John Dolva Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 An Arab fighter in Kobanê says that the People's Defense Forces defends the fraternity of peoples Şevger Himo is an Arab fighting within Rojava's People's Defense Forces (YPG) fighter. He has told the ANF news service that the ranks of the YPG are a place where young people from all over the world who want democracy can meet. Şevger Himo is an Arab from Rojava's Cizîrê Canton. He joined the YPG 3 years ago, and three months ago he came to Kobanê oh his own volition to join the resistance. Four of his brothers are also involved in various institutions in Rojava. The egalitarian nature of the revolution Şevger Himo said that he had lived in Qamişlo (Qamishli) for a long time and had become acquainted with the Kurdish Freedom Movement through his elder brother, but that his loyalty to and belief in the Kurdish movement really developed after the revolution in Rojava. With the gun given him by his father Şevger Himo said that he had received his call up papers from the regime and that ''I didn't want to do military service for the regime, I preferred to join the YPG, which is defending the Rojava revolution. My family supported this decision, as the revolution represents the unity of peoples. When I joined the YPG it had limited capabilities and my father gave me his own AK47." Went to Kobanê before his wounds had completely healed ''After I had joined the YPG 3 years ago my elder brother İshak Himo joined the public security and two other brothers joined the struggle in different institutions," Şevger Himo said. He added that the YPG defended the whole of Rojava, and that when attacks began on Kobanê he wanted to go there, but had had to wait until he was discharged from the hospital after being wounded in a clash in Hesekê. Şevger Himo said that he had been in Kobanê for 3 months, and that the defense of that city meant the defense of the Rojava revolution that was the democratic future all the peoples and beliefs in Syria and Rojava. ''A great resistance is going on here. We are opposing ISIS attacks inspired by Leader Apo, and wherever ISIS attacks we will oppose them," Şevger Himo said. "Leader Apo" refers to Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. Enemy of peoples and faiths ''If there hadn't been a resistance in Kobanê, ISIS, acting in the name of the Arab people, would have carried out a massacre," Şevger Himo said, adding that ISIS was the enemy of peoples and faiths in the Middle East. "As an Arab, I call on the Arab people to support the YPG, which believes in democracy and defends the fraternity of peoples, against the savagery of ISIS," he said. Şevger Himo said that he had never encountered any prejudice or negative views towards the Arab people since he had joined the YPG, adding that peoples from many different places have joined the organization. Şevger Himo said that he had been profoundly influenced by Rojvan, an Iranian who he met in Kobanê and who fell in December. He added that that the ranks of the YPG were a place where young people from all over the world who want democracy can meet. A joint struggle Şevger Himo said that it was not just one city that was being defended, but that the resistance in Kobanê and the Rojava revolution represented the joint struggle of all oppressed peoples in the region and worldwide. He said that although many young women and men from Kobanê were involved in the resistance, some had left the city, and he called on them to return and take their places in the resistance. Posted by Urun Harvest at 1:08 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Tuesday, January 13, 2015 Today's report from Rojava, Mount Sinjar and the refugees Once again we will talk here about the revolution in Rojava and the struggle in Sinjar and we will deliberately mix up our items in order to underscore the continuity and mass work of the liberation movement. 28 communes established in 12 days The women of Tirbespiyê city (Cizîre Canton, Rojava) established 28 communes in 12 days. Seventeen of them are in the city, 4 in the villages of the Sinciqê region and 7 are in the Aliyan region. The women started their campaign on January 2. The communes were established through meetings in which hundreds of Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian women attended. The communes also formed several committees. The defense committee has already organized a training session for self-defense with the help of YPJ (Women’s Defense Units). The education committee has initiated a session for ideological and political education. The campaign is continuing with the goal of establishing 70 communes in Tirbespiyê. The on-going humanitarian crisis on Mount Sinjar and the need for solidarity People from the Yazidi community who took shelter on Mount Sinjar following the ISIS attacks there are in urgent need of health workers and medicine. Some 10,000 people are currently living on the mountain as fierce clashes continue taking place in Sinjar town as well as in surrounding towns and villages. Aid material intended for Sinjar can pass through Rojava now because the corridor between West and South Kurdistan was reopened on December 20. Still, the aid sent to Sinjar hasn't met the needs of the thousands of people who are struggling to live there under challenging circumstances, especially with the onset of winter. Medicine, winter clothes, heating equipment and basic foodstuffs are desperately needed by the Kurdish Yazidis. These people have refused to leave their land despite the on-going attacks by the inhumane ISIS gangs. Health workers are especially important and are needed on Mount Sinjar. Dr. Seid Sileman and a volunteer have turned a house in the Kolka village into a hospital are struggling to help the 10,000 people on Mount Sinjar. A doctor-guerrilla is providing service to those wounded on the battlefield. Sinjar has two ambulances donated by the Rojava Aid Organization. Dr. Sileman wanted to join the ranks of the resistance forces in order to defend his lands against the ISIS attacks but the fighters asked him to work as a doctor in order to help the people. His hospital in Kolka lacks even the basic equipment needed in a hospital. "I have been here since the corridor to Sinjar was first closed. I formed the Kolka hospital amidst shortages. The people around here also helped very much. Many people from different areas came here for treatment despite the lack of any means of transport. We treated those we could, sent the others to other places in helicopters. The number of the patients we referred to other places has exceeded a thousand, the names of all are recorded. Many people died, though. Children died from the cold, lack of food and severe conditions...With the onset of the winter, people mainly need antibiotics and medicine against infection. The people are facing more health problems as their living conditions have changed. When patients come here, we treat those we are able to and send those in more critical condition to Rojava or South Kurdistan," he said. He also stressed that there is a need for more medicine and health workers, especially doctors, to come to the aid and assistance of the Sinjar people. One heroic docto rand a volunteer on Mount Sinjar have taken responsibility for 10,000 people. Children dying in refugee camps due to cold weather Meanwhile, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights has announced that 17 Syrian and Iraqi children have died in refugee camps in the recent cold weather. Hemin Bajalan, a senior Kurdish official from the commission, said that refugees in the region face unimaginable hardship in the winter conditions and also said, “According to reports received from local NGOs monitoring the situation in camps in Iraq, 17 refugee children have frozen to death in recent days.” Bajalan said that 11 children have died in the camps situated in the Kurdistan Region, 4 in the Kirkuk camps and 2 in the Baghdad camps. Heavy snow storms and bitter cold have gripped parts of the Kurdistan Region, with Duhok and Sulaymaniyah experiencing the worst of the weather. Children are also reported to have fallen victim to the cold in refugees camps in Lebanon and Turkey. Revolutionary education in Rojava The people in Rojava---in the cantons of Kobanê, Efrîn and Cizîrê---continue to resist the brutal Daesh (ISIS) onslaught while also constructing a social life. Educational institutions are open in the three cantons and they offer a new educational model. The primary languages of the education are Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac. This model of education in many languages aims to break down the monolithic language policy of the Baathist regime in Syria. In an interview conducted by the DİHA news service, Dorsin Akif, a lecturer of Jineology at the Mesopotamia Social Sciences Academy located in the Cizîrê Canton, talked about the institutions of education and the academies and their plans for the future. Dorsin Akif said, "The primary perspectives in education are on the basis of the democratic, ecological-economy and gender-emancipatory paradigm" and she explained why they use the term "academy" instead of "university." * Can you tell us about the developments in education that started with Rojava's Revolution? First of all, it should be remembered that the Kurdish People’s Leader, Abdullah Ocalan has an impact on the revolutionary tradition in Rojava. We put a lot of effort into women's emancipation. Everybody who goes to the academy, including a 70-year-old adult and a 7-year-old kid have been educated in one way or the other. This has already created a tradition. So, the "free Kurd" and the "free women" revolution of the Kurdistan liberation movement has brought a significant change and transformation in this area for the last three years. There are two types of education in Rojava; one is the “public education” that is provided mainly by the academies. The other one is the “school education” that is provided mainly by the state institutions. The state has a monopolistic policy in school education and we try to change the curriculum and develop a new curriculum. This year we prepared books for pre-school, kindergartens and first grades. The functioning of all of the schools depended on the ministry of educations in the cantons. However, we have not changed all the books yet. What we try to do is to change the curriculum of certain courses and free the education from government control and give it to the public. The people do not control the school education, the state still continues its education. To elaborate on the education in academies, we can say that this includes training for the construction of social life, social change and transformation and also to train people for leading social institutions. The fundamental perspective in this education is based on the democratic, ecologic-economy and gender-emancipatory paradigm. We have created a system different from the education developed by the nation-state, we think the production of knowledge should be given back to society. And that we will change everything, from the methods of education, using the buildings, to the construction of daily life in the academy. The school directors and teachers in state schools have always been someone to be afraid of rather than educating people. We are different from them and we will establish a relationship based on equality and friendship. In the education system of the state, only one curriculum is set and that is applied in all schools. The main point of state education is that the individual belongs to the state. And that is why we are different from the state. We are trying to build a system where we can educate ourselves and develop knowledge. We are trying to own ourselves, our society, and to understand the social reality. We are different from state education in the sense that we minimize the state power and strengthen civil society. * How is the education built in the cantons? Are the educational models the same in each canton or are there any differences? Every canton endeavors to build its own educational system on its own social structure. Of course, there is a shared approach in terms of paradigm. This shared approach is the democratic, eco-ecologic economy and gender-emancipatory paradigm. However, the social composition in every canton is different. For instance, Cizire Canton is an example of the coexistence of Middle Eastern societies. For that, the education in Cizire is shaped accordingly. Kobane and Efrin are also different. I can give you an example in terms of the language. Syriac, Kurdish and Arabic languages are taught in the school system in the Cizîrê Canton. If there is an Arab child, he/she is taught in the Arabic language; Kurdish or Syriac language courses will be an elective option for that student. The children learn in these languages based on their ethnic identities and their education is based on their social structure. However, this is not the case in the Efrin canton because mainly Kurdish and Arab populations live there. The Efrin canton has prepared books up to the 8th grade; however, the Cizîrê canton has prepared them only to the 3rd grade. Because they have different ethnic structures they need to find a common ground. Public academies are also developing on this ground. For example, there are currently the Mesopotamia Acaemies of Social Sciences in Cizre Canton. It is not open in other cantons. The situation is different in Kobane obviously because of the war. * Why is the term “Academy” is used instead of “University”? Good question. The definition of "university" is very much based on the system. When universities were first established they might have been thought to be independent of a central system. Yet today universities have mostly become the institutions in which the state is organizing itself. On the contrary, the academy is an area where society builds its own intellectual power. It maintains its existence as an area where it produces knowledge and science by itself. Thus, we found it more appropriate to call it an “academy.” * What differentiates the educational model in Academies from the ones in the west or in the Middle East? In fact, the main difference can be explained through this question: "How does the society want to live?" We have an educational model that answers this question. It embodies the educational tradition in the Middle East, but it also embodies the research tradition of the west. First of all, we do not construct knowledge on the basis of western knowledge. Knowledge takes place based on the dynamics of the society. For example, a mother who is 70 years old teaches Oral History at the Mesopotamia Academy of Social Sciences. We call it oral history, but she mainly talks about her experiences in recent history, the stories of young people in the freedom struggle, the epics, the words that have disappeared or were forced to disappear through repression. I will give you another example. There is no memorization in education here and we ask these questions: will the knowledge gained by the student in school be useful in the social structure and life, will it make life better? And is the knowledge gained by the individual related to (their) own society or is it knowledge constructed by modernity that leads to individualism? It is an effort to produce knowledge that is based on understanding, explaining the shared experiences of life. Thus, it is a sort of learning that goes beyond the static limits of the teacher-student relationship in the Middle Eastern and western traditions and it allows changing these static relations from time to time. One more example: In each tradition the students mainly are questioned and categorized through exams, right? There is also a different approach at this point. After each class the student criticizes the teacher’s method. At the end of education, the outcome of learning is promoted not only by the teacher but also by the student. Students go through criticism and self-criticism in front of the all students. They decide within a group of friends how they will be involved in social life. * There are women's academies. Can you tell us about them? What differentiates the education there? Women, who are not considered as a social power, identify themselves in academies, and try to understand their place in history. The women have no place in the constructed social structure. Social institutions were identified with men. The important thing for our academies is to get rid of these definitions. For that it is necessary to have a change in the social structure that is constructed with the masculine discourse and mentality. And this necessitates education to be woven by women's identity. In the patriarchal education system there should be an age limit and classes are designed according to the age groups, aren't they? But this situation is different here. For example, when we had a training session for “Yekitiya Star Assembly,” some of our friends were taught together with their mothers. Some of the women were 60 years old while others were 18 years old. We see the generational gap as the result of the power structures. These are problems that arise as a result of limiting each other. In free relations, however, age is not a problem, it is about sharing the experience. It is important that a 60-year-old person’s experience be seen as a power, but that experience should be shared and should transform the surrounding environment. Similarly, an educated person in the schools of the system gains a higher status in the society. However, in our academies, to be educated does not give you a high status. Education is all about contributing to social life and relations. It is not considered as a status but as a qualification that needs to be shared. Due to the fact that our women’s academy addresses the whole canton, most education is carried out in closed training sessions, which means that the people who attend can stay here. Thus, everything is done together. Each night a group of students keep guard for the security of the students in the academy. Daily life starts with sports in the morning. Then the classes begin. Once the classes of that day are completed, the evening classes continue with news. The evening classes are mainly visual, we try to complete classes with alternative cinema and documentaries. * How are the academies widely spread in Rojava now? All of our academies were built in line with social needs. Self-defense academies are common. There are “Women’s Academies,” “Youth Academies,” “Security Academies,” “Economy Academies,” “Free Ideas and Thinking Academies,” “City Academy,” “Law, Sociology, History, Language and Literature Academies,” “Political and Diplomacy Academies” and there are “Educational Committees” which are connected with these academies and which exist in every community. Every city has its own “Free Ideas and Thought Academies.” In addition to that, there are academies established by institutions for employees. These are on the canton level. But there are also defense academies and professionalism academies and schools in every subject. * What are your prospective plans and programs for education? First of all, our objective is to enable the school system to be transferred to society. As we stated in the beginning, we have added some classes to these trainings, and we interfered with the Nationalism classes and History classes that were given by the state. However, it is necessary to make radical changes in other classes. We made some gender-based changes in the pre-school and kindergarten books. But this is not enough. The mentality that is imposed on to children through the old education system must change. This is the first thing that we need to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Is the U.S. undermining the fight against ISIS by attempting to split Kurdish forces? Events in South Kurdistan (so-called "Iraqi Kurdistan" or the Kurdistan Regional Government) sometimes move faster than we can easily keep track of.The KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Co-presidency has called attention in a written statement to the increasing reports published by some media outlets in South Kurdistan against the Sinjar (Shingal) policy of the Kurdish movement. We think that the immediate issue at hand has much to do with how the concepts of democratic federalism and self-management are applied by the liberation movement and the relationship between the government in Erbil, the capital of South Kurdistan, and the liberation movement. We also believe that there are larger issues at hand and we will mention some of them here. The KCK stressed in their statement that reports about the KCK's alleged intention to separate Sinjar from Kurdistan don't reflect the truth, underlining that the statements of the KCK Committee on Foreign Affairs, members and the co-presidency of the KCK all have repeatedly denied these assertions. The general perspective of the KCK movement rests on assessments that have been made regarding the creation of an autonomous administration in Sinjar affiliated to the South Kurdistan Federation. The KCK stressed that none of these assessments mention the creation of autonomous regions separated from the South Kurdistan Federation. We have run many posts on this blog providing context for these views and we hope to have a stronger analysis on this blog tomorrow. It seems to us that the liberation movement has fought to create a viable self-management system in Sinjar and that this is a worthy goal. The KCK has had a hand in this. Still, the creation of an autonomous region should not, by itself, cause concern in Erbil. The dominant media in Erbil reflects the views of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), so when the KCK takes on this media we can say that the liberation movement is taking on dominant interests which are not always democratic or consistently progressive. The KCK statement pointed out that "Since after the conference in Sinjar where Yazidis made a decision to govern and defend themselves, some media outlets, political institutions and circles in South Kurdistan have launched a smear campaign against the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party). These media reports aim to reflect Sinjar's decisions...are not in accordance with the national interests of the Kurdish people for pointing our movement as a target through unfounded news within a process when a great struggle is being waged for the liberation of Sinjar." The KCK statement underlined that the meeting in Sinjar was held by Yazidis independently from the Kurdish movement, and that "a meeting and discussion among the Yazidi people, who have been through a huge massacre and whose existence is still under threat, should be taken normally. A friend of ours (referring to Sozdar Avesta) attended the meeting because of her Êzîdî identity." We will add that Sozdar Avesta serves as a KCK Co-Presidency Council member, has served on the political bureau of the PKK and is one of the highest ranking female leaders of the PKK. We have frequently quoted from her on this blog. The KCK said that the decisions the Yazidi people in Sinjar made under their own will could be put into practice on the basis of the Yazidi people's own will and within a certain consensus needed to be reached following a discussion with all national powers across Kurdistan for they are also of interest all the people of Kurdistan. The KCK said that the Yazidi people will soon need to develop the practice of their decisions in a dialogue with all political powers in South Kurdistan to which Sinjar is affiliated. "Should we deem this decision a right one, it should be considered a national duty of ours to support as a national force our Yazidi people for their establishment of an autonomous administration and self-defense. Our mentality and political idea doesn't approve making and practicing decisions on behalf of a community. Allegations that the meeting and decisions in Sinjar were organized by the PKK are not true," the KCK stressed. Briefly, then, the KCK is saying that the people of Sinjar have made decisions about their situation which must be discussed with the Kurdistan government, but that these decisions for autonomy must be defended by everyone who supports them. The KCK is also saying that it was the people, and not the PKK, who made these decisions. Sozdar Avesta took part in the process in Sinjar based on her Êzîdî identity. Is the complaint from Erbil that the KCK and PKK are acting improperly or is that they have no one like Sozdar Avesta and cannot influence events in Sinjar based on their (Erbil's) record? The statement by KCK Executive Co-presidency also emphasized that establishment of an autonomous administration of Yazidis in the South Kurdistan Federation wasn't only a requirement of democratization, but would also create a situation that will not weaken but strengthen South Kurdistan and the ties between Yazidis and the Federation. The KCK also said that they believed that the South Kurdistan Federation must assume responsibility in order for Sinjar to attain self-administration and self-defense and pursue this policy which will also strengthen South Kurdistan. We will say that the KCK is making a logical argument here. When we talk about democratic autonomy and self-management in a revolutionary context we are talking precisely about the recognition of the rights being taken by the people in Sinjar. The KCK statement emphasized that the Kurdish movement has no intention or thought about taking some places under control and ruling them, warning that the current propaganda-spreading and unfounded media reports run the risk of confronting Kurdish joint defense forces that are resisting in Sinjar with the responsibility of saving the occupied lands in South Kurdistan. The KCK said that it would be better to come up with a solution to the problems through dialogue and discussion within the current process when the Middle East is facing great dangers and possibilities are increasing to achieve further attainments. "We declare once again that we are ready to fulfill our part and responsibility in the face of any kind of problem," the KCK added. On this blog we have followed the joint defense work underway in Sinjar and we have supported it. We agree that irresponsible media reports and analysis might threaten to undermine this work and work that is underway elsewhere in the region as conflicts intensify. Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has warned the PKK against interfering in Sinjar and trying to turn it into a canton under its own rule. “We will not accept any external intervention in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, since such an attempt is illegal and against the Iraqi constitution,” the KRG said in a statement. It also condemned any “illegal administrative system” in Shingal. Referring to the PKK, it said that “instead of solving the crises of the people of the area, they are trying to manipulate the opportunities to impose their political interests in Shingal, and that will not be acceptable by us.” “The Yezidi people have been living in a bad condition and the Kurdistan Region still considers the Shingal calamity as a wound on the body of Kurdistan...We want to announce that the current attempts of the PKK for creating a canton for Shingal is unlawful and is completely contradictory with the Iraqi institution and the Kurdistan Region laws, and they must stop these interventions inside the Kurdistan Region, as Shingal is part of the disputed areas in the Iraqi constitution...The Peshmarga forces have planned to retake control of Shingal, and the KRG will continue to reconstruct this beloved area...We will propose to change Shingal from a city to self-rule governorate in a lawful way,” the KRG said. We find it difficult to accept that anyone can consider the PKK as an external force anywhere in Kurdistan at this point, and especially so in Sinjar where PKK-aligned forces, Rojava's People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces have been fighting ISIS since August. Citing the Iraqi Constitution at this point seems hypocritical since it was not so long ago that the government in Erbil was at odds with the US-backed government in Baghdad. Moreover, Rojava's revolution and the PKK have both being clear and forthright in saying that the canton system in place in Rojava is a model for the region and have not said that this model separates Rojava from Syria or from the rest of Kurdistan. Likewise, then, democratic autonomy in Sinjar should not threaten Erbil or Baghdad. Perhaps we find a clue to this turn of events in the recent past when it seemed that the Peshmerga lost the initiative in Sinjar in August and there was hesitation in Erbil about supporting Rojava. Perhaps matters go back further to the point when the government in Erbil compromised with the Turkish state during the Turkish elections and undercut the Kurdish movement's position in Turkey. For that matter, we can trace some of these disagreements back to the 1940s and the struggle to found and administer the short-lived Mahabad Republic. But our concern is more immediate. Top US envoy Gen. John Allen visited Erbil this week after having met with senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad in order to garner support from Kurdish Peshmarga forces for an upcoming Mosul offensive. Allen is in the region as Obama’s special envoy to the global coalition against ISIS. Allen is giving much or all of the credit for defeating ISIS and helping the refugees to the Peshmarga, a claim which does not meet reality and which shows an imperialist bias. Even while we have called for a common front against ISIS and military action against them we have been fully aware of such a bias. Allen is taking a pro-imperialist line on behalf of the US government and undermining the anti-ISIS common front when he says, "We admire the Kurdish people’s resolution and the bravery of the Peshmarga troops confronting the terrorists and sheltering thousands of refugees.” Erbil's government, on the other hand, has not fully bought into Allen's plans to take Mosul and this raises valid questions about the Peshmarga's abilities and Erbil's dedication to the fight against ISIS. Allen's comment that “We will continue to support Kurdistan Region against terror organizations and urge other nations to do so” might be reassuring under other circumstances, but within the current context it has an ominous sound to it. The operation to liberate Sinjar is continuing, with the HPG (People's Defense Forces) Şingal Command, the YBŞ (Şingal Resistance Units) General Command, the YJA Star (Free Women's Forces) and MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party) fighters cooperating. We believe that it is these very forces and their unity that Allen and the government in Erbil are now most concerned about. Posted by Urun Harvest at 1:35 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Joint statement of the international academic delegation to Rojava This delegation was organised by Civaka Azad The battle over Kobanê, which began in the summer of 2014, has brought to the world’s attention the Kurdish resistance to the brutal forces that call themselves Islamic State (IS or ISIS). Contrary to the expectations of many, the defense forces have succeeded in fending off the attacks not only of ISIS, but also the al-Nusra Front and the Assad regime over the last two and a half years. Less well known, however, is the fact that residents of the predominantly Kurdish areas of northern and northeastern Syria have established themselves as a new political entity that they call Rojava, comprising three autonomous cantons, one of which is Kobanê. There they have undertaken, to all appearances, a social and political revolution, characterized by remarkable efforts towards gender liberation and direct democratic self-government. In December 2014, we, as a delegation of scholars from Europe, Turkey, and North America traveled to Rojava to learn more about the ideals and practices of this revolution and to witness at first hand, in one of its cantons, its claims to gender liberation and democratic self-government. Do its practices really constitute a revolution? Do they live up to its democratic ideals? What role do women actually play? On December 1, we crossed the Tigris from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq and entered Cizîre canton. During the next nine days, we visited its major cities as well as rural villages. We attended a meeting of a self-governing people’s council in a Qamişlo neighborhood. We spoke to representatives of TEV-DEM, the broad-based Movement for a Democratic Society that constructed the institutions of self-government. We met with journalists, members of political parties, such as the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and others. We encountered women from all walks of life, including representatives of the women’s umbrella organization Yekîtiya Star. We conversed with leaders of the Syriac Women’s Union, and visited a women’s academy in Rimelan. In addition, we met with members of the self-government in charge of economic development, health care, and foreign affairs. We visited an economics academy and toured cooperatives, newly established in dairy, construction, and greenhouse agriculture, as well as a women’s textile workshop. We visited a flour mill and an oil refinery, both vital economic installations. Prior to the revolution, the main economic activities were state-owned and mills existed only in regions outside of Rojava, such as Aleppo and al-Raqqa. We observed neighborhood health clinics, a hospital, and a rehabilitation