It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Maronite Patriarch calls for ‘internationalizing’ Lebanese cause
Lebanese lawmakers failed for 9th time to elect new president
Naim Berjawi |11.12.2022
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Sunday called for internationalizing the Lebanese cause.
"There is no escape from the internationalization of the Lebanese issue after the failure of internal solutions," he said in his Sunday sermon.
"Those who fail in internal solutions are those who refuse internationalization, and when the internal solution is disrupted and internationalization is rejected, this means that these parties do not want any solution to the Lebanese issue," he added.
The Lebanese patriarch, however, did not name these parties.
On Thursday, Lebanese lawmakers failed for the ninth time to elect a new president to succeed President Michel Aoun, whose term ended on Oct. 31.
"How do the deputies judge themselves when they meet nine times and do not elect a president,” the patriarch asked. “This means that they do not want to elect a president or are not qualified to elect a president.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing a crippling economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.
The country has also been without a fully functioning government since May, with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his Cabinet having limited powers in their current caretaker status.
* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report
Solidarity with Kurdistan at European Left Congress in Vienna
A congress of the Party of the European Left is taking place in Vienna this weekend.
HDP MP Feleknas Uca, KNK representative Sinan Önal and Mustafa Dillice and Lorin Şahan from the Kurdish federation FEYKOM are taking part as guests.
ANF VIENNA Sunday, 11 Dec 2022, 16:53
The Party of the European Left is holding its 7th Congress in Vienna from 9 to 11 December. 26 member parties and 21 observer parties from many European countries as well as numerous parties and speakers from the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America and Asia are taking part in the three-day congress. Under the slogan "Peace, Bread and Roses", delegates discussed building a peace movement against the Russia-Ukraine-NATO war, the right to life of the oppressed and the working class against neoliberal monopoly, and organising resistance networks against authoritarian regimes and rising racism.
Guests include delegations from Palestine, Western Sahara, Senegal, Chile, Cuba and a Kurdish delegation from the Austrian Federation for Kurdish Democratic Culture (FEYKOM) and the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK). The foreign policy spokesperson of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Feleknas Uca, also takes part in the congress.
In a speech, FEYKOM's foreign affairs spokespersons Mustafa Dillice and Lorin Şahan stressed the importance of the Kurdish freedom movement's experience of democratic confederalism in the Middle East, with a special focus on Rojava, and the need to protect it and show solidarity with it.
HDP MP Feleknas Uca said that the HDP is the leading party of the anti-war struggle in Turkey and continues its democratic resistance against the AKP/MHP government. She called for solidarity with the HDP and explained that her party is under a ban procedure and the decision is expected in the coming months.
On behalf of the KNK, Sinan Önal called for sensitivity towards a possible invasion of north-eastern Syria and stressed the importance of the democratic experience. He stated that the Kurdish question can only be solved peacefully by releasing Abdullah Öcalan and negotiating with him, as was the case between 2013 and 2015. Öcalan is completely isolated in Turkish custody and there has been no sign of life from him since March 2021.
Many speeches at the congress condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish state against the PKK guerrillas, and also addressed the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations and the revolution in Iran led by women with the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom).
Maurizio Acerbo from the Communist Party for the Re-foundation of Italy pulled out a PKK flag at the end of his speech and said that the European left parties should work for the removal of the PKK from the "terrorist list" and for the immediate liberation of Abdullah Öcalan, which was applauded for a long time by those present.
The Communist Party of Austria, the Left Party of Finland and the Communist Parties of Italy and France protested against the blackmail of Turkey in connection with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO and called for intensified work by the Left on this issue.
The congress continues today, with new committees and chairpersons being elected at the end.
PKK
Demo in Athens against the isolation of Öcalan
March in Athens protested the aggravated isolation regime imposed on Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan by the Turkish state.
ANF ATHENS Sunday, 11 Dec 2022,
Kurdish people are demanding clarity about the situation of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK founder who has been imprisoned on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since 1999. The protests are prompted by the complete silence surrounding the 73-year-old and the demand that the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) ensure contact with him and his fellow prisoners.
Since the Asrin Law Office stated at the end of November that the CPT probably had no personal contact with Öcalan during its last visit to Turkey in September, concern for the life and safety of the Kurdish leader has increased. Kurdish society is demanding clarification about the CPT's visit to Imrali and information about the condition of the prisoners.
