Kurdistan

Solidarity with the Kurds, or NATO-bashing?

At the 1 November demonstration in Trafalgar Square in support of besieged Kobane, it struck me that the speakers — and more broadly, the left — were not singing from the same page. On the one side there were those who were demanding that Britain and NATO do more to help the Kurds fighting against the Islamic fascists of IS. For example, Peter Tatchell led the crowd in chants demanding that David Cameron authorise the dropping of more aid to the Kurds, including weapons. There were calls for Turkey to be suspended from NATO because it, unlike other NATO countries, was not prepared to help the...

ISIS threat is still strong

ISIS (Daesh, the “Islamic State” movement) now governs over six million people across Iraq and Syria and despite an apparent slowing of new foreign fighters coming to join them they have maintained a large group of fighters and a formidable military capability. The Albu Nimr tribe, a Sunni group in Western Iraq, had continued to fight ISIS in Anbar province despite Abadi's Baghdad government failing to provide arms. ISIS has now executed almost 400 members of the tribe as a punishment for its resistance. ISIS is now closer to the Haditha Dam and the largest airbase in Anbar. The Iraqi army and...

Solidarity with the Kurds!

More than 200 Kurds and their supporters marched through Manchester in support of Kobane. Shamefully noticeable by their absence was the majority of the Manchester left. Workers' Liberty comrades distributed a leaflet and sold papers which were well received. The Kurdish organisers of the demonstration hadn't bothered with the technicality of getting police permission for the march from All Saints to Piccadilly Gardens. The very well stewarded march stuck to the pavement with the stewards controlling the traffic at the various road crossings. At Piccadilly Gardens there was a lively rally with...

Don't let the threat of ISIS make people forget Assad's crimes!

The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has offered the Western governments battling ISIS an alliance “to fight terrorism”. But as the Independent 's Kim Sengupta put it at the end of September, Assad is now fighting the “enemy he always wanted”. From the start of anti-Assad struggle in Syria, the regime has worked to strengthen Sunni-sectarian and radical Islamist forces in order to position itself as the champion of non-Sunni Syrians. With the help of foreign (Saudi, Qatari, UAE) aid for some of the Sunni jihadis, it has largely succeeded in transforming the country's democratic revolution...

Should the left say: "Let the Kurds die!"?

Over a thousand Kurdish people gathered in Trafalgar Square, London, on Saturday 1 November, taking part in a day of international solidarity for the Kurds fighting ISIS (Daesh, "Islamic State") in Kobane. Among the small number of people at the protest who were not Kurdish were a handful of representatives of the Socialist Party and SWP. Both these groups have a problem. Both campaign to stop the US bombing which is currently helping the Kurds resist IS. They do not just do as Solidarity does - express no confidence in the US, refuse to endorse its campaign. They specifically campaign to stop...

Should the left say: "Let the Kurds die!"?

Over a thousand Kurdish people gathered in Trafalgar Square, London, on Saturday 1 November, taking part in a day of international solidarity for the Kurds fighting ISIS (Daesh, "Islamic State") in Kobane. Among the small number of people at the protest who were not Kurdish were a handful of representatives of the Socialist Party and SWP. Both these groups have a problem. Both campaign to stop the US bombing which is currently helping the Kurds resist IS. They do not just do as Solidarity and Workers' Liberty do - express no confidence in the US, refuse to endorse its campaign. They...

Over a thousand rally to support the Kurdish struggle, but British left largely absent

1,500 people protested in Trafalgar Square on 1 November as part of the International Day of Action in support of Kobane, the Syrian Kurdish town being besieged by ISIS. A big majority of those taking part were Kurdish, an even mix of age and women, all ages, and from a wide variety of organisations. Unfortunately non-Kurdish left, labour movement and student activists were present only in small numbers – probably because the conflict in Kurdistan does not fit the “Western powers vs anti-imperialists” template that much of the British left is used to operating with. I only saw one trade union...

Solidarity with democratic, workers' and socialist forces in the Middle East resisting ISIS! Mobilise for 1 November!

(Muayad Ahmed, secretary of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq, addresses the conference.) Click here for index page for documents from AWL conference 2014 The Alliance for Workers' Liberty conference (London, 25-6 October) sends solidarity to democratic, working-class and socialist organisations resisting ISIS and other oppressive forces in Kurdistan, Syria and Iraq, including our comrades in the Worker-communist Parties of Kurdistan and Iraq . We support the people of Kurdistan in their fight for self-determination and self-rule. More broadly, people in Kobane and elsewhere are fighting a...

Fact and fiction about the Kurdistan row in NUS

I have read on social media various criticisms of my report of the September NUS National Executive Council meeting . Here are some thoughts in response. Didn't you go to the press about the NUS Black Students' Officer, the row about Kurdistan and ISIS? No. I have had a number of requests from newspapers to comment and I have turned them all down, the ones from the Sun and Daily Mail very rudely. This is because I am a socialist, anti-racist and feminist and have no intention of helping any right-wing campaign. I also have my own experience of being witch-hunted by the political right and the...

Arm the people to defeat Daesh!

Muayad Ahmed is the secretary of the central committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq. He is currently in Britain after spending time recently in Sulaimaniya (in Iraqi Kurdistan) and in Baghdad. He spoke to Martin Thomas about conditions in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. MA: People’s daily life has changed dramatically. People are worried, always expecting the worst — carnage, slaughter by Daesh [the “Islamic State” movement or ISIS], and so on. A very bad atmosphere exists in Kurdistan. And every day in Baghdad, people see the effects of Daesh, their killings, car bombs and so on. When...

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