In March 2011 the Arab Spring arrived in Syria. Syrians had lived under the totalitarianism of the Asad family, first with the father, Hafez al-Asad (1971-2000), followed by the son, Bashaar al-Asad, for 40 years.1 This included a state of… Continue Reading
Recent months have been full of ominous signs of deepening conflict between the major players in what Alex Callinicos calls the “multi-level chess game” of Middle Eastern geopolitics.1 In March 2018, Turkish forces entered Syria, forcing tens of thousands to… Continue Reading
The peace process between the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement reached what everyone thought was its peak in January 2015. It was to die a painful death within two months. At the time the peace negotiations had been going… Continue Reading
A review of Gilbert Achcar, Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (Saqi, 2016), £12.99 Gilbert Achcar is a Lebanese socialist living in Europe and a prominent commentator on Middle Eastern politics. His recent book Morbid Symptoms is meant to… Continue Reading
Syrian socialist Ghayath Naisse, a member of the Revolutionary Left Current, spoke to Simon Assaf about the brutalisation of Syria, the goals of those intervening and the prospects for socialists in the region.1 SA: Let’s start with imperialism. What do… Continue Reading
A review of Abdel Bari Atwan, Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate (Saqi, 2015), £9.99 Rosa Luxemburg said that capitalism would end in either socialism or barbarism. Looking at the Middle East, as hopes of democracy and social justice have been… Continue Reading
For the fourth time in less than a decade and half the UK is at war, and once again the vast majority of the victims will be Muslims. Bolstered by the votes and voices of the Labour right, on 2… Continue Reading
According to the world’s media outlets and major heads of state, a new threat has been looming over “world peace” since June 2014—the threat of ISIS. ISIS was presented as an imminent danger and, far from being constrained to the… Continue Reading
The Arab revolutions have been a great inspiration for the struggle against capitalism and imperialism across the world. They have inspired and fed into a global mood of alienation and anger against the system as expressed in strikes, occupations and… Continue Reading