On March 24, Socialist Resistance held a very successful forum on the Middle East, War, Imperialism, Ecology and Resistance attended by around eighty participants in central London. It was particularly encouraging to see a significant number of young people at the event.

Gilbert Achcar, probably the best known Marxist writer on the region was joined by Ewa Jasiewicz, a founder of Naftana – the UK support committee for the anti-occupation, anti-dictatorship oil workers union. Unfortunately Israeli Jewish writer and activist Tikva Honig-Parnass was not in the end able to attend because of family illness. But the meeting was pleased to welcome Chadi Khalil, representative of the Lebanese Communist Party in Britain. Socialist Resistance’s Phil Hearse completed the plenary speakers.

Socialist Resistance prides itself on encouraging discussion inside its own ranks as well as on the left more generally, so it was fitting that Gilbert and Phil had different opinions on the likelihood of a military offensive against Iran.

We also try to give plenty of opportunity for those attending to put forward their opinions both by having time for discussion in plenary sessions and through organising workshops that don’t just allow debate but actively encourage it.

This was the spirit in which Gilbert and Chadi held a popular and impromptu workshop to develop the plenary discussion on Iraq and Lebanon which was able to give more developed answers to some of the issues raised in the first session than there was time there such as the question of what role the massacre at Sabra and Chatila played in Lebanese politics. In addition to the contributions and reports we print here you can see some video footage from the day at http://macuaid.blogspot.com/

Building an alliance with the Middle East left

This is an edited version of Gilbert Achcar’s second contribution in the final session of the day, entitled “Solidarity and the Socialist perspective”.

“What kind of forces should socialists be dealing with in the Middle East? The established socialist principle is to support the popular resistance to imperialism despite the leadership of the movement. Our anti-imperialism is unconditional. We are opposed to imperialist governments intervening militarily or trying to impose their will anywhere. Supporting the withdrawal of imperialist troops from the region is objectively a way of supporting people’s right to resist. We don’t try to impose preconditions based on the nature of the leadership.

But this means that we have to avoid a simplistic approach that says “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

We need to look the real circumstances on the ground. It’s much more complicated than just giving support to whoever is fighting imperialism.

Iraq is a case where you couldn’t meaningfully say “support the resistance”. The key forces fighting the occupation were also fighting a sectarian war. You can’t identify any forces deserving direct support. There isn’t any kind of significant progressive national force existing on the ground.

The tragedy in Iraq is that the only force that could have been a source of hope, the Iraqi Communist Party, behaved disastrously after the occupation.

They joined Bremer’s council and discredited themselves. In the last elections they got less than 1% of the vote.

This contrast with the situation in the 1950s where the Communists led demonstrations of more than a million people and had huge support among the Shiites. When you look at the forces that are now dominant you can see how big the regression has been. The Oil Workers’ Union is the only significant working class force. This deserves the support of the left even if it is not ideologically of the left. Its members hold the ideas of their society. They are religious believers but they genuinely hold a class point of view, particularly in their sector.

In Palestine we have another indication of the disaster.

The first Intifada, which began in 997, was led by the left. Hamas has succeeded in building itself as the main opposition to the rightwing PLO leadership. The left has been marginalized but it still exists. While we support the right of the Palestinian people to vote for whichever group or party they want but socialists should be relating to leftwing forces.

We can point to some improvement in the positions of at least one section of the Palestinian left, the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine.

This organisation, after a long history of tail ending the PLO leadership, now refuses to join the coalition government. The PFLP now has a more independent position on a generally left wing platform and should be our privileged partner.

Our privileged partner in Lebanon should be the Lebanese Communist Party. You don’t have the same problem that you do in Iraq. Hezbollah has never engaged in that type of sectarian violence during its fight against Israel and this allows us to support the Lebanese resistance as a whole.

But we favour the Lebanese Communist Party. This is the most promising remaining section of the left in the region. It has no relations with regimes like the one in Syria and other dubious forces and it is building itself on a progressive platform. It is renewing itself and learning the lessons of the recent past. It is keen on rebuilding the left in the region and is calling for open conferences of leftists and Marxists. It wants to be the pole for some form of regroupment.

The left in the Middle East is much weaker than it was some years ago but our view need not be as bleak as the one presented in the media. There are still class forces that could be elements for rebuilding the left and that it what we should be promoting.

Hands off Iraq’s oil

EWA JASIEWICZ was speaking on behalf of the campaign group Hands Off Iraqi Oil, who were holding their own day school the same day.

She explained the significance of the impending Hydrocarbon Law. Iraqi officials under the supervision of the Bush administration and the IMF wrote this new piece of legislation which is expected to become law in May. The Americans have said that “heads will roll” if Iraqi legislators do not pass the law.

“It favours production sharing agreements that can last up to 25-40 years or indefinitely. There are “stabilisation clauses” that mean that the government won’t be able to change tax rates or pass any new laws that affects the oil company profits. It is in reality, control of the oil from the Iraqis to the oil companies. This will in effect override Iraqi sovereignty. This new law will be de facto privatisation.