The Democratic Kurdish Cultural Center in Athens and Revolutionary Youth Movement (TJŞ) organized a march in the Greek capital Athens on Sunday. The march was attended by Kurds as well as revolutionary organizations from Turkey, anarchist, leftist and socialist groups from Greece.
Activists displayed banners denouncing the isolation regime imposed on the Kurdish leader. The march ended in front of the Kurdish Cultural Center in Athens under the slogans "Bê Serok Jiyan Nabe" [No Life Without the Leader] and "Bijî Berxwedana PKK" [Long Live the PKK Resistance].
India, now the fastest-growing major economy on the planet, is expected to become the world’s third-largest by 2027. But this wasn’t always the case. After independence in 1948, India’s closed markets and notoriously red-taped “License Raj” kept growth and foreign investment at bay until financial reforms were passed in 1991. From thereon, growth has accelerated. Despite a change of hands between the two major parties — the Congress and the BJP — financial and market reforms have continued consistently without any significant rollbacks. Today, PM Narendra Modi continues previously planned policies of privatization and digitization, with an emphasis on export incentives, to keep driving the Indian economy moving forward. The lesson? Consistency is key. We explore the big milestones and hiccups in the last 30 years of Indian economic growth.
A REAL ARTIFICIAL TREE
Christmas tree made of 108,000 plastic bottles lit in Lebanon
A 18-metre-high Christmas tree made of discarded plastic bottles has been lit near the Bnachii Lake, Zgharta district, in northern Lebanon.
DESPERATE EFFORT Photo taken on Feb. 5, 2022, shows a corroboree frog to be released into the wild in New South Wales, Australia. A project dubbed 'Saving our Species' has seen 100 corroboree frogs reintroduced into the wild in the Australian state of New South Wales, in an effort to reinvigorate their dwindling population. A frog species that was once found across two-thirds of Australia's wet tropics has been declared extinct. The latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list, the leading global assessment of extinction risk, downgraded the mountain mist frog from critically endangered to extinct.
XINHUA PHOTO
CANBERRA:
A frog species that was once found across two-thirds of Australia's wet tropics has been declared extinct.The latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, the leading global assessment of extinction risk, downgraded the mountain mist frog from critically endangered to extinct.Endemic to Australia and mostly found at high altitudes in wet tropics, the frog has not been sighted since April 1990.The IUCN attributed its extinction to the chytrid fungus, which has destroyed amphibian species around the world, but noted that a reduction in its habitat due to climate change could have also been a factor."We know what's causing this crisis: habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change," Jess Abrahams from the Australian Conservation Foundation told the Australian Associated Press."We need swift action from the federal government if we are to turn around the twin climate and extinction crises," added Abrahams.The frog was one of the 26 Australian species to have its status changed on the IUCN red list, among which 23 were orchids, taking the total number of native orchids on the list to 51.The list was released to coincide with the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) currently underway in Canada.Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will fly to Montreal as the country's representative at the conference later in December.On Thursday she announced a major overhaul of Australia's environmental protection laws, including establishing an independent environmental protection agency.The changes, which will be legislated in 2023, are a response to a report which found current laws ineffective and not fit for purpose.
Oath Keepers Leaders Were Found Guilty, but the Threat of Antigovernment Extremism Remains By Sam Jackson Sunday, December 11, 2022 Far-right extremists mass at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Photo credit: Brett Davis via Flickr; CC BY_NC 2.0.
Editor’s Note: With Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy, the group he founded is at a crossroads. The University of Albany’s Sam Jackson, author of a recent book on the group, explains how the conviction is creating disarray in the group’s ranks but notes that other so-called Patriot movements might benefit and that the overall cause will remain strong.
Daniel Byman
***
The verdict is in. After weeks of evidence and three days of deliberation, a jury has found Stewart Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy in the first of several trials for members and affiliates of Oath Keepers involved in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. Prosecutors didn’t get a clean sweep of all the charges for the five defendants in this case, but every defendant was found guilty of at least one felony charge.