center, as well as a cultural center and a youth organization. We were guests at the large Mesopotamia Academy of Social Sciences in Qamişlo, where we also met with the teachers union. Prior to the revolution, under the Syrian state’s severe policies of assimilation and Arabization, the Kurds were not allowed to speak their own language, give their children Kurdish names, open shops with non-Kurdish names, found private Kurdish schools, or publish Kurdish books or writings. The mainly Kurdish-populated regions had no possibility to establish a university. In order to study, students had to leave the region for Aleppo, Damascus, Deiraz-Zor, Hama, or Homs. But recently Rojava’s self-government has taken the first steps toward creating a university. The Mesopotamia Academy of Social Sciences, in Qamişlo, needs international solidarity, exchange, experience, and material support in order to succeed. To that end, we would like to forward the academy’s appeal for lecturers who can stay and teach courses for some time, and for computers, projectors, and speakers. Above all it needs books to expand the library. Its ultimate aim is to have a multilingual, multidisciplinary library, but the teachers mentioned to us that at this point books in Kurdish, Arabic, and English are their priority. Those members of the public, who wish to make a donation, may visit the Facebook page PirtûkekboAkademiyaMezopotamyayê,“Donate a book to Mesopotamia Academy.” We visited the Newroz refugee camp, where Yezidis from Mount Sinjar emphasized their ambitions for self-governance and self-defense, and pleaded for international assistance. The refugees emphasized that they suffer under the embargo imposed on Rojava, lacking basic needs. The Yezidis told us that they feel that their suffering is being instrumentalized by entities like the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), various states, including the coalition forces, and international organizations like the UN, repeatedly stressing that the YPG (People’s Defense Units) and YPJ (Women’s Defense Units), as well as the PKK guerrillas had rescued them from Mount Sinjar in August 2014 and provided them with their basic needs ever since, in spite of the embargo and the war in Kobanê. Across the canton we could see scars from decades of oppression and from the recent battles against al-Nusra and ISIS. We spent time with representatives of Rojava’s defense forces. We met with the military command of the YPG in Sêrêkaniye, and with the Amûde branch of the YPJ. We visited a training academy for the internal security force, or Asayîş, in Rimelan. The role of Turkey in the rise of al-Nusra and ISIS was explicitly brought up by almost everyone we met. People from all walks of life gave us accounts of clashes near the Turkish border that implied Turkey’s military, logistic, and financial support for these two groups in particular. Although we come from various backgrounds, we share some impressions from our journey. In Rojava, we believe, genuinely democratic structures have indeed been established. Not only is the system of government accountable to the people, but it springs out of new structures that make direct democracy possible: popular assemblies and democratic councils. Women participate on an equal footing with men at every level and also organize in autonomous councils, assemblies, and committees to address their specific concerns. The women we met embodied the empowerment, self-confidence, and pride recently gained by the women of Rojava.We saw banners and slogans that read: “The Rojavan revolution is a women’s revolution.” It really is.Rojava, we believe, points to an alternative future for Syria and the Middle East, a future where the peoples of different ethnicities and religions can live together, united by mutual tolerance and common institutions. Kurdish organizations have led the way, but they increasingly gain support from Arabs, Assyrians, and Chechens, who participate in their common system of self-government and organize autonomously. Wherever we went, members of the self-government and the armed forces insisted that any viable political alternatives for the region had to be based not on revenge but on shared interests and mutual trust. We met members of the Asayîş, the internal security units, as well as of YPG, and YPJ, who were Kurds, Chechens, Syriacs, and Arab, all of whom emphasized that they seek common solutions for all peoples of the region. They face daunting challenges, but we are convinced that their aspirations are sincere. As scholars and activists, we all left with a deep respect and admiration for the people of Rojava, for their progressive political program and actual social accomplishments. They have found in democratic self-government a practical way of solving their own problems. Still, Rojava suffers from pressing conditions that are outside of the control of its citizens. Therefore, we close by recommending that they be addressed as soon as possible: First, Rojava exists under an economic and political embargo imposed by its neighbors Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq. Its economy, infrastructure, and defense all suffer from the resulting isolation. Even though the KRG has opened the Semelka (Fishkhabour/Peshkhabour)border crossing for limited trade and personal transport since the Duhok agreement in October 2014, it decides over the border crossings arbitrarily and holds back humanitarian aid for Rojava, including the refugees at the Newroz camp. Even books for the Mesopotamia Academy cannot cross the border. The embargo strangles the capacity of the self-government to provide the population even with medical aid and basic humanitarian resources. It is imperative that the embargo be lifted. International pressure must be exerted on Turkey in particular to open its border crossings so that food, materials, medicine, and aid can get through. Second, the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq have created scores of refugees, many of whom are currently being taken care of by the self-government. These refugees urgently need basic humanitarian aid, medicines, and hospital equipment. Similarly, many people have been wounded in the war and need adequate treatment, which is not available to them due to the embargo. The international community must help channel aid into Rojava for care of these people, in dialogue with the institutions of self-government. Third, we call for international recognition of Rojava, including recognition by NGOs. It seeks not to become an independent state but rather to help create a genuinely democratic Syria and become integrated into it. Its unique system of self-government deserves to be acknowledged as a possible solution to the many ethnic and religious conflicts that ravage the region. Against all odds, the people of Rojava have advanced a bold program for civic tolerance, gender liberation, and direct democracy. For this, they deserve the world’s respect and its active support. January 15th, 2015: Oktay Ay, researcher, Istanbul Bogazici University Janet Biehl, independent writer, USA DevrisCimen, journalist, Civaka Azad – Kurdish Office for Public Affairs, Germany Rebecca Coles, researcher, University of Nottingham Antonia Davidovic, lecturer of ethnology, University of Kiel Dilar Dirik, Ph.D. student, University of Cambridge EirikEiglad, editor, New Compass Press, Norway David Graeber, professor of anthropology, London School of Economics LokmanTurgut, journalist and researcher, Kurd-Akad, editor at StudiaKurdica journal Thomas Jeffrey Miley, lecturer in sociology, University of Cambridge Johanna Riha, Ph.D. student, University of Cambridge NazanÜstündag, professor of sociology, Istanbul Bogazici University Christian Zeller, professor of economic geography, University of Salzburg Contact: Civaka Azad – Kurdisches Zentrum für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit e.V. http://www.civaka-azad.org // info@civaka-azad.org Bornheimer Landstraße 48, 60316 Frankfurt Tel.: 0049 69 84772084, Mobile: 0049 1573 8485818 For UK contact: Peace in Kurdistan Campaign estella24@tiscali.co.uk 0207 586 5892 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Women fighters of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) speak about the Yazidi struggle in Sinjar Women fighters of the MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party) who are taking part in the resistance in and around Sinjar, where fierce clashes and operations by the joint forces of the resistance are continuing, have written to the ANF news service about the fighting and their feelings. Below is a version of the letter they sent with some minor editing. The meeeting referred to in the communication is the meeting we mentioned on this blog yesterday and earlier which has done so much to consolidate the Yazidi people's forces and demands as they continue to fight ISIS. "Rojhilat" is East Kurdistan, or so-called "Iranian Kurdistan." For additional context, we refer readers to several recent posts on the struggle in Sinjar. We got to know the Yazidi women with the massacre committed against the Yazidi people in Sinjar. Women were the first to be attacked, just like what happens in every war and massacre. Thousands of women were kidnapped and raped by ISIS gangs, their bodies were put on sale. Set apart from their families and children, some others took the migratory path with their eyes in tears...Our hearts bled while watching them on tv channels. Our hatred and anger grew against the imperialist, capitalist and male-dominant system and its reactionary value judgments that left women unarmed and undefended in the face of this savagery. Taking their pain and anger as ours, we wanted to stand by them, heal their wounds and fight together. As female fighters of YJA-STAR (Free Women's Forces) and MLKP, we got the chance to come to Sinjar, meet them and fight alongside them. Within this process, the Yazidi women questioned the darkness and cruelty they are being subjected to and went into action. Now we are enhancing the fight in both the battlefield and the political arena while also recreating the life together. We do not know to what extent the public opinion has been kept up to date, but a new women's organization joined the freedom struggle of the Sinjar people and women involved in military defense on 5 January. Yazidi women under the roof of the YBŞ (Sinjar Defense Units) announced the establishment of YPJ-Sengal (Yekîneyên Parastina Jin ê Şengalê, Sinjar Women's Defense Forces). The fight going on in Sinjar for 6 months is not advancing in a military context alone; work for the organization of the Yazidi people also continues, meant to determine the future of Sinjar. A revolution and resistance achieves victory only if embraced and enhanced by its true owners. The YBŞ got organized within this framework but didn't involve women in the first phase. After a while, the work and efforts of TEV-DEM (Democratic Society Movement) and armed groups of propaganda enabled the participation of families on the mountain and women in particular in the resistance. This development, which drew more interest than expected, also got a reaction from Yazidi men whose attitude should, however, be considered normal when compared to any beginning process, and gains another dimension when the organization of women becomes the matter in question. In the Yazidi community, which is dominated by plural marriage, women are kind of slaves of men at home. On the other hand, there were armed local tribes, all of which were made up of men as one could possibly guess. The role of women in warfare was just to cook meals, carry water and wood and take care of children and men, all of which are actually quite difficult under the conditions in Sinjar. Never before had it been thought that women could fight like men. The organization of women is taking place under challenging circumstances in the Yazidi culture and faith, which is indeed conservative when women come into question. The organization of Yazidi women with a great effort and sacrifice was also discussed at the Sinjar meeting. This organization of women which managed to arise amidst concerns over the reactions of a male-dominant mentality advanced thanks to the determined and committed will of the women. The first yield of this determination and labor came into being as YPJ-Sinjar, which consists of Yazidi women who took up arms after receiving military training at Şehit (Martyr) Xane Academy which was named after martyred guerrilla Xane Ezidi who joined the fight from Europe. After carrying out work in Sinjar for the participation of Yazidi women in the fight, Xane Ezidi fell as a martyr while on the way to Mako in Rojhilat. Thirty women have so far been provided training at the Ş. Xane Academy, which is receiving a growing interest and participation from women despite all the reactionary approaches of their families. Some of the graduates from the Academy are continuing public work for women's organization while the others are taking their place in the military units. "If there have taken place 73 massacres so far, it is because of the lack of an organization of the women. There will be no 74th massacre because there are Yazidi women fighting now." These words belong to YPJ-Sengal Military Council member Dersim Şengal. As is also said by YJA-STAR commander Berfin Nuhak, who leads the organization of Yazidi women, the military and political organization of the Yazidi women from Sinjar will be the basic success criterion for them. The idea that women must accompany every revolution, which the history of revolutions has repeatedly proved to be true, is also pertinent to Sinjar, where the fight to end the ISIS siege is continuing. The fight to liberate Sinjar must be united with the effort to enable women's participation in the ranks of the resistance forces. The Yazidi women and the powers fighting for Sinjar's liberation must also fight against male dominance and value judgments that consider women as secondary. Young Yazidi women who held their first meeting and announced the establishment of their organization may not be very familiar with this kind of an environment, but they have the courage to confine the male-dominant mindset and call the gangs to account. Regarding their determination and commitment to the memory of the martyrs, another female fighter speaking at the meeting said that "Those martyred in Bare fought for us also. We cannot forget this and we also are going to fight like them. There are still thousands of women in the captivity of ISIS who all need to be rescued." Each one of us admires all these young minds able to make pertinent assessments. Their excitement, determination and emotion also gives strength to the fighting forces. Women fighting in a very severe warfare, which probably expresses the solidarity and the friendship of women in the strongest way, are giving strength to the Yazidi women who are, on the other hand, giving strength to us as they unite in the ranks of the struggle. Establishment of their organization has been the first step on the path to liberation, as we know quite well that freedom marches start with those determined first steps. To Yazidi women this is not a matter of organization alone, but also a chain being broken, the door into a new free life and a completely different world full of adventures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 The fighting in Sinjar, Kobanê, Hasekê and Kirkuk and the people's solidarity and aid movements Our last reports today on the fighting in Sinjar, Kobanê and Hasekê will be from the battlefields and will highlight the struggle against the main enemies of the liberation movement. We will try to cover several days of war reports in a short post. We include the map above to help readers in the US get a better handle on the places we're talking about.The People's Defense Forces Press Office (HPG-BIM) has said in a statement that guerrilla forces have carried out attacks against ISIS gangs as part of the on-going resistance in Kirkuk and Sinjar. The HPG-BIM reported that the ISIS gang groups in the occupied Bansak village in the Dakok district of Kirkuk were targeted by guerrilla forces at 5:00 PM yesterday. Three ISIS fighters were killed and one was wounded in this fighting. Guerrilla forces also conducted a targeted attack against ISIS forces around the Berbiroj neighborood in Sinjar at 8:00 PM yesterday, leaving at least 1 ISIS gang member dead.In Kobanê the People's/Women's Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ) fighters continue to fight ISIS forces in the Mekteba Reş (Black School) region on the eastern front and near the hospital on the southern front. At least 7 ISIS fighters have been killed in this fighting. We have continued to hope for victories on these fronts and we have talked a great deal here on this blog about the fighting in the Mekteba Reş (Black School) area.ISIS counterattacks in recent days have been severe, with the ISIS forces using at least one bomb-packed vehicle and simultaneous attacks against YPG/YPJ positions in key areas that have recently been liberated. The YPG/YPJ were able to repulse the attacks and focused on destroying ISIS vehicles and seizing ammunition as they did so. Coalition air strikes helped. In one day of fighting 51 ISIS fighters were killed, a Hummer and a military vehicle belonging to ISIS were destroyed and the liberation forces seized 7 AK47s, 22 AK47 magazines and 1,000 bullets, 1 B7 rocket launcher and 4 B7 rockets, 10 hand grenades and a large amount of medicines. Seven YPG/YPJ fighters were martyred in this fighting.We have also given some information on the fighting in the Kurdish neighborhoods in the city of Hasekê in previous posts, but we have not provided much context. The YPG Press Center has reported with more detail saying that the Syrian Ba’athist regime has used cluster bombs in the fighting there in recent days. Clashes in the Talaya camp and Xişman neighborhoods and in the Mihatê area have gone well into the night recently. The areas most affected seem be to the east of the city and around the hospital in Hayr Eskerî in the city center. Initial reports said that the Kurdish neighborhoods of Salihiyê, Tel Hecer, Mesakên and Muftî had been targeted by the regime forces. The regime forces have kept up artillery and mortar fire and have used cluster bombs, prohibited under the international rules of war, against YPG forces. The heroic YPG/YPJ fighters and public security forces (asayesh) at one point broke the attacks of the regime forces with determined resistance and dozens of Syrian troops have been killed in the fighting. The YPG/YPJ have lost at least 5 fighters and 6 asayesh fighters and at least 2 civilians died in fighting over the weekend. Residents wounded by mortar fire have been unable to reach the hospital and are being treated at home and so it has not been possible to fully ascertain casualty figures. We understand that the fighting began when regime forces tried to enter the Telaya and Mesakin neighborhoods and met resistance from the YPG. A strong fight is also underway for control of the Sebax control point.Solidarity with the liberation struggles remains all-important and we have some inspiring reports to pass along.Solidarity workDr. Menaf Kitkanî, a leader of Heyva Sor (Kurdish Red Crescent) in Kobanê, has said that civilians living in Kobanê need a humanitarian aid corridor in order for their basic health and other needs to be met. Heyva Sor has restarted their aid work in Kobanê with the advance of the YPG/YPJ forces in the city. Heyva Sor is providing basic health care to thousands of people in Kobanê city and on the Tel Shair line. Dr. Menaf Kitkanî spoke to the ANF news service and said the following:After the ISIS attacks on Kobanê Heyva Sor had to suspend its work. What enabled you to restart your work?Heyva Sor commenced work in Kobanê after the revolution. It endeavored to meet the health and other basic needs of the people who were under siege and attack. After the ISIS attacks began on September 15 we had to suspend our work. The Heyva Sor building was demolished by the ISIS gangs. In the last month the YPG/YPJ's advance and their forcing the gangs to retreat has created a relatively secure environment, so Heyva Sor has restarted its activities in Kobanê with 15 volunteers.As more civilians return to the city, the needs of the people increase. The bomb-laden vehicle attack on November 29 from the Mürşitpınar border gate caused damage to our medicines and other materials. So we had to restart our work without these essentials.What kind of work are you involved in and what are your priorities?Our priority is to meet the health needs of the civilians. Medicines come from North Kurdistan and elsewhere, and we distribute the aid and carry out mobile health checks. This helps to lighten the load on the hospitals.We are aware that people on the Tel Shair line are living in harsh conditions. What work are you doing for them?People in that area have serious health problems on account of the cold and being undernourished. We have started to carry out daily health checks there and distribute nappies and other essentials.What does Heyva Sor need to meet the needs of civilians here?There is a need for medicines, heating, and food and nappies for infants. It is essential that a humanitarian corridor be set up to enable urgent aid to get through. The lack of a corridor prevents international aid getting to us. We call on international aid organizations to increase their aid. Conflict continues here and it will be some time before things return to normal.What do you intend to do to improve the work of Heyva Sor?We would like to replenish our stock of medical supplies. We will also increase the number of volunteers and we hope to move to a larger building. Our aim is to meet all the needs of the civilians who will return once ISIS has been driven out of Kobanê. We want to ensure that Heyva Sor grows and has a lasting presence here.We must also talk about solidarity work in other areas.The Stockholm-based Women’s Organizations Network was founded in 1994 to support women exposed to violence and repression. They have announced that they will donate 10 thousand kronor for the Kobanê people who had to flee to the Suruç district of Urfa following the ISIS attacks.The Women's Organizations Network has a staff of 20 professional and 40 volunteer workers who help women and children exposed to violence and repression find new places to live, either with a new family or in a new house. They keep in touch with the women and children they assist and try to reintegrate them into social life. The Network also organizes massive actions against the repression and assaults against women and children. The Network has received many awards for their work, most recently from the Stockholm city council and the Confederation of Swedish Workers’ Trade Unions.The Network consciously builds the practice of international solidarity into their work. They are closely following what is going on in Kobanê and Sinjar and they have decided in their last executive committee meeting to donate 10 thousand kronor for the people of Kobanê. A sister from the Network said, "ISIS members rape women and children and sell them in slave markets. The global women’s movement is paralyzed; otherwise, all women in the world would stand up.” She added that all of the women and human rights organizations should have stood up for Yazidi and other women and children and that it is the women in Kobanê and Rojava who raise hopes. She said that the women in Rojava have set an example for all women by defending their lands against the ISIS gangs. She identified herself as a socialist and said that she is proud of the struggle waged by the women of Rojava.Meanwhile, the Democratic Society Congress of Kurds in Europe (KCD-E) has called upon all the peoples of Kurdistan and their friends to join a march to be organized in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Bern and to go to Strasbourg under the slogan “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan--Freedom to Kurdistan.” We include mention of this here because the struggle to free imprisoned Kurdish liberation movement leader Abdullah Ocalan is also a show of solidarity wih Rojava and Sinjar.The KCD-E has announced that the Kurds and their friends will undertake a long march from Frankfurt (February 1), Luxembourg (February 2) and Bern (February 4) to Strasbourg in order to mark the 16th anniversary of the conspiracy against the Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Ocalan, to raise awareness of the Kurdish issue and to call for the freedom of Ocalan. The march will begin in Frankfurt on February 1 and end on February 12 in Strasbourg. On February 13 the millions of signatures gathered as part of the petition for the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan will be presented to the Council of Europe.The march from Bern to Strasbourg, whose principle slogan will be "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan — Freedom to Kurdistan," is being organized by the Kurdistan Free Women’s Movement, who will also walk under the banner of “Women walking for the freedom of Ocalan.” The KCD-E has reviewed the history of Abdullah Ocalan's case by saying that Abdullah Ocalan was captured in the city of Nairobi, Kenya, and handed over to the Turkish state as part of an international conspiracy 16 years ago (February 15, 1999) and they said, "Since then he has been detained on the island of Imrali in the middle of the Bosphorus in solitary confinement. Despite these difficult and oppressive conditions, Mr. Ocalan has persisted in his efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. He is the architect of numerous initiatives with the Turkish state for a peaceful solution. On top of all previous efforts, for the past two years he has been meeting with Turkish state officials for a peaceful and political solution to the Kurdish conflict. The Kurdish side considers him to be their chief negotiator. As a result of Mr. Ocalan’s efforts and appeals, the Turkish army and the Kurdish guerrilla forces have enforced a ceasefire. This ceasefire in itself has saved the lives of thousands of people. In spite of all of these actions, he is still being kept in solitary confinement. Ocalan is the leader of a people. He cannot be held in these conditions for any longer. He must be freed immediately."The KCD-E correctly described Abdullah Öcalan as a political leader, a theoretician, an academic and a leader of considerable social standing and they pointed out that the Kurdish leader developed the theoretical foundations of the Women’s Freedom Ideology and, along with thousands of cadres, he inspired the development of the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement that has now gained a global reputation. "In a region like the Middle East, where religious intolerance and reactionary social forces are prevalent, Kurdish women have made major advances socially, politically and in combat against ISIS. Mr. Ocalan’s efforts have been decisive in this regard. In Kobani, Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) and the rest of Kurdistan, women, the students of Ocalan, are at the forefront of the historic struggle against ISIS," a KCD-E statement said.The march from Frankfurt will also be carried out under the slogan of "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan-Freedom to Kurdistan." However, the Frankfurt march’s secondary message will be “Support Kobani and Sinjar” and it will call for the international community to recognize the Canton Administrations of Rojava. The Kobani resistance has continued for four months while ISIS’s attacks are still on-going and the danger still persists. "Despite the crisis, a humanitarian corridor has still not opened to Kobani. The Turkish state has not permitted any such corridor and continues to support ISIS," the KCD-E statement said.The statement also called attention to the humanitarian crisis that is still continuing in Sinjar, where ISIS continues to attack. "There are still over 3,500 Yazidi Kurdish women in the hands of ISIS. These women are facing sexual violence, enslavement and torture. Despite the resistance of the HPG (People's Defense Forces) guerrillas and the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), Sinjar is yet to be fully liberated. Clashes are on-going in Sinjar. Hundreds of thousands of people are unable to return to their homes and are in need of urgent aid," the KCD-E says.The KCD-E analysis says that for the past four years a civil war has been raging inside Syria, where Kurds have formed a canton administration in their own region of Rojava and are administering it themselves. The KCD-E pointed out that this administration does not only consist of Kurds, as all sections of the community (Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Armenians, Chechens and different faith groups such as Muslims, Christians, Yezidis and Alevis) are represented in the system. The KCD-E calls attention to the fact that for the past three years Rojava has been under attack by Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups like Al Nusra and ISIS, and also under an embargo from all sides. "The danger that Salafi groups like ISIS pose is clear for all to see. The Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris has shown the scale of the threat. The most efficient force fighting against ISIS has been the defense forces of Rojava (YPG/YPJ). However, these forces are still not receiving the international support that they deserve. This policy has to be changed. For this to occur, the canton administrations of Rojava must be recognized," the statement said.Demands put forward in the march will be voiced under the slogan of "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan-Freedom to Kurdistan" and under the banner of “Don’t be a party to this injustice; remove PKK from the terrorist organizations list.” The PKK is the Kurdistan Worker's Party. The KCD-E is emphasizing that the PKK and organizations aligned with it are on the frontline against ISIS in both Rojava and Southern Kurdistan and that it is a paradox that the US and the EU, who both place the PKK on their terrorist organizations lists, are on the same side as the PKK in the fight against ISIS. Both ISIS and the PKK are also on these same lists. This anomaly must be brought to an end. Separately, the PKK are in talks with the Turkish state. The PKK was banned to satisfy Turkey. Posted by Urun Harvest at 8:43 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest The Kurdistan Democratic Party Rejects Autonomy For Sinjar, Accuses PKK Of "Betraying" Yezidis We continue to talk about the struggle in Şengal (Sinjar) and the controversies surrounding the struggle there as Yezidis and their allies fight ISIS, work for autonomy on the model of revolutionary Rojava and encounter opposition from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in South Kurdistan. Earlier today we posted a letter from women fighters of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) in Sinjar about the situation there, and we have done some in-depth posts in recent days about the political situation in Sinjar that reflect our points of view and political sympathies. If we strayed too close to taking up a conspiracy theory, or if we have intervened in a negative way, then we ask our reader's forgiveness and we will try to change our line accordingly. The following post comes to us from The Rojava Report, which is always a reliable source of news and analysis. Our immediate need is to provide people in the US with needed context as the situation in Sinjar becomes more complex. The organizations referred to in the last paragraph of this article are the armed struggle bodies of the liberation movement. The Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) – whose Peshmerga forces abandoned Şengal (Sinjar) in the face of ISIS attacks last summer with almost no resistance and thereby opened the road to the massacre of local Yezidis by ISIS – is now voicing its strident opposition to the formation of an autonomous Yezidi parliament, according to an article from Özgür Gündem. The KDP, which has has announced that it will not recognize the political will of the Yezidis, characterized attempts to establish local autonomy for Şengal as ‘divisive.’ KDP Opposes Yezidi Assembly The KDP opposed the meeting of Yezidi community leaders which took place in the Şengal mountains on January 14th. The meeting was attended by 200 delegates from around Şengal and the Newroz camp in Rojava. Following the meeting the KDP parliamentary group called it ‘an attempt to divide the country’ and threatened the Yezidi community, saying that it would not remain silent in the face of such policies. The KDP parliamentary group released a written statement which read: “Şengal is an injured but unalienable part of the national body. Our country is in a state of war with a destructive and inhumane enemy like ISIS. The heroic peshmerga forces are struggling with the support of world opinion and the solidarity of the four parts of Kurdistan against this common enemy. Unfortunately during this sensitive period the PKK is attempting to bring these illegitimate demands to the table, discounting all the laws and organizations in the Kurdistan region and disrespecting the will of the people who have suffered such injustices.” Once more the KRG’s (Kurdistan Regional Government of South Kurdistan) Council of Ministers released a written statement in which they noted that Şengal is still a disputed region according to the 140th article of the Iraqi Constitution and while recalling that the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) had worked to protect Yezidis from ISIS attacks, accused the PKK of interfering with the internal affairs of the KRG. The Fugitive Commander Speaks Kasim Şeşo – the former Peshmerga commander in Şengal who ordered the confiscation of all weapons from the hands of local Yezidis and later fled in the face of ISIS attacks--spoke to AA, saying “the decision the PKK will take is not legitimate. Any attempt by the the PKK to declare a new canton would be a betrayal of Şengal.” As ISIS advanced on Şengal KDP Peshmerga forces fled with their weapons and left the local Yezidi population without any form of protection or weapons with which to defend themselves. Shortly thereafter ISIS began a campaign of genocide against local Yezidis. At this point HPG, YJA-STAR and YPG/YPJ fighters moved into the area, opening a corridor between Rojava and Şengal and thus saving hundreds of thousands of Yezidis, Syriac Christians and Shia Turkmen from a massacre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 www.redmoonrising.com Click here to purchase this study in paperback or kindle The Globalists and the Islamists: Fomenting the "Clash of Civilizations" for a New World Order Index Part Two: The Muslim Brotherhood – The Globalists' Secret Weapon I. The Roots of Islamic Terrorism II. Creating the 'Arc of Crisis' III. The Muslim Brotherhood Branches Out IV. Osama Bin Laden: The Early Years V. Bin Laden In Exile VI. World Trade Center 1993 VII. Bin Laden's Money Problems VIII. The Brotherhood Revolution Continues I. The Roots of Islamic Terrorism Over the past half-century religion has been in decline in the Western part of the world and in most of the East as well. Spirituality has been traded for materialism as living standards have increased, and popular culture has become almost completely secular as well. Why has the situation been different within the Middle East? How come the Judeo-Christian ethic has eroded, but the Islamic ethic has experienced an apparent resurgence? This study will try to explain how this situation is not something that has occurred by chance and it will offer evidence that militant Islam has been a card played by the global elites of the dominant Anglo-American establishment to achieve the long-term goal of a world government. Before we turn to the events of September 11 we must first look at the small group of Muslim scholars who developed the ideology, and then as we continue it will become clear how tight-knit and closely connected the movement really is. It is a small movement within the religion of Islam, but it is very influential and its effectiveness must be measured in other ways than simply counting the number of adherents to its philosophy. As we related in Part One, the British used Islam to legitimize their puppet rulers in Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Palestine after taking over the Middle East in World War I. Because of this Islam was seen by much of the Arab populace as just another part of the corrupt colonial establishment. That is why the legitimate anti-colonial movements, such as those of Nasser, Mossadegh and Bhutto, were primarily secular in nature. When these nationalist movements began to succeed outside of the British sphere of influence the British turned to their Islamic allies to subvert these independent regimes. The Muslim Brotherhood stands out as the most important counter-revolutionary movement of this period in the Middle East, and one of the British-based Globalists' most important strategic assets today. The Muslim Brotherhood emerged out of Egypt in 1928 to evolve into "the largest and most influential Sunni revivalist organization in the 20th century." It was founded by Hasan al-Banna, the first son of a respected sheik who was also an author and the leader of a local mosque. Hasan was born in 1906 and was brought up immersed in Islam under his father's tutelage. He memorized the Koran and at age twelve he founded an organization called the Society For Moral Behavior. Shortly after he created another group, the Society for Impeding the Forbidden. He was a devout Muslim dedicated to his faith and at age sixteen he enrolled in an Islamic school in Cairo to train to become a teacher. As a teenager Hasan al-Banna also became a member of a Sufi order, the Hasafiyya Brothers' order. He was active in the order, reading all of the Sufi literature he could get his hands on, and he organized a Sufi group, the Hasafiyya Society for Welfare. (1) In Part One of this study we related several allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood was created, infiltrated, or at least promoted by British Intelligence and/or British Freemasonry. Dr. John Coleman alleges that it was created by "the great names of British Middle East intelligence...", Stephen Dorril writes that the Brotherhood was linked to British Intelligence through dame Freya Stark prior to World War II, and the Shah's regime in Iran considered it to be a tool of British Freemasonry. Some Muslims will find these claims hard to believe but they should not be rejected out of hand. Hasan al-Banna was a devout Muslim who put Islam first but it should not be considered inconceivable that he was influenced by Britain's Masonic Brotherhood, or that he accepted British aid to advance his movement, at least in the early stages. Islam was used effectively by the British outside of Egypt, so why would they not try to use it in Egypt as well? Freemasonry appeared in Egypt soon after Napoleon's conquest in 1798 when General Kleber, a French Mason and top commander in Napoleon's army established the Lodge of Isis. French Masonry dominated Egypt until British lodges began to appear after the British occupation in 1882. Freemasonry was very popular in the first half of the twentieth century, and many important Egyptians were Masons, along with the British rulers and aristocrats who occupied the country. In fact the Egyptian monarchs, from Khedive Ismail to King Fouad, were made honorary Grand Masters at the start of their reigns. From 1940 to 1957 there were close to seventy Masonic lodges chartered throughout Egypt. At one time the leaders of the Nationalist and Wafd parties were Freemasons, and many members of the Egyptian parliament were Masons as well, where they mingled with the military commanders and aristocrats of the ruling British occupation. (2) Two very important Islamic leaders in Egypt, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Mohammed Abdou, were also Freemasons. Al-Afghani was a foreigner who had been the prime minister of Afghanistan before becoming an activist in Iran and Russia prior to his appearance in Egypt. He is considered "the founder of the political pan-Islamic movement," and his movement is known as the Salafiyya movement. He agitated against British imperialism but at the same time he advocated modernization for the Muslim world. Before being expelled from Egypt he became an important figure at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and his most important disciple was Mohammed Abduh. Throughout his life he was an activist for Muslim self-determination, but several times he visited London where, according to one biographer, "he reestablished ties with his lodge members." When al-Afghani died in 1897 he left behind a large body of political and religious writings that would form part of the basis for the later Islamist movements. (3) After al-Afghani was expelled from Egypt in 1879 Mohammed Abduh continued to promote his reformist message. For this Abduh was expelled in 1882. During his exile he met up with al-Afghani in Paris where they collaborated to publish a Muslim journal and where they expanded their contacts within the Masonic Brotherhood. Four years later the British had a change of heart and they allowed Abduh to return. He became a teacher at Al-Azhar University where he focused on reforming the prestigious Islamic institution. At the same time he quickly rose to become a judge in the National Courts. Only eleven years after returning from his British-imposed exile the ruling British governor, Lord Cromer, made Sheikh Mohammed Abduh the Grand Mufti of Egypt, in 1899. He was now the Pope of Islam. (4) At the same time he was the Masonic Grand Master of the United Lodge of Egypt. (5) There was of course an ulterior motive for Cromer making Abduh the most powerful figure in all of Islam. You see, in 1898 the ruling council of Al-Azhar University had reaffirmed that usury, and thus banking according to the Western model, was harem (illegal) according to Islamic Law. This was unacceptable to Lord Cromer because his given name happened to be Evelyn Baring - he was an important member of England's prestigious Baring banking family that had grown rich off of the opium trade in India and China. Lord Cromer installed his friend Sheikh Abduh to change the law forbidding banking, and once he was made Grand Mufti he used a very liberal and creative interpretation of the Quran to fabricate a loophole that allowed the forbidden practice of usury. British banks then had free reign to dominate Egypt. In Lord Cromer's writings he says, "I suspect my friend Abduh was in reality an agnostic," and he commented on Abduh's Salafiyya movement saying, "They are the natural allies of the European reformer." Even Cromer saw that the Islamist movement could be used to Britain's advantage. (6) Sheikh Mohammed Abduh had two students that were important in continuing the Salafiyya movement after he died in 1905. One of them was Sheikh Ahmad Abd al-Rahman al-Banna, who was Hasan al-Banna's father. The other was Mohammed Rashid Rida, a freemason who became Sheikh Abduh's good friend and publisher of the monthly magazine, The Lighthouse. This mouthpiece of the Salafiyya movement was first published in 1897, and Rida remained the publisher for thirty-seven years. Rida also existed within the British circle of influence and his publication reflected the British point of view by agitating against the Ottoman Empire. He praised the freemasonic Young Turk movement, but after World War I he castigated Turkey's nationalist revolution under Ataturk. (7) Hasan al-Banna's young life was influenced by all of these factors: by the Islamic movement, by the British occupation, by his father, and by his most important mentor, Mohammed Rashid Rida. Al-Banna grew up reading Rida's publication and through his family connections they became good friends. At his death in 1935 Rida had placed all of his hope for an Islamic resurgence in al-Banna's Muslim Brotherhood. The other factor in Hasan al-Banna's life was Freemasonry. Al-Banna experimented with numerous religious sects and political groups as a young man and he also became a member of the Masonic Brotherhood. This was entirely normal for someone growing up in the higher echelons of Egyptian society at the time and his membership was not considered a betrayal of Islamic values as it is today. (8) In 1927, at the age of twenty-one after graduating from his university, he was appointed to teach Arabic at a school in Ismailiyya. This town happened to be the capital of the British-occupied Canal Zone and the headquarters of Britain's Suez Canal Company. Hasan al-Banna established the Muslim Brotherhood there a year later. The Suez Canal Company helped to provide the funds for the first Muslim Brotherhood mosque that was built in Ismailiyya in 1930. (8a) An important question is how, among a multitude of competing Islamic organizations, did the Muslim Brotherhood expand with such great leaps and bounds to number over 500,000 active members only a decade later? Al-Banna was only twenty-two when it began, and it was based in the heart of British occupied territory for its first four years. Contemporary histories credit the Brotherhood's success directly to the organizational skills of al-Banna: The single most important factor that made this dramatic expansion possible was the organizational and ideological leadership provided by al-Banna. He endeavored to bring about the changes he hoped for through institution-building, relentless activism at the grassroots level and a reliance on mass communication. He proceeded to build a complex mass movement that featured sophisticated governance structures; sections in charge of furthering the society’s values among peasants, workers and professionals; units entrusted with key functions, including propagation of the message, liaison with the Islamic world and press and translation; and specialized committees for finances and legal affairs. In anchoring this organization into Egyptian society, al-Banna skillfully relied on pre-existing social networks, in particular those built around mosques, Islamic welfare associations and neighborhood groups. This weaving of traditional ties into a distinctively modern structure was at the root of his success. (9) The bottom line is that the Muslim Brotherhood's success could not have been achieved without the approval of the British ruling establishment, and al-Banna's association with the Masonic Brotherhood goes far to explain how efficiently it was organized and how seamlessly it fit into Egyptian society. Like the Masonic Brotherhood it was established initially as a charitable organization. However, while Freemasonry was liberal and allowed members of all faiths to join, the Muslim Brotherhood was focused specifically on Islam. It was Masonry for Muslims only. Like Masonry the Muslim Brotherhood was devoted to secrecy and it was run according to a pyramidal command structure. The foot soldiers at the bottom had no idea of the true goals of the leaders at the top. The Muslim Brotherhood was established with the approval and the support of the British establishment, but such a popular mass movement proved hard to control. The Egyptian people harbored a deep anti-British resentment, and this feeling inevitably dominated the Muslim Brotherhood. It ceased to be solely a charitable and religious organization in the late 1930s when it entered the realm of politics to support the Palestinian Arab uprising against the British and the increasing influx of Jewish immigrants. Anti-British activity soon began to pick up within the Brotherhood back at home, and early in World War II al-Banna was briefly imprisoned by the pro-British regime for allowing his organization to get out of hand. After World War II ended al-Banna found that he was one of the most powerful leaders in Egypt. He found himself in a struggle for power against the monarchy and the secular Wafd party, and his organization was seen as the most militant, the most radical and the most dangerous. In 1948 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were implicated in the assassination of the police chief of Cairo and the government retaliated when Prime Minister Nuqrashi Pasha issued a proclamation in December of 1948 dissolving the Muslim Brotherhood. Its headquarters and branches were shut down and its assets and funds were seized. Hundreds of members were arrested and incarcerated and the Muslim Brotherhood was driven underground. Weeks later Nuqrashi Pasha was assassinated by the Brotherhood, and then on February 12, 1949 Hassan al-Banna was himself assassinated by Egypt's secret police. In May of 1950 the government tried to reconcile with the Brotherhood and released most of the captured members from prison. The next year the ban on the Brotherhood was repealed, but it was forced to maintain itself under a new law passed to regulate the many different Egyptian societies, groups and organizations. As the monarchy continued to decline in popularity, moving way too slowly to break away from Britain for the public's liking, two subversive groups schemed behind the scenes to control Egypt's destiny: the Free Officers and the Muslim Brotherhood, the army and the fundamentalists. The army proved to have the upper hand, especially after the death of al-Banna, and Nasser finally emerged as the man to lead Egypt on an independent path. At first the Brotherhood supported the army and attempts were made to include them in the new government, but the Brotherhood over-estimated its strength and influence and demanded too much. Then after Nasser won his power struggle with General Naguib the Brotherhood knew that it faced a tough future. Nasser was far less understanding of the fundamentalists than was Naguib and the break became complete after the Brotherhood attempted to assassinate Nasser in October of 1954. Many years later the deposed and embittered General Naguib claimed in his memoirs that the assassination was a sting operation planned by Nasser to make an excuse to do away with the troublesome Brotherhood once and for all. (10) In any case, by the end of 1954 thousands of Brotherhood members were imprisoned, including almost all of its leaders, and six were executed. It was this break that paved the way for a new relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the intelligence services of Britain and America because all of them were united in their hatred of Nasser. Unfortunately for the West the Brotherhood remained largely ineffective within Egypt throughout Nasser's reign, even though they were involved in several more attempts on his life. During this time many fleeing members were welcomed in London, where they set up a presence that remains to this day, and a number of them also relocated in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Hasan al-Banna created an organization described by Arab historians as "the greatest modern Islamic movement." Al-Banna was known to say, "We need three generations for our plans - one to listen, one to fight, and one to win." (11) He died young at the age of 43. His was the "listening" generation, but he was the speaker. After his premature death several other leaders emerged to continue to instruct the believers within militant fundamentalist Islam. One of them was a man by the name of Sayed Qutb. He eventually became recognized as the "chief ideologist" of the Muslim Brotherhood after al-Banna, and his extensive writings justify the beliefs of radical Islamists today. Muslims rarely take the radical path of Islam without reading something written by Qutb. Sayed Qutb was the same age as al-Banna, and also a Freemason, but he did not even join the Brotherhood until after al-Banna's death. He had become critical of the West after living in the United States for a time and when he returned to Egypt he embraced fundamentalism. He advanced within the Brotherhood very quickly and served as their ambassador in Syria and Jordan before becoming the editor of the Brotherhood's official periodical in 1954. However, upon the "assassination attempt" of Nasser he was arrested with many of his compatriots, cruelly tortured and then sentenced to fifteen years in a labor camp. One year later a representative from Nasser offered him amnesty if he would but ask for forgiveness. Qutb refused and remained in prison, studying and writing on Islam's role in the modern world. He developed the doctrine that according to Islam, modern Arab states such as Egypt are overrun by Jahiliyyah, which is a term translated as barbarity, primarily pertaining to the influence of Western culture and political systems. Qutb wrote, "It is not the function of Islam to compromise with the concepts of Jahiliyya which are current in the world or to co-exist in the same land together with a jahili system... It derives its system and laws and regulations and habits and standards and values from a source other than Allah. On the other hand, Islam is submission to Allah, and its function is to bring people away from Jahiliyyah towards Islam. Jahiliyyah is the worship of some people by others; that is to say, some people become dominant and make laws for others, regardless of whether these laws are against Allah's injunctions and without caring for the use or misuse of their authority. Islam, on the other hand, is people's worshipping Allah alone, and deriving concepts and beliefs, laws and regulations from the authority of Allah, and freeing themselves from the servitude to Allah's servants. This is the very nature of Islam and the nature of its role on earth. Islam cannot accept any mixing with Jahiliyyah. Either Islam will remain, or Jahiliyyah; no half-half situation is possible. Command belongs to Allah, or otherwise to Jahiliyyah; Allah's Shari'ah will prevail, or else people's desires..." (12) Qutb believed that Arab states governed by anything other than Islamic Shariah law were compromised by Jahiliyyah, and he advocated the violent use of force to overthrow political systems, especially Nasser's regime in Egypt, in order to eradicate Jahiliyyah. Qutb wrote, "The foremost duty of Islam is to depose Jahiliyyah from the leadership of man." (13) In 1964 Qutb was pardoned and released at the insistence of the visiting Iraqi head of state. Qutb then published perhaps his most important work, a book entitled Milestones. Nasser used the militant language within the book as an excuse to incarcerate Qutb once again. At the same time, fearful of a re-organized Brotherhood plot against his regime, Nasser rounded up 20,000 other suspected Brotherhood members as well. On August 29, 1966 Nasser made an example out of Sayed Qutb and executed him by hanging. Over the course of Sayed Qutb's life he published 24 books, as well as a 30-volume commentary of the Koran. Today his work inspires fundamentalist Muslims within Egypt and around the world and his life is held up as an excellent Islamic example of how to carry oneself in the face of persecution and hardship. Another of the "speakers" for the first generation of revolutionary Islamist militants was Mustafa al-Sibai. He was born in Syria and educated at the preeminent Islamic university of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. It was there that he became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood. He was imprisoned for a time by the British, and then after he returned to Syria he was arrested and imprisoned again for his constant revolutionary activities, this time by the French. In 1946, after serving his sentence, Mustafa al-Sibai formed the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria as a branch subordinate to the Egyptian base. Al-Sibai's career in Syria was eventually quite successful. He completed his doctorate in Islamic law and began teaching Arabic and religion in Damascus. In 1951 he married into a powerful Damascus family. He traveled throughout the West, published books, gave lectures and helped to direct the Muslim Brotherhood until his death in 1964. (14) Al-Sibai was one of the most articulate spokesmen of the Islamic movement and he had a great understanding of what was happening in the Middle East. In one of his many articles he wrote about Western business interests in Arab lands: They are the direct reason for foreign intervention into the domestic matters of the country and are the great obstacle toward the realization of independence and dignity. On the one hand, the [oil] concessions are the legacy from the Turks; on the other hand, the concessions were granted under the veiled assertion that it would be economically good for the country and the people. But history has shown that such firms constitute the beginning of colonialism. (15) The father of Pakistan's Islamic movement is considered to be Abul Ala Maududi. Born in 1903 he first achieved influence in 1937 when he became the director of the Islamic Institute of Research in Lahore. When Pakistan was made a nation in 1948 he objected to the secular nature of the British-sponsored government and for this he served time in jail in 1948 and again in 1952. Maududi's lasting achievement, along with his eighty published books and brochures, is his organization Jamaat-e Islami, or Islamic Society. Maududi and his group maintained close links with the Muslim Brotherhood and Dietl writes that, "Both organizations still consider themselves branches of the same movement. At times the Muslim Brotherhood even recognized Maududi as the legal successor to its ideologists al-Banna and Sayed Qutb." (16) Maududi is well known for his articulation of the ideal Islamic state, and his definition is accepted by the majority of Muslims within the militant Islamist movement. In the following passage he comments on democracy, The difference between Islamic democracy and Western democracy is, of course, the following: while the latter is based on the conception of the sovereignty of the people, the former is based on the principle of the caliphate [leadership] by the people. In Western democracy, the people are sovereign; in Islam, sovereignty rests with God, and the people are his caliphs or subjects. In the West the people themselves make the law; in Islam the people must follow and obey the laws that God communicated through his prophets. In one system the government carries out the will of the people; in the other the government and people together must translate God's intentions into deeds. In short, Western democracy is a kind of absolute authority that exerts its power freely and in an uncontrolled manner, whereas Islamic democracy is subject to the divine law and exerts its authority in harmony with the commands of God and within the framework established by God. (17) The last of the revolutionary Islamic ideologists that we will focus on is an Iranian by the name of Ali Shariati. Here is another concrete connection between the Islamic movement and Freemasonry, because Ali Shariati was himself a Mason. His father, Muhammad Taqi Shariati, was a Mason as well who was also, at least at one time, an agent for the far eastern division of British Intelligence. (18) Ali Shariati was born in 1934. He went to school in Mashad and grew up in the shadow of his father who led a revolutionary Islamic center called the Center for the Propagation of Islamic Truth. After Prime Minister Mossadegh was overthrown and the Shah took over Ali Shariati joined the National Resistance Movement. In 1957 he was arrested with his father and a handful of other activists and spent six months in prison. The Shariati family had powerful friends in high places and Ali was accepted to the prestigious Sorbonne University in France. He began his studies there in 1960, receiving a doctorate in sociology and Islamic history. While in France he was exposed to, and captivated by, a group of elitist intellectuals known as the Existentialists. This was a group of anti-capitalist and anti-materialist writers that included Jean-Paul Sartre, Frantz Fanon, Albert Camus, Jacques Berque, Louis Massignon and Jean Cocteau. Shariati also developed a fine appreciation for many Marxist ideas. Shariati returned to Iran in 1965 and was immediately arrested. He was known to have been involved with groups that sought to overthrow the Shah while he was in France, and he had helped to create the Iranian National Front for Europe. However he was immediately released, and he subsequently took up a teaching job near Mashad. For the next five years he focused on writing, promoting his view of Islam and cultivating ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and other resistance groups. In the early 1970s Dr. Shariati began to give lectures on politics and religion, publicly promoting his writings and pushing his views that were diametrically opposite to those of the Shah, who was developing industrial infrastructure, advancing economic development and advocating modern secular education. Shariati wrote, "Come friends, let us abandon Europe, let us cease this nauseating, apish imitation of Europe. Let us leave behind this Europe that always speaks of humanity but destroys human beings wherever it finds them." (19) Ayatollah Khomeini would have never been successful were it not for Shariati's constant agitation against the Shah, done under an intellectual guise and focused on the students and fundamentalists of Iran. For a time Shariati was considered the most influential speaker in Tehran's forums. Dietl writes, Shariati's importance shows that the Iranian revolution was fostered not only by the old mullahs and ayatollahs, but also by agitated youth who to some extent were influenced by other models. As many as 5,000 listeners attended the public lectures given by Shariati. His writings were distributed in the hundreds of thousands, although arrest and torture were the penalty for owning them. Often, the modest, quiet Shariati spoke all day and then held discussions late into the night. After he had given more than 100 lectures, SAVAK [secret police] tried to arrest him, but Shariati escaped; he gave himself up to the police only after they had seized his father as hostage. For two years he was gruesomely tortured in Komiteh prison. After his release he was not permitted to indulge in any teaching activities or to maintain any conspiratorial contacts. The secret police followed every move. (20) Finally in 1976 Ali Shariati was able to make an escape to London and there while waiting to catch a plane to meet up with members of his family in the Untied States he died of a brain embolism. The usual allegation, now almost universally accepted, is that SAVAK agents assassinated Shariati with the use of a poison needle dart dipped in cobra poison. The fact remains that although the Shah hated Dr. Shariati and the repressive philosophies he advocated the cause of Shariati's brain embolism has never been proven. Hasan al-Banna predicted three generations before the Islamic movement would take over the Middle East. He said that the first generation would demand "listeners" and he, Sayed Qutb, Mustafa al-Sibai, Abul Ala Maududi, and Ali Shariati were a few of the most prominent strategists laying the ideological groundwork for the modern Islamist movement. The next generation was predicted by al-Banna to be a generation for "fighting." Section Notes and Sources II. Creating the 'Arc of Crisis' By the 1970s elitist intellectuals and globalist institutions had focused on population growth and industrial development as two of the most pressing enemies of the human race. The United Nations, the Club of Rome, the Tavistock and Aspen Institutes and many other organizations that served as mouthpieces for the ruling elites all began crying out that the environment was being destroyed and that industrialization was becoming a terrible menace. Technology, science and human progress were falling out of favor. The elites considered the earth's resources their possessions and they did not want to share them with an emerging and developing Third World. Lord Bertrand Russell was one of the most important of these anti-human "humanists" who advocated a return to the dark ages. He believed that, "The white population of the world will soon cease to increase. The Asiatic races will be longer, and the negroes still longer, before their birth rate falls sufficiently to make their numbers stable without help of war and pestilence. Until that happens, the benefits aimed at by socialism can only be partially realized, and the less prolific races will have to defend themselves by methods which are disgusting even if they are necessary." Russell was also an advocate for world government, "I have already spoken of the population problem, but a few words must be added about its political aspect. .... It will be impossible to feel that the world is in a satisfactory state until there is a certain degree of equality, and a certain acquiescence everywhere in the power of the World Government, and this will not be possible until the poorer nations of the world have become ... more or less stationary in population. The conclusion to which we are driven by the facts that we have been considering is that, while great wars cannot be avoided until there is a World Government, a World Government cannot be stable until every important country has nearly stationary population." For Russell, population control was a prerequisite to World Government. (1) As far back as 1947, a leading Australian scientist was suggesting, in a secret report to the Australian Defence Department, that "...the most effective counter-offensive to threatened invasion by overpopulated Asiatic countries would be directed towards the destruction by biological or chemical means of tropical food crops and the dissemination of infectious disease capable of spreading in tropical, but not under Australian, conditions." This archetypical mad scientist was Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet, knighted by the British crown in 1951, and winner of a Nobel Prize in 1960. (2) In 1968 Stanford biologist and Bertrand Russell admirer Paul Ehrlich wrote the best-selling book The Population Bomb. He wrote, "A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people.... We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions." In his book he advocated placing birth control chemicals into the world's food supplies. (3) Sir Julian Huxley, the British scientist and intellectual who played a leading part in creating the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), held much the same views. He saw scientific advancement, such as penicillin, DDT and water purification, as a two-edged sword. He wrote, "We can and should devote ourselves with truly religious devotion to the cause of ensuring greater fulfillment for the human race in its future destiny. And this involves a furious and concerted attack on the problem of population; for the control of population is…a prerequisite for any radical improvement in the human lot." (4) Huxley's extremist views have remained within the United Nations and they were showcased in the world's first Earth Summit, the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Maurice Strong was chosen to put together this conference by UN Secretary General U Thant, and the next year Strong was put in charge of the newly created UN Environment Program. 