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Here's what the Socialist Standard said at the time:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1920s/1923/no-224-april-1923/socialism-and-fascisti

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Whoever invented it, Tony Cliff is still saying it from beyond the grave:https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/neither-washington-nor-moscow-nor-more-war-in-syria,11397

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This is supposed to be a criticism of him !http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43737547?intlink_from_url=&link_location=live-reporting-story

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An opinion poll says most people in Britain are against it:https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-news/2018/04/12/breaking-theresa-mays-plan-to-bomb-syria-just-hit-some-serious-turbulence/

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By almost two to one, British people oppose bombing Syria, according to a survey by YouGov released on 12 April.

But when has that made much difference to a government bent on war?Footnote: even the Ludwig von Mises Institute is against it:https://mises.org/wire/against-war-syria 

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A LibDem puts the case against bombing Syria:https://www.libdemvoice.org/taking-action-against-syria-is-not-liberal-interventionism-57182.htmlMeanwhile some Labour MPs, including its Deputy Leader no less,  are clamouring for Syria to be bombed:https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/labours-tom-watson-backs-missile-12859462

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In other words Zionism could be construed as a form of racism

You can't say that or you'll be done for anti-semitism. Here's the official government definition of anti-semitism:https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-definition-of-antisemitism

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However, for those seeking a definition of antisemitism, the UK’s College of Policing does include a working definition of antisemitism in their guidance to police forces in the UK. The full guidance is available from their website here and the definition is reproduced in full here:(…)Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Safer to say that Israel is a sectarian endeavour.

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More here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_IsraelApparently, the same applies to Israeli subjects who are Muslims and Christians. They can't marry outside their religion either. Israel is continuing to apply the situation that existed under the Ottoman Empire except that it is Jews not Muslims who are the top dogs. So Israel is a backward country in this respect, though not as bad a Apartheid South Africa as sexual relations between people of different religions don't seem to be illegal. It's a sectarian State.

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alanjjohnstone wrote:

https://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2012/10/jewish-history.htmlA useful read from my personal blog Mailstrom  of an article by Schlomo Sand, professor of history at Tel Aviv university.

Is this true:

Sand wrote:

Israel is a state which forbids marriage between a ‘Jew’ and a ‘non-Jew’,

It can't be, can it? Is Israel really that bad?

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bbc wrote:

Mr Gabbay says the policies of Israel's opposition party and the ruling coalition government were "aligned" when it came to the "security of our citizens and the actions of our soldiers" and Mr Corbyn had shown "hatred" of the government's policies in these areas.

Here is a prime example of someone using the new, invalid extension of the meaning of anti-semitism to mean not just "hatred of Jews" but "hatred of policies of the government of Israel". The Israeli Labour Party is of course a Zionist outfit.

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The word Semitic in relation to "race" (or "ethnicity" as you have to say now) is just as unscientific as Aryan in the same context. Both in fact orginated at the same time, when the the facts about "race" were not yet known and prejudices about it widespread, even mainstream.The only scientific use of the two terms is in relation to language and, here, the irony is that the European Jews who went to Palestine as colonists under the Zionist project spoke a dialect of German, a non-Semitic languague (Aryan, in fact). And the Jews that came to Palestine after the state of Israel was set up spoke Arabic (which is a Semitic languague). They were in fact Arabs whose religion was Judaism just as most of the Christians of the area are Arabs whose religion is Christianity.

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For the record, here's how the various States on the UN Security Council voted:www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1804/S00063/security-council-fails-to-adopt-three-resolutions-on-syria.htmThe OPCW investigation is going ahead anyway but so might the NATO bombing campaign and retaliatory action by Russia (probably on bases of US-trained rebels in Syria).

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I don't know if this is true but it seems reasonable:https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/chemical-weapons-watchdog-to-send-inspectors-to-syria-1.521295https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201804101063408765-opcw-douma/What's going to be interesting is how the War Party is going to react. Will they give the OPCW team the run-around that they gave poor old Hans Blix over Iraq's non-existent "weapons of mass destruction", ignoring any unfavourable conclusions?Bomber Blair is naturally in favour of bombing first and investigating afterwards.

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To give the man his due, he is not joining in the "Bomb Syria" campaign in which many of his own MPs are participating.:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5594765/Corbyn-refuses-blame-Assad-chemical-attack-Syria.htmlTo go to war, capitalist states need a pretext and this time it's "gas attack" even merely "alleged" or "suspected" (last time it was "weapons of mass destruction"). But since the place where the attack is alleged to have taken place is no longer in rebel hands it should be easy to verify whether or not one took place. The place and the people in the video should be able to be identified. I can't see how any reasonable person, as someone who wants to avoid further deaths, injuries and destruction, could refuse to such an immediate on-the-spot investigation.One of the reasons that the Oxford Communist Corresponding Society gave for voting Labour in 2016 — in fact the only reason as they accepted that a Labour government even under Corbyn would not be able to make capitalism work in the interest of the working class — was that Corbyn as PM would not authorise military action overseas. I think he might try not to, as he's doing now, but would be toppled if the vital interest of UK capitalism was threatened.

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The list of candidates has now been publshed. In London the voting system is that there are 3 councillors per ward, with the first 3 past the post being elected. Electors can cast up to 3 votes (which must be for different candidates).In Islington Junction ward: it's a straight fight between us and 3 candidates each from the usual suspects (Tories, Labour, LibDems, Greens), making a total of 13 candidates.In Richmond Barnes ward: besides us there are 3 Tories, 3 Labourites, 2 LibDems and 1 Green (the Lib-Dems and Greens have formed an electoral pact), making 10 candidates in all.In Southwark Borough & Bankside ward: we're are up against 3 candidates each from the usual suspects plus 1 from the Women's Equality Party, a total of 14 candidatest

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More added. Click on title to read:

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The Finance of War, September 1959 We are all Socialists now, April 1962 A Tale of Two Simpletons: Good man gone wrong, September 1962 The Common Market and the old Corn Laws, October 1962 Forerunner of Common Market, November 1962 Marx and the Sunday Times, November 1963 The Founding of the Trades Union Congress, June 1968 Capitalism's Dilemma, January 1974 The Strike Weapon, May 1976 The Future of Unemployment, August 1976 A useful introduction to Marx, June 1978

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