Awesome SDS Slideshow!

This video/slideshow has been created for the upcoming Third Students for a Democratic Society National Convention coming up in College Park, Maryland, July 24-27. The slideshow reviews the past year of organizing and activism from the biggest and most dynamic national student organization in the U.S. since the original SDS of the 1960s. Now SDS is a major force, a multi-issue network composed of every Left ideological shade, from communists to anarchists to social-democrats and left-liberals, united under a banner of anti-imperialist activism and participatory democracy. SDS has led local militant actions and huge nationally coordinated actions. It is hard to believe that SDS has come so far and grown so much since the first National Convention in Chicago back in 2006.



DARE TO STRUGGLE! DARE TO WIN!

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Big Oil Going Back into Iraq

Commentary by David Hungerford

It’s in the news that four big oil companies that once formed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) are back in Iraq. Up until 1972, Iraq did not ‘own’ its own oil. - Iraqi oil belonged the to IPC.
The four have been back in Iraq for a number of months. They are about to sign ‘service contracts’ for reconstruction of the country’s oil production infrastructure. The contracts do not require approval by the occupation puppet Green Zone ‘government.’

The big oil cartel is arguably the most powerful corporate combine in the world. It has its foot in the door and that’s all it needs to regain dominance. It’s far more than just another ‘war for oil’ story, however. Rather, it raises two other, essential questions about the war: Why war? Why Iraq?

There are many ways to get oil. War is the worst. So why war? There are many countries that have oil. Saudi Arabia has oil but we are not fighting them. So why Iraq?

These are absolutely critical questions but rarely asked. Now Big Oil has raised them in spite of itself.

The IPC was a cartel of four giant oil companies. Today the companies are known as Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and Total. At one time they had been in Iraq for many years. Then in 1958 the Iraqi Revolution put an end to British domination of Iraq. The IPC retained control of the oil, however.

When Iraq achieved a stable government under the Baath Party in 1968 it set about claiming its own oil. Many problems had to be solved.

Iraq needed oil extraction technology of its own and capital. It needed to avoid overthrow by the imperialist countries, as had happened in Iran in 1952 when the government of Mohammed Mossadeq was overthrown in a CIA-instigated coup. Iraq needed to overcome the ability of the oil giants to embargo sales of its oil, something that had also happened to Iran.

The person Iraq turned to for answers to hard questions was Saddam Hussein. Time and again Saddam’s solutions worked. By 1972 the Iraqis were able to tell the IPC that the ‘party was over,’ the oil now belonged to them. As Lee Raymond, a former chairman of Exxon Mobil told Newsweek, “Saddam Hussein threw us out.” (Sept. 15, 2007)

Although he was not yet formally head of state, from that point on Saddam Hussein was the key person in Iraq. He came to power not because he killed or terrorized anyone but because he was the one who figured out how to nationalize the oil. That’s why the U.S. demonized him. That’s why they hanged him.

After the 1973 war with Israel and the use of the ‘oil weapon’ by the Arab countries, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a previously insignificant force, was able to take control of oil pricing away from the big oil cartel. It was a great step forward for all of the OPEC countries not just economically, but also in sovereignty.

Now we have the answer to the question of why there is a war for oil: It is due to the conflict between imperialist domination and national sovereignty

But why Iraq and not the others? Among Arab countries in OPEC Iraq alone had full control of its oil from production through sale. It was the only fully sovereign Arab country in the Persian Gulf. By 1990 the conflict had become so intense that the imperialists could think of nothing better than to rig up the Kuwait crisis and commit aggression against Iraq.

The IPC could get back into Iraq only at gunpoint, by invasion and occupation. That’s the only way it can stay. That’s what John McCain meant when he said he is willing to stay in Iraq for “maybe 100” years. It can’t be done. As long as the occupation stays the Iraqi people will fight. The war has its ups and downs but the people will always fight. Their cause is just. In the end they are certain to win.