1972 was also the year in which the Club of Rome published their infamous report Limits To Growth. This report, backed by research done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, basically concluded that industrialization had to be halted to save the planet from ecological catastrophe. Since then even the Club's most loyal admirers, such as Maurice Strong, have admitted that the report was "premature," and didn't take into account advances in technology. (5) The Club of Rome has been one of the most influential groups promoting world government since it was created in 1970 by Dr. Alexander King, a British scientist and diplomat, and Arelio Peccei the Italian industrialist. In 1973 the Club published a report entitled Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System, that presented a model of a one world government system sub-divided into ten regions. The Aspen Institute is another important globalist think tank. It was established in 1949 by three Chicagoans: a businessman, the president of the University of Chicago and one of his professors. The University of Chicago was founded with Rockefeller money, and the Aspen Institute has always existed within the Rockefeller sphere of influence. One of the high points of the history of the Aspen Institute was a conference on "Technology: Social Goals and Cultural Options" in 1970 that paved the way for the UN's Earth Summit in Stockholm in 1972. The World Wildlife Fund is another elitist racist institution that masquerades as a humanitarian environmentalist organization. It was created by Prince Phillip of England, the husband of the Queen. He is on record as saying that if he is reincarnated he would like to return as a killer virus, to help solve the overpopulation problem. Since then other WWF executives have voiced the same concerns about overpopulation. (6) Dr. Arne Schiotz, a WWF director has said, "Malthus has been vindicated, reality is finally catching up with Malthus. The Third World is overpopulated, it's an economic mess, and there's no way they could get out of it with this fast-growing population. Our philosophy is: back to the village." Sir Peter Scott, former chairman of the WWF warned, "If we look at things causally, the bigger problem in the world is population. We must set a ceiling to human numbers. All development aid should be made dependent on the existence of strong family planning programs." Thomas Lovejoy, a former vice-president of WWF put it bluntly, "The biggest problems are the damn national sectors of these developing countries. These countries think that they have the right to develop their resources as they see fit. They want to become powers." These repressive views are held even by some of the most important managers of the global financial institutions. Fritz Lutweiler, the chairman of the Bank for International Settlements (the world banking headquarters), has said, "It means the reduction of real income in countries where the majority of the population is already living at the minimum existence level or even under it. That is difficult, but one cannot spare the highly indebted countries this difficult path. It is unavoidable." (7) Robert McNamara, the president of the World Bank warned, "There are only two possible ways in which a world of 10 billion people can be averted. Either the current birth rates must come down more quickly. Or the current death rates must go up. There is no other way. There are, of course, many ways in which the death rates can go up. In a thermonuclear age, war can accomplish it very quickly and decisively. Famine and disease are nature's ancient checks on population growth, and neither one has disappeared from the scene.... To put it simply: Excessive population growth is the greatest single obstacle to the economic and social advancement of most of the societies in the developing world." (8) Ultimately these views became accepted within the American foreign policy establishment. In 1974 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger submitted National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM 200) entitled, " Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests." The conclusion: "World population growth is widely recognized within the Government as a current danger of the highest magnitude calling for urgent measures.... There is a major risk of severe damage [from continued rapid population growth] to world economic, political, and ecological systems and, as these systems begin to fail, to our humanitarian values." NSSM 200 was to have been made public in 1979, but it was successfully kept under wraps until 1989. During his career Kissinger made sure that population control remained a cornerstone of his foreign policy strategy, and after him his ideological partner Zbigniew Brzezinski pushed the same agenda in the Carter administration. Both are closely connected with the Rockefeller family, and both had studied under Harvard's William Yandell Elliott, the Oxford-trained British-allied professor. The WorldWatch Institute was created in 1974, during the same time that NSSM 200 was being promoted in America's foreign policy establishment, with a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Since 1984 its annual "State of the World" publication is always highlighted by the media, and its hundreds of alarmist pseudo-scientific papers and reports have been used as ammunition in the leftist and elitist war against industrialization ever since. As we related in Part One of this study, the first attack on the Third World came in the form of a premeditated massive rise in oil prices in connection with the Yom Kippur war of 1973. Economies cannot develop without an energy supply, and the quadrupling of energy prices was a major setback to nations like India, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mexico. Then when President Bhutto of Pakistan tried to work around the situation by developing nuclear energy Kissinger threatened him saying, "We will make an example of you!" (9) The Shah of Iran, even though his nation had an abundant supply of oil, also began a program to develop nuclear energy. Both leaders were quickly eliminated. With the rise in energy prices the development of the Third World was checked, but the Arab Middle East became greatly enriched. This was when the Globalists turned to their allies, the Islamists, to remedy the situation. Islam would be used to attack industrialization and modernization using the lie that human progress was un-Islamic and a Western plot against the servants of Allah. The real plot was actually aimed at the brown-skinned masses of the Middle East who were briefly experiencing a positive change in their quality of life in terms of education, employment, shelter, sanitation and nutrition. However the religious and intellectual advocates of ignorance, filth and violence joined forces to throw the prosperous Middle East back into the dark ages. In England the Islamic Foundation was set up as a branch of the Jamaat-e Islami by Professor Kurshid Ahmad in Leicester in 1973. When General Zia took over Pakistan he appointed Ahmad to serve as his Minister of Economics. (10) Also in 1973 the Islamic Council of Europe was created with headquarters in London. The Council's long-time Secretary General was a prominent Muslim Brother by the name of Salem Azzam, who we will return to later. (11) Another project was "Islam and the West," begun at Cambridge in 1977 with Muslim Brother and former Syrian prime minister Maarouf Dawalibi in collaboration with the Club of Rome's Peccei and Britain's Lord Caradon, along with Dr. Alexander King's International Federation of Advanced Study. "Islam and the West" assembled a policy outline effectively defining Islam as a backwards religion in a struggle with science and technology. The Globalists were determined to promote only the repressive anti-Western minority version of Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood was the key to selling this view to the world. (12) In Iran members of the Aspen Institute and the Club of Rome linked up directly with the ideological opponents of the Shah's regime in Iran. Ali Shariati, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr and many of the leading educators in Iran's universities were brought into their circle of influence. The Globalists' destabilization campaign against the Shah is documented in Robert Dreyfuss' book Hostage To Khomeini, of which a portion can be read here at the website dedicated to Iran's former prime minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda. Crucial to the overthrow of the Shah was the Iranian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood known as the Fedayeen-e Islam, which had been set up in the 1940s. It was led by the fanatical Ayatollah Khalkali, and the Ayatollah Khomeini was a longtime member. The students who took over the American embassy in Tehran after the overthrow of the Shah, taking scores of American hostages, were also members of the Fedayeen-e Islam. Khalkali was able to personally exercise his political power during the Iranian revolution when he presided as judge in the trials of thousands of political prisoners, sentencing the majority of them to death. (12a) The Fedayeen-e Islam also controlled Iran's opium production and drug smuggling network which, near the end of the Shah's reign, had become increasingly threatened by the Shah's largely successful anti-dope campaign. After Khomeini took over Khalkali was cynically made head of Iran's national anti-drug program and under his watch opium production skyrocketed. According to Khomeini's rulings, since collected and translated into English, "Wine and all other intoxicating beverages are impure, but opium and hashish are not." (12b) In Pakistan the Muslim Brotherhood in the form of the Jamaat-e Islami supported the overthrow of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by General Zia ul-Haq. Bhutto was hated by the British globalists for withdrawing Pakistan from the British Commonwealth, for implementing nationalistic policies, for leaning towards the Soviets and for seeking to develop nuclear energy. When General Zia announced a death sentence on the imprisoned Bhutto his sentence was officially protested by the heads of state from fifty-four countries. Zia went ahead and executed Bhutto in 1979 only after receiving assurances from the head of the Jamaat-e Islami that the execution would not lead to internal unrest. (13) In the years that followed the Jamaat-e Islami became Zia's most important backer and the nation was forced into a brutal process of Islamization. In Afghanistan the CIA, prodded on by British Intelligence, began to fund the Islamic opponents of the pro-Soviet regime even prior to the Soviet invasion. President Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski advocated the subversion in order to provoke the Soviet invasion that occurred on December 24, 1979. (14) General Zia and the Jamaat-e Islami in Pakistan were two crucial elements that made the mujahedin revolt in Afghanistan successful. Their takeover of Pakistan was a necessary part of the plan to pull the Soviets into the Afghan conflict. As related in Part One, an Afghan warlord affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood by the name of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar emerged as the primary recipient of American military aid, despite his well known anti-Western views and his radical view of Islam. (When the US Congress finally acted to put an end to this aid it was already too late. Hekmatyar reached the pinnacle of his success in 1993-1994 and also in 1996 when he served as Afghanistan's prime minister. He was eventually driven out of Afghanistan by the Taliban but today he is back, agitating against the new government of Hamid Karzai. In May of 2002 the British took it upon themselves to patrol the area where Hekmatyar was based in Operation Buzzard. The stated goal was the suppression of Hekmatyar's forces, but Hekmatyar remains at large and his forces have been suspected in recent terrorist bombings in Kabul. Perhaps the stated goal of Operation Buzzard was not the real goal.) In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood experienced a resurgence after President Sadat began to loosen restrictions against the organization in the early '70s. Publicly the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to soften its image into that of a "moderate" Islamic organization, but behind the scenes it spawned off a number of violent extremist groups. Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Group and Takfir wal Hejra are just a few of the interlinked terrorist groups that began to agitate more openly against Sadat after he signed the historic Camp David peace agreement with Israel in 1978. Militants associated with these groups assassinated Sadat in 1981 and martial law was declared as the new leader, President Mubarak, launched a vigorous crackdown on the Islamists. In Syria the Muslim Brotherhood revolted against the Assad regime and took over the city of Hamah. The Syrian government's siege against the Brotherhood stronghold lasted for three weeks. 6,000 soldiers and 24,000 civilians were killed in the intense fighting and in the aftermath 10,000 more residents were arrested and placed in internment camps. Afterwards the Syrian government showed evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood forces had been armed by the West. This explosion of violence throughout the Middle East in the late '70s and early '80s was referred to by Zbigniew Brzezinski as the "Arc of Crisis." It was not something that occurred by chance, but was in fact the result of the deliberate plan developed by the Globalist strategists such as Dr. Alexander King, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and British operative Dr. Bernard Lewis. The Middle Eastern "Arc of Crisis" was not a spontaneous internal conflagration, it was something that came about as a result of Western policy in league with the Muslim Brotherhood. Without help from the West radical Islam would have remained the illegitimate, repressive minority movement that it has always been, and the Middle East would have remained stable and prosperous. Section Notes and Sources III. The Muslim Brotherhood Branches Out At the beginning of World War II the Muslim Brotherhood gained a huge amount of prestige when it was joined by members of the influential Azzam family of Egypt. Abdel-Rahman was the most famous of these Azzams, and his whole life had been one of service to the British Empire. After World War I he had worked with British Intelligence to help organize the political work of Libya's Senussi Brotherhood. (1) His work was very successful and the head of the Senussi Brotherhood was proclaimed king of Libya at a UN ceremony in 1951. (At first a darling of the British Empire, King Idris I led Libya until being ousted by Moammar Khaddafi in 1969. Khaddafi's own revolutionary organization had been established in London in 1966, (2) but his regime quickly fell out of favor with the British.) After World War II Abdel-Rahman Azzam became the first Secretary-General of the British-sponsored League of Arab States. Azzam's prestige is proven by the fact that his daughter Muna was married to Mohammed, the eldest son of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. (3) In 1955 after General Nasser cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood the organization moved its base of operations to London and Geneva. The Geneva base was under the control of Said Ramadan, who was married to the daughter of Hasan al-Banna. Ramadan set up the Institute for Islamic Studies and under his control Geneva became a major Islamic base in Europe. Today this is where King Fahd of Saudi Arabia flees to anytime he feels that his life is in danger back in the kingdom. The following story demonstrates Ramadan's intimate connections to the worldwide Islamist underground: Soon after the Iranian revolution a man named Ali Akbar Tabatabai became the most important voice of opposition to the Ayatollah's regime. Under the Shah he had been information counselor at the Iranian embassy in Washington D.C. and after the Shah's fall he had set up the Iran Freedom Foundation. In July of 1980 he was murdered by David Belfield, also known as Daoud Salahuddin. Belfield was a Black Muslim who was part of a gang connected with Bahram Nahidian who was reputed to be the Washington head of the Ayatollah's secret service (Savama). Less than two hours after the murder Belfield placed a person-to-person call to Said Ramadan in Geneva, and then using several different passports he fled the United States bound for Switzerland. (4) Geneva has always been a useful base for the Muslim Brotherhood but its London headquarters became the most important. The man in charge there is Salem Azzam, a relative of Abdel-Rahman Azzam. As previously mentioned, he became the head of the Islamic Council of Europe that was formed in London in 1973 in close collaboration with Said Ramadan. Dreyfuss explains the role of the Council, " [the Council] directs the Ikhwan [brotherhood] from Morocco to Pakistan and India, controlling hundreds of 'religious' centers across Western Europe, and through them, thousands of fundamentalist students and Muslim clergy in both the Middle East and Europe." (5) In 1978 the Islamic Institute for Defense Technology was created to support the Islamic "arc of crisis" revolution. The inaugural seminar was held in London in February of 1979. It was to work hand in hand with NATO, and it was led by Salem Azzam and members of his Islamic Council of Europe. Pakistan and Afghanistan were at the top of the agenda and the IIDT helped to coordinate the massive arms shipments that were supporting the Muslim Brotherhood's struggles there and throughout the Middle East. (6) Outside of Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood was successful in creating a number of respectable front organizations and it became widely perceived as a moderate institution that had renounced violence. But inside of Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood remained committed to the overthrow of the regime and the installation of a "pure" Islamic state and they used terrorism as the means to achieve that end. When Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt in 1970 he began a campaign to distance his country from Nasser's pro-Soviet policies and to realign with the West. Initially one of his most formidable opponents in this task was the Arab Socialist Unity Party. Sadat began to reconcile with the Muslim Brotherhood as a way to pressure the Arab Socialists and to solidify his regime, and he released hundreds of Muslim Brothers from prison in his first few years in office. Throughout the history of the Muslim Brotherhood there have been six Supreme Guides. Al-Banna led until his death in 1949. He was succeeded by Hassan al-Hudaibi after a brief period of chaos in 1951. Al-Hudaibi led until his death in 1976, suffering periods of imprisonment throughout Nasser's reign. He was succeeded by Omar el-Telmisani, who died in 1987 to be succeeded by Hamid Abdul Nasr. Both Talmisani and Nasr had been thrown in prison in 1954 during Nasser's anti-Brotherhood purge. Sadat released Talmisani from prison in 1971 and Nasr in '72. The last Supreme Guide was Mustafa Mashhour, who took over in 1996 and led until his death on November 14, 2002. The present Supreme Guide is Maamoun al-Hudaibi, the eighty-three year-old son of the second Supreme Guide, Hassan al-Hudaibi. The Supreme Guide always maintains his residence and offices in Egypt, although the vast majority of members and most of its leadership is based abroad. For the most part the Supreme Guide is merely a figurehead and the clandestine operations of the Muslim Brotherhood are directed from London and Geneva. Sadat sought to reconcile with the Islamists but he knew they could always be a threat and he never did lift the official government ban on the Brotherhood as a political group. Even so the Brotherhood quickly emerged as a political force. Publicly the Brotherhood tried to maintain a "moderate" stance, but behind the scenes it was spawning a number of loosely connected violent extremist groups. The Takfir wal Hejra was one of the most important of these groups. It was led by a former Muslim Brotherhood member, Shukri Ahmed Mustafa, and it was created in the early '70s. It was publicly exposed in 1975 by the Egyptian daily Al Ahram after a number of its members were arrested. In 1977 this group abducted a former minister of religion, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein al-Dhahabi, and demanded the release of sixty prisoners and 200,000 Egyptian pounds for his release. The demands were refused and the corpse of the Sheikh was turned over, followed by several targeted bombings. On July, 8, 1977, Mustafa, the leader of the group, was arrested along with a number of his followers. Mustafa and four of his ringleaders were executed on March 19, 1978, but his terrorist organization lived on. (7) The Organization for Islamic Liberation was another terrorist cell created by a former Muslim Brother, a man named Dr. Saleh Siriyya. In 1974 members of this group tried to take over a military academy, capture weapons and then move on an assembly where Sadat was speaking. The plan failed, eleven people died and Siriyya was captured and later executed. (8) In 1974 security forces uncovered another group, the Islamic Liberation Party, founded in Jordan in the '50s by Sheikh Taghiud Din Nabhani, a Muslim Brother and judge originally from Haifa. This group primarily focused activity against Israel but Sadat arrested and interrogated members of the group who lived in Egypt. (9) The two most important Egyptian terrorist organizations that were offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood that still exist today are the Jamaat al-Islamiyya, which translates as the Islamic Group, and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, also known simply as Jihad or al-Jihad. Both of them were closely involved in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. The Jamaat al-Islamiyya was created in 1971 to agitate against Sadat because of his cooperation with Libya's Qaddafi. It was headed by Muslim Brother Dr. Hilmi al-Gazzar and initially refrained from violence and focused on activism within the universities, but this was soon to change. A blind sheikh by the name of Dr. Omar Ahmed Mohammed Abdel Rahman later emerged as the leader of the organization. (10) The other prominent group, Islamic Jihad, first came to light in 1977 when Al Ahram reported that eighty members of this fighting organization had been arrested. One of Islamic Jihad's members at the time was Ayman al-Zawahiri, a young upper-class Muslim related to the Azzams. His grandmother was the sister of the illustrious Abdel-Rahman Azzam mentioned previously, and his uncle was Salem Azzam of the Islamic Council of Europe. Zawahiri had first been arrested in 1966 at the age of 16 because of his Muslim Brotherhood affiliation, and his militant views continued to grow over the years. In early 1980 Islamic Jihad was targeted again when the government arrested seventy more members. Egypt's prosecutor described the organization as a "fanatic terrorist group," and said that it was "financed from abroad and was armed with weapons, explosives and technical equipment." (11) However, the arrests and investigation failed to prevent the ultimate terrorist attack. Dietl describes it, "The Jihad group made the headlines once again on October 6, 1981, when a commando squad under Khaled Islambuli shot President Anwar el-Sadat. Following arduous investigations during the summer of 1982, it became known in Cairo that the Jihad group was part of the large family enterprise of the Muslim Brotherhood. When I asked, this was conceded by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the meantime, in a unanimous statement, the Jihad group 'condemned to death' Sadat's successor Mubarak. In September 1982 the three most important leaders of the Jihad group were tracked down and arrested." (12) Just two years prior to Sadat's assassination the International Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood had held a summit meeting in London. Brotherhood leaders from Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan converged, along with the head of the Saudi Arabian secret service, to discuss the recent achievements in Pakistan and Iran, and to discuss the future of Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt. (13) In Egypt Sadat had continued to reconcile with the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1978 he allowed the Muslim Brotherhood's publication Al Dawa to be distributed again. In 1979 he even met with Supreme Guide Omar el-Telmisani on two occasions but nothing came of the dialogue and the Muslim Brotherhood continued its aggressive attacks on Sadat in print as well as in the mosques. Finally, just weeks before Sadat was assassinated, he had el-Telmisani arrested and a ban was placed on the distribution of Al Dawa. When Sadat was gunned down Kemal al-Sananiry was the Muslim Brotherhood's most prominent representative in Egypt. He was arrested and interrogated and died in prison a few weeks later. The government lamely claimed that he had committed suicide, but his wife Amina rejected this explanation. She was the daughter of Sayed Qutb. Also arrested, but later acquitted, was the blind sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman. He had encouraged the perpetrators of the assassination by ruling that the government was led by atheists and heretics. He also permitted them to steal as a means to finance their cause and even ruled that they would be allowed to have their way with the wives of government officials if they succeeded in toppling the government. (14) Years later he was implicated in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison where he now sits. His two sons carry on the jihad as members of Al Qaeda and close followers of Osama bin Laden. They were highlighted in the cache of Al Qaeda videos that were recently publicized on CNN (see the clip "Roots of Hatred"). Sheikh Rahman is still the recognized spiritual leader of the Islamic Group, and its members have vowed to take revenge on America if the diabetic Sheikh dies in his American prison. Ayman al-Zawahiri was also arrested in connection with the assassination. After spending three years in prison he was released, whereupon he soon rose to the top of Islamic Jihad, taking over in 1993, and then linking up with Osama bin Laden in Sudan. After he fled Egypt he based his operations in Geneva, Switzerland, working under the cover of the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Islamic Center led by Said Ramadan. (15) (With whom Malcolm X had his famous correspondence just weeks prior to his assassination by Elijah Mohammed's Black Muslims.) Al-Zawahiri has emerged as the alleged "number two man" in the "Al Qaeda" organization. His brother Muhammad al-Zawahiri is currently in the Balkans directing Muslim attacks against Serbia and Macedonia. Reports say that he works out of a NATO-controlled area of Kosovo. (16) These two "Azzam family" brothers have always maintained their connections with the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the fact that Ayman has publicly criticized the Brotherhood for its lack of support for the revolution in Egypt. His criticism has been a useful cover for the Brotherhood which tries to maintain its "moderate" facade. Another important figure in the Al Qaeda organization with links back to the Sadat assassination is the brother of assassin Khaled Islambuli, who was executed on April 15, 1982. Ahmad Shawqi al-Islambuli left Egypt and appeared in Karachi, Pakistan, where he helped to set up a smuggling network. Later Islambuli worked with bin Laden in Sudan setting up a militant base in Somalia, and then he became a member of bin Laden's World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders in 1998. (17) The most recent prominent terrorist offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood is the Palestinian group HAMAS, which surfaced as a separate group in 1988 upon the release of its "Islamic Covenant," by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He had been the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza for a number of years and his group can be traced back to 1978 when it was registered as an Islamic association called Al-Mujamma Al-Islami. In its Islamic Covenant of 1988 the group plainly describes itself as the "Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood." (18) Robert Dreyfuss summarizes the nature of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in the few paragraphs below. These words were written in 1980, but they are just as true today, "The real Muslim Brotherhood is not the fanatical sheikh with his equally fanatical following, nor is it even the top mullahs and ayatollahs who lead entire movements of such madmen; Khomeini, Qaddafi, General Zia are exquisitely fashioned puppets. The real Muslim Brothers are those whose hands are never dirtied with the business of killing and burning. They are the secretive bankers and financiers who stand behind the curtain, the members of the old Arab, Turkish, or Persian families whose geneology places them in the oligarchical elite, with smooth business and intelligence associations to the European black nobility and, especially, to the British oligarchy. And the Muslim Brotherhood is money. Together, the Brotherhood probably controls several tens of billions of dollars in immediate liquid assets, and controls billions more in day-to-day business operations in everything from oil trade and banking to drug-running, illegal arms merchandising, and gold and diamond smuggling. By allying with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Anglo-Americans are not merely buying into a terrorists-for-hire racket; they are partners in a powerful and worldwide financial empire that extends from numbered Swiss bank accounts to offshore havens in Dubai, Kuwait and Hong Kong." (19) Hopefully the reader is beginning to understand how small the radical Islamist movement really is, how closely inter-connected it is, and how it all seems to tie back into the Muslim Brotherhood. The picture gets even clearer when the career of Osama bin Laden is closely inspected. Section Notes and Sources IV. Osama bin Laden: The Early Years Osama was born around 1957, the seventeenth son of the Yemenite construction magnate Sheikh Mohammed bin Oud bin Laden. Over the years Mohammed had established himself as a trusted friend of King Abdul Aziz and then King Feisal of Saudi Arabia, and his construction firm was hired to refurbish the holy sites in Mecca and Medina, including Mecca's Grand Mosque. He also received a contract to refurbish the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 1969. At the time of Mohammed bin Laden's death in 1972 his family had grown to become perhaps the richest non-royal family in Saudi Arabia, and his estate was handed over to his fifty-four children. His son Salem emerged as the head of the firm, and then Bakr, with Abdelaziz, Ali, Yeslam and Yahya emerged also playing leading roles in directing the bin Laden empire. These heirs have always enjoyed a close relationship with the Saudi royal family and are responsible for training many of the younger Saudi princes in the intricacies of global finance and industry. Mohammed bin Fahd and Saud bin Nayef are two of the princes who owe their current status as global tycoons to the bin Laden brothers. (1) The Saudi royal family has always been close with the top levels of the bin Laden family, but the same cannot be said about some of the younger sons of Mohammed bin Laden. On November 20, 1979, Mecca's Grand Mosque was taken over by several hundred militants. The Imam was murdered and in the chaos thousands of worshipers were trampled to death. The militants took hundreds of hostages and holed up in the vast cellars under the mosque. Saudi forces reacted quickly and staged a counter-attack against the rebels inside but they were easily repulsed by the well-armed and well-fortified militants. For days the rebels fought off the government forces, destroying tanks and even a helicopter that flew in too close, crashing into a minaret. Finally King Khalid turned to the French government and French special forces arrived with chemical weapons to smoke out the rebels. The Grand Mosque was finally liberated on December 4. For two weeks the holiest shrine of Islam had been taken over by radical fundamentalists. The end result was hundreds of government soldiers and over a hundred rebels dead, with most of the hostages dead as well. On January 9 sixty-three of the captured rebels were paraded into the main squares of several Arabian cities and publicly beheaded. Hundreds more were arrested and interrogated in the ensuing investigation. (2) Among those arrested was Mahrous bin Laden, son of Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden and brother of Osama. In his biography of Osama bin Laden Jacquard writes, "The terrorists had established contact with Mahrous several years earlier, when he was a student in London and when he counted among his friends the son of a Southern Yemeni dignitary, the leader of a very active fundamentalist group. Following this university connection, Mahrous bin Laden became involved with a group of Syrian Muslim Brotherhood activists exiled to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi secret service investigation ultimately declared Mahrous innocent. The investigation stated that by exploiting networks of the young Mahrous's former friendships, the terrorists had gained access to the bin Laden group's trucks to organize their attack without the young man's knowledge." (3) p.13-14 The Bin Laden firm was responsible for the Grand Mosque's renovations and so its trucks were allowed to come and go freely without being searched. The terrorists had used these trucks to help them smuggle in weapons that were then stashed inside the mosque prior to the takeover. Mahrous was declared innocent of being involved in this intrigue but his honor was tainted forever and he knew he could never rise to the level of achievement reached by his older brothers. Had he been the member of any other family it is likely that he would have been executed, if only for simply having relations with some of the fundamentalists linked to the terrorists. In the end it was the bin Laden family that saved the day, because they provided the blueprints of the mosque that helped to plan the final successful attacks against the rebels. In the end the bin Laden family emerged from the whole affair pretty much unscathed, with their integrity and their close relationship with the House of Saud intact. (4) Osama bin Laden, as one of the youngest sons of the bin Laden family, grew up feeling somewhat of an outsider and like his brother Mahrous he turned to fundamentalist Islam. Biographer Adam Robinson states that the young Osama lived a very indulgent and secular lifestyle during his teenage years, especially while he attended high school in Beirut from 1973 to 1975. Others, such as Roland Jacquard argue that this was not the case. Whatever the truth of his younger days, it is clear that Osama wholeheartedly embraced Islam during the time that he attended King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He enrolled there in 1976 and in 1977 he undertook the two-week long holy Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Robinson writes that after this experience Osama began to grow his beard long and his sincerity towards Islam became apparent. What Robinson does not divulge is that Osama's exposure to the Muslim Brotherhood at this time brought about his conversion. Mohammed Qutb, the brother of Sayed Qutb the "chief ideologist" of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed in 1966, emigrated to Saudi Arabia as a result of Nasser's crackdown on the Brotherhood. In the 1960s he was given several different official positions within Saudi universities to teach and to carry out the mission of the Muslim Brotherhood. While in Saudi Arabia Mohammed Qutb conceived of the organization now known as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, and it was made a reality in 1972 thanks to large donations from the bin Laden family. Osama's brother Omar was at one time its executive director, and another brother, Abdullah, also served as a director. (5) WAMY was being investigated as a source of terrorist funding until the Bush administration halted the FBI's investigation at the beginning of his term in 2001. WAMY's perspective on Islam is the familiar Muslim Brotherhood perspective that the Globalists like so much, that Islam is threatened by the West and that it must remain wary of science and technology and return to its primitive roots. WAMY's headquarters today are in Riyadh, with major offices in Falls Church, Virginia and London, England. According to reporter Greg Palast there are over twenty WAMY-aligned organizations also based in Britain. (6) While attending King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah Osama bin Laden became close to Mohammed Qutb and he was initiated into the Muslim Brotherhood. Malise Ruthven, author of Islam In the World and former editor with the BBC Arabic Service, even remarks that Qutb was Osama's "mentor" during this period. (7) Another important figure in Osama's university life was a professor by the name of Sheikh Abdullah Yussuf Azzam. Unrelated to the Egyptian Azzams, he was a Palestinian-born teacher of religion who was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank. Later he pursued an education in Jordan and Damascus before receiving his doctorate in Islamic jurisprudence from Cairo's Al Azhar University in 1973. While in Cairo he met the family of Sayed Qutb and was "drawn into the ranks of the Egyptian militant Islamists."