A-Infos (en) Anarkismo.net: On the Israeli war in Gaza - Anarchist communist analysis from Syria

The majority of the Arab masses can just observe what is going on, filled with outrage and anger. 
This is due mainly to the general atmosphere of fear and their marginalization, strongly maintained 
by the ruling elites. Only a small minority of politically active individuals are participating in 
protests on the streets. ---- The number of Palestinian casualities is so high compared to previous 
Israeli attacks - 385 killed and more than 1,750 injured (these figures are valid as of 31 
December). The majority of the Arab masses can just observe what is going on, filled with outrage 
and anger. This is due mainly to the general atmosphere of fear and their marginalization, strongly 
maintained by the ruling elites. Only a small minority of politically active individuals are 
participating in protests on the streets. They are mainly Islamic activists.

This can be understood in two ways: Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is the Palestinian branch 
of the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest Islamic organization that enjoys an influential presence in 
the largest Islamic countries, usually in an illegal way. On the other hand, the left in Arab and 
Islamic countries has changed profoundly since the fall of the Soviet Union: a large part of it 
shifted from the traditional reformist policies of Stalinist parties to embrace the neo-liberal 
policies of the mainstream tendency of globalization, but have kept the same old tactics: looking 
for compromises with ruling elites, or promoting "democratic" change based primarily on neo-liberal 
policies and accepting American, or in general Western, intervention as the main way of imposing 
such "change".

To be fair, there is a tendency to create some influence by Trotskyism and, to a lesser extent, 
Anarchism; but these new tendencies are still very weak and elitist and lack any important presence 
or influence on the grassroots movements of the masses. In fact, the Arab masses are left to the 
propaganda of the Islamists. Liberal and the majority of former leftist intellectuals have opted to 
support the policies of pro-American "moderate" governments; while those leftists who consider 
themselves anti-imperialist have acted as mere supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah; they have failed 
to distinguish themselves from these Islamists, or even worse, failed to promote a real democratic 
and progressive approach and understanding of the ongoing fight.

It is clear that despite the promises of Hamas that are attributed to their Islamic religious 
teachings not to the facts on ground, Israel enjoys the upper hand and its forces, with their 
determination to inflict as many casualities and as much damage as they can on the one and half 
million poor residents of Gaza, can defeat the resistance in Gaza.

Pro-American regimes, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are doing everything they can to make the 
mission of Israeli forces as easy as possible; for example, the Egyptian regime is keeping the 
crossing points of Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip closed to humanitarian aid, in order to keep 
the people of Gaza facing hunger, darkness and cold, which can weaken their resistance and create 
resentment against the Hamas leadership. These corrupt dictatorships have today become the symbols 
of "modernity" with neo-liberals as their masters - the Bush administration and its first ally in 
the region, Israel, the butchers of Gaza; this proved to be the best propaganda that the Islamists 
have received in these days.

Of course, Islamic fundamentalists do not have real solutions, nor a democratic one, to the crisis, 
or even to the issues of fighting poverty or social injustice; but due to the weakness of the left 
here and its vague understanding, and of their proposed alternative for these issues due to the 
strong influence of Stalinism and reformism, these Islamists are now in the front line of the 
demonstrations against the American-backed Israeli aggression. This only reaffirms the importance 
of organizing anarchist propaganda and activities that can, by word and deed, demonstrate a new, 
libertarian alternative to both neo-liberalism and fundamentalism.


Mazen Kamalmaz
_________________________________________
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