Geico drops Linda Sarsour as a diversity speaker after FAUX outrage from pro-Israel groups

More than 60 groups demand Geico apologise to Sarsour for 'defamatory public attack'

Linda Sarsour speaks during a press conference on 11 March, 2021, in Louisville, Kentucky, ahead of the one-year anniversary of Breonna Taylor's killing during a no-knock police raid (AFP)
By MEE staff in Washington

Published date: 8 April 2022 

The US-based insurance company Geico has cancelled a scheduled speech by Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour at their offices, following a backlash from pro-Israel and Jewish groups who decried her criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

Geico had scheduled Sarsour to speak on 5 April at an internal event celebrating Middle East and North African Heritage Month - the official celebration recognised by the US government is Arab American Heritage Month, which occurs every April.

However, the insurance giant reversed course on Thursday, saying on Twitter that "we apologize to our employees, customers, and others for our initial plan to invite Linda Sarsour to speak."

"GEICO does not condone hatred of any kind, and we do not stand with anyone who does. We are not aligned with any form of exclusion," the company's statement said.

In response to the cancellation, more than 60 groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), Jewish Voice for Peace, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, came together on Friday to demand Geico apologise to Sarsour, saying their statement was an attack on the activist's character.

'Geico's defamatory attack on Linda Sarsour is an attack on all Americans who dare to criticize the Israeli government and other human rights violators'

- Statement from groups demanding apology from Geico

"GEICO must immediately delete its false, defamatory and unacceptable attack on Linda Sarsour, who has vocally advocated for justice for all people and repeatedly fought against Islamophobia, antisemitism, xenophobia, and all other forms of hatred," the groups said in a joint statement.

"GEICO's defamatory attack on Linda Sarsour is an attack on all Americans who dare to criticize the Israeli government and other human rights violators."

Cair also sent a letter addressed to Geico's CEO Todd Combs demanding both an apology as well as a meeting with Arab and Muslim community leaders.

The progressive advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace separately came to Sarsour's defence, saying that Geico should "retract their defamation and apologize to Linda Sarsour immediately". They called the company statement "an insulting, libelous public tweet".

Sarsour "is a beloved, principled organizer who fights for our collective liberation and has made invaluable contributions to movements for racial and economic justice", the group said on Twitter.

"Is that not aligned with your values, @GEICO?"

MPower Change, a Muslim-led social and racial justice organisation in the US, created a petition online further calling on Geico to apologise to Sarsour.

"GEICO decided they were more comfortable publicly vilifying and dehumanizing a prominent advocate for Arab Americans, U.S. Muslims, Palestinians and other marginalized communities, than simply having a conversation," the petition reads.
Conflating Israel criticism with antisemitism

Several Jewish organisations condemned Geico's initial plan to host Sarsour, with the Anti-Defamation League saying it was "shocked" the company was partnering with a person involved in "delegitimizing Israel".

Stopantisemitism.org, a group that has labelled several Palestinian activists as antisemitic, and the American Jewish Committee also joined in the criticism, condemning Geico over the invitation.

Sarsour is a leading activist in the US who has advocated for a number of causes including the rights of Palestinians living in the occupied territories, as well as women's issues, and Muslim American rights. She was also an organiser of the 2016 Women's March.

She is a well-received figure among Arab and Muslim progressive circles, however, her staunch support for Palestinian rights, her criticism of Israel, and support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has often drawn the ire of pro-Israel organisations, as well as conservative and right-wing commentators.

In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, the campaign of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden attacked Sarsour after her appearance at a panel at the Democratic National Convention.

The campaign later apologised to Sarsour in a private phone call, but subsequently told CNN that it did not support the activist's views.

Sarsour has not publicly commented on Geico's decision, and Geico did not respond to MEE's request for comment.

Amnesty criticises Republican efforts to block funding following Israel report

Rights group says proposed legislation is an 'authoritarian' attempt to distract and discredit research

A 2021 poll from the Jewish Electorate Institute found 25 percent of US Jewish voters agreed "Israel is an apartheid state" (AFP/File photo)

By MEE staff
Published date: 8 April 2022 

Amnesty International has criticised efforts by two Republican lawmakers to deny the rights group federal funding following its landmark report which labelled Israel an apartheid state.

Senators Rick Scott and Mike Braun introduced the bill on Thursday, claiming the rights group had an "anti-Israel agenda".