From the Oath Keepers’ founding, it has walked along the edge of violence. Since its first public event on April 19, 2009, the group has consistently asserted that the U.S. government has gone rogue, become increasingly tyrannical, violated the rights of Americans, and even been complicit with international actors seeking to destroy the country. As I’ve written in my book, the group’s leaders regularly urged those they considered to be patriotic Americans to prepare to fight back against the government—and to get their friends and neighbors involved in those preparations, even if that required a bit of misdirection, for example, by drawing parallels between the organization’s Community Preparedness Teams program and FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Teams program. At the same time, the group has engaged in “strategic ambiguity,” keeping much of the discussion of tyranny, violation of rights, and proper responses to tyrannical government abstract (and thus legal) and letting individuals fill in the blanks, deciding for themselves when their rights are being violated and whether violence is a justified response.
The group has also used historical analogies to think about violence. Oath Keepers frequently point to moments of conflict and crisis in U.S. history that (supposedly) illustrate government gone bad and the successful resistance to that government mounted by patriotic citizens. Primarily, this means talking about the American Revolution, the founders, and the “long train of abuses” that those founders argued justified a violent response to the British government. Oath Keepers leaders have said, time and again, that contemporary America faces the same kind of situation experienced by the residents of the British colonies of North America in the late 18th century, and that contemporary Americans can follow the model provided by those who fought against the British and won America’s independence in order to defeat America’s domestic enemies now.
The Oath Keepers organization has experienced infighting and fractures in recent years, even since before Jan. 6. Some state groups with “Oath Keepers” in their name have stated that they have no affiliation with the national organization, though this merits skepticism given the surge of bad publicity for the organization. Some of these groups claim they are unaffiliated, while others say that they were formerly affiliated. Without direct evidence, it seems unlikely that truly independent organizations with no ties to this prominent national group would use the “Oath Keepers” name. But even before the insurrection, there were periodic public statements from former Oath Keepers that Rhodes was a poor leader whom they couldn’t work with anymore.
As right-wing extremism has received more public attention in the past few years, much of the focus has been on discrete groups like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. But all of these extremist groups are embedded in larger movements and networks. Many individuals in this ideological space support groups without becoming formal members. For example, the Oath Keepers claim around 40,000 dues-paying members (and watchdog estimates suggest that the real number is perhaps 10 percent of that), but before the group’s primary Facebook page was removed in August 2020 for violating community guidelines, the page had more than 500,000 followers. The group has also tapped into other movements to build support: For example, Rhodes spent time in 2009 speaking at Tea Party events, even leading a crowd in Knoxville, Tennessee, in an oath-swearing ceremony. As the organization faces challenges and bad publicity related to the Jan. 6 convictions and other ongoing cases, these unaffiliated supporters might rethink their support—or at least their public support—for the group.
These broader movements and ideological networks provide different options for individuals who are looking to join up with others who share their beliefs about the threats faced by themselves and the nation. For example, consider the Three Percenters, another sub-movement within the broader antigovernment militia movement. There is little ideological difference between Oath Keepers and “Threepers”: The decision to join an Oath Keepers chapter rather than a Threeper group might come down to which one has more members that a person knows or which one has more convenient meetings. Now, to the extent that the guilty verdicts make the Oath Keepers brand toxic to other antigovernment extremists, members and supporters might choose to reorient around a Threeper group or another entity in this movement.
All of this complexity makes it difficult to forecast what effects these initial guilty verdicts will have on the Oath Keepers, its members, and its supporters. Some will likely denounce the verdict as political persecution, perhaps even arguing that it is further evidence of the tyranny that the group has been talking about since its founding. More pragmatically, though, it is unclear who will now lead the group’s day-to-day operations, assuming that it doesn’t collapse and that Rhodes will face substantial prison time. After Rhodes was arrested, Kellye SoRelle, the general counsel for the organization, announced that she would be the group’s interim president, but when Rhodes was denied bail, she stated that she wouldn’t continue in that interim role but didn’t indicate who would take her place. SoRelle was later arrested on charges related to the insurrection and its aftermath.
