Nike, do you see us now?

We have just launched a major new campaign in support of women workers -- check it out here. The campaign features an extraordinary video featuring women workers from across Asia who make clothing and shoes for Nike.  I just watched it and was very moved by these women and their struggle.  The message they are sending could not be clearer:  Pay us what you owe us.   Treat us with respect.   And if you're going to be running advertisements promoting the image of "strong women", why not include us?  You can watch this very short video here Those women come from 25 garment worker unions from India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Bangladesh, coordinated by Asia Floor Wage Alliance and Global Labor Justice.  Today, the campaign is sending a photo petition from over 1,000 workers to Nike to demand wage increases and human rights protections in its supply chain.  You can help make sure that Nike hears those women by clicking here  Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members. Thank you. Eric Lee LabourStart

The impact of lockdown on young people in France, five years after Covid crisis

On 17 March, 2020, France implemented its first nationwide lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. What followed was a two-month period of strict confinement, mandatory mask-wearing, curfews and university closures. While the pandemic took a psychological toll on almost everyone, the lasting impact on young people has been severe.

The Covid lockdown has left psychological scars on young people in France.

 Getty Images - Victor Dyomin

By: RFI
Issued on: 21/03/2025 

In a bar in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Maya orders an espresso. Five years ago, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, meeting like this in a café would have been impossible.

"I think it's crazy that we went through that, and now, I don’t think about it anymore. I love going out. I’m definitely not a homebody," the 24-year-old told RFI.

However, she does still have painful memories of that period. Her mother worked at the Regional Health Agency (ARS) and came home with news of terrible statistics every day.

But the worst, for Maya, came after that first lockdown. "I moved into an apartment on my own, but there I was much more isolated, I think. My studies were bothering me," she explains.

"Honestly, I kind of fell into depression during that time. It was weird because, at the same time, it was nice not to be confined anymore, in the sense that I was doing a lot of things in my apartment. But I wasn’t stimulated at all. I enjoyed my day itself, but I didn’t see the point of having a second one."

Maya is feeling better now and doesn’t miss an opportunity to go out. For her, it's a way to reclaim some of the youth that was stolen from her.

Five years on from the Covid-19 pandemic, what legacy has the virus left?

For other young people, however, the outside world has become threatening since the lockdowns. "I’m not necessarily going to walk around, visit Paris, go to museums or things like that alone," says Élisa, 28. "I’d like to do it more, but I don’t feel capable of it."

She has always been a bit of a homebody – she likes being in her tidy, cosy apartment, with a book in hand or watching a good TV series. But it was after the lockdown that her anxiety began.

"For example, going grocery shopping takes huge mental preparation. Or if I arrive in a place where I don’t know many people and I’m going to have to socialise, my body reacts, my body can’t breathe, without knowing why," she said.

"It really annoys me to be like this when I’m in Paris, I’m young, I’m 28. I have so many things to live for and I’m actually getting anxious about things that, objectively, aren’t a big deal."
Social media, eco-anxiety and international conflicts

According to a study of 20 million young people in France, published on 7 January in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "a significant increase in mental health consultations, hospitalisations, and prescriptions for antidepressants, mood stabilisers, and antipsychotics was found among young people, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic".

The findings continued: "This trend aligned with studies indicating that Covid-19 infection and lockdowns have had biological and societal impacts on the mental health of the youth."

The study also found that this change was particularly marked among females

But while the lockdown has left scars on France's young people, five years on it is not the sole cause of their distress.

"It’s true that these particular circumstances did weaken students, isolated them, and may have anticipated this decline in their mental health," says Melissa Macalli, a researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) who studies the mental health of young adults.

She added: "It's also true that the causes are probably multiple: worsening instability, feelings of loneliness, the impact of social media. But also collective environmental factors that have been added – especially eco-anxiety, international conflicts and the global political situation, which worries them a lot."

This report was adapted from the RFI podcast Reportage en France produced by Lou Ecalle.

France accused of failing migrant teens trapped in legal limbo

Thousands of unaccompanied migrant youths arrive in France each year seeking safety, education and healthcare. Many claim to be under 18, which would entitle them to special protections under French law. But without documents, they fall into a legal grey zone – too young to be treated as adults, yet not officially recognised as minors.