"This legislation follows reports that Amnesty International, which has received more than $2.5 million in federal funds over the past two decades, is utilizing its platform as an International Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to foster and disseminate false, anti-Semitic reports attacking Israel, America's strongest ally in the Middle East," the politicians said in a statement.

The bill follows Amnesty's landmark report in February, in which Israel's practices, policies, and treatment of Palestinians were identified as a system of apartheid. It was the latest organisation in a cadre of human rights groups to use the term to describe Israel's discriminatory treatment of Palestinians.

House Democrats condemn Amnesty director's comments about Israel

Read More »

In response to the senators' proposed legislation, the rights group said on Friday that it was "no stranger to being targeted for its work", citing the closure of its offices in India, Hong Kong and Russia.

"If Senator Scott had spoken with some of our 10 million supporters in the US and around the world, he would know that we will not be intimidated by authoritarian tactics," the group said in a statement.

"Our findings are based on evidence and solid research, and the US government has relied on and lifted up our research for decades."

It added that the measure introduced by the two lawmakers represented "an attempt to distract from and discredit Amnesty's research upon which we base our calls to action".

Rejecting Scott and Braun's allegation that Amnesty is antisemitic, the group said it condemned all forms of hate "in the strongest possible terms".

Last month, a group of House Democrats attacked Amnesty International's USA executive director after he said the majority of American Jews did not want Israel to be a Jewish state - rather they want it to be "a safe Jewish space".

A 2021 poll from the Jewish Electorate Institute found 25 percent of US Jewish voters agreed with the statement "Israel is an apartheid state", while 28 percent said they did not find such a statement to be antisemitic.

Stifling criticism of Israel

The legislation is the latest in a series of attempts by US politicians to penalise any attempt by individuals or groups to criticise Israel over its policies towards Palestinians.

Dozens of states across the US have enacted legislation targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a nonviolent, peaceful, and Palestinian-led initiative that encourages individuals, nations and organisations to censure Israel's consistent violations of international law and human rights standards through various boycotts.

Free speech and Palestinian advocacy groups have slammed the growing number of anti-BDS bills in state legislatures, accusing sponsors of legislation of trying to muzzle criticism of Israel at the expense of the US constitution.

Last month, Congressman Lee Zeldin introduced a controversial bill in the House of Representatives that would effectively bar US citizens and companies from providing information to foreign countries and international organisations that "have the effect of furthering" the boycott of Israel.

Several courts have in recent years, however, ruled that such laws are in violation of the Constitution, and the free speech protections it provides under the First Amendment.

France: NSO Group sued over hacking Palestinian activist's phone
Rights organisations claim that use of Israeli spyware in France as well as in Palestine is a violation of French law

Salah Hammouri at the offices of the al-Haq Centre for Applied International Law in Ramallah, West Bank on 8 November 2021 (AFP)

By Edna Mohamed
Published date: 5 April 2022 

A new lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in France against the Israeli spyware company, NSO Group, over its alleged surveillance of the French-Palestinian human rights activist and political prisoner Salah Hammouri.

In October 2021, the Dublin-based NGO Front Line Defenders uncovered the hacking of six Palestinian activists, including Salah, using the Pegasus software, which was later confirmed by both Amnesty International and the Canadian think-tank Citizen Lab.

The investigation into the human rights defenders confirmed that Hammouri’s phone had been hacked using the software in April 2021.

In December, Salah reached out to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) to represent him in filing a legal complaint against the NSO Group because their spyware’s infiltration had deprived him of his right to privacy.

Legal action was submitted jointly by FIDH, the Human Rights League (LDH), and Salah Hammouri.

Jordan: Activists' phones hacked with Israeli spyware Pegasus, say privacy groups

Read More »

The NSO Group has been facing several lawsuits worldwide over the illegal use of its surveillance software, Pegasus.

A press release by FIDH said that due to the illegal surveillance occurring on French soil after first beginning in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the acts of the NSO Group constitute "a violation of the right to privacy under French law".

Clémence Bectarte, Coordinator of FIDH's Litigation Action Group, told Middle East Eye that it was the willingness from Salah to share the discovery of the investigation that allowed them to take the complaint to the Paris courts, especially as Salah holds a dual citizenship with France and some moments when he was hacked happened on French soil.

