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See also the Other Languages section for more on the Middle East and Northern Africa. In English, and in Arabic.
In English
Arab-Israeli Relations
Israel
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After Sharon's Victory - New Convulsions in the Middle East
The landslide victory of right-winger Ariel Sharon in the Israeli elections has opened up a
new and convulsive period in the history of the Middle East. Under the pressure of US imperialism,
Barak's administration attempted to reach a "compromise" with Arafat and
the PLO leadership. We predicted from the start that the Oslo Agreement would break down, as the problem
cannot be solved on a capitalist basis. By Ted Grant and Alan Woods. (February 9, 2001)
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Middle East - On the brink of the abyss
The attack by a suicide squad on an American warship in Yemen, and that Israeli planes have bombed Palestinian cities represents a serious turn in the situation which seems to be spiralling out of control. The Arab regimes will be under extreme pressure from the masses. they may be afraid of being overthrown if they remain passive. The situation is so explosive that any spark might set off a conflict. It is doubtful now to what extent any of the principal players are really in control of events. America and Europe are applying pressure for a compromise. But what sort of compromise is possible now?
If there is a war in the Middle East it will have the gravest consequences. The price of oil would go through the ceiling, and that would spell the end of the boom. That is one reason why the West is so anxious. On the other hand, a military defeat would be the start of revolution in Egypt, Syria and throughout the Middle East. This would be a decisive turning point.
The only way out of the present impasse is on the basis of a revolutionary movement of the workers and youth, fighting for a Socialist Federation of the Middle East. (October 13, 2000)
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Middle East "Peace" Process - Days of Rage
Once again, the Middle East "peace process" hangs by a thread. The recent riots and gun battles throughout the West Bank and Gaza, which left hundreds wounded and a number dead, reveal the enormous frustration at the results of the "peace process" and the failure to end years of Israeli occupation. By John Robert. (May 21, 2000)
- Middle East in Turmoil
The election of Ehud Barak as Israel's new prime minister was heralded as a new
breakthrough aimed at ending "the 100 year conflict" in the Middle East. Barak
promised to withdraw from Lebanon in 15 months and honour the Wye River agreement by
October. However the situation simply marks a new stage in the conflict between Zionism
and imperialism and the Arab masses. Rob Sewell (September 1st, 1999)
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Morocco
Morocco
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The Ben Barka affair and the situation in Morocco today
In the interview
published in La Riposte, Bachir Ben Barka, the son of Mehdi Ben Barka, the
assassinated founder of the Moroccan Socialist Party (USFP), explains the long and largely
fruitless struggle waged by his family to obtain access to the files of the French secret
services. Towards the end of the interview, Bachir refers to the possibility that the
files may at last be opening by the Jospin government. However, whereas certain files were
in fact opened, the most important information about who killed Mehdi Ben Barka, on whose
orders and in what circumstances, and how the body was disposed of, has been once again
withheld from the family under the state secrecy laws.
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Mehdi Ben Barka Appeal
We appeal to all labor movement activists for letters of protest, demanding that the
French government immediately open all the secret service files on the Ben Barka Affair,
and any other material presently covered by the state secrecy laws covering to collaboration
between the French State and the Moroccan secret services in relation victims of assassination, torture or
imprisonment of opponents of the Hassan II regime. (May, 2000)
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Interview with Mehdi Ben Barka's Son Bachir
This interview was originally published in the French Marxist magazine La Riposte. In it, the son of assasinated
Moroccan socialist leader Mehdi Ben Barka explains the reasons why his father was kidnapped and assasinated with the help of the
French government. We are launching an international solidarity appeal to force the authorities to re-open this case
and make public all the secret documents being witheld from Ben Barka's family.
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Iraq
Iraq
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Imperialists Embark on 'Protective Retaliation'
The recent missile attacks on Baghdad by America and Britain, with the loss of two civilian lives and over 20 wounded, marked a further escalation in the undeclared war against Iraq. Since the Gulf war ten years ago, nearly 200,000 allied sorties have been carried out against the regime. The most powerful imperialist power on the planet, together with its lap-dog, Britain, have attempted to terrorise the Iraqis as a warning to all those in the 'third world' who dare threaten their interests. By Rob Sewell. From the British Marxist Magazine Socialist Appeal. (March 2001)
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The latest bombing of Iraq - another example of imperialist bullying
The recent bombing of Iraq is an act of imperialist insolence of the
worst type. American imperialism has emerged as the most arrogant and
ignorant imperialism that there has ever been. Never has there been a
situation where one super power has dominated the whole world situation,
as US imperialism does today. It is quite clear that they want to
establish the "American century". They are determined to put their stamp
on all the developments that are taking place in the underdeveloped
world. By Ted Grant and Fred Weston. (February 20, 2001)
- Imperialist Bullying and the
Crisis in the Middle East
US and British imperialism are preparing their war and propaganda machines for a bombing
of Iraq. This article exposes the real reasons behind the threat of force and all the lies
and double standards of imperialism in relation to chemical weapons, UN resolutions and
"defence of democracy". It also analyses the possible consequences of an
intervention in the fate of the Middle Eastern reactionary regimes.Ted Grant and Alan
Woods. (February 1998)
- US New Imperialist Intervention in
Iraq
This article analyses the US intervention in Iraq in August/September 1996 and the Iraqi
regime intervention in the struggle between different fractions in the Iraqi Kurdistan.