[article from Fight Back! News; cartoon from Workers World]

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Video: March on the RNC and Stop the War!

I'm reposting this video from Left Spot's Blog. On it you'll see the leaders of the anti-war movement talking about the importance of marching on the Republican National Convention.

ACTION ALERT: Tell Saint Paul Mayor Coleman and Twin Cities newspapers: "Anti-war protesters have a right to demonstrate at the RNC"

Please also check out:

Protest RNC 2008
Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War

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Victory for SDS and IVAW in Alabama

Alabama: SDS-Tuscaloosa Wins, Anti-war Protesters Acquitted
By Chapin Gray

Tuscaloosa, AL - Applause and cheers erupted in the courtroom at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, May 2, when the judge threw out the charges against four anti-war protesters. “As I was waiting outside to give my testimony, I heard the roar of clapping from behind the door,” remembers Tom Keenan, a member of the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “A mass of people flooded out of the court room, saying ‘We won!’”

The protesters - Jason Hurd, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and SDS members Alyse Deller, Christine Jackson and Jeremy Miller - were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after a mock raid in which protestors reenacted a typical U.S. military raid on Iraqi civilians common in Iraq under the U.S. occupation.


The Tuscaloosa County District Court judge threw out the case after hearing what he called “vague and unclear” testimony from the prosecution’s witnesses. The prosecution attempted to prove that the anti-war demonstration was ‘disruptive’ and constituted disorderly conduct.


However, it was clear to the protesters and their supporters that the university was attempting intimidate the activist organization and to silence political speech on campus. For example, one of the prosecution’s witnesses admitted that sororities were allowed to cheer, dance and otherwise cause commotion inside the Student Center without a permit, and yet the campus police were not called. This shows that what mattered was not that the mock-raid was ‘loud,’ but that it conveyed a message about the current situation in occupied Iraq that the university administration found unacceptable.


Since the arrests, the Tuscaloosa SDS chapter and lawyers from the Alabama chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild worked to build a campaign to drop charges against the ‘Ferg Four,’ as the protesters became known, and to fight back against the repressive actions of the university.


David Gespass, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild who represented the Ferg Four pro bono, was excited by the acquittal, but frustrated by the attempts of the university to criminalize protest. “It is sad that we have reached a point in this country where exercising freedom of speech becomes a chargeable offense,” lamented Gespass, “and that a decision vindicating that basic freedom is seen as a victory and not the natural birthright of a free people.”

Before the trial, dozens of members of SDS and supporters picketed outside the courthouse, chanting, “Hey, hey, U of A! How many kids did you jail today?” and holding up signs demanding an end to the war in Iraq.

SDS members see the mock raid as part of the effort of students across the country to up the social costs of the war. In recent years, student protests have become increasingly militant, from blocking military shipments out of ports in Tacoma, to occupying the offices and lobbies of war profiteers in D.C. to going on hunger strikes for socially responsible investment at University of Florida.


“This acquittal sent an important message not only to U.A. officials but also to all who think they can silence protest,” said Joshua Weiss, a member of Tuscaloosa-SDS. “They can’t keep us from speaking out against the war.”


“We are very happy with the outcome of this trial and hope that this will encourage others to speak out against injustice without fear,” said Jenae Stainer of SDS-Tuscaloosa, one of the organizers of the campaign to drop the charges. “We are also so thankful for all of our allies in SDS and in the anti-war movement who have supported us since day one and helped make this victory possible.”

From: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2008/05/tuscaloosavictory.htm

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Freedom Road on the Mass Line

"The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history." - Mao Zedong

One of the main things that attracted me to Marxism-Leninism and the thought of Mao Zedong when I was becoming an activist and getting involved in popular struggles, particularly in the antiwar movement, was the revolutionary theory and practice of the mass line.

I was drawn to this method of organizing and leadership because it answers in a practical and straightforward way many questions that people have to deal with if they want to fight for fundamental change in society. When I was first beginning to organize and work is large mass meetings in the anti-war movement I felt the need for a revolutionary theory that could measure up to the test of practice. And the mass line measures up.