But Bectarte explained that for her organisation, "it's really important that the judiciary, independent judges are able to investigate the case, and to establish factually and legally the intrusion through the Pegasus spyware into Salah's phone".

"We also want them to establish precisely the moments where he was subjected to this infiltration, and, of course, to establish the consequences," she added.

However, since Salah's administrative detention by Israeli forces, Bectarte explains that they have not been able to contact him.
Detention without charge

On 7 March, Salah's house in Kufr Aqab was stormed by Israeli forces, and he was arrested and transferred to Ofer Israeli Military Prison.

According to Addameer, Salah has been targeted by Israeli occupation authorities over the years, made subject to arbitrary arrests, administrative detention without charge, and travel bans against him and his family.

The administrative detention lasts a period of three months and is subject to indefinite renewals, according to the emergency regulations applied by the Israeli military commander in the West Bank.

In October 2021, Israel’s Minister of Interior issued a decision to revoke Salah's permanent Jerusalem residence card based on an alleged “breach of allegiance to the State of Israel” and allegations of affiliation with “terrorist entities”.

The move to revoke his residence card would mean that Salah, born in 1985 in Jerusalem, would be expelled. It also set a dangerous precedent for Israeli authorities to withdraw the residencies of Palestinian Jerusalemites.

Salah, 36, has become one of the more critical cases of the Israeli occupations, harassment and persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders.

In Amnesty International’s report on Israel’s crimes of apartheid, Salah’s case was referenced in the illegal practice by authorities of forcible population transfer, deportation, and demographic engineering.

Number of Birds Living in Tropical Forests 'Has Plummeted by up to 90 Percent in just 40 Years'

BY ANAMARIJA BRNJARCHEVSKA, 

ZENGER NEWS ON 4/5/22 

Conservationists described the decline as "concerning" after finding that the vast majority of species studied in a Panamanian rain forest had seen declines in numbers of at least 50 percent between 1977 and 2020.

Study lead author Dr. Henry Pollock, of the University of Illinois in the United States, said: "Many of these are species you would expect to be doing fine in a 22,000-hectare national park that has experienced no major land use change for at least 50 years.

"It was very surprising."

Co-author Professor Jeff Brawn, also of the University of Illinois, said: "This is one of the longest, if not the longest, study of its kind in the Neotropics.

"Of course, it's only one park. We can't necessarily generalize to the whole region and say the sky is falling, but it's quite concerning."

Loss of birds from any habitat can threaten the integrity of the entire ecosystem, say the researchers.

In the Neotropics, the birds are key seed dispersers, pollinators, and insect eaters. Fewer birds could threaten tree reproduction and regeneration, impacting the entire structure of the forest, a pattern shown elsewhere after major bird declines.

But the research team haven't looked at the impacts or the underlying causes yet, focusing instead on documenting the numbers.

University of Illinois scientists initiated a twice-yearly bird sampling effort in 1977. Each year, members of the team set up mist nets in the rainy and dry seasons to capture birds moving through the study site.

Mist nets gently entangle birds, allowing researchers to carefully pluck them out. They then identify, measure, and band the birds before releasing them, unharmed, back into the forest.

A kingfisher sits on a branch over the river Wandle in Wandsworth on August 26, 2020 in London, England.

DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

Over 43 years and more than 84,000 sampling hours, the researchers captured more than 15,000 unique birds representing nearly 150 species and gathered sufficient data to track 57 of those.

The researchers noted declines in 40 species (70 percent), and 35 species lost at least half of their initial numbers. Only two species – a hummingbird and a puffbird – increased.

Dr Pollock said: "At the beginning of the study in 1977, we'd catch 10 or 15 of many species.

"And then by 2020, for a lot of species, that would be down to five or six individuals."

Although the birds represented a wide variety of guilds — groups that specialize on the same food resources — the researchers noted declines across three broader categories: common forest birds; species that migrate seasonally across elevations; and "edge" species that specialize in transition zones between open and closed-canopy forest.

Professor Brawn says the decline among common species is most alarming.

He said: "The bottom line is these are birds that should be doing well in that forest. And for whatever reason, they aren't. We were very surprised."

Edge species were hardest hit, most declining by 90 percent or more.

But the researchers weren't surprised. In fact, the disappearance of edge species boosted their confidence in their results.

