alanjjohnstone
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The comments are all very interesting and seems to be concentrated upon how to solve the situation of IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh (seems we can't even agree upon what to call them), and doing the thinking for the ruling class it sort of seems to me but no-one has responded to my request about what we can do as a socialist movement with our extremely limited resources.We all appear to have something to say about the realpolitik but nothing about the very mundane question of what we ourselves can do. I do note positively that we have now issued a press release but perhaps we could have targetted it to muslim newspapers, eg The Muslim Newshttp://epaperdaily.com/uk-newspapers/the-muslim-news-paper-uk.htmlAnd perhaps to go further so that our views are seen we could perhaps take out some paid adverts in selected media. Can we perhaps increase our Arabic and Urdu language literature even if it may mean employing the services of a translator if we have no-one qualified?Could we put out a pamphlet specifically on Islam?…(we do possess some insightful articles on Islam and banking that could be incorporated into a religious pamphlet)Once again and no one have yet commented nay or yeah on my idea that we can invite a guest speaker to speak on Marxism and Muslim apostasy. With a billion and a half who profess adherence to Islam, sooner or later we must try to convince them that they are as mistaken as Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.
A new parliament but the Rohingya are still outsidershttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/11/uncertainty-looms-myanmar-muslims-151115101345438.htmlHow long before the first acts of resistance by the Rohingya take place and then it will be once more the headlines of …muslim terrorism…
An article that demonstrates the many double-standards people possess but especially the media http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/11/beirut-paris-attacks-151115075935564.html
I have invited members to go beyond condemnation to perhaps suggest a more positive response to the attackI have raised the possibility of inviting a member of the Workers Party of Iran to perhaps talk on Marxist materialism and muslim apostasy…What other ideas have members got ?Increase our arabic/urdu/turkish language literature?Do a small pamphlet on the Islam religion ? We do have articles on its attitude towards banking that we could expand upon.A formal debate with a representative of a mosque?Apart from the first proposal, my imagination isn't that particularly good so again, what do fellow mwmbers suggest we do, bearing in mind Einstein's comment …doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a sign of insanity. What fresh ideas have we got?
Quote:We're famous (again)…A bit surprising, I suppose, that none of us noticed itI think the second bit of the observation puts things in the proper perspective…If we didn't spot the link, i'm sure few others did so hardly fame for us.But all kudos to Howard in doing so.
Seems my guess of the passport was on the right lines
Quote:A U.S. intelligence official told CBS News that a name and picture were recovered from the Syrian passport and the individual was not known to intelligence officials. However, a U.S. intelligence official told CBS News the Syrian passport might be fake. The official said the passport did not contain the correct numbers for a legitimate Syrian passport and the picture did not match the name.http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-attacks-teams-extremists-france-prosecutor/and
Quote:A U.S. Intelligence source told Milton investigators have so far seen no insider knowledge in the chatter or communications that is being intercepted to verify who was involved. While there have been people saying glowing things about the Paris attack, no one has revealed information about the attack that only the attackers would have knowledge of, the source said.As i feared and mentioned in an earlier post, the Paris attack will be used as an attack on the refugees …Convenient for Marina Le Pen, Farage and all the others, a Syrian passport has been found that links one suspected terrorist to a refugee registered in Greece…as has an Egyptian passport been found …so included in the suicide bomb vests were ID although the only verified participant was a radicalised French national, …i simply don't believe it…i have a feeling ISIS planted false passports that somehow survived an explosion to create another refugee crisis with more border being closed …we already see anger and some violence escalating…another recruitment campaign for ISIS, perhaps …create chaos and discriminationhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/nov/15/paris-attacker-named-investigation-continues-live-updates#block-5648725be4b091c2edb6cd9f
See Message #8, LBird, But when police over-react and murder, it is not terrorism and not to be remembered
We could go on offering our views on this atrocity, just one of so many happening around the world and not at all unique except in the sense that it is on our doorstep in a neighbouring country in a city many have visited. Here in Thailand four died in a bomb attack just the other day in the south where there is a civil war between muslims and buddhists if we wish to simplify it into religion. What i am have difficulty in doing is formulating a socialist response that resonates with people. I can easily demonstrate the hypocrisy of many who are condemning the attacks but that doesn't help communicate to fellow workers or relate to their genuine feelings of horror. I can easily show that ISIS is a small minority of muslims but the media headline is still that it was a muslim attack and it is muslims now being hunted as the guilty culprits I can provide all the history links to put this attack intp a bigger picture and that it was simply an event in a long train of events…(which reminds me of the Spanish train attack some years back that i think so many forget)I have made one suggestion – offering token support for muslim apostates by hosting a public meeting but was this a religious attack or simply revenge for Hollande and the French air attacks as one terrorist in the theatre declared it was. But surely we should now be discussing what our reply and answer is and this thread isn't being particularly helpful in offering me any inkling of what wwe should be saying. Banish Gods from the Sky and Capitalists from the Earth – but in what style of message can we do it.