I first encountered the mass line in Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. Later I read other articles by Mao Zedong on the subject, such as Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership and his January 30, 1962 talk on democratic centralism. I also studied articles by other communists like Liu Shaoqi's Concerning the Mass Line of our Party and the short collection of Lenin's writings, Party Work in the Masses.

That being said, I just wanted to draw people's attention to this newly released pamphlet by the U.S. Marxist-Leninist group, Freedom Road Socialist Organization on the subject, Some Points on the Mass Line. It is a study of the mass line that was developed by FRSO which explains many of the key points of communist organizing, theory and practice, philosophy and revolution, in a very clear way. If an activist/organizer wants to know what Marxism has to offer in practical terms, in terms of getting stuff done, talk to them about the mass line and show them this pamphlet. It is about how to organize for revolution and change the world.

Well, though it is being published officially by Freedom Road now, in February 2008, it is really sort of a re-release, because as a study it has been floating around for a while now. So at the very beginning of Some Points on the Mass Line it says, "This study was prepared by a leading member of FRSO in the late 1980s. Since then this study has been used extensively inside and outside our organization and it has been reprinted in a number of different political settings. The application of the mass line is basic to how we do our work in trade unions, in the movements of oppressed nationalities, in anti-war and other progressive struggles. It informs our work on building a new communist party." So the real target audience of Some Points on the Mass Line is clearly Marxist-Leninists, though I think advanced activists and organizers who aren't necessarily Marxists or communists could get a a lot out of studying it as well. When combined with a strong, Marxist-Leninist class analysis, a clear view of the national question in the U.S., and important texts like the Main Political Report and other documents from FRSO's 5th Congress (2007) we see that this document on mass line organizing is well contextualized within the rest of what Freedom Road has to offer.

When you get right down to it, Some Points on the Mass Line is an organizing handbook, with 20 points dealing with various aspects of the mass line, and including study questions. Some Points on the Mass Line deals with questions ranging from the philosophical (Marxist theory of knowledge, relationship between theory and practice) to the political (democratic centralism and communist organization), to the very practical (methods of work and methods of leadership). It shows how the mass line allows organizers to deals with questions as seemingly simple as how to respond practically to apathy and cynicism. It discusses the importance of summing up experiences and the struggle for summation. It talks about how to do united front work. It even deals with questions regarding how to build a stable core of activists to mobilize masses of poeple. And, importantly, it links all of these points with deeper questions such as how to raise the level of people's consciousness.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that there is recommended reading at the end. The point is made that "although the term mass line was coined by the Communist Party of China, the basic method of reliance on, and the mobilization of, the masses of people has been utilized by all successful revolutionary parties." So along with the well known texts of Mao Zedong and Chinese communism, others like Lenin's On Confounding Politics with Pedagogics and Stalin's Armed Insurrection and our Tactics are listed there as well for people to do more research into the classics of Marxism-Leninism.

It is in the mass line that the dialectical relationship between theory and practice is the most clear. As a revolutionary method, the mass line has be proven by successful revolutionary movements all over the world. This pamphlet from Freedom Road shows, point by point, just how that works. I would highly suggest that people read it and apply it.

"The masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant, and without this understanding, it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge." - Mao Zedong

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Anti-War Unity Advances at Protest RNC Organizers Conference

Workers, oppressed nationalities, and other progressives in the U.S. and around the world are looking forward to huge antiwar protests at the Republican National Convention, and for organizers this provides a rallying point, in my opinion, for a great leap forward in the growing unity of the U.S. antiwar movement. The organizing conference that took place in Minneapolis, which brought together all of the major antiwar coalitions under one banner, was held only just days after the local coalition won an important part of the battle for permits.

I'm reposting the following article which includes some excellent podcasts from the RNC protest organizing conference that took place recently. And FYI, you can see some video coverage of the conference here.