Forty years ago, a paved access road cut through the site. It created the ideal edge habitat for birds that like openings in the forest canopy.


But over time, the road stopped being maintained and has since turned into a small gravel road and the forest canopy filled in overhead.

Dr Pollock said: "The fact that edge species went away when the road did is not concerning.

"It shows what we would expect with forest maturation and the loss of those successional habitats."

The researchers are reluctant to generalize their results beyond their study site, pointing out the scarcity of similar sampling efforts throughout the tropics.

Dr Pollock said: "Right now, this is really the only window we have into what's going on in tropical bird populations.

"Our results beg the question of whether this is happening across the region, but unfortunately we can't answer that. Instead, our study highlights the lack of data in the tropics and how important these long-term studies are."

The study wasn't designed to explain why birds are declining in the forest, but the researchers have some ideas they want to follow up on including changing rainfall levels, food resources, and reproductive rates, many of which may be tied to climate change.

Professor Brawn added: "Almost half the world's birds are in the Neotropics, but we really don't have a good handle on the trajectories of their populations."

He added: "I think it's very important more ecological studies be done where we can establish trends and mechanisms of decline in these populations.

"And we need to do it damn quick."

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

ECOCIDE
UN seeks $80 million to prevent tanker disaster in Red Sea

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
09 April, 2022

Gressly, who signed the MOU on behalf of the United Nations, said the emergency oil transfer from the Safer needs to start in early June and finish by the end of September to avoid turbulent winds and currents that start in October


David Gressly, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, called the FSO Safer tanker “a time bomb” [Getty]

The United Nations urged donor nations on Friday to provide $80 million for an emergency operation to remove a million barrels of crude oil from a tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen since 1988 that could explode or leak causing a major environmental disaster in the Red Sea and beyond.

David Gressly, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, made the appeal saying the FSO Safer tanker is “a time bomb” because a major oil spill from it “would unleash a massive ecological and humanitarian catastrophe centred on a country already decimated by more than seven years of war.”

“Without funding over the next six weeks or so the project will not begin on time, and this time bomb will continue to tick,” he said.

In early March, the United Nations and Yemen’s Houthi rebels signed a memorandum of understanding after years of talks authorising a four-month emergency operation to eliminate the immediate threat by transferring oil on the Safer tanker to another vessel. In the longer term, the MOU calls for replacing the Safer tanker with another vessel capable of holding a similar quantity of oil within 18 months.

Gressly, who signed the MOU on behalf of the United Nations, said the emergency oil transfer from the Safer needs to start in early June and finish by the end of September to avoid turbulent winds and currents that start in October and continue in the last months of the year which increase the risk of the tanker breaking up and for the transfer operation.

“Waiting beyond then could mean delaying the start of the project by several months, leaving the time bomb ticking,” he said.

The Houthis control Yemen’s western Red Sea ports, including Ras Issa, just 6 kilometres (about 4 miles) from where the Safer is moored, and the U.N. has been negotiating with the rebel group for years to try to get experts on the tanker to examine it.

Gressly said a U.N.-led mission in March to the Ras Issa peninsula near where the Safer tanker is anchored confirmed that it is rapidly decaying and beyond repair, and “is at imminent risk of spilling a massive amount of oil due to leakages or an explosion.” As an example, he said, “the inert air that is used to inhibit explosions has long disappeared.”

A skeleton crew of about a half dozen remain on the Safer tanker and have done “heroic work over the years to keep this thing from falling apart,” but he said but there’s a limit of what they can do “with hardly any resources.”

The Safer tanker is a Japanese-made vessel built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of export oil pumped from fields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen that is currently a battlefield. The ship is 360 meters (1,181 feet) long with 34 storage tanks.

Gressly said the U.N. estimated the $80 million cost for the emergency operation which includes the salvage operation, leasing a very large vessel to transfer the 1 million barrels of crude oil, and payments for the crew and maintenance for the Safer for 18 months.

The Netherlands, which has been a major player supporting the U.N.’s efforts, will host a pledging conference in the first half of May, he said.

Gressly said he will lead a mission next week to discuss the plan and seek support in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Kuwait.

He said raising funds for a replacement for the Safer tanker must also start now.

While a final cost hasn’t been set, Gressly said it will probably be “an order of magnitude of let’s say $25 million” for a used vessel that’s probably no longer appropriate for transporting crude oil but is still suitable for storing oil. He explained that any vessel will have to be modified because it needs a large piece of equipment that’s attached to the bow of the ship that attaches it to the oil pipeline.

GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY
Concepts | Thinkers 

ÖCALAN, Abdullah

Abdullah Öcalan, also known as “Apo,” is a person whose name is at the heart of a controversy, globally, and particularly in Turkey about what he is – a thinker, a philosopher, a freedom fighter, a civil rights activist or a “terrorist.” Born on April 4, 1948, in Mardin Province of Southeast Turkey/North Kurdistan, Öcalan as a person either triggers emotions of nostalgia or deep hatred. Yet, Öcalan’s importance and significance cannot be ignored – both as the symbolic leader of the Kurds, but also as a decolonial thinker who, during the last 20 years whilst imprisoned on Imrali island in Turkey, has developed a unique social and political theory of colonialism and radical democracy.

Öcalan’s writings appear all the more remarkable for their composition as legal statements to be read by his lawyers in Turkish courtrooms. Written whilst in solitary confinement with no access to a library, Öcalan’s writings often stretch to book length studies of praxis, the subject/object dualism, the capitalist regime of truth, and how this is tied to a history of slavery, as well as a wide ranging critique of Western metaphysics and colonialism. Öcalan’s political thought is influenced by Murray Bookchin, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as well as feminist political theory and the myths of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Öcalan’s is the symbolic leader of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a militant left-wing nationalist movement, managing to maintain this role whilst in prison. He is the empty signifier of freedom, liberation and decolonization for Kurds, and his political project is one that can be classified as decolonial and as having a radical democratic aim. Crucial to Öcalan’s thought is a feminist politics in which he figures Women at the centre of his theory of democratic civilisation or freedom.

Central to the positive vision for the Kurds, the Middle East and the world is the separation of the concepts of nation and state, arguing for a democratic confederalism that presupposes a politics of dis-identifying with the state, with capitalism, and with patriarchy. Through these prison writings, “Apo” offers something of a “post-humanist” or ecological ontology, arguing that a democratic future requires an ongoing renegotiation with the colonial present and the possibility of politics without subjectivation.

Öcalan’s work has undergone major transformation following his arrest in 1999. From his prison cell, Öcalan’s defence texts and ‘prison notes’ have illustrated his reshaped ideology as well as the PKK discourse, as these are seen as synonymous (Günes, 2011). Under Öcalan’s leadership the politics of the PKK has transitioned from what was in essence ‘a civil rights war fought in national liberation terms’ moving ‘to a national liberation war fought in civil rights terms’ premised largely upon a Marxist-Leninist ideology (Cavanaugh and Hughes, 2015).

Öcalan’s work from 2000 onwards illustrates, however, a new political project in which he develops his own version of socialism, which is centred around democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy, presenting what is essentially a radical rethinking of democracy in its current form. Öcalan’s work has therefore changed importantly insofar as he has replaced state-building with society-building, and replaced the nation-state with confederalism premised upon radical democracy outside of the nation-state paradigm.

Consequently, democratic confederalism is a means through which ‘democratic self-government’ can function (Öcalan, 2008), and in practice this implies, according to Öcalan that it ‘builds on the self-government of local communities and is organized in the form of open councils, town councils, local parliaments and larger congresses. The citizens themselves are agents of this kind of self-government, not state-based authorities (Öcalan, 2008).’ This bottom-up system developed by Öcalan illustrates how we can do politics and how an alternative model of democracy that allows the power of people, rather than the state as capitalism and patriarchy, can enable a democracy which is radical and participatory within ‘boundaries of existing nation-states through federation and self-organisation’ (Öcalan, 2017a).

In a short essay called ‘Liberating Life: Women’s Revolution’, Öcalan (2013) outlines the core tenets of his sociological/historico-philosophical writings. Öcalan’s fundamental claim is that ‘mainstream civilisation’, commences with the enslavement of ‘Woman’, through what he calls ‘Housewifisation’ (2013). As such, it is only through a ‘struggle against the foundations of this ruling system’ (2013), that not only women, but also men can achieve freedom, and slavery can be destroyed. Any liberation of life, for Öcalan, can only be achieved through a Woman’s revolution. In his own words: ‘If I am to be a freedom fighter, I cannot just ignore this: woman’s revolution is a revolution within a revolution’ (2013).

