The blast The bomb blast of July 18 inside a governmental building killing four top leaders of the security apparatus was a very heavy blow for the regime. Regardless whether the perpetrators were part of the opposition or opponents within the regime it shows an acute stage of weakness, destabilisation and insecurity. Everybody was looking to the reactions of the top echelon of the apparatus. At the same time news from the massive loss of territorial control in the countryside, oer border crossings and an almost complete withdrawal from the Kurdish area enhanced the picture of the possibility of a quick end of the regime. Then there were the armed insurgency in Damascus reaching close to the centres of power in the quarters which had been centres of civil rebellion before. From … [read more]

Session of the Anti-imperialist Camp Assisi, Italy, August 23-26, 2012 Saturday, August 25, 9pm Cinema: Forbidden (67min, Arabic with English captions) Subsequently debate with the director Amal Ramsis Egypt between military, Islamists and Tahrir “Forbidden” (2011) is the fourth film of Amal Ramsis, after “In Beirut there is still the sea” (1999), “Only dreams” (2005), “One life” (2008). The film is a historic document about the months right before the uprising of January 25 in Egypt. It shows the bans suffered by the citizens under the Mubarak regime as well as the accumulating anger which eventually led to the popular eruption. The protagonists of the film are political activists like Arab Lotfi (film director), Salma Shokralla (journalist) or Mohamed … [read more]

The raging violence in Assam’s Bodo Territorial Autonomous Districts, Khokrajhar and Chirang (July 2012) has shaken the conscience of the nation. The Prime Minister has rushed to the area and called it as a Kalank, a shame for the nation. He also reprimanded the Chief Minister from his own party for the violence. There was some inexcusable delay in deploying the army in the area, which resulted in worsening of the issue. In this case of violence while on one side there is a great loss to the lives of people, still the larger tragedy is that lakhs of people have been displaced from their areas, home and hearth, just around the sowing season. The refugee camps housing them are grossly inadequate and not having enough facilities so far. Still at another level this violence has been … [read more]

Gathered in Rome at the Community of Sant’Egidio, we who belong to various groups of the Syrian democratic opposition, active both inside and outside the country, address this appeal to the Syrian people, to all sides involved and to the international community. We have different opinions and experiences. We have struggled and continue to struggle for freedom, dignity, democracy, human rights and to construct a Syria that is democratic, civil and safe for all, without fear and without oppression. We love Syria. We know that Syria, a place where different religions and peoples have coexisted peacefully, today runs a deadly risk that threatens the unity of its people, their rights and the sovereignty of the state. We are not neutral. We are part of the Syrian people, which is … [read more]

The Assad regime used Kaileh’s Palestinian decent as an excuse to legitimise the deportation. His tendency has been fully immersed in the popular revolt from the very beginning. Salameh Kailah was invited to Vienna by the Arab Austrian Cultural Center (OKAZ) and the Union of Syrians Abroad to deliver a speech on the civil disobedience movement in Damascus. The Anti-imperialist Camp participated in the organisation of the event and in the discussion.. Kaileh’s intervention came in the aftermath of the bomb attack in Damascus which killed four high ranking officials of the security apparatus. The political situation on the ground hints that the final battle is coming closer. For Kaileh it is of utmost importance that the victory of the popular uprising is possible without … [read more]

Speech and public debate with Haytham Manna Thursday, August 23rd, 9pm The NBC is a coalition of democratic forces which are taking part in the popular rebellion under the well-known slogan of the three NOs: No to foreign intervention! No to militarization and civil war! No sectarianism! In difference to the “Syrian National Council” (SNC) it is based within the country and includes representatives of all religious communities as well as the Kurds. It has come into sharp conflict with the SNC which way accuse of committing exactly what the SBC is opposing with the three NOs. The NBC reproaches to the SNC in substance to follow foreign agendas. While fully supporting the popular movement and the democratic demands, it is until now favouring a negotiated transition to avert … [read more]

The people now is waging one of the most important battles of the revolution. We should not misjudge what happens and reduce it to a decisive military battle with this regime. It’s an open Damascene popular uprising in which the revolution mobilizes all its forces and capabilities and all possible forms of struggle, military and popular. What gives the Damascene events all this importance that it is not confined to military action. We experience the participation of the people with all his revolutionary capabilities and energies in the "Damascus uprising". (This has been true since the beginning of the revolution but is especially important in the present moment.) We witness in addition to the armed clashes in the districts of the capital, road blockades, strikes, and social support … [read more]