Voices from the RNC protest organizing conference
Listen to some of the key speeches

Minneapolis, MN - Activists from around the country gathered here Feb. 9-10 for an organizing conference to plan the anti-war protests at the Republican National Convention.

The conference brought together more than 60 organizations and included the major centers of the anti-war movement, including United for Peace and Justice, International ANSWER and the Troops Out Now Coalition. Also present was Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War.

The event was organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

Podcasts available

Click on the names below for the mp3 of that person's speech, or right-click on a name and select 'save as' to save the mp3 on your computer.

Jess Sundin speaking for the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. Sundin is a founding member of the Twin Cites based Anti-War Committee. She has participated in or coordinated solidarity trips to Iraq, El Salvador and Colombia.

Leslie Cagan coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war coalition with more than 1400 member groups.

Sara Flounders representing the Troops Out Now Coalition. She is also co-director of the International Action Center.

John Beacham representing International ANSWER, a coalition of hundreds of organizations with organizing centers in scores of cites and towns across the country.

Angel Buechner a leader of the Welfare Rights Committee.

Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War.

(reprinted from Fight Back! News)

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SDS / IVAW Mock Raid in Asheville, NC

This counter-recruitment action, the staging of a "mock raid" by members of Students for a Democratic Society and Iraq Veterans Against the War in Asheville, North Carolina is an excellent example of what the antiwar movement needs more of: militant actions that disrupt business as usual, disrupt recruitment efforts, raise the social costs of the war, and tear holes into the fabrications of the war machine. Here you can watch a youtube video of the mock raid that took place there on Feb 5th, and read the "Joint Statement" from UNCA SDS and IVAW-Asheville.

The UNCA SDS / IVAW-Asheville statement reads, in part, "We oppose this war for many reasons. In particular, we oppose the war because it violates the sovereignty of Iraq’s people and their national right to self-determination. Furthermore, the U.S. government forces service members to fight an illegal war. We recognize that the military-industrial complex, corporate profiteering and imperialist designs fuel this war on an oil-rich and strategically important region."

After describing the action that took place, IVAW-Asheville president, Jason Hurd is quoted as saying, "This scenario is based entirely in reality. It is based on the first-hand experience of Mike Robinson, a fellow IVAW member and participant in this action. I also spoke personally with many Iraqi citizens during my tour who explained that raids like this one occur daily in occupied Iraq."

The statement goes on to say, "The guerrilla theater that took place on the 5th is in no way meant as an attack on individual military members, but rather as a statement against war and militarism as well as an indictment against the criminal regime here at home. Our government exploits U.S. soldiers who come predominantly from working-class and oppressed communities. Only the rich profit from this war. Therefore, we express solidarity with all U.S. service members; we see them as our natural allies in the fight against all oppression."

The statement goes on to analyze what military recruiters promise and offers a comparison to how that stack up against "the real world." Finally, the statement says, "SDS and IVAW want all U.S. troops out of Iraq NOW! We realize the futility and criminality of this ongoing occupation and we see the correlation between high-levels of violence and U.S. presence in Iraq. SDS member and participant in Tuesday’s action, Angela Denio said, 'This war is a complete injustice perpetrated against the people of Iraq. The anti-war movement must rise in solidarity with the Iraqi people and their just struggle for national liberation.' From this point forward, whenever any military recruiter sets foot on UNCA campus, SDS and IVAW-Asheville commit to countering their efforts by building a community movement that resists and disrupts war and militarism."

I sincerely hope that we see more of this type of thing in the months to come. As Ron Jacobs put it recently in Counter Punch: "The only existing national organizations that could possibly provide fresh leadership at this time are Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)." As we move toward the fifth anniversary of the war, groups like SDS and IVAW need to take the lead with more actions like this and the SDS call for March 17-21 days of action against the war in Iraq.

U.S. Out of Iraq NOW!