 - 


A crowd scuffles with French riot police on 18 March 2025 following an order to evict unaccompanied migrant minors from the Gaîté Lyrique theatre in Paris. © AFP/Alain Jocard


By: Zeenat Hans rod  Issued on: 21/03/2025

Their cases are passed between institutions and the process can take months. In the meantime, they risk sleeping rough, being arrested or even deported before a final decision is made.

The recent police eviction of hundreds of youths occupying a Paris theatre has thrown a spotlight on this national challenge.

"We are not criminals, nor drug addicts. The only thing we are asking for is shelter, education and access to health. How can this be bad for France?" said Hamadou, a 16-year-old from Guinea who was among those evicted.

Watch on TikTok

Each year, around 8,000 undocumented migrant minors arrive in Paris alone. Only about 2,500 are officially recognised as underage and immediately taken into care, according to Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

For those caught in administrative limbo, options are limited. Some, like Hamadou and 500 others, occupied La Gaîté Lyrique theatre in central Paris from 10 December 2023, before being forcibly removed by police on 18 March.

"I was so frightened, I could not find any sleep that night, before the police evicted us," Hamadou told RFI.

"The policemen, a hundred of them, looked like they were geared up for war with their shields, helmets and batons. Up till the last minute, I was convinced that they would never use force, that the Paris municipality will come to the rescue with news of lodgings for us."

Most of the youths at Gaîté Lyrique come from former French colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many find themselves in a paradox: French law guarantees protection for unaccompanied minors under the International Convention on the Rights of the Child – but proving they qualify for that protection is increasingly difficult.

The X-ray bone examination is hardly ever carried out nowadays, the age assessment tests is mainly through interviews.

“This is problematic for us because it is not based on scientific evidence and it looks like the interviewer can decide whatever they choose to believe,” Hamadou said.

A hot potato

Mohamed Gnabaly, mayor of Ile-Saint-Denis and member of the Green party, told RFI that the Gaîté Lyrique case shows how different institutions bounce responsibility back and forth.

"It is fine as long as they remain invisible. The unaccompanied migrant minors became a problem because they were a sore sight right in the centre of the capital city," he said.

"And this fed the racist speech we heard about them within both the ranks of the government and the far-right."

Fousseni, from the Belleville park youth group which helped organise the occupation, said the delays and lack of shelter push the minors into impossible choices.

"By the time many have built up their case while trying not to get arrested, they have already reached 18," he said.

The Municipality of Paris brought the case to court in January. A court then issued an order on 13 February for the theatre to be evacuated within one month. When the city failed to act by the deadline, police chief Laurent Nunes said he had to intervene.

"The Municipality of Paris [owner of the theatre] did not contact me by 13 March. I had to take my responsibilities and put an end to this occupation which was disrupting public order," Nunes said on the TV programme C à vous.

"The Municipality of Paris asked for details on what accommodation would be given to the young people and how they were to be treated," he added. "This to me implicitly meant that the Municipality of Paris did not want security forces to intervene."

Caught in the clash

On 18 March, riot police used batons and tear gas to enter the theatre, pushing past human chains formed by activists, civilians and politicians.

"This show of force and attacking vulnerable black migrant minors is the first step of the military discourse the government and the far-right is currently using," Danièle Obono, an MP from the left-leaning France Unbound party, told RFI.

Police evict migrants from Paris theatre after months-long occupation

Belleville parc youth group reported that around 60 people were arrested, including minors and adult supporters. Ten were injured. So far, 25 minors have been issued deportation orders – a move the group says violates their legal rights.

"This is illegal because they are minors and are currently being processed by the ministry of Justice to prove that they are under 18," said Fousseni. "They cannot be thrown out of the French territory like used tissue papers."

Differing perspectives

Government officials say the situation is not as clear-cut. Minister François-Noël Buffet told parliament that the youths were mostly over 18. The government and far-right groups blamed them for damage and losses to neighbouring businesses.

Mayor Hidalgo defended the eviction, saying the situation had become unsafe.

"There are around 8,000 young undocumented migrants who arrive in Paris every year. Approximately 2,500 of them are recognised as minors and are immediately taken care of," she told France Inter.