Editorials in Europe celebrate the victory of someone who does not belong to the WASP elite as the restoration and confirmation of the American Dream—a Black man as elected monarch. The nightmare of the Bush years was supposedly just an aberration that failed, a deviation that is behind us now; the true, liberal America of opportunities is back, bright eyes, bushy tail. The lower and middle class had enough of the anti-social and war-mongering course of that coalition of protestant fundamentalists and neo-conservatives, and voted accordingly. The majority of white America, however, still voted for the zany duo McCain&Palin. One element that makes the United States so attractive is the apparent absence of formal exclusion for social advancement, and Obama seems to be the epitome of … [read more]

Palestine: the impact of the Arab revolt, the one democratic state solution and the solidarity movement • Zaher Birawi, leading Islamic Palestine activist, London • Attia Rajab, Palestine Committee Stuttgart • Yoav Bar, promoter of the Haifa conference for One Democratic State in Palestine • Leo Gabriel, member of the international council of the World Social Forum (WSF) Anti-imperialist Camp, Assisi, Italy, Friday 24 August, morning session The last years have seen a decisive shift in the global solidarity movement acknowledging the both the protagonism of the popular resistance and the impossibility of a compromise with Zionism. Back in the 90s the mainstream of the Palestine solidarity set all its hopes on the Oslo accords operated by Fatah. It was the time of … [read more]

Yet another massacre on dalit people in Andhra Pradesh shows that the landowning castes still turn violent when dalits assert themselves to take over land. Four dalit people were hacked to death, and about 30 dalit men and women were critically injured in a well-orchestrated attack by Turpu Kapu backward caste brahmanical forces in Lakshimpeta village of Vangara block in Srikakulam District on 12 June 2012. The brahmanical forces targeted 60 dalit families in the village with crude and brutal weapons like bombs, sickles, hatchets and axes supported and patronised by the ruling Congress Party leaders of the region. Burada Sundara Rao (45), Chitri Appadu (35), Nivarti Venkati (65) and Nivarti Sangameshu (40) died in the bloodbath. Bodduru Papaiah died in King George Hospital, … [read more]

Leftist candidate shooting star The surprise of the first round of the presidential elections was the result scored by the leftist Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi. He became third with 20.7% and some 4.8m votes. In most of the urban centres Sabbahi won, in the two largest cities, the capital Cairo and in Alexandria, even with about one third of the votes leaving his contenders far behind. Emblematic is the case of the Cairo slum quarter Imbaba which used to be a Salafi Jihadi stronghold in the 90s and later was taken over by the MB. Following the results: Sabbahi in the first place (32.2%) followed by Shafiq (23.2%); Mursi (18.3%); Abul-Fotouh (14.7%). Abul-Fotouh, the more liberal pro-Tahrir Islamist, who had been expelled from the MB, scored 17.1% which equates with roughly 4.1m … [read more]

Unlike Khader Adnan, who was transferred to the Safad Hospital, Mahmoud and Akram Rikhawi, who is on his 52nd day of strike, are intentionally denied proper medical care. On May 30, the Israeli court gave the prison authorities a long period, till June 10, until they should even allow the two striking prisoners access to independent doctors, in spite of the immediate danger to their lives! The mass hunger strike achieved a promise to release most Palestinian prisoners that are held without charge under administrative detention and to tighten the criteria for such detention. But Mahmoud Sarsak is held under another clause, “Illegal Enemy Combatant”, without charge and without trial and with even less legal supervision. After almost three years in detention all that we know about … [read more]

          Tent €8 per tent and day in addition to following fee   in € per person   per day   tent   6   tent half board   19   tent full board   32   Shared room   in € per person   per day   bed shared room   27   bed half board   40   bed full board   53   Breakfast not included in any configuration. 1 single meal €13 For half board lunch or dinner can be chosen.   To book pls write to campo2012@antimperialista.it with copy to … [read more]