(8) Shortly after this he moved to Saudi Arabia after being invited to teach at King Abdul Aziz University, where he linked up with Mohammed Qutb. Osama attended Azzam's classes and was caught up into his militant ideology. Azzam's famous motto was, "Jihad and the rifle alone: no negotiations, no conferences, and no dialogues." (9) In 1979 Dr. Azzam left Saudi Arabia and was one of the first Arabs to join the Afghan jihad. He was the lead Saudi/Palestinian representative of the Muslim Brotherhood. The 22-year old Osama bin Laden followed soon after and together they established the Maktab al-Khidamat, MAK, or Mujahideen Services Bureau based in Peshawar, Afghanistan. Their organization linked up with Pakistan's Muslim Brotherhood organization, the Jamaat-e Islami. The MAK worked to recruit fighters to join the jihad and by the late 1980s there were branches of the MAK, known also as the Al Kifah Organization, in fifty countries around the world. The Muslim Brotherhood network combined with bin Laden family money to make the MAK a tremendous success. Militants from around the globe poured into Afghanistan, but Azzam and bin Laden recognized that many of the prospective mujahedin lacked the necessary training and supplies for the Afghan campaign. To remedy this they established Masadat Al-Ansar in Peshawar as a central base, training compound and storehouse to serve the Arabs coming in to fight. (10) Bodansky p. 12 This was Al Qaeda (the base) for the thousands streaming in to fight the jihad. Dr. Saad al-Fagih was one of the many Saudis who passed through the Peshawar base, and he explained in a PBS interview how Al Qaeda came to be and how it was never meant to refer to bin Laden's terrorist organization, "Well, I [really] laugh when I hear the FBI talking about Al Qaeda as an organization of bin Laden... [it's really a] very simple story. If bin Laden is to receive Arabs from Saudi Arabia and from Kuwait--from other regions--he is [to] receive them in the guest house in Peshawar. They used to go to the battle field and come back, without documentation... There [was] no documentation of who has arrived. Who has left. How long he stayed. There's only [a nice general reception]. And you go there. And you join in the battle field... Now, he was embarrassed by many families when they called him and ask what happened to our son. He don't know. `Cause there's no record. There's no documentation. Now he asked some of his colleagues to start documenting the movement of every Arab coming under his umbrella... It is recorded that [they] arrived in this date and stayed in this house... Many of them had come only for two weeks, three weeks and then disappeared. That record, that documentation was called the record of Al Qaeda. So that was Al Qaeda. There's nothing sinister about Al Qaeda. It's not like an organization... I don't think he used any name for his underground group. If you want to name it, you can name it 'bin Laden group.' But if they are using the term Al Qaeda ... Al Qaeda is just a record for the people who came to Peshawar and moved from there back and forth to the guest house. And moved back to their country." (11) Bin Laden's years fighting the Afghan war were mostly spent in Pakistan and his job was primarily that of a fundraiser and an organizer, although many times he would travel into Afghanistan with his mentor Sheikh Azzam, known as the 'Emir of Jihad,' who would give fiery speeches to raise the morale of the mujahedin warriors. In Afghanistan bin Laden's resources as a contractor were also used and he brought in heavy equipment on a number of occasions to help fortify mujahedin strongholds and to refurbish supply roads. The debate is still unsettled as to whether or not bin Laden or Azzam were ever involved in any actual front-line fighting, but both have been mythologized as active and courageous warriors. During bin Laden's Afghan years the MAK developed close relations with Pashtun warlord and Muslim Brother Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Azzam and Hekmatyar both held anti-American views, but Hekmatyar's were more pronounced, even though it is estimated that his group, the Hezb-e-Islami, received up to 40% of the American aid channeled to the mujahedin through the CIA and the ISI. (12) During the 1980s Azzam also traveled throughout the USA meeting American Muslim groups, raising funds and recruiting fighters for the jihad. He set up major Al Kifah centers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Pittsburgh, and Tucson, and smaller Al Kifah branches in thirty other American cities. (13) In this way the militant Muslim Brotherhood message was dispersed throughout the United States and recruits were brought into the jihad. According to respected Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid the Afghan war escalated in 1986 when the CIA made three strategic decisions. (14) First, to provide the mujahedin with American made Stinger missiles. At the height of the war it is estimated that the mujahedin averaged 1.5 kills per day of Soviet and communist Afghan aircraft. The second decision was one promoted by British Intelligence and the ISI to launch guerilla attacks into Soviet territory in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Predictably, the operation was handed over to Hekmatyar's forces, who managed to achieve a symbolic success, to which the Soviets responded by firebombing all nearby villages. The CIA immediately stopped this action as counter-productive. Thirdly, the CIA began to endorse the Arab initiative of recruiting jihad warriors around the world. Rashid describes how this recruiting drive was run, "Pakistan had issued standing instructions to all its embassies abroad to give visas, with no questions asked, to anyone wanting to come and fight with the mujahidin. In the Middle East the Ikhwan ul Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood), the Saudi-based World Muslim League, and the Palestinian Islamic radicals organized recruits and put them in contact with the ISI. The ISI and Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami Party set up reception committees to welcome, house, and train the foreign militants. Then the two encouraged militants to join the mujahidin groups, usually the Hizbe Islami. Much of the funding for this enterprise came directly from Saudi Intelligence, which was partly channeled through the Saudi radical Osama bin Laden, who was then based in Peshawar. At the time, French scholar Oliver Roy described the enterprise as ' a joint venture between the Saudis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Jamaat-e-Islami, put together by the ISI.' " (15) These three decisions escalated the war in Afghanistan and made it clear to Mikhail Gorbachev that his nation was fighting a battle that it could never win. On April 14, 1988 the Geneva Accords were signed mandating a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. By early 1989 the Soviet Army was out of Afghanistan, but a staunchly communist and well-armed Afghan regime was still ruling from Kabul. American aid to the mujahedin ended almost precisely at the moment the Geneva Accords were signed. The Soviets were leaving and so the West congratulated itself on achieving a victory. For the United States the war was over and the CIA did not want to participate in creating an Islamist regime in Afghanistan that would undoubtedly be anti-American. As a result Hekmatyar, Azzam, bin Laden and the Islamist warlords were left feeling betrayed and used. The mujahedin also received a major setback on August 17, 1988, when General Muhammed Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan's ruling dictator and mentor of the mujahedin, died when his C-130 aircraft crashed minutes after taking off from Bahawalpur airport. Also killed were a number of generals and the American ambassador. In November of 1988, Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulfikar Bhutto who had been executed by General Zia, was elected Prime Minister. She began to introduce policies that threatened the fundamentalists and the warlords, including legislation that cracked down on drug smuggling. In March of 1989 the mujahedin were convinced by Saudi and ISI advisors to launch a full-scale assault on the communist-held city of Jalalabad. It was argued that the fall of Jalalabad would lead to a quick route of President Najibullah's forces and that Afghanistan could then be quickly liberated. The assault turned into one of the biggest disasters for the mujahedin because Jalalabad was well-defended and protected by a veteran army that included a significant artillery contingent. The mujahedin were slaughtered by the thousands. Back in Peshawar bin Laden and Azzam reacted in fury. They began to issue statements from their press offices accusing Pakistan and Saudi Arabia of being part of a treacherous American plot. This was perhaps the first public notice of bin Laden's growing resentment towards the decidedly pro-American Saudi regime of his homeland. (16) A greater blow struck bin Laden when his friend and father-figure Sheikh Abdullah Azzam was assassinated several months later. Notice the mythology that surrounds the passing of this man as related on a Muslim web site, "On Friday the 24th of November 1989 in Peshawar, Pakistan, he was assassinated along with his two sons Mohammed and Ibrahim, by 20kg of TNT activated by remote control while he was driving to Friday (Jumma) prayer. His car was blown apart into fragments in the middle of a busy street. The blast was so intensive that fragments from the bodies of his sons were found up to a hundred meters from the carnage. One of his son's legs was also found suspended from an overhead telephone line. Nevertheless, Allah be glorified, the Sheikh was found perfectly intact, except for an internal haemorrhage, which caused his death. Many a people present will confirm to the smell of musk that emanated from his body." (17) In his early days Sheikh Azzam had helped to create the Palestinian organization now known as HAMAS. Today the military wing of HAMAS on the West Bank is officially known as the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. (18) In London the Azzam Organization was founded in his name and its affiliate Azzam Publications ( www.azzam.com) describes itself as "an independent media organization providing authentic news and information about Jihad and the Foreign Mujahideen everywhere." The website was shut down after September 11, 2001. (19) At the end of 1989 Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. He was welcomed as a celebrity and a hero, but he remained bitter about the political infighting that was consuming Afghanistan and cynical of the ruling House of Saud. He turned back to his family and he briefly took up a job within the Bin Laden Firm working in road construction. He was 32, and almost a ten-year veteran of the Afghan war, but his jihad days were just beginning. The Muslim Brotherhood had further plans for him. Section Notes and Sources V. Bin Laden In Exile On August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and bin Laden's easy lifestyle received a jolt. Suddenly there was a new threat to be dealt with and a new mission for him to embrace. On the day of the invasion bin Laden flew from his home in Jeddah by private jet to the capital of Riyadh. He went directly to the offices of King Fahd and was met by Prince Sultan. He offered the prince a handwritten ten-page memorandum in which he offered to raise an army of 10,000 battle-hardened mujahedin veterans to complement the Saudi Arabian army, to liberate Kuwait and drive out Saddam Hussein's army. Biographer Adam Robinson describes the situation, "Family members recall that for several days after making the offer Osama remained glued to his mobile telephone, expecting a reply from King Fahd. He called the monarch's office repeatedly, contacted several of King Fahd's aides to repeat the offer, sent several faxes and dispatched members of his office staff to the king's office with copies of his letters. Meanwhile he worked day and night in his office marshalling his forces, mobilising them in preparation for action, confident that they would be the key to success in the war that lay ahead. But then, on August 7, came the snub that has consumed and angered him until this day." (1) On that day it was announced that King Fahd had agreed to allow a coalition of American-led forces to occupy Saudi Arabian territory to protect his regime and to prepare to liberate Kuwait. The Bush Administration had panicked King Fahd with reports of satellite photos showing Hussein's forces massing on the border preparing for a Saudi invasion. The reports were entirely bogus, the satellite photos did not exist and the threat was a complete fabrication. Iraq had no intention of invading Saudi Arabia, as they attempted to make clear through diplomatic channels and the international media. Nevertheless King Fahd was intimidated into believing that his regime was in danger and he allowed the occupation and troop buildup for Desert Storm. (2) Osama bin Laden, along with the Islamic leadership within Saudi Arabia and around the world, considered this foreign occupation of holy Muslim lands to be an abomination. Bodansky describes the problem faced by King Fahd, "In early August 1990 King Fahd asked the ulema -the country's senior religious leaders- to endorse the deployment of U.S. forces. 'All the senior ulema were categorically against the idea,' a Saudi official said in a study by exiled Saudi scholar Nawaf Obaid. 'It was only after long discussions with the King that Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Bin Baz reluctantly gave his endorsement to the idea on condition that solid proof be presented as to the [iraqi] threat.' ...Word of this conflict between the Saudi Court and the ulema spread like wildfire throughout the Islamist circles of Saudi Arabia." (3) Bin Laden had this to say about King Fahd in a 1998 interview, "Any government that sells its peoples' interests and betrays its people and takes action that remove it from the Muslim nation will not succeed. We predict that the Riyadh leader and those with him that stood with the Jews and Christians with American identities or other, will disintegrate. They have left the Muslim nation. We predict that like the Iran royal family, the Shah, they will disperse and disappear. After Allah gave them property on the most sacred land and gave them wealth that is unheard of before from oil, still they sinned and did not value Allah's gift. We predict destruction and dispersal..." (4) Operation Desert Storm ended on February 28, 1991, but as the foreign occupation continued, so did bin Laden's outspoken criticism of the Saudi regime. He gave speeches at meetings and at mosques and as a result he began to be closely monitored by the Saudi secret police. Bin Laden began to receive threats and Robinson writes of relatives that recall that on one occasion he was even cornered and beaten up by a group of "youths" (allegedly Saudi secret service agents) for criticizing the government. (5) Bin Laden began to realize that he was not welcome in his home country and that he would be better able to pursue his goals outside of Saudi Arabia. In April of 1991 he was able to leave under the pretext of signing a business deal in Pakistan. He had no intention of returning. Bin Laden spent about eight months in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but even there he did not feel completely free. The Pakistan government was not especially friendly to Islamists at this time and bin Laden often heard rumors that Saudi Intelligence was working with the ISI to arrest him and bring him back to Saudi Arabia. His close relationship with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was a problem as well, because Hekmatyar had angered the Saudis through his strong support for Saddam Hussein during Desert Storm. Throughout the Middle East the Islamists were feeling a backlash. Afghanistan was in the midst of a civil war, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were cracking down, Iran was Shi'ite and unwelcome towards Sunnis, and Egypt was cracking down as well. As a result many of the most fanatical Islamists fled to London, where they were always accepted, or to the newly established Islamic Republic of Sudan, to which bin Laden was invited. Sudan had become an official bastion of Islamic Fundamentalism starting on June 30, 1989, when General Omar Hassan al-Bashir took over in a military coup. In August, just a few months later, Sudan's role was confirmed at a London meeting of the International Muslim Brotherhood. The Sudanese delegate was a man by the name of Hassan al-Turabi, who would emerge as the real power behind the throne in Sudan, and a mentor to Osama bin Laden. Hassan al-Turabi was born in 1932, educated in English-language schools in Sudan and indoctrinated into Islam by his father. He graduated the British-run Gordon College in Khartoum in 1955 with a law degree, and sometime during this time he joined the Muslim Brotherhood. After Gordon College he received a scholarship to attend the University of London, where he received his masters degree in law. Turabi then attended the Sorbonne University in France receiving his doctorate in 1964. Back in Sudan he emerged as the intellectual leader and spokesman of the Islamist movement and the leader of the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He became known as the Black Pope of Africa. (6) At the Muslim Brotherhood meeting in London in 1989 it was decided that Sudan would be a new base for the Islamist movement, and a Muslim Brotherhood leadership council of nineteen members was subsequently established in Khartoum under Turabi. This council helped to organize the Islamist movement in the chaotic aftermath of the Afghan-Soviet war and in April 1991 a conference called the "Islamic Arab People's Conference" was held in Khartoum. This was a congress of Islamist and terrorist groups from around the world and it helped to establish the Popular International Organization. The PIO then established another council in Khartoum of fifty members, one each from the fifty countries around the world that were engaged in an Islamic struggle. (7) The International Muslim Brotherhood does more than just create councils and more councils. The IMB also controls the "International Legion of Islam" or "Islamic Legion." It emerged during the 1980s and was based primarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and also in Tehran, (earlier we covered the role the Muslim Brotherhood played in evicting the Shah and setting up the hardline Shi'ite regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini). During the 1990s the Islamic Legion would work most effectively out of Khartoum. The Islamic Legion is simply an unofficial loose-knit military organization that helps to coordinate the global jihad. Yossef Bodansky, the director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare and author of the bin Laden biography sited often in this study, refers to the Islamic Legion as the Armed Islamic Movement or AIM. The Islamist movement suffered a huge blow on July 5, 1991 when the Bank of Credit and Commerce International was finally shut down by the Bank of England. As related in Part One, this bank was an important conduit of drug profits and money laundering that also served as a broker for illegal arms deals. It had been an important component of the global Islamist movement's financial network and now it had been dissolved. Before the movement could rise to its potential its leaders knew that a new financial network had to be set up. This may be one of the reasons for inviting bin Laden to Sudan, because bin Laden was married to the sister of Khalid bin Mahfouz. In the book "Forbidden Truth: U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for Bin Laden," the French authors describe Mahfouz, "Khalid bin Mahfouz was a key figure in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, or BCCI, affair. Between 1986 and 1990, he was a top executive there, holding the position of operational director. His family held a 20 percent share in the bank at the time. He was charged in the United States in 1992 with tax fraud in the bank's collapse. In 1995, held jointly liable in the BCCI's collapse, he agreed to a $245 million settlement to pay the bank's creditors, allowing them to indemnify a portion of the bank's clients. The specific charges against the bank were embezzlement and violation of American, Luxembourg and British banking laws. After dominating the financial news throughout the 1990s the BCCI is now at the center of the financial network put in place by Osama bin Laden's main supporters." (8) In 1999 the French Parliament commissioned an intense and thorough investigation of global money-laundering. After publishing reports on Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland it produced, on October 10, 2001, the conclusions of its investigations into the banking system of Great Britain: "The City of London, Gibraltar and the Crown Dependencies: Offshore Centers and Havens for Dirty Money." Attached to the 400-page report was a 70-page addendum entitled "The Economic Environment of Osama bin Laden" that focused specifically on the London-based financial network associated with Osama bin Laden. The report concludes that up to forty British banks, companies and individuals were associated with bin Laden's network, including organizations in London, Oxford, Cheltenham, Cambridge and Leeds. In introducing the report French Member of Parliament Arnaud Montebourg said, "Tony Blair, and his government, preaches around the world against terrorism. He would be well advised to preach to his own bankers and oblige them to go after dirty money... Even the Swiss co-operate more than the English." (9) French investigator Jean-Charles Brisard (who I believe worked on the report) offers this conclusion in his book Forbidden Truth, "The financial network surrounding Osama bin Laden and his investments is similar in structure to the fraudulent network put in place in the 1980s by the BCCI. They even share some of the same personalities (former BCCI executives and directors, oil and arms dealers, Saudi investors) and, sometimes, the same companies (NCB, Attock oil, BAII). The study points out the fact that BCCI financing networks have survived, even though Osama bin Laden receives parallel support from political or terrorist movements from the Islamist sphere of influence. The convergence of financial interests and terrorist activities, especially Great Britain and Sudan, does not seem to have been an obstacle to each group's desired objectives. A terrorist network backed by a vast financing system is the trademark of Osama bin Laden's operations." (10) And now I am going to introduce a thesis that we will return to often throughout the rest of this study. It is simply this, that Osama bin Laden is not the head of this covert, shadowy financial network that has surfaced occasionally as a source of funding for bin Laden's terrorist activities. Osama bin Laden is not, nor has he ever been, the leader of the international Islamist movement which is directed by the International Muslim Brotherhood. Osama bin Laden has been used effectively as a figurehead for the Brotherhood's militant branch to take responsibility for its atrocities, but he is not the mastermind of the entire operation, or even of the operations which he is asked to direct or take responsibility for. By the same token the Muslim Brotherhood is being used as a tool by the British-based Globalists whose main objective is to overthrow the established world order and create a new one-world system of global governance. But we will get to this secondary and more sensational thesis later. The International Muslim Brotherhood had used the BCCI to finance its activities up until its closure in July of 1991. When this happened, which was after all of the important high-level Islamist meetings had already taken place in Sudan, Osama bin Laden was brought in to help organize the rebuilding of the network in December of 1991. Bin Laden had established a reputation as an excellent organizer during his years with the MAK in Peshawar and so he was the perfect man for the job, and his close relationship with his brother-in-law Khalid bin Mahfouz was an added benefit. Mahfouz knew the British banking establishment like the back of his hand and he knew exactly which British banks and bankers could be trusted to help rebuild the covert quasi-legal network. Adam Robinson writes about the resurrection of this network, which owed a great debt to the organizer bin Laden, "Within months, Osama unveiled before an astonished al-Turabi what he called 'the Brotherhood Group' [author- yes, the 'Brotherhood Group'] . This was a network of 134 Arab businessmen whose combined commercial empire extended around the globe and back many times. They maintained bank accounts in virtually every country and, collectively, routinely shifted billions of dollars around as part of their legitimate businesses. It was a perfect front. The Brotherhood Group came to be utilised by terror groups all around the world. Osama was the toast of his industry." (11) Bin Laden also helped to invigorate Sudan's own failing banking industry when he invested $50 million to capitalize the El Shamal Islamic Bank of Khartoum. This was bin Laden's bank, owned in partnership with Sudan's National Islamic Front, which is simply the Sudanese branch of the International Muslim Brotherhood. After helping to reestablish the Muslim Brotherhood's financial network bin Laden was kept busy in Sudan on projects related to his profession as a contractor. A company was set up jointly controlled by bin Laden, the Sudanese military and Sudan's National Islamic Front called Al-Hijra for Construction and Development Ltd. Major projects were tackled including the development of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, an airport at Port Sudan and a four lane highway over the 650 miles from the Port to Khartoum. Al-Hijra also undertook a project to widen the Blue Nile and to build the Rosaires Dam. Work was also done to improve the rail lines, several smaller airports were built, and roads were paved throughout the country. (12) While bin Laden was being kept busy building Sudan's infrastructure, the International Muslim Brotherhood (IMB) was preparing to confront the United States Military in Somalia. While the intent to insert American forces into Somalia for "humanitarian purposes" was not publicized until late 1992, the IMB seemed to anticipate American intervention almost from the time that the Somalian government fell in January of 1992. It's almost as if the U.S. Military's mission to Somalia was pre-arranged to confront the Islamists, and to fail. As was noted earlier, Sudan announced its intention to become a militant base for the IMB at the London meeting of 1989. After that, organizations such as the one run by Abu Nidal, HAMAS, and Iran/Lebanon's Hezbollah set up offices in Khartoum. Soon after training camps were opened and bin Laden was invited in. Also in late 1991 Iran and Sudan began to form a strategic friendship. This cooperation between militant Shi'ite and Sunni Fundamentalism immediately caught the attention of the regimes in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and it was understood that Sudan was emerging as a threat. Hassan al-Turabi also made the diplomatic rounds in the West. According to bin Laden biographer Roland Jacquard, Turabi visited London in 1992 and was a guest at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. This is the headquarters of the British Globalists and the parent organization of America's Council on Foreign Relations. After this visit he also took a trip to the United States, where he was given an official reception in Washington. (13) Back in Sudan Turabi established links with Somalian warlord Muhammad Farah Aidid. Bodansky explains, "The Somalian terrorists were provided with equipment and weapons for the militias they would train and lead. Some of these militias operated within the ranks of the main Somalian parties, while others were completely independent, answering only to Khartoum... Tehran, which controlled and sponsored these Somalian terrorists via Sudan, planned on using them against the U.S. forces the same way the HizbAllah had been used by Syria and Iran against the U.S. peacekeepers in Beirut in the early 1980s." (14) In late 1992 the IMB also called upon Sheikh Tariq al-Fadli to return to Yemen from his comfortable exile in London to organize a terrorist cell to strike the American forces that would soon be passing through on their way to Somalia. Bin Laden had known al-Fadli from the Afghan campaign, and bin Laden was instrumental in linking the sheikh up with the thousands of Yemeni "Afghans" that had returned home. Al-Fadli was inserted into Yemen in "mid-November" according to Bodansky, while the intention to commit American forces to Somalia was not revealed by the Clinton Administration until November 28. (15) American forces landed on the beaches of Somalia on December 9, 1992, as captured ridiculously by the floodlights of the waiting horde of international media. From the beginning