For Öcalan, the Neolithic era is crucial, as the heyday of the matricentric social order. The figure of the Woman is quite interesting, and is not just female gender, but rather a condensation of all that is ‘equal’ and ‘natural’ and ‘social’, and its true significance is seen as a mode of social governance, which is non-hierarchical, non-statist, and not premised upon accumulation (2013). This can only be fully seen, through the critique of ‘civilisation’ which is equally gendered and equated with the rise of what he calls the ‘dominant male’ and hegemonic sexuality. These forms of power as coercive are embodied in the institution of masculine civilisation. And power in the matriarchal structures are understood more as authority, they are natural/organic. What further characterised the Neolithic era is the ways through which society was based upon solidarity and sharing – no surplus in production, and a respect for nature. In such a social order, Öcalan finds through his archaeology of ‘sociality’ the traces of an ecological ontology, in which nature is ‘alive and animated’, and thus no different from the people themselves.

The ways in which Öcalan figures ‘Woman’, serves as metaphor for the Kurdish nation-as-people (not nation-state). In short, if one manages to liberate woman, from the hegemonic ‘civilisation’ of ‘the dominant male’, one manages to liberate, not only the Kurds, but the world. It is only on this basis that the conditions of possibility for a genuine global democratic confederalism, and a solution to the conflicts of the Middle East can be thinkable. Once it is thinkable, then we can imagine a freedom to organise, to be free from any conception of ownership (of property, persons, or the self), a freedom to show solidarity, to restore balance to life, nature, and other humans through ‘love’, not power.

In Rojava, The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Öcalan’s political thoughts are being implemented, negotiated and practised. Such a radical experiment, which connects theory with practice has not been seen on this scale, ever before, and although the Rojava administration, the Democratic Union Party, is different from the PKK, they share the same political leader, Öcalan. Central to this experiment are commitments to feminism, ecology and justice.

Essential readings:
D’Souza, Radha (2017) Preface. In: Öcalan, Abdullah, Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume II: Capitalism, The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings. Porsgrunn: New Compass Press. pp. 11 – 24).
Öcalan, Abdullah (2013) Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution.
Öcalan, Abdullah (2017a) The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan: Kurdistan, Woman’s Revolution and Democratic Confederalism. London: Pluto Press.
Overview of Abdullah Öcalan’s books can be found here


Further readings:
Akkaya, Ahmet Hamdi and Jongerden, Joost (2012) ‘Reassembling the Political: The PKK and the project of Radical Democracy,’ European Journal of Turkish Studies
Gunes, Cengiz. (2012). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey. London: Routledge,
Hughes, Edel & Cavanaugh, Kathleen (2015). ‘A Democratic Opening? The AKP and the Kurdish Left.’ Muslim World Journal of Human Rights12 (1): 53 – 74.
Öcalan, Abdullah (2015) Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume I: Civilization, The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings. Porsgrunn: New Compass Press.
Öcalan, Abdullah (2017b) Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume II: Capitalism, The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings. Porsgrunn: New Compass Press.

Freedom for Ocalan

by Freedom for Ocalan

UK

John McGowan: Arms trade to Turkey should stop immediately

General Secretary of the Social Workers Union John McGowan said that "arms trade to Turkey should stop immediately."

ANF
LONDON
Friday, 8 Apr 2022,

General Secretary of the Social Workers Union also Executive member of the GFTU, and member of the Coalition Against Chemical Weapons in Kurdistan John McGowan interviewed by Erem Kansoy.

The discussion focuses on the recent CACWK delegation, composed of journalists, trade unionists, and politicians, which travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan as a fact-finding mission regarding whether chemical weapons had been used by the Turkish government in its invasion of South Kurdistan.

The interview was prepared with the support of the Freedom for Ocalan Campaign and the Peace in Kurdistan campaign in collaboration with Medya Haber TV and Sterk TV.

Peace in Kurdistan - https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com

Medya Haber https://www.medyahaber.info/

Military deployment for Turkey’s invasion attacks in South Kurdistan

Military supplies were delivered to villages along the South Kurdistan border, where the Turkish state is preparing for an assault.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Wednesday, 6 Apr 2022,

The Turkish state continues to prepare for a new operation against the Zap, Metina, and Avaşîn regions of the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq), according to the Mezopotamya Agency. Troops and armoured vehicles have been stationed on the borderline after being dispatched to the villages of Hakkari's Çukurca region for days in preparation for the invasion operation, which will be conducted in collaboration with South Kurdistan’s ruling KDP.