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SDS Days of Action Against the War in Iraq

NATIONAL DAYS OF STUDENT ACTION AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR

ALL OUT FOR MARCH 20, 2008

This March will mark a grim milestone - the fifth anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Despite the clear mandate from the American people to end the occupation, the U.S. government continues to wage war upon the Iraqi people. Bush’s mocking response to dwindling public support for the war has been the “troop surge,” or simply more of the same, while simultaneously threatening neighboring countries like Iran. For their part, the Democrats refuse to commit to a clear anti-war stance, even as they try to posture as the opposition party. Meanwhile, the threat of domestic recession looms, racist attacks increase, and millions lack decent housing, jobs, education, and health-care.

The war will drag on for many more years–draining billions of dollars and resulting in thousands of more causalities, both American and Iraqi, on top of the hundreds of thousands already killed, injured, and displaced–unless the people stand up and fight for change.Every year, there have been protests marking the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that was launched on the basis of lies and deceit. Students have historically had an especially important role in the struggles against racism and war, and we continue to do so today. Last March, over 80 high schools and colleges answered the call by chapters of Students for a Democratic Society to come together to send one loud resounding NO to the Bush administration and the Republican agenda, to the Democrats who refuse to carry out the mandate of their constituents, and to the University administrations that so often support war efforts.

This March, SDS is urging all students, as part of the broader community of people of conscience, to voice our opposition to the war in Iraq. As the presidential election nears, candidates need to be sent a clear message: we will not stand for vague time lines and empty promises, we will not tolerate sanctions, threats, and aggression against Iran, and that we will stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people who are struggling to liberate their country.We want as many people as possible to join us in this protest; the larger the protest the stronger the impact we have, and the sooner we can help end this war. We are calling on any and all student and youth based organizations that are opposed to the war in Iraq to mobilize their memberships, their campus, their community and hit the streets for the week of March 17-21, with March 20 as the focal point.* We are calling on students to take action on their own campuses, where we have the power to reach the entire student body with our message and build resistance on our own campuses. We are calling on our fellow students and youth to take the lead and do whatever it takes–from rallies, marches, walk-outs, civil disobedience, and direct action–to send a clear message to the U.S. government: Get out of Iraq Now!

U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!

GET ORGANIZED, GET INVOLVED, GET IN THE STREETS!

SDS March 20th Working Group

January 4, 2008

Contact march20sds@gmail.com if you would like to sign on to the call.

*This call is flexible so that each campus/community can organize an action that works best for them. For instance, if March 20th is an inconvenient date due to Spring Break, actions can be held in the weeks prior to or after 3/20. We are encouraging those who are on spring break during this week to mobilize their chapters to participate in the anti-war actions being held in D.C. on the 19th; for more information on the actions in DC, email dcsds@riseup.net.

http://march20sds.wordpress.com/

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Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!

The contradiction between imperialism and the peoples of the oppressed nations is the principal contradiction on a world scale. The main front of this contradiction is in Iraq, where the Iraqi national resistance is in the process of defeating U.S. imperialism. Below you will find some articles about the resistance in Iraq and why they need and deserve the support of the antiwar movement. The Iraqi Resistance is a national liberation movement struggling against occupation for justice, peace, and self-determination. While "TROOPS OUT NOW" must remain the central and unifying slogan of the antiwar movement, raising political support for the Iraqi national resistance as the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people is one of the main tasks of Marxist-Leninists and of all genuine anti-imperialists in the movement today. This is true solidarity with the Iraqi people.

Voices of the Iraqi Resistance:
Leaders of the Iraqi National Resistance Speak at an International Solidarity Conference

By Kosta Harlan

Chianciano, Italy - An historic conference with leaders of the Iraqi national resistance was held here last week. It was the first time that representatives of the Iraqi resistance have been able to speak in the West. Organizers had previously attempted to hold the conference in the fall of 2005, only to have the Italian government withhold visas from the Iraqi participants after intense pressure from the United States government. The scope of the conference extended beyond Iraq to include the resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as representatives from the antiwar and liberation movements in countries from around the world.