"The situation was tensed, dangerous and very complicated."

Hidalgo said accommodation had been offered, but turned down.

Fousseni said the offer was in Rouen – too far from Paris, where most of the young people are enrolled in school, receiving healthcare and attending legal appointments. Only six accepted the placement.

Billionaire Elon Musk commented on the case on X, writing: "Another case of suicidal empathy... it will end civilization. Game over." He later added, "They're exploiting a bug in Western civilisation which is the empathy response."

Uncertain future

For Hamadou, the eviction had immediate consequences.

"I couldn't breathe. I escaped with only the clothes I am now wearing," he said. His suitcase, containing all the documents gathered to prove his age, was lost in the chaos.

Now, he and others like him try not to sleep in the same place twice, fearing police checks. They depend on charities for food.

"The greatest danger they now face is police violence," said Fousseni. "Police in Paris are preventing the unaccompanied migrants to sleep in the streets of the city. They are being pushed to the outskirts of Paris."

La Gaîté Lyrique management had supported the occupation at first, despite cancelling shows and taking financial losses.

"It is out of question to throw them out in the streets where it is freezing cold. We regret, however that we were taken over so suddenly," it said in a communiqué last December.

The theatre later criticised the lack of coordination between the Paris Municipality and the national government, which left the minors in limbo for three months.

For thousands of unaccompanied minors across France, the system remains opaque, slow and unforgiving – and the stakes are growing by the day.

Migrant deaths hit new record in 2024 with at least 8,938 lives lost

At least 8,938 people died while attempting to migrate to another country in 2024 – marking the deadliest year on record for migrants worldwide, the UN said on Friday.

A migrant returns to shore after attempting to cross the English Channel to reach Great Britain on a smuggler's inflatable dinghy at Sangatte beach near Calais, northern France. © AFP/Bernard Barron

By: RFI

Issued on: 21/03/2025 -

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) warned that the actual death toll is likely much higher, as many deaths go undocumented due to a lack of official sources.

"The tragedy of the growing number of migrant deaths worldwide is both unacceptable and preventable. Behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating," said IOM deputy director general for operations Ugochi Daniels in a press release.

"The increase in deaths across so many regions in the world shows why we need an international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life."


Five-year upward trend

The 2024 figure continues a five-year trend of rising migrant deaths. It surpasses the previous record of 8,747 deaths recorded in 2023.

Asia recorded the highest regional toll with 2,778 deaths, followed by Africa with 2,242. The IOM documented 2,452 deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. Although not a record, the number remains high.

The agency said: "The figures showed the need for adequate search and rescue systems as well as the need for safe and regular migration routes."

Data for the Americas is not yet complete, but at least 1,233 deaths were reported there in 2024. That includes 341 people who died in the Caribbean – an unprecedented number – and a record 174 deaths in the Darién jungle between Panama and Colombia.

Violence a major cause

Since 2022, at least 10 percent of all recorded migrant deaths have been due to violence. In 2024, this was largely linked to violence against people in transit in Asia. Nearly 600 people died on migration routes across South and South-Eastern Asia.

The IOM said most of the victims remain unidentified, leaving families without answers and hindering efforts to respond to the crisis.

"The rise in deaths is terrible in and of itself, but the fact that thousands remain unidentified each year is even more tragic," said Julia Black, coordinator of the IOM's Missing Migrants Project.

"Beyond the despair and unresolved questions faced by families who have lost a loved one, the lack of more complete data on risks faced by migrants hinders life-saving responses."

Call for global response

The IOM is calling for an international response to address the growing number of deaths.

Its upcoming annual report will provide further analysis of the data from 2024, as well as a new focus on missing migrants in humanitarian crises.

The agency said the rising death toll highlights the need for safe, legal routes for people on the move. It described them as the only sustainable solution to the crisis of migrant deaths.

Antarctica: how geopolitics plays out at the end of the Earth

Antarctica is Earth's only uninhabited continent, home to the South Pole, and subject to a delicate balance of cooperation between key players. So what is at stake in the world's southernmost region?