Others in the movement might see this as Rhodes and other defendants getting what has been coming to them. As seen with the Oath Keepers chapters that denounced the insurrection, some in this ideological space think that the events at the U.S. Capitol were foolish and disastrous, even if they do not necessarily disagree with the ideas that motivated that attack on democracy. For example, the leader of the former North Carolina chapter of the group described the insurrection as “an ugly stain on our nation’s history” but defended the “innocent people that were there to hear the speeches.” The Oath Keepers’ central leadership also took this position previously: During the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was organized by other antigovernment extremists, the group repeatedly said that it disagreed with those actions, primarily for tactical reasons, but did not contest the underlying idea that motivated the occupation—that the federal government was acting illegitimately. Those who have this reaction to the guilty verdict might continue their activity and retain their ideological proclivities with little change.
For individuals who might be amenable to antigovernment extremism but aren’t current supporters of this form of extremism, this conviction could have larger ramifications. Aside from the prison time Rhodes and the other defendants now face, being found guilty of seditious conspiracy could make it harder for the group to persuade a broad American public audience with a compelling message of patriotism and pro-constitutionalism: Now, that message will have to compete with the message that the group engaged in sedition. It’s difficult to know how significant this will be, though, given the numerous other actors in this space who don’t have the stigma of sedition attached to them.
It will take time to understand the full consequences of these convictions. Though the Department of Justice was able to obtain convictions against these individuals who so brazenly attacked American democracy, it is far too early to declare victory against those who directly participated in the insurrection, much less the broader set of Americans who invoke patriotism and wrap themselves in the flag to justify violence against the government. The effort against false patriotism did not start with this prosecution, nor will it end with it.
Sam Jackson is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security at the University at Albany. His research focuses on antigovernment extremism in the United States, conspiracy theories, extremism online, and contentious activity on the internet more broadly. He is the author of “Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group” (Columbia University Press, 2020).
Israel begins ‘surprise’ military exercise near Lebanon border
13,000 soldiers take part in exercise, army says
Zain Khalil |11.12.2022
JERUSALEM
The Israeli army launched a surprise military exercise on Sunday near border with Lebanon to “enhance readiness” on the country’s northern border, according to the military
In a tweet, the army said the exercise, code-named “Warm Winter 2”, began in a surprise format and will continue until Tuesday.
“About 8,000 soldiers in regular service and about 5,000 reservists, recruited by special orders, from the various IDF (army) units will take part in the exercise,” the army said.
The army said the exercise aims “to strengthen the readiness of the end units in the IDF (army) and the supporting logistical system, for explosive events and various scenarios on the northern front,” it added.
The army said the military exercise was planned in advance as part of the 2022 training program.
According to the Maariv newspaper, the exercise comes amid reports about Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon aboard civilian planes.
On Thursday, the Lebanese authorities denied reports about the transfer of weapons by Iran to Lebanese group Hezbollah via Rafiq Hariri airport in Beirut.
* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report
PERHAPS A FINAL SOLUTION
Far-right MP says Israel 'too merciful' to Palestinians
Zvika Fogel says 'the concept of proportionality must cease to exist'
Fogel served as a brigadier general for the Israeli army reserves before becoming a member of the Jewish Power political party (social media)
A far-right Israeli MP whose party will be a major player in the new government has expressed his desire to end any form of proportionality when dealing with Palestinians.
In an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News that aired on Friday, Zvika Fogel said Israel had been "too merciful" towards the Palestinians.
"Anyone who wants to harm me, I will harm him back. And as far as I'm concerned, the concept of proportionality must cease to exist," said Fogel.
"So I will tell you something that is very unpleasant to say. If it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry."
When asked by the presenter if this policy was racist, Fogel said: "We are too merciful. It's time for us to stop being so. It has nothing to do with racism." Ben Gvir, Smotrich and the end of the peace process
Fogel is a member of Itamar Ben Gvir's far-right ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party. Ben-Gvir, an openly racist Jewish supremacist, is set to become public security minister following government-formation negotiations with incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Jewish Power leader was previously convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.
Religious Zionism, an alliance of far-right parties including Jewish Power, came third in November's elections. Fogel is unlikely to be given a ministerial post, but his faction will nonetheless have an important say in the government's direction.
Israel's allies in the West and Gulf, as well as the Israeli military establishment, have reportedly expressed concern over Netanyahu's incoming far-right coalition partners. On Thursday, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, an organisation representing over 2,300 rabbis and cantors in North America, warned: "Israel's new government is a stark display of rising fascism and racism."