Helicopters departing from the Suvara Kotra region at Şırnak-Hakkari border and the areas of Zawîte (Ormanlı), Aşût (Çığlı), Gêman (Köprülü) and Elemûnê (Andaç) in Şırnak's Uludere district, headed towards Federe Kurdistan Region amidst intense military activity on the borderline.

It was stated that on the other side of the border, Turkish troops were transported by helicopter to the bases in the villages of Gundê Bêdûhê and Orê.

Military activity continues in the region.

ROJAVA

YPG Internationalist Xebat Kuye: People here want to build a democracy


YPG Internationalist Xebat Kuye from England stated that “the people are building up a democratic system, the fight for women’s liberation, and the fight for ecology.”

BİNEVŞ ŞEWQ - MUSTAFA ÇOBAN
HESEKÊ
Friday, 8 Apr 2022

The Rojava Revolution became well known for its numerous victories over ISIS. People from many different countries continue coming to the liberated territory of North and East Syria to help build a democratic society in the Middle East. Xebat Kuye, a YPG Internationalist from England, described what he has learned in his last year and a half in Rojava.

“I first learned about the Rojava revolution in 2015 after the liberation of Kobane from ISIS. At the start, I wasn’t really sure how to think about the Rojava revolution.”.

Xebat emphasized how “the media in the West didn’t really tell us what the revolution was about: what the people in Rojava are fighting for, what the people are creating here. Some years later, a friend of mine went and came to fight with YPG in the war to liberate Raqqa. It was mostly through these sorts of personal experiences, communication with comrades, that I learned more about what is happening in Rojava.

The people are building a democratic system, the fight for women’s liberation and the fight for ecology. It’s very difficult to simply see from outside what the Rojava revolution is. That’s why I came here, to really understand, to really get to know what is going on. To learn from it, to give my contribution. There is a lot to learn from coming here.”

Xebat says that from his personal experience he learned that “the revolution in Rojava is reflected in the way the region has changed, in the way the people organize here, in the way people determine their futures here, in the way that people fight for their own communities, their values, their ethics is something that isn’t getting shown, isn’t really getting known in the West.”.

Xebat added: “Even though we’re internationalists, they fully include us, we’re a part of the revolution here. The comrades want us to be a part of the revolution here. Really, it’s about building a democratic nation, communities coming together, diversities coming together all for one struggle in order to protect the revolution-to build up a new free life again… It’s something that you really do have to come here and be a part of, really live in, to fully understand… There’s no way to experience it in the West.”.

Xebat issued a call to Europeans and the rest of the world: “People should come see, live, be a part of this. Help to build the revolution. Really get to know what the revolution is about. There is so much to learn here, so much to work for in building this revolution and there’s so much to take back to our home countries, so much personal development to really build a revolutionary mindset, to really put ourselves on the path to find out what a free life is. So much can be taken back home, so much can be taken back here. And for any revolutionary in Europe, I hope they can come they can work with us and help to build something new.”.

IRAQI KURDISTAN
Turkish army used thermobaric bombs in Werxelê

The sheaths discovered in the materials left behind by the Turkish troops in the Werxelê region were of the hybrid and thermobaric type, which can be used on land.

ANF / AMARGİ ARHAT BA
BEHDINAN
Friday, 8 Apr 2022, 

As the snow melted in the Werxelê combat tunnels and positions region, more evidence of Turkish army war crimes was revealed. Boxes with the writing 'THERMOBARIC' can be seen in photographs captured and documented by the guerillas.

Following the defeat of the Turkish troops in Garê last year, the invasion attack covering Zap, Metîna, and Avaşîn from the night of April 23 to April 24 met with fierce opposition. The Turkish army, unable to defeat the guerrilla resistance despite NATO help, all of its armaments, airpower-based technical facilities, and the employment of all combat elements, has resorted to different toxic and prohibited weapons, disregarding global humanitarian, legal, and moral values.

5 DIFFERENT CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN DETECTED

Murat Karayılan, the Commander of the People's Defense Center (HSM), revealed in an interview to ANF on December 27 that they identified the use of five types of chemical weapons, and classified them as follows:

* One of them is nerve gas, the major element of which is Tabun. In other terms, it freezes the person's nerve cells, causing him to remain motionless and resulting in death in a short period of time.