The Ceremonial South Pole, surrounded by the flags of the member countries of the Antarctic Treaty. © Photo: Business Wire

By:RFI

Issued on: 22/03/2025

Ordinarily, little disturbs the peace of the white continent – inhabited only temporarily, by the scientists and support staff who come and go to work at its various research stations.

When news emerged this week that a member of a South African research team at one of Antarctica's remote bases has been put under psychological evaluation after allegedly assaulting and threatening colleagues – who sent an email to authorities pleading to be rescued – it served to highlight the fragility of that peace.

A few weeks prior, another visit acted as a reminder of the cooperation and collaboration required when it comes to the continent – around the world, far removed from its bases, as well as inside them.

On 3 January, Chile's President Gabriel Boric reached the American Amundsen-Scott station – the first leader in the Americas to visit the South Pole.

It was a visit Boric said reaffirmed Chile's claim to sovereignty over part of the Antarctic, reminding the rest of the world that his country remains "the world's main gateway to Antarctica".

In defence of international agreements over the continent, he added that it "is and must remain a continent of science and peace".

It was a trip that "fits President Boric's profile well," his compatriot Miguel Salazar, who has a doctorate in political science and international relations from Science Po Paris and has written a thesis on the Antarctic, told RFI.

He recounted that in 2023, Boric accompanied UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres to King George Island, 120km off the coast of Antarctica, where there is a Chilean air base. He also adds that Boric hails from Punta Arenas in the Magallanes region, the southernmost of the American continent.

"He had a natural connection, I'd say, and wanted to demonstrate Chile's ability to reach the pole, quite simply," said Salazar. "At the same time, he reinforced the doctrine promoted by Santiago since the middle of the 20th century. It's a country that collaborates and contributes, but which claims part of the Antarctic territory by tradition. What I find interesting is that the visit took place within a framework of cooperation. Going to the South Pole is something you never do completely independently."
Flagship agreements

Alongside Argentina, Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Chile stakes a claim in Antarctica – claims not recognised by the United States and most other countries.

Chile's claim is based on the historical inheritance of the Spanish Governorate of Terra Australis, which was transferred to the Governorate of Chile in 1555 – what had belonged to Madrid would revert to Santiago.

But Salazar insists that Chile's mindset is "completely collaborative", explaining: "Chile is positioning itself as a logistical and scientific hub. It is planning to build an Antarctic centre in Punta Arenas, a large building in the shape of an iceberg."

The idea is to provide a platform so that "20 or 25 percent" of the world's Antarctic programmes can one day operate from this city. The Chileans want to be "useful to research" – and not just their own, he says.

Ice loss and plant growth mark new era for warming Antarctica

The Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961, was the result of collaboration between 12 nations whose scientists had been working in and around these territories during the International Geophysical Year, an international scientific project of 1957 to 1958 – Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR. The signatories now number 58, including Russia.

Article 1 of the treaty states that Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only. Articles 2 and 3 specify that freedom of scientific investigation on the continent and "cooperation toward that end shall continue" and that "scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available".

The Neumayer Channel at the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula, pictured in January 2024. AFP - JUAN BARRETO

While neither the US nor Russia have made any territorial claims, but maintain a basis for claims against the seven "possessor" states, Article 4 of the text freezes the 1959 situation in this respect, stating: "No new claim, or enlargement of an existing claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica shall be asserted while the present treaty is in force."

However, there is another, newer agreement just as essential to understanding the recent statements by the Chilean president: the Madrid Protocol, which was signed in 1991 and came into force in 1998. It supplements the 1959 text by prohibiting any activity relating to mineral resources other than those carried out "for scientific purposes" and stating that any activity must be "subject to a prior environmental impact assessment".

Law researcher Anne Choquet of the University of Brest is also vice-president of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research (CNFRA). She recounts the adoption of the Madrid Protocol: "It was a response to the non-entry into force of the Wellington Convention, adopted in 1988, which provided a mechanism for considering the exploitation of mineral resources. France and Australia opposed its entry into force, and we subsequently looked for another approach."

Some believe that it will be possible to revisit this point in 2048, half a century after the Protocol was ratified. In reality, that's not the issue, says Choquet: "It's true that in 1991, the [signatory] states said to themselves that such a statement was perhaps too ambitious, and that one day we might need to go and see, explore and exploit mineral resources. So they provided a way out."