Sunni V ShiiteI think i even fell into the trap of generalising Muslims as one."The time is not far off in the Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them." Said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, one-time Saudi ambassador in Washington and ex-head of Saudi intelligence said to MI6 head, Sir Richard Dearlove.There is no doubt about the accuracy of the quote by Prince Bandar, secretary-general of the Saudi National Security Council from 2005 and head of General Intelligence between 2012 and 2014, the crucial two years when al-Qa'ida-type jihadis took over the Sunni-armed opposition in Iraq and Syria. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, Dearlove, emphasised the significance of Prince Bandar's words, saying that they constituted "a chilling comment that I remember very well indeed".Dearlove does not doubt that substantial and sustained funding from private donors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to which the authorities may have turned a blind eye, has played a central role in the Isis surge into Sunni areas of Iraq. He said: "Such things simply do not happen spontaneously." This sounds realistic since the tribal and communal leadership in Sunni majority provinces is much beholden to Saudi and Gulf paymasters, and would be unlikely to cooperate with Isis without their consent.What the Saudi’s are experiencing now is what the USA experienced – blowback – from their proxies. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.htmlThe Beirut attack was an attack upon a Shiite neighbourhoodIt has been predominantly muslim upon muslim violence even as far away as in Pakistan
A related thread to be found on the Libcom website (and incidentally a mention and links to the Standard's reviews)http://libcom.org/forums/general/la-commune-revolutionary-potential-11062011
Another Paris massacre that i am sure will receive no mention at all in the media(via Libcom)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961
Is it too simplistic to call ISIS scum and nutters?Will most people differentiate between ISIS and muslims? There is a good chance of a backlash…and it has been happening for some years now as islamophobia has grown …Followers of Islam being tarred with the same brush. This alienates them and provides an increasing pool for ISIS to recruit from, not a shrinking one as Robbo believes…the rudimentary propaganda tools remain the same …my "people" right or wrong. Didn't we have exerience of this in Ireland…when internment created converts to the "cause". They are bringing the war home to many who didn't have a problem with French aircraft being involved in the Syrian Civil War and their financing of ISIS "moderate " rivals and who didn't give a toss about the bombing in Beirut that also killed scores of innocent people a few days previously in another tactic to widen the war in the region.But i don't think we will receive a very sympathetic audience by exposing the hypocrisy that exists which Vin refers to. We will be seen as apologists for ISIS and terrorism. Our fellow workrs will kill the messenger because it is a message they have no wish to hear. We are stuck between a stone and a hard place where we cannot express fully the socialist position that both sides are committing atrocities and that the cause is deeper than the superficial reason of religion…YMS has reduced ISIS to some degree to simply an international gang of criminals little different from the drug cartels. Is that a correct reading? All guerilla groups conduct crimes and terror to provide funds for weapons, from the IRA to the Taleban, from the Bolsheviks (Stalin the bank robber) to the Shining Path of Peru. This is what we should be concentrating our brains upon …finding the best means of condemning ISIS and all the others involved , including our own government while advocating socialism.Should we just ignore individual acts of terror and aim our response at all religions as a counter strategy?Hold a meeting promoting atheism and support the muslim apostates. Offer Maryam Namazie a platform? Wouldn't this be an actual constructive response. Should we also invite representatives of the No Borders groups to explain the refugee crises and the causes and reasons behind it .ie Syria and Iraq and Western/Gulf military intervention. Let's not forget the Syrian civil war was not a war but part of the Arab Spring that anti- Baathist outsiders purposfully militarised. I have no answer but i do know that we shouldn't be parroting our rulers propaganda. Our actions must be based upon political independence.
An article that i think reflects much more the more optimistic thinking of ALB and YMS (apologies in advance if i am misrepresenting what i judge to be your overview) that the election was indeed a step forward on the road to democracy. http://fpif.org/burma-democracy-with-an-asterisk/But my own opinion is that the new NLD government will come to a fairly amicable and pragmatic understanding with the military as already indicated in the above article. While the NLD are on a leash held by the army, i doubt very much the NLD can put to a muzzle on the military. But who knows…events may change my opinion…but heeding the example of Myanmar's neighbour, Thailand… the military will always be pulling the puppets strings from the shadows and steps in via a coup whenever they think it necessary…Why should we think it will be any different in Myanmar?
