L'Internationale, 19 January 2015 In the early days of this year, Dae’sh (ISIS) seized our family house in Raqqa. This fascist organization forced a relative who was living in the house to leave and appropriated everything within it (beds, carpets, kitchen utensils, cupboards…) - all was given to “mujahids” from Tajikistan. Dae’sh seized other houses…
Islam, Islamists, and Violence, Part II
L’Internationale, 13 January 2015 Where Does The Violence Come From? The question under examination here is not whether or not it is possible for diverse religious movements to claim that they derive from a religious totality that is in turn diverse, convincing all others that they were born from it as its only legitimate child.…
Forty-four months and forty-four years: 4- Palestinization of Syrians and the present world condition
L’Internationale, 2 January 2015 The United Nations estimates that the total number of Syrian refugees will be around 4.1 million by the end of 2014. But a larger number emerges when data from neighboring countries are combined: 1.23 million in Jordan, 1.5 million in Lebanon, more than 1.6 million in Turkey, 140,000 registered refugees in…
Interview avec Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, écrivain et activiste syrien
Alter Info - 27 Décembre 2014 Interview avec Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, écrivain et activiste syrien. Prisonnier politique de Bashar Al- Assad pendant 16 ans (1980 et le 1996). Cette dernière année il a habité à Istanbul. IDP/LI: Obama menace avec l'attaque a l'ISIS à la Syrie… et le régime de Assad salue cette action et…
Forty-four months and forty for years: 3- Islamic resistance, resisting Islamists
L’Internationale, 15 December 2014 On December 10, Jabhat an-Nusra executed two young Palestinian men in Yarmook, Zakariya Mar’ei and Ahmed Seyam, on accusations of being kuffar (infidels). The day before this heinous crime marked the first anniversary of the abduction of four well-known political and human rights activists - Samira al Khalil, Razan Zeitouneh, Wae’l…
Forty-four Months and Forty-Four Years: 2- Wars Against the People
L’Internationale, 1 December 2014 At an early stage of the Syrian revolution, which erupted in the context of the ‘Arab Spring,’ the billionaire Rami Makhlouf stated that ‘the government’s decision is to fight.’ Speaking without any official title except for being the cousin of Bashar Assad, Makhlouf added: ‘Each one of us knows we cannot…
Yassin al-Haj Saleh: “The International left is suffering a major crisis”
Socialist Core, 29 November 2014 Interview with Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Syrian writer and activist. Bashar al-Assad’s political prisoner for 16 years between 1980 and 1996. He has been living in Istanbul this last year. Interview conducted by Lucha Internacionalista (Internationalist Fight – LI) from the Spanish State and İşçi Demokrasisi Partisi (Workers Democracy Party –…
Islam, Islamists, and Violence, Part I
L’Internationale, 17 November 2014 Views on the relation between Islam and violence Two clear doctrines regarding the relation between violent Islamist groups and Islam are currently in circulation. A first widespread doctrine holds that these groups are Islam itself, or at least its accurate expression; a second widely held doctrine states in turn that Islam…
Forty-four Months and Forty-four Years: 1- Two Blindfolds
L’Internationale, 16 November 2014 Forty-four years ago, on an autumn day like this one in 1970, Hafez al-Assad seized power in Syria by military coup. The man had been minister of defense during the June 1967 war with Israel, which ended in a disastrous defeat for the Arabs and Syria. Thirty years later, he passed…
One Aspect of the History of Political Rumour in Syria
Heinrich Boell Foundation – Middle East, 5 November 2014 This article deals exclusively with political rumour in ‘Assad’s Syria’. It is an attempt to examine the subject based on the author’s personal experiences Rumours to soothe Only a few weeks into our detention we began hearing rumours about our imminent release. It was the 1980s…