But right now, she added, we could very well "consider lifting the ban". However, this would require "a consensus among the states that have voting rights, the consultative parties, of which there are currently 29, and a legal system that strictly regulates activities, particularly in environmental matters".

Such a move would take place within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting – an annual congress at which every decision is made by consensus. "After 2048," said Choquet, "it will be possible for a state with voting rights to say that it would like to open negotiations on lifting the ban, but under very specific conditions."

In summary, unless all these major treaties are broken, where today the approval of 29 parties is needed, 26 will be needed after 2048 – "the 26 who were consultative parties in 1991".
Fragile riches

In the eyes of glaciologist Éric Rignot, from a scientific point of view Antarctica is "the most important place on the planet". The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of continental ice on Earth. Its ecosystems concern us all, but are still poorly understood.

Antarctica's southern regions are essential to glaciology, climate and geology, and home to a wildlife population that is consistently high on the agenda at the annual Consultative Meeting. For example: "There is currently a difficult discussion about penguins becoming a specially protected species," explained Choquet. "They deserve greater protection because of the threats they face."

But according to her, it is preferable to adopt an "ecosystem approach" rather than "species by species" because "unbalancing one species has consequences for all the others". This principle was adopted, for example, by the 1980 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

No chance of saving global glaciers as melt rate goes 'off the charts'

Salazar uses a theory from sociology to illustrate this: the "actor-network theory". By this theory, everything, including humans and non-humans, can be viewed as "actors" that form networks, and agency emerges from these complex, interconnected relationships rather than being solely a human attribute. Applying this theory, if whales eat krill, for example, then in order to protect whales we need to find ways of protecting krill.

Salazar also gives the example of the Antarctic toothfish: "In the early 2000s, we organised ourselves to protect it after a serious crisis of overexploitation, around two species, Dissostichus eleginoides and Dissostichus mawsoni, large fish that can measure two metres and live for 50 years. In France, Europe, the United States etc, they have enormous gastronomic value and were in danger of disappearing. And yet they are essential predators in the trophic chain."

In addition to the involvement of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an intergovernmental organisation, the establishment of rules has also been made possible by NGOs, says Salazar, notably the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

The division of Antarctica between its 'possessor' states. © RFI/Jan van der Made

There have been attempts to link the Antarctic treaties with other agreements, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – a move backed by Australia, but which did not pan out. However, this suggestion did lead to the establishment of two Marine Protected Areas around the Antarctic continent – at the South Orkney Islands, and the Ross Sea.

"Other areas have been proposed by France, the EU, New Zealand and recently Chile and Argentina," said Salazar. But these have been "blocked by China and Russia" – states whose stances sometimes raise questions. In 2024, the US magazine Newsweek revealed that Moscow had told London that one of its Antarctic exploration vessels had discovered a large quantity of oil at sea – "around 511 billion barrels worth of oil, equating to around 10 times the North Sea's output over the last 50 years".

Newsweek reported: "According to documents discussed in UK parliament last week, the discovery was made by Russian research ships in the Weddell Sea, which falls under the UK's claim in Antarctic territory. That claim overlaps with those of Chile and Argentina. Despite having no territorial claims in Antarctica, Russia, along with the US and China, has been gradually escalating its presence in the region in recent years through various scientific campaigns, establishing five research stations in the territory since 1957."

In reality, according to Choquet, all the states, including Russia, continue to demonstrate their commitment to banning activities relating to mineral resources. In a resolution in 2023, she notes, they not only reiterated their continuing commitment to this imperative, but even asked governments to "undertake to dispel the myth" that the Treaty or the Protocol would expire "either in 2048 or at any other time".
China, a contentious player

China is the latest arrival on the continent – present since the 1980s and relying heavily on its links with Latin America for its activities. With its icebreakers Xuelong 1 and 2, it has led some 40 expeditions there.

It has also surrounded the Franco-Italian base Concordia with five scientific stations of its own, the last of which was inaugurated last year. However, Choquet insists: "Having more stations doesn't mean more weight in decision-making, because decisions are taken by consensus."