"Netanyahu's coalition government gives power to violent, right-wing extremists who seek to incite political violence and who will put lives at risk… from the top down. Netanyahu and his new coalition endanger both Israelis and Palestinians," Jacobs said.
This year, 217 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including 52 in the Gaza Strip and 165 in the West Bank, making it one of the deadliest years on record for Palestinians since 2005.
Meanwhile, 29 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed by Palestinians in the same period, the highest number since 2008.
Fogel previously headed the regional council in the Galilee village of Tuba-Zangariyye, a role he exited in 2011 after a wave of violence and vandalism.
He also served as a brigadier general in the Israeli army reserves and headed its southern command before spending nearly a decade running the southern command's fire control unit.
COMMODITY FETISH
Pants Recovered From Shipwreck Sell for $114,000 at Auction
The pants and other artifacts auctioned were salvaged from the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in 1857.
The pants on the right were recovered from a trunk that was aboard the S.S. Central America, which sank in 1857.Credit...Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal, via Associated Press
A pair of work pants that sold for $114,000 at an auction this month after being pulled from an 1857 shipwreck could be an early version of Levi Strauss jeans, auction officials said, though a historian for the company said that was “speculation.”
The Holabird Western Americana Collections auction on Dec. 3 showcased 270 items recovered from the S.S. Central America, which had been traveling from Panama to New York in September 1857 when it sank in a hurricane with 425 people aboard.
The wreck was discovered in 1988 off the coast of South Carolina, and the rights to its treasures, which included thousands of pounds of California gold, have since become the subject of a decades-long legal battle.
The pants were found in a trunk belonging to John Dement, a veteran of the Mexican-American War from Oregon. Mr. Dement was a buyer for his family’s mercantile shop, and, during business trips to buy goods, survived many stormy ship journeys, including the sinking of the S.S. Central America, according to the auction catalog.
Mr. Dement’s trunk was recovered in 1991, and the items inside, which included socks, night shirts and paperback books, were salvageable because the trunk had little to no oxygen inside.
The trunk’s condition prevented its contents from exhibiting the bacterial degradation and biological consumption seen in items that were more exposed on the shipwreck, Robert Evans, the chief scientist and historian of the S.S. Central America project, said in the auction catalog.
Inside the trunk, scientists also found the work pants, which are made of a thick unknown material and covered in black and brown stains. It was not clear who made the winning bid for the pants.
Holabird Western Americana Collections said the work pants could be affiliated with Levi Strauss because he was a major seller of dry goods during the Gold Rush and lost treasure in the shipwreck. The unlabeled pants have a five-button pattern on the fly, and the buttons are “nearly identical size and manufactured style,” further convincing the sellers that the pants could be made by, or for, Strauss, the auction catalog said.
Mr. Strauss and his associate, Jacob Davis, patented the first modern bluejeans in 1873, 16 years after the S.S. Central America sank.
Tracey Panek, a historian and director of the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives, said in an email that linking the pants to Mr. Strauss was speculative.
Ms. Panek, who inspected the pants and other artifacts from the wreckage in person, said that while she was excited by the discovery, she saw nothing that would link the pants to Mr. Strauss.
“From the white color, lack of suspender buttons, five fly buttons instead of four, and the unusual fly design with extra side buttonholes, to the non-denim fabric that is a much lighter weight than cloth used by LS & Co. for its earliest riveted clothing, the Dement trunk pants are not typical of the miner’s work pants in our archives,” Ms. Panek said.
No matter the origin of the pants, at the time of the shipwreck, they would not have come close to the value of other loot on the S.S. Central America.
Passengers boarded the ship with gold coins and nuggets, which had been collected in the gold mining towns of Northern California during the Gold Rush. California’s business center at the time was in San Francisco, where passengers boarded the S.S. Sonora before transferring to the ill-fated S.S. Central America in Panama.
More than a century after the ship went down, the treasure hunter Thomas G. Thompson found the wreck. He was later accused of not providing proceeds from the haul to the 161 people who invested in his search.
Some of the investors sued Mr. Thompson in 2012, and he was ordered to appear in court and disclose the location of gold recovered from the shipwreck. He fled and became a fugitive until U.S. marshals arrested him in 2015 at a hotel in Florida. He has been in federal prison since 2015.