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/03/voices.htm)

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U.S. anti-war activist on speaking tour, tells of meeting with Iraqi resistance

By staff

In March, U.S. antiwar activist and Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Kosta Harlan attended a historic international solidarity conference in Italy with leaders of the Iraqi resistance ( see “Voices of the Iraqi Resistance,” Fight Back!, March 2007). Since returning to the United States, Harlan has traveled to college campuses and cities across the South, speaking to hundreds of students and antiwar activists about the Iraqi resistance. He spoke at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte; at Winthrop University in South Carolina; at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and at community centers in Winston-Salem and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/06/antiwartour.htm)

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Petraeus, Bush vow to continue war

Movement to end war grows

By Josh Sykes and Staff

Reporting to Congress Sept. 11, General David Petraeus confirmed what most in the anti-war movement have long been saying: The U.S. has no intention of getting out of Iraq anytime soon - unless it is forced to.

In the course of the testimony and questioning before congress there was talk of the occupation continuing another five years or more. Figures in the Bush administration have compared the occupation of Iraq with the U.S. military presence in south Korea, an occupation that has extended more than half a century. In a speech two days later, Bush endorsed Petraeus’s recommendations, including a plan to ‘draw down’ U.S. troops to pre-surge levels. Practically, this means that the current number of U.S. troops, about 168,000, may be reduced to about 130,000 to 140,000 by next summer. The key phrase here is ‘may be.’ What’s certain is that the Bush administration and the Pentagon are planning an indefinite occupation of Iraq and that Bush is delivering on his promised ‘war without end.’

(read the rest: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2007/09/petraeus.htm)

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The Iraqi Resistance is Just and Should be Supported:
A Reply to Phyllis Bennis

Kosta Harlan
August 11, 2007

In the four years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, public debate within the U.S. antiwar movement on whether to support the Iraqi resistance has rarely taken place. Consequently the recent polemic between Alexander Cockburn and Phyllis Bennis (a leader in the United for Peace and Justice Coalition) is an extremely positive development and should be welcomed. It is an important debate that needs to take place at all levels within the U.S. antiwar movement.

Some weeks ago Alexander Cockburn wrote of the need for the U.S. antiwar movement to openly support the resistance ("Support their troops?," CounterPunch). In her reply, "Why the Anti — War Movement Doesn't Embrace the Iraqi Resistance", Bennis correctly argues that the basis of unity in the movement should not be "Victory to the resistance", but the demand "Troops out now". But Bennis goes further and argues that anti — imperialists have no responsibility to raise support for the Iraqi resistance. Bennis says that the Iraqi resistance is illegitimate (with some arrogance, she refers to the Iraqi resistance in quotation marks) and is therefore undeserving of support. This conclusions rests on a number of erroneous arguments, concentrated here in one paragraph of her article:

(read the rest: http://www.mltoday.com/Pages/IraqWar/Harlan-ReplytoBennis.html)

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Interview in Madrid with Abu Muhammad, spokesman of the patriotic and nationalist Iraqi Resistance

“The Iraqi Resistance is the legitimate and sole representative of Iraq”

CEOSI, Madrid, 8 October 2007

IraqSolidaridad (www.iraqsolidaridad.org),

10 December 2007

Translated from Spanish for IraqSolidaridad by Sabah Assir, revised by Ian Douglas

“The Iraqi Resistance has no relation with Al-Qaeda, which has its own vision, strategy, purposes and resources. One part of the assassinations that are now taking place in Iraq are executed by Al-Qaeda and another part by the militias and death squads linked to the political parties [invested in the US-imposed political process and] related to the occupation, but which also count on the assistance of Iran through its intervention in Iraq. […] The objective of the Iraqi Resistance is to achieve a total liberation. When the occupiers leave Iraq we will establish a national democratic, multiparty system, based on free elections; a regime in which all Iraqis that believe in collective rights will participate.”