Construction of China's fifth base in the Antarctic worries west

"When it became a state involved in decision-making, China was really collaborative and participative when it came to protection projects. In recent years, however, it has become more contentious," notes Salazar.

Their technique is to challenge studies, such as those carried out by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, prior to projects. "China always finds a small point, makes a remark... and that stops everything."

Is there any guarantee that countries will comply with requirements on their stations in the middle of the desert? "There are inspections," says Salazar, "and everything has always gone well." However, these inspections are announced well in advance.

View of an iceberg on Half Moon island, Antarctica, November 2019. 

AFP - JOHAN ORDONEZ

And what of Donald Trump and his territorial ambitions? While he has made contentious statements concerning the sovereignty of Greenland – the second largest body of ice in the world – he is yet to make any earth-shattering statements about Antarctica.

The American president has his eyes firmly on the Far North, and on catching up with his fleet of icebreakers against the Russians. "The United States has always had the same attitude towards Antarctica," points out Salazar. "It's a very important player, always committed to protecting the continent and working together. To take a different path would contradict its entire history."

Thanks to Starlink – the satellite internet service owned by Trump's right-hand man Elon Musk – surfing the internet from low latitudes has never been easier – good news for scientists, as well as for increasing numbers of tourists to the region.

"As far as I'm concerned," says Salazar, "this [tourism boom] shouldn't be happening. We're talking about the only region where the human species doesn't exist, where it's not adapted. Every time someone goes there, they bring invasive species and micro-organisms."

He also points out that the tourism sector is made up of private, competitive companies. "I've seen prices of $15,000 for five days on a comfortable boat, with a glass of Champagne. It's the elites, or people who sacrifice a lot of resources, who go there."

"I'm often asked whether I'm in favour of a total ban on tourism in Antarctica," says Choquet. "That would be an admission that we are not capable of managing, and it would be very complicated from a legal point of view." Instead, she favours a stricter framework, with "a responsible approach from all players". But once again, it's all a question of unanimity.

This article was adapted from the original version n French.

International report

Syria in crossfire as Turkish-Israeli rivalry heats up over Assad’s successors

Issued on: 17/03/2025 -                   PODCASTCLICK LEFT

The overthrow of Bachar al-Assad's regime in Syria and its replacement by new rulers with close ties to Turkey are ringing alarm bells in Israel. RFI's correspondent reports on how Ankara and Jerusalem’s deepening rivalry could impact Syria's future. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, hold a joint press conference following their meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara in February. © AP Photo/Francisco Seco

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's already strong support for the militant group Hamas has strained relations with Israel.

Now, Syria is threatening to become a focal point of tension.

Earlier this month, Erdogan issued a widely interpreted warning to Israel to stop undermining Damascus's new rulers.

"Those who hope to benefit from the instability of Syria by provoking ethnic and religious divisions should know that they will not achieve their goals," Erdogan declared at a meeting of ambassadors.

Erdogan's speech followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to support Syria's Druze and Kurdish minorities.

"We will not allow our enemies in Lebanon and Syria to grow," Netanyahu told the Knesset. "At the same time, we extend our hand to our Druze and Kurdish allies."

Gallia Lindenstrauss, an Israeli foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv told RFI that Israel view is not very optimistic about the future of Syria, and sees it as a potential threat to Israel.

Success of rebel groups in Syria advances Turkish agenda

"The fact that Turkey will be dominant in Syria is also dangerous for Israel," adds Lindenstrauss.

"Turkey could build bases inside Syria and establish air defences there. This would limit Israel’s room for manoeuvre and could pose a threat. Israel wants to avoid this and should therefore adopt a hard-line approach."

Deepening rivalry

Ankara and Jerusalem’s deepening rivalry is shaping conflicting visions for the future of Syria.

Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' Contemporary Turkish Studies Department, "Turkey wants to see a secure and stabilised unitary state under Ahmad al-Sharaa’s transitional government.

"Israel, on the other hand, wants to see a weak and fragmented Syria. Its main concern has always been securing its northern border," added Nasi.

Israeli forces are occupying Syrian territory along their shared northern border, which is home to much of Syria’s Druze minority.

