule is our daily revolution. Women, men, all strands of our society are now organised. The reason why Kobane still stands is because we have built these structures.

This is a different kind of Democracy:

Democratic autonomy is about the long term. It is about people understanding and exercising their rights. To get society to become politicised: that is the core of building democratic autonomy. In Europe you will find a society that is not politicised. Political parties are only about persuasion and individual benefits, not about actual emancipation and politicisation. Real democracy is based on a politicised society.

Emphasis Mine

For a Socialist Revolution to occur, the workers must be sufficiently polticised. They must that what happens in their daily lives in a political context.

This is very difficult to do in a society where politics is disparaged and derided. Political consciousness is vital to a healthy society. One can not delegate decisions about one's life to others.

And people should realise that all of our social interactions are mediated by politics. How we see and feel about the world influences what we do in the world.

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Take Kurdish freedom fighters off terrorist list

Sue bolton says “Take Kurdish freedom fighters off terrorist list”.

There are two reasons to support the Kurds of Kobane. One reason is humanitarian: to prevent a massacre. The other reason is to protect and defend the building of an alternative society which should be a beacon for all left and progressive people in the world.

Unfortunately for the Kurds, their unacknowledged homeland, Kurdistan, is occuppied by four other states:

1. Iran
2. Iraq
3. Syria
4. Turkey

Turkey has been waging genocide against the Kurds. This is largely unreported in the West unless there is a terrorist attack in Istanbul.

Because Turkey is an important NATO ally (US client), this is tolerated in the West. Genocide is only wrong if it is done by official enemies. And since before 9/11, the PKK has classified as a terrorist even as it tries to defend against the genocidal attacks of the Turkish state.

This level of oppression calls for a new and substainable society in which everyone participates. This leads to progressive measures in governance and social norms:

The Kurds in Syria are building a society that should be a model for the Middle East — a society where the rights of minority religions and minority ethnic groups are protected, and where there is a revolution in women's rights. The US doesn't want to support the Kurds in Rojava because it is using sectarianism to keep compliant governments in power in various countries in the Middle East.

Once again, we see Capitalism relying on divise means to maintain power.

Bolton lists the demands of the Socialist Alliance as:

• Arms for the defenders of Kobane.
• Opening the border with Turkey and an aid corridor for Kurds.
• End Turkish support for IS.
• Remove the PKK from Australian terrorist list: they are freedom fighters not terrorists

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The Nativity Story

In the November/December 2006 Edition of Annals Australasia, James Murray reviews The Nativity Story on p.22. He concludes:

The work's verisimilitude may, however, create a problem of perception. Audiences are so conditioned, particularly in English speaking countries, to the overdecorated, sentimentalised Victorian-Dickensian version of the story that there may be difficulty in fully appreciating the merits of this more austere classic.

Emphasis Mine

I disagree that this movie is ...the true story told simply an powerfully. For all its exactitude, the movie skirts around the central issue in Palestine at the time: the Roman occupation and imposition of a puppet government (Herod).

Given the current brutal occupations in Palestine, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kashmir, etc., the challenge of the movie makers is to truly depict life under occupation without today's occuping powers.

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Iraq's real resistance fights back

Gerard Henderson, of the Sydney Institute, writes, in Iraq's real resistance fights back that:

In Australia the leading barracker for the Iraqi resistance is the Green Left Weekly. On January 28 last year the GLW published an interview between Pip Hinman and the Australian-born left-wing journalist John Pilger. GLW asked: "Do you think the anti-war movement should be supporting Iraq's anti-occupation resistance?" Pilger replied: "Yes, I do. You cannot afford to be choosy. While we abhor and condemn the continuing loss of innocent life in Iraq, we have no choice now but to support the resistance." No ambiguity there.

Then, on November 3 last year, GLW ran a feature story on the Indian writer and leftist activist Arundhati Roy headlined, "Why we should support Iraqi resistance". This followed Roy's appearance on Andrew Denton's ABC TV Enough Rope program, where she argued that we have to "understand that Iraq is engaging on the front lines of empire" and maintained that, consequently, "we have to throw our weight behind the resistance".

The main complaint is that critics of the war (like me) have no constructive suggestions. This is the standard ploy of the ruling class: T.I.N.A. (There Is No Alternative).

Here are my suggestions:

• All foreign troops out of Iraq;
• USD 60,000,000,000 in compensation to the Iraqi people from the invaders: USA, UK, and Australia;
• Immediate and unconditional recognition of whatever government the Iraqi people decide on;
• Immediate voiding of all orders made by the Coalition Provisional Authority without compensation to the affected parties;
• The investigation by the International War Crimes Tribunal of the following among others:
• Sadaam Hussien;
• Tariq Aziz;
• George Herbert Bush;
• Danforth Quayle;
• Richard Cheney;
• William Jefferson Clinton;
• Al Gore;
• Madelaine Albright;
• George Walker Bush;
• Colin Powell;
• John Winston Howard;
• Tony Blair
• Cancellation of Iraq's debts;
• Iraq is able to nominate the currency it receives for its oil exports;
• Removal of all foreign bases from Iraq;
• Control of Iraq's airspace to return to the Iraqi government;
• All mercenaries (aka military contractors) to be handed to the Iraqi police for interrogation in respect to crimes the mercenaries may have committed while in Iraq;
• All foreign governments to accede to requests for extradition of said mercenaries to Iraq;
• Possible adjustment of Iraq's boundaries:
• Integration of Kuwait into Iraq;
• Seccession of Kurdistan;

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