(read the rest: http://iraqsolidaridad.org/2007/docs/10-12-07-Entrevista_Abu_Mohamad_ingles.html)

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Iraqi Resistance Demands U.S. Withdrawl and Recognition

Published Oct 20, 2007 7:16 AM

Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto participated in interviews in Madrid on Oct. 10 with Abu Muhammed, a spokesperson for both the post-invasion Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Iraq and for the Supreme Command of the Front for Struggle [Jihad] and Liberation in Iraq (FSL), whose formation was announced Oct. 2. This front is one of the major coalitions or fronts of organizations that participate in the Iraqi National Resistance (INR) to the U.S. occupation.

This was the first set of interviews by an official representative of a major coalition of the Iraqi resistance outside the Middle East. He came to Spain at the invitation of the group CEOSI (iraqsolidaridad.org) and held media, political and institutional meetings.

(read the rest: http://www.workers.org/2007/world/iraq-1025/)

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'US is the main irritant in Iraq'

By Ahmed Janabi

Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, is arguably one of the most influential Iraqi Sunni leaders today. His unequivocal opposition to the US-led occupation and criticism of the Nouri al-Maliki government attracted threats against his life and forced him into exile.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, al-Dhari says the slight improvement in the security situation in Iraq "is due to a decision by the Iraqi government to reign in its death squads".

(read the rest: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/358F4592-A9B6-4BBC-8C3A-4FBC700C0BBC.htm)

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Iraq - Eye to Eye with the Occupation • Chapter III: The Historical Roots of Resistance

First published in French and Dutch in May 2004, Iraq: Eye to Eye with the Occupation by Mohamed Hassan, former Ethiopian diplomat and Middle East specialist, and David Pestieau, Belgian journalist (www.solidaire.org) has now been translated into German, Italian and Turkish.One of the first books on the occupation of Iraq, it gives facts and analysis on the historical, political and social roots of the Iraqi resistance against the US army and its allies.

(read the rest: http://www.solidaire.org/scripts/article.phtml?section=A3AAABBSBA&obid=26821)

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FRSO Fifth Congress Resolution:
Victory to the Iraqi Resistance

As the U.S. occupation of Iraq enters its fifth year, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization salutes the Iraqi resistance in its heroic struggle to liberate Iraq from imperialism and colonialism. We join with progressive forces around the world in recognizing that the victory of the Iraqi resistance is the only possible path towards a just peace in Iraq.

FRSO condemns the U.S. occupation of Iraq as a crime against humanity. Millions of people are suffering daily under the boot of military dictatorship. Hundreds of thousands have died in the four years of occupation. Millions live as refugees, both in and outside of Iraq. The U.S. has established a sectarian puppet "government," bound hand-and-foot to Washington, and calls it "democracy." FRSO calls on the antiwar movement to refuse any support to this puppet regime and recognize the national resistance as the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people.

(read the rest: http://www.frso.org/about/5congress/resolutioniraq.htm)

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The Movement Against War in Iraq:
A New Period and Our Tasks

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Lessons From 17 Years of Aggression and Resistance

Iraq has been under attack by the United States government and military for the past 17 years. The current war and occupation has lasted for four years, and the U.S. faces military defeat by the Iraqi resistance. The American people do not support the war and want the troops brought home. It is an important time to look back at the movement against the war, try to learn some of the lessons that are available and look ahead to the tasks for the U.S. anti-war movement.

(read the rest: http://www.frso.org/about/statements/2007/antiwartasks2007.htm)

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FRSO Fifth Congress:
Main Political Report 2007
International Situation

Introduction

Since 2004, the international situation has continued to develop in a way that is extremely favorable for the world’s peoples to make gains. In fact, the imperialist centers have been dealt heavy setbacks. On a general level we can say that the four basic contradictions are sharpening–between imperialism and the peoples of the oppressed nations, between the imperialist powers, between the working class and the capitalists, and between socialism and capitalism–and that this intensification of the basic contradictions exists in the context of the long-term decline of U.S. imperialism. (1)

The principal contradiction in the world today is between the peoples of the third world (2) and imperialism. The U.S. is the preeminent imperialist power in the world today and as such it is the main danger to the world’s peoples.