the world, the majority of American citizens, and especially American servicemen and women, wondered what in the hell the US Military was doing trying to impose order upon the chaotic and unappreciative Islamic country of Somalia. Initially the operation appeared to be a success, and the humanitarian aid was allowed to pass through, but the Islamists were simply biding their time waiting to strike. The first attack took place in Yemen, on December 29, 1992. Al-Fadli's newly-organized Yemeni Islamic Jihad detonated bombs in the Aden Hotel and Golden Moor Hotel, killing three and wounding five. One of the bombs barely missed hitting a contingent of 100 American marines on their way to Somalia. Another team armed with RPGs failed as well, caught near the fences of an airport where U.S. Air Force transport planes were parked nearby. Al-Fadli and a few of his followers surrendered on January 8, 1993. The rest of the Yemeni "Afghans" were airlifted to Somalia by Osama bin Laden in a covert operation in the middle of 1993. Bin Laden later boasted in an interview that this operation cost him $3 million of his own money. (16) On June 5, 1993, back in Mogadishu General Aidid's forces ambushed and killed a Pakistani detachment of UN forces, killing twenty-three blue-helmeted soldiers. Aidid left Somalia and turned up later in June in Khartoum to appear at a top-level Islamist meeting. Turabi, bin Laden, a number of Iranian agents, and the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also attended. The meeting was focused on evicting the United States and the UN from Somalia. Bodansky writes that the operation was headed by Turabi, with Zawahiri, along with several other Arab "Afghans" serving under him as the military commanders. Bin Laden, like always, was responsible for the logistical support. In the fall of 1993 Zawahiri entered Somalia where he coordinated operations with Aidid's senior commanders. (17) The resistance to Operation Restore Hope peaked on October 3, 1993, with the events that have been memorably re-enacted in the Hollywood movie "Blackhawk Down." On this day Aidid's forces managed to shoot down two Blackhawk helicopters, wound seventy-eight American soldiers, kill eighteen and capture another. Up to a thousand Somali fighters and civilians were killed in the carnage. After this incident it became apparent to the Clinton Administration that the Somali operation needed to come to an end. By March of 1994 almost all of the American forces had pulled out, leaving the Islamists in control. Bin Laden considered this another great victory for Islam. First the Soviets had been beaten and expelled from Afghanistan, and now the United States had been beaten and expelled from Somalia. Two superpowers had been defeated by the strength of Islam. Robinson relates the following interview of bin Laden, "The so-called superpowers vanished into thin air. We think that the United States is very much weaker than Russia. Based on the reports we received from our brothers who participated in jihad in Somalia, we learned that they saw the weakness, frailty, and cowardice of US troops. Only 80 US troops were killed. Nonetheless, they fled in the heart of darkness, frustrated, after they had caused great commotion about the new world order..." (18) Section Notes and Sources VI. World Trade Center 1993 Under Hassan al-Turabi Sudan had achieved a great victory for the Muslim Brotherhood by evicting the United States from Somalia. But even prior to the Somalia engagement the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in a major strike at the heart of the United States. On February 26, 1993 the World Trade Center bombing occurred in which six people were killed and up to a thousand more were wounded, with the cost of damages over $250 million. The intention of the bomber, Ramzi Youssef, was to topple one tower onto the other, and at the same time disperse a cloud of cyanide gas over New York City. Fortunately the explosion in the underground parking structure was not enough to topple the tower, but it was enough to burn up the cyanide gas making it ineffective. The mainstream media focused on the blind sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, who was arrested, tried and convicted for being involved in the conspiracy. He was the leader of the Jamaat al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), who had been imprisoned in Egypt for his moral support of the murderers of Anwar Sadat. When he was released in 1985 he made his way to Pakistan where he linked up with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Abdullah Azzam. He became a very famous cleric within Islamist circles, well known for his fearless militant preaching, and for his hatred of President Mubarak of Egypt. Throughout the late '80s he constantly traveled preaching in Islamic centers throughout Saudi Arabia and even in Britain, Germany and the United States, with the blessing of the CIA. He also met several times with Hassan al-Turabi in Khartoum and London. (1) In May of 1990 he acquired a visa from the American consulate in Khartoum, from a CIA agent posing as an official, despite the fact that his name was on a State Department list of terrorist suspects. Rahman settled in New Jersey where he began to preach the same militant message that he had always preached. In November of 1990 the State Department revoked Sheikh Rahman's visa and advised the INS to be on the lookout for him. Five months later the INS, instead of deporting him, issued Rahman a green card. (2) Sheikh Rahman's move to the United States was sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood through at least two individuals. One was Mahmud Abouhalima, a member of the Brotherhood who had worked with the CIA in Afghanistan and networked with radical Muslims and Black Panthers in the United States. The other was Mustafa Shalabi who was the director of Abdullah Azzam's Al Kifah Center in Brooklyn. (3) After Rahman set up his mosque in New Jersey he and his associates began to pressure Shalabi to turn over control of the Al Kifah Center and its $2 million in assets to Sheikh Rahman. Shalabi backed down in the face of this threat and made plans to leave Brooklyn for Peshawar, Pakistan in March of 1991. The man chosen to succeed Shalabi as director of the Center was a Lebanese-American named Wadih el-Hage, a man closely-affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood (most likely a member) who lived at the time in Arlington, Texas. The transition was complicated however, by the murder of Shalabi on February 26, and although el-Hage was in Brooklyn at the time he did not take over the Al Kifah Center after Shalabi's sudden death. Instead he returned to his home in Arlington where he continued his work brokering auto deals to the Middle East. About two years later he was called to Sudan where he worked for Osama bin Laden traveling and selling the agricultural merchandise from bin Laden's businesses. Eventually he became bin Laden's personal secretary. Today he is in a U.S. jail for his involvement with Al Qaeda and connection to the African embassy bombings of 1998, even though he returned to the United States in 1997. (4) In Brooklyn the Al Kifah Center came under the complete control of Sheikh Rahman's network. In September of 1992 the network brought Ramzi Yousef into the United States. Yousef is now generally recognized as the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and his case presents an interesting challenge. He entered the United States as Ramzi Yousef on an Iraqi passport. He had no visa, but was given political asylum. Some months later he visited the Pakistani consulate and, after presenting the required documentation, was given a passport under the name Abdul Basit Karim. The U.S. Government's investigation of Ramzi Yousef concluded that Abdul Basit Karim was indeed his true identity. Abdul Basit Karim was born in Kuwait in 1968 to a Pakistani father and Palestinian mother. His father was an employee of Kuwait Airlines. In 1984 Karim moved to Britain and began his college education. He took English language courses at the Oxford College of Further Education and attended the West Glamorgen Institute in Swansea, where he graduated with a degree in electronic engineering in 1989. According to Ramzi Yousef's own confession, taken after he was finally arrested and brought to the U.S. in 1995, he was recruited into the Islamist movement in 1987 while living in Swansea after he was approached by local members of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the summer of 1988 he traveled to Pakistan where he attended one of the many Brotherhood-sponsored mujahedin training camps. After graduating with his degree in 1989 he was injured in a bomb blast in Karachi while he was trying to perfect his skills as a bomb-maker. During Iraq's invasion of Kuwait he was in Kuwait collaborating with the Iraqis, as charged by the Kuwaiti Interior Minister, and then prior to Desert Storm he fled to the Philippines where he offered his expertise in bomb-making to the fledgling Islamist groups that were beginning to make their presence known. Abdul Basit Karim, a.k.a. Ramzi Yousef, was a Muslim Brotherhood operative and expert bomb maker, and the network brought him to the United States in late 1992 for the sole purpose of destroying the World Trade Center. (5) A different theory on Ramzi Yousef's true identity that has unfortunately achieved wide-spread coverage must also be addressed. In the aftermath of the 1993 attack there was a serious effort on the part of many conservatives to implicate Saddam Hussein's Iraq as the state-sponsor of the 1993 bombing. This theory was spearheaded by well-respected analyst Laurie Mylroie, and subsequently supported by former head of the CIA James Woolsey, who was grasping for anything to mask the CIA's own involvement in the bombing that occurred while he was director. The Iraq theory claims that Abdul Basit Karim was a mild-mannered academic who was murdered by Iraqi Intelligence during their occupation of Kuwait in 1990, and that Karim's identity was stolen and given to "Iraqi super-agent" Ramzi Yousef. This theory is almost entirely based on the fact that the Kuwaiti documents of Karim had been obviously tampered with prior to 1993 when they were brought forward during the investigation of the WTC bombing. Mylroie and company concluded that the Iraqis must have been responsible for this and that the tampering had been done to allow Yousef to take over Karim's identity. The fingerprints between Karim and Yousef matched, and so the tampering was alleged by Mylroie to have also included switching fingerprints. This theory was quickly supported by a number of conservatives in the United States, and also by several prominent journalists in Great Britain. (6) Mylroie does not consider the possibility that the documents may have been tampered with to cover up Karim's collaboration with the Iraqi invaders and his involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood which supported Iraq during the invasion. Mylroie's elaborate theory was also understandably supported by several members of the faculty of Karim's Swansea university. Ken Reid, the deputy principle, claimed that Karim's height and weight were different than Yousef's. He also stated that Yousef's deformed eye and smaller ears and mouth did not match Karim's. (7) Brad White, a former Senate investigator and CBS newsman also took up Mylroie's cause and interviewed teachers who had known Karim. "Two people had a good memory of Abdul Basit but, shown photos of Yousef, were unable to make a positive identification. They both felt that while there was some similarity in looks, it was not the same person. 'Our feeling is that Ramzi Yousef is probably not Basit', White was told."(8) However, these alleged differences can be partly explained by Yousef's bomb-making accident in Karachi in 1989 that resulted in facial injuries and a lengthy hospitalization. Another angle was attempted by a British journalist who described Yousef's command of the English language as "appalling" and theorized that he could not be the same Karim who had lived in Britain for four years and attended language courses at Oxford. (9) This theory falls flat when faced with Yousef's performance during his trial: "He insisted on representing himself at the first trial; he cut a sharp figure in a tailored, double-breasted suit, frequently turned on the charm and generally represented himself surprisingly well, even getting hostile witnesses to contradict themselves."(10) Could his English have been that "appalling" for him to represent himself so well at his American trial? Simon Reeve in his book The New Jackals confronts the allegations that Yousef was not Karim. He mentions Neil Herman, the head of the FBI investigation into the 1993 bombing, and he also quotes from several of Basit's friends from his days at Swansea, "...Neil Herman and the FBI are convinced Yousef and Karim are one and the same, and several former students remember and identify 'Ramzi,' their 'temperamental' and 'volatile' former mate. 'One minute he was your friend, and the next . . .' said one Welsh student. Another former student from South Wales remembers a mutual friend of his and Yousef's -a Briton from an Asian family- mentioning a political conversation the two men had. 'He's a real nutter,' the man was told. Another student cut out and kept newspaper articles from Yousef's trial. When Yousef was still on the run he remembers comparing the newspaper pictures with those in his albums. 'That's my friend Jane, she's a teacher,' he would say to friends looking at the albums, 'that's my friend Phil, he's an engineer, and then [turning to the articles] that's my friend Ramzi, the international terrorist and most wanted man in the world.' " (10b) In any case, it is understandable that the faculty of Karim's university would like to distance their institution from Yousef the terrorist mastermind, and it is understandable that conservatives like Mylroie were so willing to look for a "higher power" responsible for the WTC bombing. A higher power did exist, but it was not Iraq, and most conservatives are so completely anglophile in their outlook that they find it impossible to look critically at Britain, which is where the Muslim Brotherhood is based. The question of Yousef's true identity was finally settled in the few weeks after September 11, 2001. Former CIA chief James Woolsey was dispatched to London to gather whatever proof he could that Iraq was at least partially responsible for the attacks. His trip was independently sponsored by Paul Wolfowitz, the hawkish deputy defense secretary, creating a rift within the Bush Administration and angering the state department and the CIA. (11) Woolsey focused on the allegations that lead hijacker Mohammed Atta had met with Iraqi Intelligence in Prague, and he also looked into Yousef's alleged Iraqi connection: "Another bit of intrigue that Woolsey has been exploring while in Britain involves a convicted Kuwaiti terrorist known as Ramzi Youssef, whose real name is Abdul Basit. Woolsey claims that Youssef is an Iraqi agent who kidnapped Basit and stole his identity. Woolsey's sleuthing has made him something of a laughingstock among British police and intelligence, who are "bemused" by his activities, according to one British official. But Woolsey's own lack of credibility hasn't stopped the mainstream media from quoting him extensively to whip up anti-Iraq hysteria." (12) Woolsey met with British Intelligence who, to Woolsey's dismay, agreed with the long-standing conclusion of the American investigators in Yousef's trial and confirmed that Ramzi Yousef really was Abdul Basit Karim, and not an Iraqi impostor. The matter has since been dropped, although Laurie Mylroie continues to believe that the British are going out of their way to cover for Saddam, (12a) even while Tony Blair scrambles for reasons to support Bush's plans to invade Iraq. Abdul Basit Karim, a.k.a. Ramzi Yousef, fled the United States immediately after the February 26, 1993 bombing to Karachi, Pakistan. In 1994 he appeared back in the Philippines where he joined up with the Muslim Brotherhood cell that had been established to support the new Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in Mindanao. Karim met up with Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who had helped to finance the initial creation of the Abu Sayyaf group that is named after militant Islamist Dr. Abdurrab Rasul Sayyaf. (13) Dr. Sayyaf received his doctorate from Cairo's Al Azhar University and became one of the most important theologians in Afghanistan. He founded the University of Sawal al-Jihad in Peshawar around 1990 and is today an outspoken militant critic of the new Karzai government in Afghanistan and an enemy of the United States. Abu Sayyaf is seen by many as an Al Qaeda front group, but in reality it is a Muslim Brotherhood group that was planned long before Osama bin Laden emerged as the "international terrorist mastermind." In the Philippines Abdul Basit Karim, a.k.a. Yousef, also interacted closely with his uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is now understood to be the operational mastermind of the attacks of September 11, and suspected as the mastermind of WTC 1993. Like Karim, Mohammed was born in Kuwait, but moved to Pakistan. (14) Kuwaiti records show that Karim's entire family moved from Kuwait to Pakistan on August 26, 1990 during the Iraqi occupation. (15) Indian Intelligence believes that the entire family is originally from the Balochistan province of Pakistan and that Karim was only raised in Kuwait. (16) In any case, Karim and his uncle Khalid, who once attended a North Carolina college, (17) are the terrorists who originally conceived of the operation that was finally pulled off on September 11. Philippine Police uncovered the plot, known as Operation Bojinka, after raiding Karim's apartment due to an alarm raised from a bomb-making accident. A computer was recovered which contained plans to place bombs on eleven U.S. jetliners timed to go off simultaneously. One of the captured members of the cell, Abdul Hakim Murad, later admitted under interrogation that phase two of the plan was to hijack jetliners and fly them into targets such as the CIA headquarters, the White House, the Pentagon and possibly some skyscrapers. Murad was sure of this because he had attended several American flight schools, in Texas, New York and North Carolina, and he was to be one of the suicide pilots. (18) Uncovering the plot and disrupting the terrorist cell was a triumph for Philippine Intelligence, and the CIA awarded Senior Inspector Aida D. Fariscal a certificate of merit "In recognition of your personal outstanding efforts and co-operation."(19a) The CIA then promptly forgot all about Operation Bojinka. Karim, a.k.a. Ramzi Yousef, was able to barely escape from the Philippines and avoid arrest, but he did leave behind several technical reference books that he had stolen from the Swansea library (further confirming his identity as Karim) (19b). He made his way back to Pakistan where he easily went underground in the extensive Islamist network. He would have continued to have been a key figure in the global terror network, but he was betrayed by one of his closest associates. A South African Muslim recruited by Karim offered information on Karim's whereabouts in return for the $2 million reward offered by the American government for his arrest. Karim was apprehended in his apartment by U.S. and Pakistani security officials on February 7, 1995. The informant collected the $2 million reward and now lives in the United States under a new identity with his family, sheltered by the Witness Protection Program. (20) Karim was subsequently deported to the United States and tried and convicted for the WTC bombing. "Ramzi Yousef" now serves a life sentence of 240 years. Karim's uncle escaped out of the Philippines as well. However, in 1996 while he was in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Qatar a deal was struck between the Qatar government and the FBI to detain Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and turn him over to the United States. The FBI dispatched a team to Qatar who waited for their prize in a hotel, but at the last minute the deal fell through. Apparently a "higher power" had intervened at the last moment and Mohammed was spirited away. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed escaped to Prague, of all places, where he set up a new headquarters under the name Mustaf Nasir. Who could have possibly intervened to disrupt an important deal that was at the final stage between two sovereign governments? The person who intervened in the deal was reportedly the government minister in charge of religious affairs. (21) The other factor that must be considered is that Qatar is the home of one of the most prominent and outspoken Muslim Brotherhood theologians, Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Dean of Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar, who also works out of London as head of the Islamic Council of Europe. (22) Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's stay in Qatar had to have been hosted by the Muslim Brotherhood, and only the Muslim Brotherhood possessed the influence and power necessary to disrupt the deal to deport Mohammed to American authorities. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the key to uncovering the entire conspiracy surrounding September 11, yet investigative journalists around the world are unable to uncover hardly anything about the man's life. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and brutally murdered for pursuing his investigation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into Pakistan, and the dramatically edited high-tech video of his execution by beheading was disseminated worldwide via the internet as a warning. When the US Congress began its inquiry into the events of September 11 they found that CIA chief George Tenet prevented the declassification of all information regarding Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Mohammed's name was not even allowed to be mentioned in the inquiry's report. Tenet knows that a critical examination of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will reveal Mohammed's close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and subsequently the Muslim Brotherhood's ties to the elite intelligence organizations of the West. Mohammed was a CIA asset, as was "Ramzi Yousef." They were a part of the Muslim Brotherhood organization but they were Muslims in name only. The Philippine investigation revealed that Mohammed and his nephew "Yousef" both enjoyed drinking, partying, visiting strip bars and pursuing the local women. (24) It was the same thing with many of the hijackers of 9-11 as they passed the time in Florida up to their operation. This stands in stark contrast to Osama bin Laden, who would put his fingers to his ears when music played while out in public in Sudan. (24) Osama bin Laden was loosely connected to the events of September 11, but only because the international Islamist movement is so small, and he played little if any part in planning and executing the operation. The truth may only be found through Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and too many powerful interests are determined to hide that truth. Section Notes and Sources VII. Bin Laden's Money Problems By the end of 1993, after serving al-Turabi and the Muslim Brotherhood dutifully for two years, bin Laden began to feel a cash crunch. He was not allowed to withdraw funds at will from the 'Brotherhood Group' financial network that he had helped set up after the fall of the BCCI because it was not his network. He was dependent on his masters do disperse these funds to him and at this time the Brotherhood did not see any cause for which bin Laden needed funding. The primary reason for bin Laden going broke was that the Saudi government had blocked all of his assets and bank accounts. This fact is related by a number of sources, including Robinson, and the unnamed author (I have reasons to believe he is Dr. Saad al-Fagih) of a biography of bin Laden posted at PBS. To remedy this situation Osama bin Laden did what many other Saudi dissidents have done over the past several decades: he moved to London and established an organization to publicize his group and to accept donations from the millions of affluent Muslims living in Britain. This was done by the aforementioned Dr. Saad al-Fagih, who fled Saudi Arabia and set up his Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, and also by Dr. Muhammed al-Massari who fled Saudi Arabia and set up the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR). The fact that bin Laden lived in London for a short period of time received a great deal of publicity in 1999 with the publication of Yossef Bodansky's book, Bin Laden - the Man Who Declared War on America. Bodansky's claim was challenged by several London journalists, and most notably by CNN's resident terrorist "expert" Peter Bergen, the author of Holy War, Inc., who ridiculed the possibility. However, bin Laden's time in London has since been confirmed by Saudi-based journalist Adam Robinson in his book Bin Laden - Behind the Mask of the Terrorist. His biography, published late in 2001, draws from interviews with Osama's immediate family and gives a detailed account of bin Laden's three months in England at the beginning of 1994. Upon arriving Bin Laden bought a house "on, or near, Harrow Road in the Wembley area of London. He paid cash, and used an intermediary as the named owner."(1) Bin Laden's most important task was setting up his organization, the Advice and Reformation Committee, to disperse his press releases and to receive donations. After bin Laden left a fellow Saudi dissident, Khaled al-Fawwaz ran the ARC from London, keeping in touch with bin Laden via satellite phone, and distributing his statements to the many Arab-language newspapers based in London. As mentioned in Part One, bin Laden also established relations with two London residents that were crucial to crafting his image as an international spokesman for, and mastermind of, the militant Islamist movement over the years. The first was Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of the Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and the other was radical cleric, and Muslim Brother, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who called himself "the voice of Osama bin Laden" and directed the extremist Islamic Liberation Party and the al-Muhajiroun organization out of his London mosque. Robinson also relates that bin Laden found the time to do some sightseeing. He writes, "Osama was given to sending postcards. This paper trail shows that he toured the Tower of London and the Imperial War Museum. He also left the south of England on at least one occasion and was one of the million people every year who visit Edinburgh Castle in the Scottish capital." (2) Robinson also describes bin Laden's reaction upon attending two important Arsenal football games, including a March 15 match that saw Arsenal defeat Torino and advance into the semifinals of a European tournament. Bin Laden commented on the excitement and passion of the fans, and later told his friends and family that it was like nothing he had ever seen. When he returned to Sudan he brought back with him Arsenal Club memorabilia, including a jersey for his fifteen-year-old son Abdullah. (3) Bin Laden's London excursion was cut short by interference from Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was not a terrorist "mastermind," but he was a high-level militant operative of the Muslim Brotherhood, and he was the most highly-connected Saudi to ever publicly turn against his government. According to Robinson further pressure was placed on the Saudi regime by Yemen, and also in early 1994 by President Mubarak of Egypt. (4) Both governments were receiving intelligence that Sudan was aiding terrorists trying to destabilize their regimes. Robinson describes Saudi Arabia's response to the bin Laden problem, "In April 1994, his Saudi citizenship was revoked for 'irresponsible behaviour,' and he was informed that he was no longer welcome in his land of birth because he had 'committed acts that adversely affected the brotherly relations of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries.' " (5) In England the Saudi government demanded that Britain turn him over to be extradited. Instead he was allowed to quietly leave the UK and return to Sudan. Bin Laden's first move after coming home was to issue a statement denouncing the Saudi decision revoking his citizenship. His response was that he was not dependent upon his Saudi Arabian nationality to define himself as a Muslim. Several weeks later his ARC sprang to life in London, describing itself in press releases as "a political group that aimed to be an effective opposition inside and outside of the one-party system in Saudi Arabia." (6) Robinson p. 173 For the next several years in Sudan bin Laden continued to be wary of his finances. His own enterprises commanded a very high overhead and so he needed a continual cash flow. In a 1996 interview with Abdel Bari Atwan's Al-Quds Al-Arabi he claimed that he had lost over "$150 million on farming and construction projects" during his time in Sudan. (7) He never ran out of money but he began to be more careful of his spending. The 'Brotherhood Group' may have been a financial network that never lacked for funds, but bin Laden's personal accounts were not endless. This fact became clear through the testimony of several Al Qaeda operatives who were arrested in the aftermath of the African embassy bombings of 1998, and from the testimony of Al Qaeda defectors. One defector, Jamal al-Fadl, who at one time ran bin Laden's payroll, complained of his $500 a month salary and compared it with the $1200 salary some of the Egyptian employees were making. Bin Laden explained that they were paid more because they could command higher salaries back in Egypt and he wanted to keep them in the group. Al-Fadl later defected after stealing $110,000 from bin Laden. (8) Another defector, L'Houssaine Kerchtou, became upset with bin Laden after he refused to pay for an emergency caesarian operation needed for his preganant wife. He testified that, "Since the end of '94 - '95 we have a crisis in Al Qaeda. Osama bin Laden himself, he was talking to us and saying that there is no money and he lost all his money, and he shouldn't extend a lot of things and he reduced the salary of people." Kerchtou also testified that bin Laden refused to pay to have his pilot's license renewed. One would think that licensed pilots would be considered a tremendous asset for the infamous Al Qaeda terrorist organization. (9) In late 2001 Al-Quds Al-Arabi published a series of reports on Bin Laden's life in Sudan. The reports characterized his stay as "negative," and described the terrible financial cost to him, "The Sudan era was important despite its negative impact on Bin Ladin. The Sudanese viewed him as an investor who came to support the Islamic project declared by Dr. Hasan al-Turabi, the spiritual leader of the Sudanese Islamic revolution... On one side, it was a bitter experience for Bin Ladin that cost him huge amounts of money but on the other side, it was a time when many of the subsequent ideas and acts were fermented." (10) Other problems arose within Al Qaeda while bin Laden was based in Sudan. When Sheikh Rahman was taken into American custody following the 1993 WTC bombing a number of bin Laden's Egyptian employees demanded that plans be made to strike back at America, but bin Laden refused. Because of this a number of them left Al Qaeda in disgust. Later on, due to Libyan pressure on Sudan, bin Laden attempted to send his Libyan operatives home. He explained the situation to them and offered plane tickets for themselves and their families, but they were so disgusted to see bin Laden cave in to the political pressure that they refused the offer and walked out. (11) The embassy bombings trial did a great deal to undermine the notion that Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda organization was a tremendously wealthy, invincible, seamless, secretive terror machine capable of striking anywhere in the world. Up until the middle of 2001 the New York Times was publishing articles such as the one on May 31 by Benjamin Weiser entitled " Trial Poked Holes in Image of bin Laden's Terrorist Group," but these reports were not enough to shatter the illusion, and September 11 brought it back with a vengeance. Bin Laden's money woes and other internal problems may be one explanation for the apparent betrayal of bin Laden by Hassan al-Turabi and the Sudanese government. According to American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who met with Turabi in July of 1996, Sudan made several offers to hand bin Laden over to the United States in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. (12) The first offer were was made in February of 1996, but it was ignored by the Clinton Administration, even though a State Department report, Patterns of Global Terrorism was calling bin Laden "one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today." The offer was repeated in May of 1996 as bin Laden was preparing to move his organization to Afghanistan, but likewise ignored. Even after bin Laden left Sudan the government made offers to supply the Clinton Administration with information. According to a Newsday.com article Ijaz relayed these offers, but the White House remained uninterested, "On a subsequent visit to Sudan, he said, he met with the Sudanese intelligence chief, Gutbi al-Mahdi. 