* Suffocation is their secondary weapon. Chloropin gas is used in this weapon. This gas is also known as Green Cross.

*The other gas is flammable. People are burned and dried by this gas. It sets everywhere on fire wherever it is used. Sulfur Mustant is the chemical term for it. Yellow Cross is another name for it.

*Another chemical they use induces sluggishness, and memory loss, and knocks one out. Man suffers from periodic paralysis.

*The fifth option is pepper spray. In other words, they are the gases that are now being used in social events. Of course, when it is used in a confined space or a tunnel, the living conditions for people disappear.

REPORTS SENT TO 40 COUNTRIES

In an interview published on Mezopotamya Agency on February 5, KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) Co-Chair Ahmet Karamus further stated, "Chemical weapons were employed 323 times in air and ground attacks in Kanimasi, Avaşîn, and Metîna areas. Some international institutions conducted investigations in these areas. Tests on people who died as a result of the use of chemical weapons were used, and it was established once again that Turkey employs chemical weapons.” Karamus revealed that they delivered a report to 40 countries based on the information and documents gathered as a result of their investigations into the use of chemical weapons.

IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE A MEMBER OF NATO

KNK Co-Chair said, "The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was one of the groups we spoke with. We handed the evidence and reports we had gathered to them. We submitted applications several times. They took our documents and reports. There has been no response to the reports we have sent so far. They stay away from Turkey because it is a NATO member.”

550 VILLAGES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED

Saying that chemical weapons were used in 550 villages during the Turkish state's invasion attacks, Karamus said locals who fell ill or injured as a result have turned to health institutions. Unfortunately, however, there is a great silence.”

THERE ARE RECENT FINDINGS

New findings have emerged regarding the chemical and prohibited weapons used by the Turkish army, which caused the death of 40 guerrillas, as announced by the HPG Press and Liaison Center (BİM) in its 2021 war balance sheet. As the snow melted in the area where the Werxelê war tunnels and positions are located, the guerrillas reached the evidence that the Turkish army had left before the retreat, taking their photographs and images.

GAS MIXTURES

The containers with high-concentration salt spirit and bleach employed by the Turkish army stand out. Tens of litres of bleach, salt spirit, and other compounds are seen to be blended and used by turning them into gas. It is well known that even a small amount of low-density spirit salt and bleach mixed together while cleaning the house has a toxic effect. With these findings, it is clear that the Turkish government is attempting to poison the guerrillas by mixing the same chemicals in large amounts.

THERMOBARIC BOXES

Among the materials documented, cardboards with the inscription 'THERMOBARIC' stand out. The Geneva Convention forbids the use of a thermobaric (vacuum) bomb, which combines great heat and startling pressure to destroy the area in which it explodes.

The term thermobaric is derived from the Greek terms thermos, which means "heat," and baros, which means "pressure." This weapon creates a high-temperature explosion by combining shock waves and vacuums. The weapon renders the targets in the penetration area ineffective through the huge fireball and pressure created by the method of mixing a highly flammable substance with oxygen in the atmosphere at a pre-set altitude in a thermochemical air-fuel ratio, and then igniting this mixture with an electronic fuse included in the bomb set-up.

Russia and the United States develop the thermobaric bomb, which was also excessively employed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after WWII.

Human Rights Watch cautioned in its February 2000 report: "The lethal mechanism against living targets is unusual. What kills is the pressure wave and, more significantly, the subsequent sparseness (vacuum) that ruptures the lungs. If the fuel ignites but does not detonate, the victims will be severely burned and may inhale the burning fuel.” According to the report, the most frequent FAE (fuel-air explosive) fuels are ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, both of which are very hazardous.

USED ​​AGAINST TUNNELS

According to information obtained from HPG-BIM following the latest images, the Turkish army employs the same method with chemical weapons in such sophisticated weaponry as well. Because it will have an impact on Turkish soldiers on the ground if employed from the air, attention is being given to the hybrid manufacture, which is compact in size and can be utilized against ground battle tunnels. The guerrillas who were exposed to thermobaric bomb explosions in Girê Sor and Werxelê characterized the situation as "a concussion that generated an earthquake following a strong explosion."