(read the rest: http://frso.org/about/5congress/mpr2007.pdf)

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Meeting Resistance: A Documentary Film about the Resistance in Iraq

What would you do if America was invaded?

(check it out: http://www.meetingresistance.com/)

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For more see also: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/resistance.htm

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End the U.S. and Israeli Attacks on Lebanon and Palestine - Victory to the Resistance!

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Israel has added another offense to its long roster of crimes by attacking Lebanon. It is conducting an air war that intentionally targets civilians; even refugees fleeing in their cars are killed. Israel is systematically destroying the infrastructure of southern Lebanon by targeting people's basic needs - apartment buildings, warehouses full of food, gas stations, powers plants, bridges and roads. Almost a million people have been driven from their homes. Now Israeli ground troops have crossed the border into Lebanon.

Right now Israel is carrying out a war on the Arab peoples on two fronts. Lebanon is one and Palestine - particularly Gaza - is the other. The Israeli authorities have kidnapped Palestinian legislators, cabinet ministers and mayors. No one is safe from Israel's ceaseless shelling. Not old folks in their homes or children by the seashore. Occupied Palestine has been turned into an open-air prison. The medical system is in shambles and the hand of hunger is touching the majority of families. On one day, July 26, the Israeli authorities killed at least 23 people.

None of this would be possible without the complicity of the United States government. Israel is a client state, created on stolen land and existing on borrowed time. Israel is a country brought into being by Western imperialism, and it is armed and financed by the U.S. The Bush administration is doing much more than 'giving a green light' to these attacks. In fact the two parties have arrived at of crude division of labor. American diplomats are charged with preventing a ceasefire while American-made bombs and artillery rounds are being rushed to the Israeli army. The Israelis' role is to carry out the actual bloodletting and murder of women and children.

The United States has built an empire for the purpose enriching the corporate elite by looting the land, labor and natural resources of others. Israel serves as a thuggish enforcer of this empire in the Middle East.

At this point it should be clear to all that full-scale war unleashed in Gaza and Lebanon has little to do with that the capture of a few Israeli soldiers by Lebanese and Palestinian resistance forces. According to a number of press accounts, active planning for the invasion of Lebanon began five years ago.

To understand what Bush and the Israeli authorities are doing, several important factors need to be kept in mind. First, a profound radicalization of the broad masses of people is unfolding across the Middle East and Israel is in a position of relative weakness. Hezbollah defeated Israel and forced it leave south Lebanon in 1999. The Palestinian resistance is strong and broad based. Additionally, Israel's main backers, the rulers of the United States, are facing a defeat of historic proportions in Iraq. The U.S. government and its outpost in Israel are trying to break out of the cycle of defeat and decline though the war on Lebanon. The have lifted a rock that will end up on their feet.

Both the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance deserve the support of peace movement, progressives in general and all people of goodwill. The men and women who are giving their lives to resist Israeli/U.S. aggression represent what is best in humanity: a willingness to sacrifice for the collective good, a commitment on the part of the oppressed and exploited to achieve national freedom and a determination in the face of adversity to right a long history of wrongs. The best way we can support these movements for justice is to unite all who can be united to end the occupations of Palestine and Lebanon.

If a movement weakens imperialism it should be supported. No one wants to live under the shadow of an empire - that's a matter of fair play and justice. Also, whatever weakens the rich and powerful who rule the United States is good for us, the working and oppressed people who live here.

The people of Lebanon and Palestine are heroes. They are farmers and grandparents, moms and factory workers, scholars and people from all walks of live who are stepping on to the stage of world history. They know what hell is like and have decided to destroy it. They deserve solidarity and support of the American people.

U.S. out of the Middle East!
End all aid to Israel!
The Arab peoples are sure to win!

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