However, Israeli hopes of drawing Syria's Kurds away from Damascus suffered a setback when the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls part of Syria, signed an agreement on 10 March to merge part of its operations with Syria’s transitional government.

Mutual distrust

As Damascus consolidates control, analysts suggest Israel will be increasingly concerned about Turkey expanding its military presence inside Syria.

"If Turkey establishes military posts in the south of the country, close to the Israeli border, presumably with the permission of the government in Damascus," warns Soli Ozel, a lecturer in international relations at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, "then the two sides would be in close proximity, with military forces on both sides. That, I believe, would create a highly dangerous, volatile, and incendiary situation."

As Erdogan celebrates Turkish role in ousting Assad, uncertainty lies ahead

Analysts warn that if Turkey extends its military presence to include airbases, this could threaten Israel’s currently unchallenged access to Syrian airspace.

However, some observers believe that opportunities for cooperation may still exist.

"Things can change," says Israeli security analyst Lindenstrauss.

"Israel and Turkey could resume cooperation and potentially contribute to Syria’s reconstruction in a way that does not threaten Israel. However, this does not appear to be the path the Erdogan regime is currently taking, nor does it seem to be the direction chosen by Netanyahu and his government."

With Erdogan and Netanyahu making little secret of their mutual distrust, analysts warn that their rivalry is likely to spill over into Syria, further complicating the country’s transition from the Assad regime.

By:Dorian Jones

Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany

How this German fringe party plans to 'make socialism great again'

While Germany attempts to form its new government, only four of its political parties will have the chance to become part of a new ruling coalition. The far-right AfD is likely to be excluded from negotiations, and there are 24 other parties that didn't win enough votes to enter parliament. RFI went to meet one of them, and hear about their plans to change society, despite being excluded from mainstream politics.

01:16Gernot Wolfer, Berlin representative of the MLPD, arranging placards in the party's office, 21 February, 2025. © RFI/Jan van der Made

By :Jan van der Made 

RFI

15/03/2025 -

"The capitalist system and the bourgeois mode of thinking is in a big crisis," says Gernot Wolfer.

Comrade Wolfer is a representative of the Berlin cell of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD), which took part in the German election under the slogan "Make Socialism Great Again".

Wolfer, 67, is a retired metal worker who was employed by multinational companies such as Bosch and Siemens, and active in the powerful IG Metall union.

In the library at the MLPD Berlin office is a small bust of Karl Marx, and the bookshelves feature titles such as "The End of Socialism?", "Trade Union and Class Struggle" and "On the Formation of Neo-imperialist countries".

On the photocopier sits a yellow hardhat with a sticker that reads "Workers of all countries: Unite!".

Wolfer was well prepared, bearing five A4 sheets of remarks, written in both German and English. "It's approved by the politburo," he told us cheerfully, "so you can quote me on it."

Gernot Wolfer, union organiser and representative of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD). © RFI/Jan van der Made

"We wanted to make a counterpoint to the well-known slogan of the US president," he said, referring to Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" maxim.

"It makes no sense to make America great again, or Germany or Russia or China. They are heading directly to a third world war," he added. "The world will be divided again, over raw materials. If mankind is to survive, we have to overcome capitalism. We need a socialist world."

Fragmentation of the left

But even uniting those who share this goal to fight for it could prove a daunting task.

The MLPD is one of several parties within the German political left that uses "social" or "socialist" principles in their manifestos.

The largest by far is the establishment Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – the country's centre-left social democrat party, which has been in power on and off since the Second World War. It is the oldest political party in Germany, and the party of recently defeated Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Much further to the left is Die Linke. It is the offspring of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) – commonly referred to in English as the East German Communist Party – which ruled East Germany for seven decades.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the SED morphed into the Democratic Socialist Party (PDS) which in 2005 changed its name to Die Linke, and attained its best election result in 2009 with 11.9 percent of the votes.

Today, the party presents itself as combining green politics with social awareness. They made a surprise comeback during the recent election, with their share of the vote (8.77 percent) meaning they'll have 64 seats in the Bundestag.