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Iran
Iran
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The Iranian Revolution - Past, Present and Future
The recent events in Iran are of tremendous importance to the working class of the whole world. Twenty years after the anti-Shah revolution was derailed and diverted into the blind alley of fundamentalism, the masses are once again beginning to stir.
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Iran: Khatami's Last Warning
Once again the students have taken to the streets of Teheran and other cities. But the scope of the present movement is far greater than the movement last summer which we described at the time as "the opening shots of the Iranian revolution". This time thousands of ordinary Iranians, especially poor people, joined the students in clashes with the police and Islamic vigilantes. By Alan Woods. (July 13, 2000)
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Elections in Iran - Last Chance for the "Reformers"
The Iranian elections on February 18th 2000 returned a massive majority for the so-called "reformers" around the president Mohammed Khatami in the new Majlis (Parliament). This article looks at the results of the elections and reports the growing movement of the workers. By Jordi Martorell. (March 22, 2000)
- The First Shots of the
Iranian Revolution
The mass demonstrations and riots in Iran are the first shots of the Iranian revolution.
This article points out the importance of these events, underlines the decissive role of
the workers and explains the need to link democratic demands with a socialist programme.
Alan Woods, July 17, 1999.
- The Iranian Revolution
1979 article by Ted Grant. Explains how the hated regime of the Shah was overthrown by a
workers' revolution, and how, unfortunately, the revolution was hijacked by the
fundamentalist mullahs.
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Turkey and the Kurds
Turkey
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- The Death Fasts and Prison Raids in Turkey
This special report from Internationalist Communists from Turkey, looks at the situation
of political prisoners in Turkish jails, the recent hunger strikes and the brutal prison
raids by the security forces. The article examines the tactics adopted
by the prisoners from a working-class perspective. (December 29, 2000)
- US/NATO Hypocrisy Exposed as
Turkey Attacks Kurds
Turkey, a member of the US-led NATO alliance that is bombing Serbia with the claimed aim
of ending the oppression of the Kosovar people, is viciously escalating its attacks on the
Kurdish people within and without its borders. (April 21, 1999)
- The Arrest of Ocalan and the Plight
of the Kurdish People
The arrest of Abdullah Ocalan the leader of the PKK (Workers Party of Kurdistan), has
brought the oppression of the Kurdish people to the attention of the whole world. Workers
around the world must support the struggle of the Kurdish people against the oppression
they suffer at the hands of the Turkish regime. However, it is not sufficient to simply
support the cause of the Kurdish people. It is also necessary to explain what lies behind
the oppression of the Kurds and show a concrete way out of the impasse they are facing.
Here we try to offer a Marxist analysis. (February 26, 1999)
Read this article in German: Die Verhaftung Öcalans und der kurdische Befreiungskampf
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Cyprus
Cyprus
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Furious, disillusioned investors march on the Cyprus Stock Exchange
On March 24th, after an accumulated fall of the Cyprus Stock Exchange of nearly
50% over a period of five months, angry investors decided to march on the Stock
Exchange to try and force the prices up! Millions of working class families are investing
their savings on the stock exchange in the belief that it can only go upwards.
This article gives a glimpse of the social and political effects of a collapse in the stock exchange.
From the Cypriot Marxist paper, Socialistiki Ekfrasi. (April 2000)
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Islamic Fundamentalism
- Fundamentalist Resurgence:
Causes and Prospects
The collapse of the Soviet Union has resulted in one of the most turbulent and disturbed
periods in human history. Instead of being the precursor of "The end of
history," capitalism is enmeshed in a crisis yet unforeseen. There is not a single
region of the planet which is not engulfed in social, economic or political crisis.
Capitalism on a world scale has proved to be incapable of resolving this crisis, and
develop society further.As a reaction to these crises new, and some not so new, phenomenon
have emerged on the political horizons of most countries. In most of the "Third
world," "Islamic" countries there is the resurgence of Islamic
fundamentalism. This article written in October 1994 by Lal Khan, editor of the Pakistani
Marxist paper The Struggle, analyses fundamentalism, its causes, history and
prospects.
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The Colonial Question and
Imperialism
- Marxism and the Struggle Against
Imperialism
It is nearly seven years since George Bush, the then president of the US, made his famous
"New World Order" speech. This was in 1991. In the build-up to the Gulf War the
main imperialist power on earth promised a world without wars, without dictatorships and,
of course, a world firmly under the control of a single all-powerful world policeman--the
US. After the fall of Stalinism, US imperialism really thought that the world would be
firmly under their command and they would be able to dictate the destiny of each and every
country. All conflicts in the world were to be solved through dialogue in a kind of
"Pax Americana." Now all these dreams have been reduced to rubble. In this
document Ted Grant and Alan Woods make an in-depth analysis of the history of the
imperialist domination of the Third World and the way. (June 1998)
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The Colonial Revolution and Civil War in South Yemen
This is a reprint of an article originally written by Ted Grant in 1986.
It analyses the civil war in the South Yemen in that period illustrating
the processes that were taking place in the colonial countries at that time, the processes of the colonial revolution. The degeneration of
Stalinism and the peculiar character of proletarian bonapartism, i.e. a
move to military-police dictatorship on the basis of state ownership of
the means of production, distribution and exchange were shown clearly during the course of the revolution in South Yemen after 1967. (By Ted
Grant, 1986)
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In Arabic:
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