Q: The Syriza coalition is being transformed into a party. Isn’t there a danger that the left wing of Syriza in this way will be suppressed and marginalised? The electoral rules render this move virtually obligatory. The first gets a bonus of 50 seats – under the pre-condition that it is a party. So it is also a message to the people that we really intend to become the first and form a popular government if we sustain the enormous pressure put on us. We consider the transformation into a party nevertheless as a purely technical step without further political implications. Synaspismos [Euro communist right wing split from the Communist Party] anyway got the majority and there remains a kind of proportionate representation in the leadership also with the transformation into a … [read more]

To the questions whether the Houla massacre spells the end of the Annan plan, Kilo answers with a resolute no. “We must fight for the implementation of the plan as the consequences of its end are dire.” According to Kilo there are many forces who want the end of the UN presence to start and all out war which would further harm the popular democratic movement. Asked on the recent general strike in Damascus, the capital which remained so far relatively quiet in comparison with the centers of the revolt, he pointed to an unprecedented development. “The fact that the chamber of commerce, the representative of the commercial bourgeoisie, for the first time voiced significant dissent to the regime makes them tremble. It is a very promising … [read more]

Thus the Assad regime is pushing the country into sectarian civil war. With its marauding Shabiha militia it is lending political ground to armed sectarian forces backed by the Gulf States which search to retaliate in the same way and are calling for a foreign military intervention. The only way to avoid the scenario of sectarian civil war, which will mainly help Israel, imperialism and its Gulf proxies, is an all out popular revolution involving the broad masses engulfing all confessions. Therefore the latest strike movement shaking Damascus shows the way forward potentially marginalising the foreign backed Taqfirist sectarian forces. We fully recognise the right to armed self-defence against the regime’s repression but we still believe that the military escalation is to the … [read more]

When the Arab popular revolt toppled the western-backed tyrants in Tunisia and Egypt, electrified the oppressed masses across the Arab world and eventually reached Syria, we all hoped for a quick victory of the democratic movement. But soon the Assad regime revealed itself to be unable and unwilling to positively respond to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people for freedom and social justice. All promises for more rights turned out to be empty. The only answer has been severe repression, drowning the democratic movement in blood. Thousands have been killed, and tens of thousands injured or arrested. Nevertheless, the movement in the streets continued to peacefully face the guns of the regime for many months despite the utmost imbalance of force. Sooner or later there came … [read more]

Following the list of the first signatories of the International Solidarity Initiative for the Syrian People. • Leo Gabriel, journalist, social anthropologist and member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, Vienna, Austria • Moreno Pasquinelli, Anti-imperialist Camp, Assisi, Italy • Carlos Varea González, university professor and leading member of the “Campaign against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq” (CEOSI), Madrid, Spain • Santiago Alba Rico, Spanish writer, resident in Tunis, Tunisia • Franz Fischer, Palestine activist and CC member of the Labour Party of Switzerland, Basel • Thomas Zmrzly, spokesman of “Initiativ e.V.”, Duisburg, Germany • Mustafa Ilhan, journalist, Kurdish activist, Aachen, Germany • Wilhelm … [read more]

American president Obama recently received an open letter, backed by two of the most prominent neoconservative institutions in America: the Foreign Policy Initiative, which demands American leadership in the contemporary world, an armed leadership, a global cop. And the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, which was founded after the September 11th attacks with the goal of ‘defending the free nations in the face of their enemies’. The letter was signed by 56 ‘foreign policy experts and former officials of the US administration’, as they defined themselves. Among them is Karl Rove, former advisor in the George Bush Jr. administration, and the engineer of his election campaigns; James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA; Paul Bremer, the American governor of Iraq after the … [read more]

Uttpal has been working for Jharkhand Aben, a well-known and popular revolutionary cultural oragnisation of Jharkhandis in the state. Ever since the arrest of cultural activist Jiten Marandi, Uttpal has been actively conducting the organisation. He is a singer and a composer. He was travelling from Ranchi to a village in Dumuri to meet Aben’s local team. Before he reached the village, where other cultural activists were waiting for him, he was taken away by the police from the bus around 3pm on 7th May. This is not for the first time the police illegally detained Uttpal. A few months after Jiten Marandi’s arrest, Uttapal was abducted by goons employed by the police and was made to ‘disappear’ for many days. Later he was implicated in a false case and produced in a court of law … [read more]