Germany's far-left party celebrates surprise comeback in elections

An offspring of Die Linke, led by former MP Sahra Wagenknecht, the BSW, combines left-wing economics with right-wing nationalism and cultural conservatism – it is anti-immigration and pro-Russia – but did not get enough votes to enter parliament.
Left of the left

On the far left are the Socialist Equality Party (SGP), a Trotskyist group whose slogan is "Socialism instead of War!", and Wolfer's MLPD.

Germany's domestic intelligence service (the BfV) names the SGP and MLPD as "strictly ideological left-wing-extremists", as well as "extremist structures" within Die Linke, saying that their "shared goal" is "to dismantle the democratic constitutional state and establish socialism and, proceeding from that, a classless communist society".

But for now, Wolfer believes it is better to operate within the existing system.

Praising France's "anti-fascist front", the alliance led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Unbowed party, he regrets that similar election coalitions are not allowed in Germany. "You have to go to the election as one single party," he says, something he thinks is "a restriction of democratic rights".

What is the MLPD?


The Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) was founded in 1982 by members of the Communist Workers Union of Germany. It advocates for revolutionary change to establish a socialist society through the seizure of power by the proletariat, aiming to create a classless, communist society based on the teachings of Marx, Engels and Lenin.

The MLPD rejects terms such as "Stalinism" and "Maoism" as divisive, while defending their works, and distinguishes itself from other left-wing groups by promoting "genuine socialism" to counter revisionism and reformism.

The MLPD participates in international communist networks, having joined the ICOR in 2010, and views countries such as China and North Korea as "bureaucratic-capitalist". It emphasises environmental issues and the need for a paradigm shift in production and consumption, to preserve human-nature unity. Despite its minor political influence, the MLPD remains active in German politics, advocating for radical social change

He adds that his party supports "a broad anti-fascist unity under all progressive parties, not only left parties".

He also says that they "work together with people from Die Linke" which he says has "progressive demands", adding: "That's good. They are an important force within the anti-fascist movement."

"But," he continued, "they made their deal with the capitalist society. The word 'socialism' is very rarely used in their leaflets or books".
Why socialism?

The question remains: why socialism? After the failure of the USSR, the excesses of Stalin's Gulag, the Chinese Communist Party's experiments with the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, costing the lives of millions of people, who is still interested in socialism as an ideology?

"The first socialist countries of the world have been very successful for decades," counters Wolfer. "So the plane flew before it crashed."

And the reason for this "crash"? "We call it a betrayal of the socialist principles," he says.

A case in point is the Berlin Wall, which was constructed by East German authorities in 1961 to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West.

"The Berlin wall is not a socialist wall. The main slogan of the communist movement and of Marx and Lenin was for 'workers of all countries to unite', not to build walls and divide yourselves against each other," explains Wolfer.

East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate, in July 1973. AFP

"The Stasi dictatorship in the former East Germany and the criminal acts in the later Soviet Union are not results of a socialist mode of thinking," he says, referring to the infamous intelligence service that arrested and tortured thousands of civilians.

He argues that today, China's Communist party is no longer a working-class party either: "On the latest party congress, there's a bunch of millionaires."

He says such betrayals of socialist ideals and the experiences of socialist countries must be evaluated. "We have to build on this and we have to make socialism great again."

The Stasi museum is housed in the former headquarters of the Staatssicherheit, where tens of thousands of informants were directed to spy on their fellow citizens. RFI/Jan van der Made

The official results of the German election held on 23 February, published on 14 March show that the MLPD won just 19,551 votes nationwide – or 0.04 percent of the total of 49,649,512.

Although the party gained 1,731 more votes than in the 2021 elections, Wolfer knows his party didn't stand a chance of reaching the 5 percent threshold to get into the German parliament. But he will keep on fighting for global socialist unity, he says.

Some time ago, he and some other MLPD members went to Israel to "find comrades". At a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he and his friends saw a group of Israelis waving Palestinian flags – and red flags too.

"Bingo," they thought. Wolfer and his MLPD comrades invited this group of Israelis to Berlin, along with a group of Palestinian Marxists.

"In the beginning they were suspicious, they didn't want to talk to each other," says Wolfer. But after a few days of discussions in the offices of the MLDP in Berlin, the atmosphere changed. "When they parted they were hugging and crying."