“Iraq has the 3rd largest oil reserves and 12th for oil production. It is a lucrative business with western oil companies grabbing up to 75% of the profits. This means that revenue that should be used to re-build Iraq will be given to the directors and shareholders of the major oil companies.”

Ewa looked at the long history of class struggle and militancy of Iraqi oil workers. They understand how critical is the part they play in Iraqi society. The Federation of Oil Unions in Iraq are bravely fighting this law.

In a joint statement with other Iraqi trade unionists: “The handing of control over oil to foreign companies, whose aims is to make big profits at the expense of the Iraqi people, and to rob the national wealth, according to long-term, unfair contracts, that undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people”.

There is strike action planned by the oil workers once this law is passed (May/June) and there will be inevitable bloodshed and to be blunt, a killing spree orchestrated by the goon squads employed by the oil companies.

Hand Off Iraqi Oil have already begun planning solidarity activities. There will be pickets of BP and Shell petrol stations. Ewa stressed the importance to show solidarity with the oil workers.

Other initiatives to protest against this vile law include demonstrating outside BP AGM, flood emails to Blair and Beckett and there is an early day motion tabled by MP Katy Clark that has received support of 24 MPs (including a Tory!).

The need to raise awareness is imperative, as Iraqi oil will go the same way as Colombia and Nigeria where violent repression including murder is used to crush opposition including trade unionists.

For further information about Hands Off Iraqi Oil see http://www.handsoffiraqioil.org/

To find out about Platform see: http://www.carbonweb.org/show item.asp?article=4&parent=3

Oil and water wars … and “green weaponry”

War and Ecology

Sheila Malone and Inbar Tamari

As the workshop on Climate Change and Resource Wars was cancelled due to illness, we tried to include this area in our workshop.

We first defined ‘ecology’ as being the relationship between people and planet – not some separate ‘green’ issue.

We discussed current oil and water wars, and the different kinds of wars

• invasions by imperial countries for resources and 'energy security'
• ‘divide and rule’ tactics leading to sectarian conflicts, sometimes civil wars
• internal wars for division of the spoils
• wars of resistance by those unwilling to accept invasion and puppet regimes

We talked about the type and level of destruction of people and planet caused by different kinds of wars, e.g. napalm, agent-orange, landmines, carpet-bombing in Vietnam have been paralleled in Iraq by use of white phosphorous, depleted uranium, cluster bombs and ‘shock and awe’.

Wars of resistance have also been destructive, aiming to destroy infrastructure to make the country uninhabitable for the invaders.

Ensuring Iraq is a client state, with an-export-led, monocuture economy (90% dependent on oil) means –

• continued destruction of diversity of native economy
• continuance of ecologically destructive fossil fuel economy
• continued occupation of Iraq, Palestine. Lebanon exacerbates water conflicts surrounding Tigris, Euphrates and Litani rivers, as well as depletion of aquifers

Future wars are therefore likely to increase and become more savage as resources deplete

Global warming will accelerate, affecting both East and West. Meanwhile the Pentagon (to be followed soon by the MOD, no doubt) is developing a range of ‘green’ weaponry, which ‘can kill ,but not cause an environmental hazard’ – such as leadfree bullets, smoke-free grenades and low carbon tanks!

More seriously, according to recent documents both are preparing for military intervention as ecological crisis deepen.

Expect a sort of ‘climate intervention’ to replace discredited (since Iraq) ‘humanitarian intervention .

We talked about help for the invaded countries, for instance around refugees, reconstruction, war reparations, and clean-up, for instance of the effects of depleted uranium and cluster bombs.

And we also talked about an equitable, sustainable mode of growth and development East and West, as an alternative to the fossil fuel economy.

Women organised against occupation

Terry Conway

A spirit of enquiry permeated the workshop on women in the region led by Caroline Gellenter and Imbar Tamari.

Caroline spoke about her experience of participating in a series of delegations to Palestine, initially through the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and then through the International Women’s Peace Service, which organises an team of women to work and live for extended periods in Haris, a village in the West Bank.

Imbar spoke about her experience of growing up in Israel and becoming active in women’s organising against the occupation through organisations such as Women in Black.

A lively discussion ensued in which a number of the participants spoke of their own experiences of growing up in Jewish households and close or more distant encounters with various Zionist organisations that wanted to carry them off to the “Promised Land” of Israel.

There was debate about consensus organising – and I think a consensus that it can be a useful tool in small groups of people who know each other well and have a fair degree of political agreement in the first place but a dangerous way to reproduce existing hierarchies in the broader movement.

Issues were raised about the strengths and dangers involved in solidarity exchanges – how to avoid the idea that it is the visitors who are those with knowledge and skills? This led to an exchange on the relative importance of working to raise solidarity here.

All of this and more that I have forgotten was packed into the little time we had in an atmosphere that did not suggest there were right answers to all the questions but hopefully left us all stimulated to do more, or to be more effective in what we do through sharing our experiences

To find out more about the International Women’s Peace Service go to: http://www.iwpspal. org/en/index.php