'If you can persuade your government to come here, this is what can be made available to them,' said al-Mahdi, as reported by Ijaz, gesturing at three stacks of files before him. 'We have the entire network, not just bin Laden or Hezbollah. We understand everything going on in the Islamic world.' " (13) According to a January 6, 2002 article in The Sunday Times of London, in a post-9/11 dinner party in Manhattan, Clinton admitted that letting Osama bin Laden go was probably "the biggest mistake of my presidency." But the question arises, was the offer genuine? Was Sudan willing to betray "the entire network" of militant Islam? Ijaz had met with National Security Council deputy Sandy Berger and Susan Rice, the senior advisor on African affairs to relay the offers. Rice subsequently explained that the offers were ignored because of Sudan's proven track record of duplicity, "The Sudanese are one of the most slippery, dishonest governments in the world. The only thing that matters is what they do, not what they say they're going to do. They're very good at saying one thing and doing another." (14) Perhaps Sudan was willing to turn over bin Laden, but turning over bin Laden would have been but a small blow to the Islamist Movement. The International Muslim Brotherhood would have retained control over the financial network set up in part by bin Laden and it would have continued its war against the Middle East's moderate regimes, and against the West, without hardly missing a beat. Osama bin Laden was expendable. Notes and Sources VIII. The Brotherhood Revolution Continues After bin Laden returned from his visit to England in 1994 things began to heat up in the Muslim world. After publicly revoking bin Laden's citizenship the Saudi regime faced increasing fundamentalist unrest at home. The House of Saud was walking a fine line - it supported jihad and the expansion of Islam around the world, and capitalized on its role as guardians of the holy places, but at the same time the family's decadence, corruption and personal immoralities were becoming more and more evident at home. It was only a matter of time before this hypocrisy became a problem and the jihad turned back on its maker. One of the loudest dissident voices within Saudi Arabia was a militant sheik named Salman bin Fahd al-Udah. He was well known to bin Laden and to the thousands of Saudi "Afghans" who lived restlessly in the kingdom after returning from the battlefield. The Saudi regime began to view Sheikh Udah with greater and greater worry, and in September of 1994 they arrested him. Only a few days later an organization of anonymous origin called the Battalions of Faith made the headlines when it issued an ultimatum to the Saudi government that demanded the release of Sheikh Udah within five days, or else face a campaign of terrorism against the Saudi and American governments. The Saudi government ignored the warnings and nothing came of the threat, but Bodansky writes that it was notable because it was the "first initiative taken by the Saudi Islamist system... the first threat of violence against the House of al-Saud." This ultimatum was the first "overt communiqué of an Islamist terrorist organization inside Saudi Arabia." (1) In April of 1995 the Saudi Islamists received a boost in the form of a recorded message given by Sheikh Udah that had been smuggled out and distributed to his supporters. Bodansky describes how important this message was, "The lecture, titled 'Death Workmanship,' covered the whole logic of the relationship between Islamist and Western civilization and amounted to a declaration of an armed jihad against the House of al-Saud. It provided justification for perpetual confrontation... 'Death Workmanship' amounted to a fatwa, that is, a religious decree, ordering the launch of jihad against the Saudi royal family. Sheikh Udah decreed that any rejection of jihad in favor of another form of resistance was apostasy, a capital offence according to Muslim law, which left the believer with no alternative but to fight..." (2) Bodansky pp.117-118 This message from Sheikh Udah fired up the resistance to the Saudi regime at home and around the world. According to Bodansky the London-based CDLR (mentioned above) is "the largest and best-organized Saudi Islamic opposition group," and with the issuance of Sheikh Udah's message the organization changed from being moderate and diplomatic to becoming a supporter of armed resistance to the Saudi regime, a change reflected in their own statements and press releases. The Saudi Islamist network struck for real on November 13, 1995, when a car bomb exploded in Riyadh destroying an American-leased building and killing six people including five Americans. Robinson writes that the bomb was made out of 200 lbs. of Semtex military-grade explosives, and that it shattered windows in a one-mile radius. Immediately a number of underground Islamists groups claimed responsibility for the attack. Bodansky writes that the Armed Islamic Movement, the Muslim Brotherhood's loose-knit unofficial jihad organization, claimed credit "by disseminating through AIM-affiliated venues a communiqué in the name of a previously unknown group calling itself The Militant Partisans of God Organization. The AIM communiqué also stressed that the Riyadh operation was 'the first of our jihad operations.' " (3) The Muslim Brotherhood was taking advantage of the Saudi political climate and had joined in the movement to topple the House of Saud. This was only a secondary operation, however. The primary goal for the Muslim Brotherhood in 1995 was to destroy its historical enemy, the secular government of Egypt. In March of 1995 Hassan al-Turabi convened a meeting in Khartoum with three of the leading Egyptian Islamists: Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with Mustafa Hamza and Rifai Ahmed Taha, both of al-Jamaah al-Islamiyah (the Islamic Group). Zawahiri was based in Geneva where his organization was directed from a Muslim Brotherhood mosque(p.125). Mustafa Hamza was based in London and Khartoum, while Rifai Ahmed Taha was based in London and Peshawar, Pakistan. It was at this meeting that the plan to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was agreed upon. The attack would be made during Mubarak's scheduled diplomatic visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in late June. (4) p. 123 Weeks later the plan was presented at a larger Islamist meeting in Khartoum. It was thought that Mubarak's assassination would create the diversion for an Islamist coup in Egypt, followed quickly by the fall of the House of Saud and the overthrow of the Persian Gulf states. Mustafa Hamza was chosen to coordinate the uprising within Egypt and Ayman al-Zawahiri was picked as the operational director of the actual attack on Mubarak. (5) In late May Turabi traveled to Paris for "medical treatment," from where he made a quick secret visit to Geneva to meet again with Zawahiri. Two weeks later Zawahiri made an "inspection visit" to Khartoum, and he was also able to travel to Ethiopia using a forged passport to go over the plan on the ground. He then returned to Geneva where the final meeting of the top-level operational leaders took place in safety on June 23. (6) The plan was to use three teams to attack Mubarak's convoy of vehicles as it left the airport and traveled to the convention center half a mile away. The first team would attack the convoy with machine guns from a number of rooftop locations near the airport. This was supposed to slow the convoy allowing the second team, armed with RPGs, to come in and blast the president's car and/or any other official Egyptian vehicles in range. If Mubarak's vehicle managed to escape it would face the third team, which was simply a single massively-armed car bomb driven by a suicide bomber. Zawahiri's intelligence contacts had related that Mubarak's driver was instructed to travel full speed ahead to their destination if anything happened, and the car bomb was the last chance to take him out. The plan failed for a number of reasons. First, Mubarak's entourage was delayed in coordinating the convoy, and because Ethiopian police had extra time to secure the route the RPG squad was told to repackage their rockets for security reasons. Then without notice Mubarak announced that whoever was ready should join his convoy to journey to the convention center. He was not willing to wait around for the entire convoy to assemble, and for this reason the hit teams had no advance notice and were caught with their RPGs packaged away. The final decision that saved Mubarak's life was the choice made once the small arms fire erupted and the convoy jammed together and stopped. The driver simply turned the car around and sped back to the safety of the airport. The car bomber never even had the chance to get near Mubarak's limousine, which happened to be his special Mercedes brought from Egypt that was bulletproof as well as RPG-proof. (7) Bodansky describes the ramifications of this failed plot, "The attempt on President Hosni Mubarak's life in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on June 26, 1995, was a milestone in the evolution of the Islamist struggle for control over the Arab world and the Hub of Islam. Operations of such magnitude, even if ultimately claimed by or attributed to obscure terrorist organizations, are actually instruments of state policy and are carried out on behalf of the highest echelons of the terrorism-sponsoring states. The assassination attempt, a strategic gambit sponsored by Sudan and Iran, had regional and long-term effects. Although President Mubarak survived and the Islamist popular uprising envisaged by the conspirators failed to materialize in Egypt, the mere attempt gave a major boost to the Islamist surge throughout the region." (8) p. 121 On July 4 responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Islamic Group (al-Jamaah al-Islamiyah), the terrorist organization of the imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman. It was claimed that the attack was made in honor of an Islamist commander killed by Egyptian police in 1994. Egypt was quick to blame Sudan for sponsoring the attack, and Ethiopia and the United States, followed by the UN, blamed Sudan as well. The evidence was overwhelming that Sudan had housed, trained and financed the terrorists, and Sudan's guilt was confirmed by their refusal to turn over three of the terrorists accused of conducting the operation. Because of this the UN imposed diplomatic sanctions, and the United States evacuated its Khartoum embassy, expelled a Sudanese diplomat and imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions. Sudan's time as an effective haven for the militant Islamic movement was up. Turabi had to quickly change his policies to avoid any serious actions against against Sudan and to preserve his Islamist regime. One of his conciliatory gestures, however empty, was to offer Osama bin Laden over to the United States. The Clinton Administration didn't buy it. The next assault on the the government of Egypt occurred on November 19, 1995, just six days after the Riyadh bombing of American servicemen. A small car rammed its way through the gate of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and seconds later a small explosion occurred in an area where visitors were standing in line for visas. The explosion, reportedly a suicide bomber who had jumped out of the car, created a diversion and in the commotion a van loaded with 900 lbs. of explosives rammed into the front of the embassy. This huge explosion created a crater twenty feet wide and ten feet deep. Nineteen people were killed and scores more were wounded. Soon afterward three main Egyptian terror groups claimed responsibility. The Islamic Group of Sheikh Rahman, led by Mustafa Hamza and Rifai Ahmed Taha, claimed that the bombing was done in opposition to President Mubarak. The Islamic Group later withdrew its claim of responsibility. The next claim was from Ayman al-Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad, which stated the names of the attackers, the "martyrs" who perpetrated the attack. The last claim came from the Zawahiri-affiliated International Justice Group, and the attack was said to have been made by "the squad of the martyr Khalid Islambouli," referring to the executed assassin of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. (9) Bodansky offers his conclusion as to who was responsible for this attack on the Egyptian government, "Like the assassination attempt on President Mubarak, the Islamabad bombing operation was conducted under the tight control of and financed by the higher Islamist headquarters in Western Europe - Ayman al-Zawahiri in Geneva and his new second-in-command, Yassir Tawfiq Sirri in London." (10) p. 144 -- By the end of 1995 Sudan was feeling the full effects of its sponsorship of the militant Islamist movement. The economy was in terrible shape and sanctions were prohibiting any sort of substantive economic investment or aid from the outside, and Egypt and Saudi Arabia were on the verge of taking direct military action. Because of these pressures General Bashir began to lessen his support for Hassan Turabi's Islamist experiment and leaned on him to cool things down for a while. Sudan's time as a Muslim Brotherhood base was near its end. This was foreseen by the MB and even as the Mubarak assassination plot was being planned their assets were being relocated to the camps of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Afghanistan. A year later Osama bin Laden followed suit. He touched down in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on May 18, 1996. Notes and Sources For further information read the following important articles by the CRG's Chaim Kupferberg: The Mystery Surrounding the Death of John O'Neill: The Propaganda Preparation for 9/11 Daniel Pearl and the Paymaster of 9/11: 9/11 and The Smoking Gun that Turned On its Tracker Notes and Sources I. The Roots of Islamic Terrorism Sources Holy War, Wilhelm Dietl, 1983 Hostage To Khomeini, Robert Dreyfuss, 1980 (available here online in .pdf format) Notes 1. Biography of Hasan al-Banna 2. Freemasonry In Egypt, Insight Magazine, March 1, 1999 3. Biography of Jamal al-Afghani 4. Biography of Mohammed Abduh 5. Commentary from Shaykh Abdul Hadi of the Italian Muslim Association 6. Excerpt from " The Return of the Khalifate" by Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi 7. Biography of Hasan al-Banna; Dietl, p. 26; Dreyfuss, p. 139-140 8. Commentary from Shaykh Abdul Hadi of the Italian Muslim Association 8a. Dreyfuss, p. 143 9. Biography of Hasan al-Banna 10. Dietl, p. 56 11. Dietl, p. 32 12. Excerpt from " The Right To Judge," by Sayed Qutb 13. Excerpt from " The Right To Judge," by Sayed Qutb 14. Dietl, pp.37-39 15. Dietl, p. 38 16. Dietl, p. 42 17. Dietl, p. 43 18. Dreyfuss, pp. 106-108 (excerpt); What Really Happened In Iran, Dr. John Coleman, 1984, p. 24 (1-800-942-0821) 19. Dreyfuss, pp. 106-108 20. Dietl, p. 45 II. Creating the 'Arc of Crisis' Sources "What the Malthusians Say," from The American Almanac, 1994 Where On Earth Are We Going? Maurice Strong, 2000 Holy War, Wilhelm Dietl, 1983 Hostage To Khomeini, Robert Dreyfuss, 1980 Notes 1. Russell quotes from "Malthusians" above 2. " Nobel winner supported biological warfare as form of population control," from The Interim, April '02 3. "Malthusians" 4. Julian Huxley, "Essays of a Humanist," 1964 5. Strong, p. 119 6. "Malthusians" 7. "Malthusians" 8. "Malthusians" 9. Biography of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 10. Dietl, p. 72 11. Islam in the British Isles, a timeline 12. Dreyfuss, excerpt 12a. Dreyfuss, pp. 72-83 12b. Dreyfuss, pp. 92-95 13. 1979 in Pakistan history (see April 3) 14. Interview with Brzezinski III. The Muslim Brotherhood Branches Out Sources Holy War, Wilhelm Dietl, 1983 Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America, Yossef Bodansky, 1999 Hostage To Khomeini, Robert Dreyfuss, 1980 Notes 1. Dreyfuss, p. 133 2. Libya: history, internet article 3. Biography of Ayman al-Zawahri 4. Dreyfuss, pp. 174-175 5. Dreyfuss, p. 160 6. Dreyfuss, p. 164 7. Dietl, pp. 64-66 8. Dietl, p. 66 9. Dietl, p. 67 10. Dietl, p. 67 11. Dietl, p. 68, also see Zawahiri biography 12. Dietl, p. 68 13. Dietl, p. 61 14. Dietl, p. 87 15. Bodansky, p. 101, p. 125 16. Bodansky, p. 298, Balkans report 17. Bodansky, p. 13, p. 405 18. Hamas background, profile 19. Dreyfuss, pp. 164-165 IV. Osama bin Laden: The Early Years Sources Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America, Yossef Bodansky, 1999 Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of the Terrorist, Adam Robinson, 2001 In the Name of Osama Bin Laden, Roland Jacquard, 2001 Holy War, Wilhelm Dietl, 1983 Islam in Central Asia: Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ahmed Rashid, (online .pdf article) Notes 1. Jacquard, pp.12-13 2. Dietl, pp. 211-227 3. Jacquard, pp.13-14 4. Jacquard, pp.13-14 5. Qutb- personal correspondence with the Italian Muslim Association, Omar and Abdullah - article 6. The Guardian article by Greg Palast 7. The Guardian article by Malise Ruthven 8. Bodansky, p. 11 9. Bodansky, p. 11 10. Bodansky p. 12 11. Al-Fagih interview 12. Jacquard, p. 57 13. Al Kifah article 14. Rashid, pp. 213-214 15. Rashid, p. 214 16. Robinson, p. 112 17. Abdullah Azzam biography 18. Abdullah Azzam article 19. Radical Islam in the UK, report V. Bin Laden In Exile Sources Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America, Yossef Bodansky, 1999 Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of the Terrorist, Adam Robinson, 2001 In the Name of Osama Bin Laden, Roland Jacquard, 2001 Forbidden Truth, Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, 2002 Notes 1. Robinson, p. 130 2. "Questions About the Supposed Iraqi Threat to Saudi Arabia in 1990," article 3. Bodansky, p. 130 4. Robinson, p. 131 5. Robinson, p. 132 6. Bodansky, p. 32 7. Bodansky, p. 36 8. Brisard and Dasquie, p. 117 9. "UK is money launderers' paradise," BBC News article 10. Brisard and Dasquie, pp. 184-185 11. Robinson, p. 139 also see Bodansky, p. 43 12. Bodansky, p. 46, Robinson, pp. 139-140 13. Jacquard, p. 32 14. Bodansky, p. 43 15. Bodansky, p. 71 16. Bodansky, p. 74 17. Bodansky, pp. 76-78 18. Robinson, p. 153 VI. WTC 1993 Sources "Blowback," Mary Ann Weaver, 05-1996, The Atlantic online "Enemies and 'Assets'," William Norman Grigg, 03-1997, The New American The New Jackals, Simon Reeve, 1999 Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11, Bill Gertz, 2002 Notes 1. Weaver 2. Grigg 3. Grigg 4. "Osama bin Laden - the Past," Steve Emerson, IASCP.com 5. "The Past As Prologue," Russ Baker, 10-2001, salon.com 6. "Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters," Laurie Mylroie, Winter 95/96, National Interest 7. "Terrorists’ trade in stolen identities," Daniel McGrory, 9-22-01, The Times UK 8. "Of Passports and Fingerprints," internet article 9. "Terrorists’ trade in stolen identities," Daniel McGrory, 9-22-01, The Times UK 10. "The Past As Prologue," Russ Baker, 10-2001, salon.com 10b. Reeve, p.251 11. "Hawks try to implicate Iraq by hunting for evidence in UK,"10-2001, DAWN.com 12. "Hawks try to implicate Iraq by hunting for evidence in UK,"10-2001, DAWN.com 12a. PBS Frontline, interview with Laurie Mylroie 13. "The Terror Lurking Within Asia," John Moy, 10-11-02, SCMP.com 14. "Terrorist Plot Years in the Making, " Daniel Rubin and Michael Dorgan, Knight Ridder Newspapers 15. "Of Passports and Fingerprints," internet article 16. "Antecedents of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef," 10-1996 , SAPRA INDIA 17. "The Left's Acrobatic Logic on Terror," David Harsanyi, 6-11-02, Capitalism Magazine.com 18. "Dropping the Ball," Reed Irvine, World Net Daily .com 19a. "Operation Bojinka's Bombshell," Matthew Brzezinski (Zbigniew's nephew), 1-2-02, The Toronto Star 19b. Reeve, p. 89 20. "The Past As Prologue," Russ Baker, 10-2001, salon.com 21. Gertz, pp. 55-56 22. Qaradawi: London, Qatar 23. Non-Muslim lifestyle: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Yousef 24. Biography of bin Laden in Sudan VII. Bin Laden's Money Problems Sources Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of the Terrorist, Adam Robinson, 2001 Notes 1. Robinson, p. 168 2. Robinson, p. 169 3. Robinson, p. 169 4. Robinson, p. 172 5. Robinson, p. 172 6. Robinson, p. 173 7. "Tracing Bin Laden's Money," ICT 8. "Trial Poked Holes," New York Times, "Cross Examination..." 9. "Trial Reveals a Conspiracy..." CNN.com, 10. "Bin Ladin's Life in Sudan," Al Quds Al Arabi 11. "Trial Poked Holes," New York Times 12. "Missed Chance," Newsday.com 13. "Missed Chance," Newsday.com 14. "Missed Chance," Newsday.com VIII. The Brotherhood Revolution Continues Source Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America, Yossef Bodansky, 1999 Notes 1. p. 117 2. pp. 117-118 3. p. 141 4. pp. 123, 125 5. p. 124 6. p. 125 7. pp. 130-131 8. p. 121 9. p. 144 10. p. 144 www.redmoonrising.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Monday, January 26, 2015 The politically conscious PKK and HPG will not attack civilians The HPG (People's Defense Forces) Shengal (Sinjar) Command has issued a statement denying involvement in recent attacks against Arab villages in the Shengal-Rabia region. The HPG pointed out that some media outlets and news agencies have published unfounded reports accusing the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) forces of committing a massacre in the Um el-Bixarî and Al-Sebabya villages and in another village between Shengal and Rabia. The statement underlined that HPG forces had nothing to do with the attack on the Arab villages and strongly condemned attacks targeting civilians.The HPG said that the attack on these villages was perpetrated much in the same manner as are the ISIS assaults on civilians, women and children, and as a part of the policy that intends to make ethnic and religious groups in Shengal and Mosul region target each other. The HPG statement underlined that "Those intending to put the blame for such an immoral assault on the PKK within a process of a major fight against the ISIS aim to overshadow the fight we are giving against ISIS fascism." The HPG ended their statement by condemning in the strongest terms the attack on Arab villages, which it said served to create a conflict and animosity among the peoples of the region. Posted by Urun Harvest at 8:42 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest VICTORY With the victory in Kobanê many other goals become possible Rojava's heroic People's Defense Forces (YPG) General Command issued a statement with the liberation of Kobanê after 134 days of resistance and fighting the barbaric ISIS gangs. “This is the victory of the line of freedom over the dark ISIS,” the YPG General Command said, extending their thanks to all the Kurdish people, those in North Kurdistan in the first place, the peshmerga and the Burkan Al Fırat and Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces that have supported them in this battle. The YPG General Command pointed out that fighters of the People's/Women's Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ), young men and women of Kurdistan, and volunteers joining them from across Kurdistan and other countries have put up a fierce fight and great resistance against ISIS terror. The statement underlined that "Kobanê town of Rojava Kurdistan has been entirely liberated from ISIS gangs today. Our forces have not disappointed the expectations of our people and humanity by waging an epic struggle against ISIS terror for 133 days now. Our forces have fulfilled their promise of accomplishment. This victory is the achievement of the Rojava revolution, the achievement of democratic Syria, the achievement of humanity and the achievement of the line of freedom over the cruel and dark ISIS." The YPG also stated that a number of valued fighters, young women and men of Kurdistan, have fallen as martyrs, and that it has been the spirit and will of the martyrs that has achieved victory. The statement said that the YPG has demonstrated once again that no one will ever be able to overthrow the Rojava revolution and proved itself as the true defense force of the Kurdish people and other peoples in the region. "The battle waged in Kobanê wasn't just a fight between the YPG and the ISIS. This has been a battle between humanity and savagery, between freedom and cruelty and between the common values of humanity and enemies of humanity. It is rightness, spirit of freedom and the free will of peoples and humanity that has won this battle," the YPG General Command underlined. According to the YPG General Command, the Kobanê battle has been the place of ISIS' destiny, and the defeat of ISIS is at the same time the beginning of the end for it. "The defeat of ISIS will not remain limited in Kobanê alone, for it also means a psychological and spiritual collapse in the face of the will of the peoples. We believe that victory in Kobanê will be followed by further achievements against the ISIS. Some other good news will also be given soon," the YPG said. The statement said that with the liberation of Kobanê YPG/YPJ fighters have fulfilled their promise to the Kurds and other peoples in the region. The YPG said that this achievement may be blessed or dedicated to the peoples of Rojava, Syria and all of Kurdistan. The YPG continued its statement by extending their thanks to every single person that has supported them and fought alongside them, particularly to the people of North Kurdistan that have owned the struggle, to the international coalition forces that provided active support with airstrikes against ISIS, to Burkan Al Fırat and Free Syrian Army groups and peshmerga fighters that have fought alongside them. "We as the YPG are aware of the fact that our duty is not done. Ahead of us is the process of the liberation of Kobanê as a whole. We promise to fulfill this duty of ours with success," the statement said. The YPG General Command repeated the promise of victory before hundreds of brave fighters in the persons of the martyred fighters Diyar Bagok, Erîş, Zozan, Arîn, Dilgêş and Kendal who have sacrificed their lives, and vowed to follow in their path. On the political and diplomatic front, Salih Muslim, co-president o Rojava's leading Democratic Union Party (PYD), has said that the organized struggle waged by the Kurds in general, and in Kobanê in particular, has made them an actor in Syria and has earned them worldwide recognition. Salih Muslim has been in Cairo and Russia working for a solution to the crisis in Syria. He reported that the importance of the Kurds in the Syrian opposition had become clear, as they were better organized than other forces. Salih Muslim added that "We will have an important role at the meeting (in Russia), and will be an example both as regards uniting the opposition and finding a solution for Syria.” Salih Müslim made these remarks to the DIHA news service before the meeting scheduled in Russia and said that their expectations for the meeting are to unite the opposition in Syria and then to look for a solution. He said that the meeting in Cairo had gone well, adding, "Here we will try to complete what started in Cairo. There is really only one way forward. If a solution is truly wanted then we have to combine Cairo with here. The Kurds are more organized in the opposition and we will have an important role at the meeting. The system we have established in Rojava is a possible model for the whole of Syria.” Salih Muslim also said that the meeting in Geneva last January had not been successful, as it had not included everyone. Salih Muslim said, "Although this meeting has more chance of success, there is no political representation of Islamist and Jihadist forces. If we reach an agreement, who can stop them? This is the downside of this meeting.” He explained the reason for holding the meeting in Moscow by saying that they have been talking to Russia for more than 2 years. “Everyone should see that the Kurds are now an actor. Others apart from Russia should see this. Kobane has been a turning point. The whole world has opened its eyes.” He added that meetings may continue in Moscow, depending on the parties involved. The meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry includes talks between NGOs and the Syrian opposition and discussions with the Syrian regime. All Syrian opposition forces except the Syrian National Coalition were scheduled to attend the meeting. No representatives from the UN will be present. Posted by Urun Harvest at 8:37 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Syriac Unity Party: The message of Öcalan is the path to solutions The Syriac Unity Party (Partiya Yekîtiya Suryaniyan) has published a statement in reply to a message from imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Leader Abdullah Öcalan, saying “A person with such creativity and philosophy will determine the economic and social future of the peoples of the Middle East.” The statement called for PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's ideas to be recognized as a path to resolution in the Middle East. The Syriac Unity Party was replying to a letter written by Abdullah Öcalan on January 12 “to the ancient Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean peoples.” The statement extended the Syriac Unity Party’s gratitude for the ideas and work of Abdullah Öcalan in obtaining the freedom and rights of the peoples, noting that the fact Abdullah Öcalan was incarcerated on İmralı island in Turkey had not had an adverse effect on his struggle. The statement said that the message from Abdullah Öcalan to the Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean people demonstrated his consideration for oppressed peoples, adding that his Democratic Nation project should be seen as a path to resolution. The statement added that Abdullah Öcalan had a huge influence on society, and that his appeal for the communities of Mesopotamia not to abandon their ancient homeland demonstrated how well he knew them. “We have never seen this from any other leader in the Middle East,” the statement said, adding that he had also called on the Syriac people to join the Democratic Nation project, and that a person with such creativity and philosophy would determine the economic and social future of the peoples of the Middle East. The Syriac Unity Party said that they will always struggle alongside the Kurdish people despite all obstacles, adding that Abdullah Öcalan’s message should be seen as a path to resolution in the Middle East and to achieving justice and equality between peoples. Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999, when he was arrested in a CIA plot. He had worked to build or rebuild the Kurdish liberation movement to that point and had founded the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in 1978 with others. Abdullah Öcalan has since developed a set of theories which take the movement towards democratic autonomy, the full liberation of women, self-management and a new understanding of the national question. Readers can go here for a better understanding of this ideology, which really does have the possibility of transforming the Middle East. Revolutionary Rojava has become the testing ground for these ideas today. When we talk about "resolution" in this context, as the statement from the Partiya Yekîtiya Suryaniyan does, we are most often referring to Abdullah Öcalan's efforts to negotiate a resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey. However, as this statement shows, the phrase can be extended to other situations as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Our comrades liberate Kobane Posted by Michel at 8:46 AM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Tuesday, January 27, 2015 The emerging US narrative on Kobanê, The New York Times and the reality of revolution and reaction in Turkey and Kurdistan Asia Abdullah This post is motivated to some degree by the developing narrative in the US media that the liberation of Kobanê city was accomplished in large part by US or coalition air strikes and that the liberation of the city from ISIS if of only minor consequence. An article in today's New York Times says as much and other media have picked up this line as well.We have posted many articles on this blog from the people most involved in the struggle to free Kobanê and the region from ISIS, and the people's celebrations of the victory announced yesterday will speak to the importance of the liberation of the city. Besides The Times and certain other American interests, no one else has claimed that the US had the decisive role in freeing Kobanê, although one article that we posted yesterday from leadership on the ground in the region thanked the US and coalition forces for helping in the effort. Even then the leadership thanked the US and the anti-ISIS coalition as one of many forces who cooperated to win this victory.Still we need to make several points in response to the story in The Times and the narrative of the struggle in Kobanê that is quickly coming to dominate the US media. It is worth pointing out that if Kobanê were not strategically important in the fight against ISIS then the American government and US media could have said as much earlier and that the US forces and the international coalition would never have hit ISIS positions there. It is also worth pointing out that Turkey's President Erdoğan would not be so alarmed and aggressive in response to the people's victory in Kobanê were it inconsequential. He has indicated today that Turkey will not, or cannot, allow an autonomous Kurdish region there. Finally on this score we can also say that the forces now hurrying to minimize the importance of the people's victory in Kobanê are mirroring the ISIS line. ISIS is saying that their withdrawal from Kobanê was a strategic decision made only in order to increase the strength of their fight elsewhere. We say that this was a defeat for ISIS and that the streets of Kobanê littered with the corpses of dead ISIS fighters testify to this.But perhaps something more is at stake here. The article in The Times refers to "some activists" in Kobanê who are taking a defeatist line, but when it comes down to it the paper can only name one person taking this line and gives no information on this person or who he works with or for. These unnamed "activists" do not even show up in the Rudaw news service reports, a source usually critical of Rojava's revolution. Rudaw instead quotes Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani as saying, "All Kurdish parties and the people of Kurdistan were united in helping Kobane. Today, I congratulate all the Peshmerga and male and female YPG fighters on the liberation of Kobane and I hope that soon all the villages around Kobane and every part of Kurdish land is liberated from ISIS terrorists.” They also quote Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren as saying, "I am not prepared to say the battle there is won. The battle continues. But as of now friendly forces, I believe, have the momentum." There is clearly a contradiction here.We believe that The Times and the emerging American narrative are deliberately seeking to undermine the narrative being created by Rojava's advanced revolution. They cannot comprehend, or they refuse to comprehend, that a people's revolution can have strong and successful women leaders and win on the ground against a force like ISIS that enjoys the support of certain imperialist powers and reactionary capitalist world forces. Thus, they report on Kobanê from Istanbul, Beirut and Washington but do not go there or even to the Suruç-Kobanê border. They refer to "activists" who take a defeatist line but say nothing of substance about these people. The Times refers to Asia Abdullah, the co-chair of Rojava's Democratic Union Party (PYD), as male and as a "Kurdish official," although anyone can see that she is a politically experienced woman identified with a particular party. We have frequently profiled Asia Abdullah on this blog.More to the point, The Times and the narrative taking hold in the US do not grasp the logic of revolution. Kobanê does indeed have a strategic importance and a defeat for ISIS there is a major defeat for the so-called "Islamic State," but perhaps its real importance is that an attempt to stop the world's most advanced revolution has been defeated by the people in the arms. From this victory can come other victories. The very experience of women taking leadership with a revolutionary ideology may ignite other similar struggles, even if this revolution stumbles or fails. The spectrum of political forces and peoples fighting in Kobanê has shown that a united front led by revolutionary forces can work. This is being replicated in Sinjar as well. The cooperative and people-powered model that Rojava upholds is winning and The Times, the US government and the other imperialist powers cannot account for this.Let's now turn to the news of the day that justifies our optimism and raises our concerns.A statement from the liberation forcesThe People's Defense Forces (YPG) Press Center issued a statement today saying that the YPG/YPJ (People's/Women's Defense Forces) forces had launched an extensive offensive against ISIS gangs yesterday that led to the complete liberation of Kobanê city from the ISIS forces. The YPG said that yesterday’s offensive was part of a wider operation that has been underway for days in order to cleanse Kobanê of the ISIS gangs.YPG/YPJ fighters are continuing their attacks on ISIS positions in the villages. These offensives are going well and severe blows have been inflicted on the ISIS gangs in the villages of Minaze to the west of Kobanê and Helinc to the southeast of the city. Helinc has been completely cleansed of the gangs while clashes continue in other villages.A solidarity visitDTK (Democratic Society Congress) Co-president Selma Irmak and a group of People's Democratic Party (HDP) deputies and Party of Democratic Regions (DBP) leaders have crossed from North Kurdistan ("southeastern Turkey") into liberated Kobanê through the Mürşitpınar border crossing. The group was welcomed by Kobanê Canton President Enver Muslim, People's Assembly Co-president Ayşe Efendi and Canton leaders.The people celebrateThousands of people from cities across North Kurdistan and Turkey are meanwhile going to Mehser village at the Suruç-Kobanê border where a celebration event is being organized following the victory of the resistance in Kobanê. The village has been covered in the traditional red, green and yellow Kurdish colors and with flags and posters. People there have started celebrating with singing and performing the traditional halay Kurdish folk dance. The celebration has taken the form of a large rally. "The liberation of Kurdistan will come through the struggle of guerrillas" reads the main poster in the rally area. There are also posters of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and Arin Mirkan, Paramaz Kızılbaş and Kader Ortakaya who were martyred in Kobanê.Tens of thousands of enthusiastic people have also gathered in Amed/Diyarbakir to celebrate Kobanê's liberation and this celebration is reminding us of the Newroz celebrations held in the city every year.In Amed/Diyarbakir people are chanting victory slogans and are proclaiming that they do not accept the artificial borders dividing Kurdistan and that they are a part of the historic resistance headed by the YPG and YPJ fighters. Party of Democratic Regions (DBP) Diyarbakır Provincial Co-President Ali Şimşek said in a speech, “We show out respect to those who resist against dark powers to defend humanity and dignity...The victory of Kobanê is the victory of Kurdish people and all people who are oppressed and hopefully will herald the freedom of Kurdish People Leader Abdullah Öcalan." The people are shouting “Martyrs do not die!”DBP General Co-President Kamuran Yüksek also spoke to the people and commemorated Arin Mirkan, who gave her life by suicide with a bomb during fighting against ISIS and in order to protect her comrades. Kamuran Yüksek said, “Kurdistan is getting closer to freedom every day and this victory is the victory of those from Amed to Muş, from Van to Ağrı and all those who went to Kobanê border.” He also said that Kurdish people know their murderers and will not be deceived into the lies told by Turkey's President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Davutoğlu. "Kobanê gave its own lesson to them. Now that Kobanê has gained victory, Davutoğlu stated that he wants to learn Kurdish. Tayyip Erdoğan also said the same thing, but he previously said, 'You need to kill me before you establish Kobanê. We will not let a Kurdistan in northern Syria.' This is their real politics and what they do now is clowning,” Kamuran Yüksek said.PYD (Democratic Union Party) Co-chair Asya Abdullah also spoke to the people by telephone and said, "The massacre that Daesh (ISIS) intended to do in Kobanê failed...They entered but could not move on...I want to greet all those who showed solidarity and also attended actively to this resistance. Firstly, those who attended the vigil action in Suruç for the entire day. Right now in some villages in Kobanê the attacks still continue, and we expect you to contribute to the rebuilding of Kobanê. The victory of Kobanê will be the victory of Shengal (Sinjar) and we hope to obtain the same victory in Shengal in a short time.”Words from the fighters and leaders in KobanêMahmut Berxwedan, the commander of the YPG/YPJ in Kobanê, has said today that "The ISIS gangs should know that just as the houses of Kobanê became a graveyard for them, our villages, too, will be a graveyard for them. Our victory is the beginning of the end for ISIS worldwide."Mahmut Berxwedan offered this analysis at a press conference in Kobanê held with Deputy Defense Minister Arjin Hozan, Kobanê Canton Prime Minister Enver Müslüm and co-speaker of the People’s Assembly Ayşe Efendi. The press conference began with a statement read in Arabic by Enver Muslim, who congratulated the YPG/YPJ fighters, the international coalition, Kurds from all four parts of Kurdistan and all those who lent their support.YPG Kobanê commander Mahmut Berxwedan also made the point that Kobanê's victory came a day before the anniversary of the declaration of the founding of the Kobanê canton and added that "We will continue to resist until not one square metre of our land is under occupation. We would like to thank everyone who supported us, in particular those maintaining the vigil on the border.” He thanked the coalition forces led by the USA that supported the Kobanê resistance from the air, the Free Syrian Army forces that fought alongside the YPG/YPJ and the peshmerga forces that provided support with heavy weaponry. He added that "Our struggle has not ended. Our villages are under occupation and the threat to Kobanê has not gone away.” He called on the youth of Rojava and Kobanê to join the operation to liberate the villages.Deputy Defense Minister Arjin Hozan thanked everyone who supported the resistance. She added, “We have got this far thanks to those who fell in the struggle. We owe them a debt. We invite the women of the world to join us in our struggle for the freedom of women and humanity.” Fighters then fired shots into the air and celebrated victory, shouting “Biji berxwedana Kobanê" (Long live the Kobanê resistance) and “Biji Berxwedana YPG/YPJ" (Long live the resistance of the YPG/YPJ).And then there are the reactionariesIn contrast to this, Turkish President Erdoğan slammed the Kurdish people fighting in Kobanê for ruining the town. “There is no one there but they are bombing. Today, we see that they are dancing. What happened? DEAŞ (the Arabic acronym for ISIS) is out. That is OK, but who will repair the places you have bombed?” he said. He also argued that the world overreacted to Kobanê's liberation and complained that Kobanê had received more attention than Somalia, where he briefly visited earlier this week under especially tight security.Erdoğan went further and used the media spotlight to again advance reactionary views on the resolution process underway between the Kurdish liberation movement and his government. He said, “The resolution process is not a bargaining process or a process of give-and-take. The resolution process is never meant to be about making concessions. Above all, we never let any step that would harm the memory of our (fallen soldiers) and would wound the conscience of our veterans.”In related matters, Erdoğan's government is demanding that the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) disarm before March 21 and before resolution talks proceed further. The issue of sick political prisoners needing medical care is also being used by the government to influence the talks. The government is claiming that the talks began only after the PKK gave up a demand for autonomy or self-determination. These are cynical maneuvers put forward in the hope that the people will be divided or confused by such incendiary statements.Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said late yesterday that Kurdish groups should remember Turkey’s stance in removing ISIS fighters from Kobanê instead of chanting “Bijî Serok Obama” (“Long live the leader Obama” in Kurdish). He did not say what his government's position was or when any Kurdish groups suggested U.S. President Barack Obama was responsible for Kobane’s liberation---and could not because this has not happened.Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), took the opportunity to thank Erdoğan's government for its supposed role in “saving Kobanê," presumably by allowing some KRG forces to cross through Turkey and into Kobanê.The fascist/nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) took Prime Minister Davutoğlu to task for trying to claim or take credit for positive events in Kobanê. If nothing else, Davutoğlu's, Arınç's and Erdoğan's hypocrisy and faltering diplomacy are evident to MHP leader Bahçeli and he said as much yesterday. He also said, "Besides, there are only terrorists in Kobanê.”These statements can best be understood as clumsy attempts to retake lost ground and rebuild faltering credibility after the people's victory in Kobanê. They do not entirely accord with the emerging American narrative we have criticized here and neither narrative accords with the truth ofthe situation. These different narratives put forward by Erdoğan, Arınç, Barzani, Davutoğlu andBahçeli reflect real differences between the imperialists and their client politicians and parties.Turkish mainstream media recalled today that Turkish security forces intervened with tear gas and water cannons against people who attempted to cross into Kobane from the Turkish/North Kurdistan border town of Suruç on January 27. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 The significance of the liberation of Kobanê, the foreign policy of the liberation movement, international brigades and the people's movements and consciousness These items come from many sources and speak to the emerging importance of Kobanê's liberation as well as giving some views of what comes next in the region's liberation struggle. Yesterday we took on the matter of the developing US narrative that is minimizing the role and importance of the freedom struggle and who the forces are behind these arguments. We provided some news and analysis showing how false the imperialist argument is. Today we continue with that approach and again show the diversity of opinions and approaches within the liberation movement and the repressive nature of the forces fighting against freedom. From the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) Executive Committee The PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) Executive Committee has released a statement greeting the people’s victory won in Kobanê town of West Kurdistan, Rojava, following 135 days of heroic resistance to the attacks by the ISIS since September 15, 2014. “This is the victory of free humanity and democracy. This is the victory of Kurdish youths and women, their search and desire forf freedom, their courage, self-sacrifice, will and insistence. It is the victory of Leader Öcalan's democratic modernity theory over all sorts of reactionism. It is the victory of the people of Kobanê, Rojava and four parts of Kurdistan, of the democratic forces in Turkey and the Middle East, and of the world's peoples and democratic powers. Just as the July 19, 2012 Rojava Liberation Revolution became a spark of freedom for the whole humanity, the historic Kobanê resistance has been a beacon of liberation for the humanity,” the PKK said. Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas on democratic modernity have been discussed in some detail on our blog. We will also talk a bit about these ideas below. He is the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. The PKK statement commemorated the martyrs who fell in Kobanê with respect and gratitude and the PKK repeated its promise to keep their memory alive in the liberation of Kurdistan and the fraternity of peoples. The PKK also greeted the brave freedom fighters who have presented this victory to the Kurdish people and democratic humanity, including - YPG-YPJ (People’s/Women’s Defense Forces) fighters- -the defense force of Rojava’s people and the actual creators of this victory, - all the fighters joining from Turkey and other nations who fought alongside the YPG-YPJ in Kobanê, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) fighters being in the first place, - South Kurdistan peshmerga and coalition forces that greatly supported YPG-YPJ fighters, and - the Kurdish people who haven't left Suruç and carried the resistance across the border, becoming the source of moral support to the fighters in Kobanê. The PKK said that it is obvious that the Kobanê victory, which was won as a result of the historic resistance against ISIS fascism, has revealed a new situation in Kurdistan, Syria and the Middle East, adding, "Before anything else, it has proved that the dark-faced ISIS fascism could be defeated, and that the peoples of the region need to resist and form a democratic unity in order for the elimination of such a savage trouble." According to the PKK, the historic Kobanê victory has served as a major step for the advancement of the democratic autonomous administration in Rojava, attainment by Kurds of a permanent status in Syria and the resolution of the Kurdish question on regional basis or dimension. The victory has also paved the way and initiated a process to transform the Rojava Liberation Revolution into a Syrian Revolution, and manifested the fact that a democratic Syria can only be created by means of the democratic autonomy system and the sense of a democratic nation based on the freedom of all identities, cultures and religions. The PKK Executive Committee pointed out that victory in Kobanê has also opened the way for victory in Sinjar, Kurdistan and Syria, saying that ISIS has suffered a historic defeat in Kobanê but struggle and battles in Rojava, Syria and the Middle East continues. From the HPG (People's Defense Forces) Sinjar Command The HPG (People's Defense Forces) Sinjar Command has also issued a statement greeting the liberation of Kobanê. The HPG is most often thought of in relation to the PKK. The HPG statement says that the Kurdish people have mounted a great struggle against ISIS fascism, for three years in Rojava and for the last one year in South Kurdistan, and that: "This glorious resistance has been centered in Kobanê and Sinjar for the past six months and eventually ended up in a historic victory in Kobanê. This is the victory of not only the Kurdish people, but also all the Middle East peoples and humanity caught between capitalist modernity and reactionism." The HPG Sinjar Command remembered the martyrsfallen in the struggle, whom it referred to as the true creators of this victory, with respect and gratitude and repeated their promise to pursue the struggle of the Apoist line they represented. “Apoism” is the thought of Abdullah Öcalan. The HPG ended their statement by promising Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), all the martyrs and the Kurdish people to achieve the same success in Sinjar, the other center of the epic people’s resistance. Progress in Cairo and Moscow Democratic Union Party (PYD) Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zuhat Kobanê has told the ANF news service today that the Kurds have gained a new status following the uprisings initiated by the Arab Spring and that the democratic autonomous canton system they have established in Rojava is seen as a model for the region. The PYD is the lead political party in Rojava. Zuhat Kobanê was speaking to ANF and made these comments in the context of discussing the Cairo and Moscow meetings at which the future of Syria was discussed. The Kurds were main actors at the Cairo and Moscow meetings on account of their victory in Kobanê. “The YPG’s victory over ISIS has changed the course of history,” Zuhat Kobanê said. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have been given roles in trying to find a settlement in Syria---or, perhaps more to the point, to decimate that country and keep the region from finding stability--- but this has not been successful from almost any point of view. Egypt has now been given a lead role and the Cairo meeting was held to prepare for a larger congress. Part of Zuhat Kobanê’s interview with ANF is as follows: Will there be a congress? Yes, probably in Cairo in April. The future of Syria will be discussed. The Kurds are now an actor at these meetings. What do you put this down to? Yes, a 3-person delegation from the PYD has been invited to the congress. This is undoubtedly due to the resistance in Kobanê and Rojava. International forces have realized that the Kurds are no longer just a factor in the region, but are now an actor. We are now invited everywhere. Unlike the rest of the opposition, we have set up our own system, which has reverberated internationally and is increasingly being seen as a model for a future Syria. Is it being accepted in the international arena? There is an on-going debate. There is no formal recognition as yet, but if a large country such as Russia invites representatives of the cantons, this signifies acceptance. The same goes for Egypt. We have succeeded in breaking the hundred-year-old blockade established by the colonialist states, thanks to the system we have created in Rojava and our diplomacy. What was discussed in Cairo? The future of Syria was discussed. The importance of equality and everyone having the same rights was stressed. Local autonomy and the extending of our system to the whole country were discussed. However, no decisions were taken. There was an exchange of views. From Cairo people went to Moscow, where discussions are continuing. Are the Cairo and Moscow meetings connected? These things are of course connected. Russia wants to play a role in encouraging dialogue between the opposition and the regime, which is a reality. What does the PYD want from Syria for the Kurds? First and foremost we do not want an Arab Republic in Syria. We want a democratic republic where the rights of peoples are protected, as there are many different communities in Syria. Democratic autonomy is essential, but within a democratic Syria. Kobanê has been cleansed of ISIS gangs. What advantages does this bring to the PYD’s international diplomacy? Of course this has had a positive effect. It is a great step towards the acceptance of the cantons and recognition of the YPG as a defense force. We have been involved in diplomatic work for 4 years and this will help us. We have probably visited nearly every country in the world. In Kobanê the YPG and YPJ received significant global support. Could you comment on this? I would like to thank everyone who supported the YPG. The Peshmerga, Burkan Al Firat, MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party) and the HPG forces in particular. I would also like to thank the contribution of the international coalition for their airstrikes, even if they were somewhat late in occurring. We hope this will be the basis of an international coalition against ISIS and other gangs in the region. Of course, this was not just a military success. We must also appreciate the efforts of the Kurdish media and diplomacy. We are also grateful to the people of North Kurdistan who have maintained a vigil on the border for over 4 months. Our people went on to the streets shouting ‘everywhere is Kobanê’ and 50 died. This is a victory for our people and for humanity which was in solidarity with the Kurds. The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and the international brigade The call by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) to defend the Rojava revolution has reverberated in Europe and in Turkey. Internationalist revolutionaries have begun to travel to the land of the revolution. The goal is to establish an international brigade to defend the revolution in all languages and spread the language of revolution throughout the world. The Rojava revolution not only brings news of a new life to the peoples of the Middle East, but also to the peoples of the whole world. The MLKP was the first organization in the Turkish revolutionary movement to respond to the revolution in Rojava. Since the beginning of the revolution there it has taken its place, even if only with a modest force, both in the construction of the revolution and at the front line. At the moment the MLKP has fighters in Serêkaniyê and Kobanê in Rojava and also in Sinjar fighting alongside the HPG/YJA Star guerrillas and the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) against ISIS. Four MLKP fighters have fallen in the struggle: Serkan Tosun, who died in Serêkaniyê on September 14, 2013 and Suphi Nejat Ağırnaslı (Paramaz Kızılbaş), Sibel Bulut (Sarya Özgür) and Oğuz Saruhan (Algan Zafir) who fell during the resistance in Kobanê. The MLKP is now engaged in trying to form an international brigade and is in contact with revolutionary organizations from Latin America to Europe and from the Balkans to the Far East. MLKP members from Europe have also joined the brigade and Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, German, English and Spanish are being spoken. However, there is no problem with communication as the mother tongue is the language of revolution. The MLKP's efforts to create an international brigade recall the international brigades established to defend Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. It is easy to hear the words “No pasaran” in our ears there. In those days Spain was not just Spain, it was the peoples’ hope and future. Nearly 80 years later the communists say "Rojava is not just Rojava" and are coming to join the international brigade. MLKP commander Dilan Serkan said that the Party had been in Rojava since 2012, adding that they had predominantly fought in the ranks of the YPG/YPJ. She said, "The Rojava revolution is a new signal flare of hope in the Middle East, Turkey and North Kurdistan. We want to help construct and develop this revolution. As MLKP fighters we are aware of our role and task in this process. We have gained valuable experience here and the idea of an international brigade has grown out of this.” Dilan Serkan said that an international brigade would be an expression of international solidarity with Rojava, and would be one of the main channels for carrying the hope of the revolution to the rest of the world. “An international brigade is essential as Rojava might be a small place, but it contains a great treasure. A new hope is putting forth shoots. We therefore wish to emphasize the importance for all parties and organizations of taking ownership of this project and for concrete steps to be taken without delay.” People returning to Kobanê as the struggle continues People’s Defense Forces (YPG) Commander Mahmut Berxwedan warned yesterday that the threat to the city of Kobanê has not been entirely removed as the operations against ISIS gangs continue in the villages around the city. The YPG Commander also called on the youth to return to their land and take their part in the operations to liberate the villages and in the re-building of the settlements. Forty-eight young people who took refuge with their families in Suruç district of Urfa in North Kurdistan following the savage attacks of ISIS have returned to Kobanê in order to take part in the liberation of the villages and the rebuilding of the city. The young people who crossed into Kobanê at the Murşitpınar border gate also called on all the youth from Kobanê to return to their lands and join the rebuilding. Seventy-five-year-old Mahmut Xelil also joined the youth in their return as he was homesick. Azad Hemo is among those returning to Kobanê. Azad said, “Kobanê has now been liberated, but the resistance continues in the villages. I have come back to do my bit in the resistance and the rebuilding of the city.” Azad was previously wounded in the fighting and had had to cross to North Kurdistan. Müslüm Temo has also returned to Kobanê. Müslüm said, “We crossed into North Kurdistan together with our families. The life there was pretty hard. Now, the YPG and YPJ forces have liberated our city, we are grateful to them. But the resistance continues. We want all the youth to return to Kobanê and join the ranks of the resistance.” Mahmut Xelil has been terribly homesick and had an emotional moment as he crossed into Kobanê. He said that he had to leave the city 4 months ago, adding that a son of his was fighting against the ISIS gangs in the ranks of the YPG. Mahmut Xelil has left his family in Suruç for the moment, but he couldn’t bear to be away from Kobanê any longer as each day that he was away seemed like a year to him, he said. From the front lines The YPG Press Center has reported that fighters of the People's/Women's Defense Forces have continued the operation against ISIS in villages south of Kobanê following the liberation of the town center from ISIS gangs. The village of Helinc southeast of Kobanê was liberated yesterday but the exact number of casualties couldn't be ascertained. The YPG is also reporting that their fighters conducted an operation which targeted three points occupied by the ISIS. Newroz Hall, Seyran Restaurant and Gulmêt village were all cleansed of ISIS gangs and liberated and 13 ISIS fighters were killed in the offensive. Arms and ammunition of the ISIS groups were also seized. The YPG Press Center added that two fighters of Defense Units who played a major role in the operation have fallen in the fighting. The Turkish state against the people The Turkish state has meanwhile continued its policy of repression in the face of the people’s victory in Kobanê. Police forces attacked the Kobanê victory celebration in the Muradiye district of Van today. DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) Muradiye Co-mayor Safure Güneş was assaulted by police in the crackdown and has been referred to the Van Regional Hospital for treatment. Former co-chair of the DBP Van provincial organization Musa İtah, was taken into custody by police for a speech he made. In the village of Tepedam in the Özalp district of Van gendarmes attacked the tent of condolence set up for HPG guerrilla Cahit Savaşlı. Van deputy Özdal Üçer called on people to go to the village in solidarity and against the attack. Posted by Urun Harvest at 6:13 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Tuesday, February 3, 2015 VIYAN SORAN: LEADING PKK FIGURE AND SYMBOL OF STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION We have not edited this post from our friends at Rojhelat.info. we believe that it speaks to the heart of the liberation struggle.Viyan Soran was born in Silemanî, South Kurdistan, in 1981. Having felt the brunt of oppression of the Kurdish people as well as Kurdish women, she joined Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 1997. In a short period of time she demonstrated her dedication and leadership abilities within the organization, and rose within the ranks quickly. A rising star, she became a successful and high ranking commander of YJA STAR (Kurdistan Women Defense Forces) and a leading figure in the PKK.The objectives of the PKK can be defined in three distinct, yet interlinked socio-economic, political, and environmental goals. First and foremost, the PKK’s struggle has always been a human struggle for freedom of the oppressed Kurds who have been forcibly governed by four of the most hostile and authoritarian regimes in the world — Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Secondly, the PKK’s struggle also consists of a comprehensive, persistent and social campaign endeavoring to emancipate all women, not just Kurdish women, from the patriarchal norms continuing in the world. Despite the existence of waves of feminism globally, women (particularly in the developing world) continue to face significant marginalization and gender oppressions. Thirdly, the PKK is deeply committed to an ecological campaign to save the environment from the unchecked advances of industrialization and consumerism.As a PKK commander, Viyan Soran was committed to these lines of struggle and embodied them in her personal life and struggle. She persistently showed her strong detestation of the illegal abduction of Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. On 2 February 2006 she committed self-immolation as an act of great sacrifice in protest against the abduction of Ocalan, his incarceration and isolation in Imrali Island prison. Another essential objective behind her self-immolation was to highlight and protest against the emergence of treason within the PKK. By offering her body in the greatest act of sacrifice, Viyan Soran effectively brought the disloyalty of particular individuals among the PKK to an end.Martyr Viyan is one of the greatest national symbols of the Kurdish people and their national struggle for liberation and freedom. Posted by Michel at 3:18 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Kurdistan: Why Kobanî did not fall We think that this is a good summary from one socialist perspective on the victory against ISIS in Kobanî and some of the wider implications of that victory. This post comes from Links as below. By Dilar Dirik January 27, 2015 -- Kurdish Question, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- One year ago, today, Kobanî declared itself as an autonomous canton. Today, after 135 days of fearless resistance, the people of Kobanî have liberated the city from the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Since September 2014, the YPG and YPJ (People's and Women's Defence Units) have been leading – there are no other words to describe it -- an epic and unbelievable resistance against the latest wave of attacks by ISIS. The women and men, who lead the most glorious resistance of our time, hoisted their flags on the last hills that were occupied by ISIS and immediately began their line dances, accompanied by old Kurdish revolutionary songs and slogans. Ever since, people around the world rushed to the streets to celebrate. After the countless tragedies, massacres and traumas that this region has had to suffer recently, the pains that have preceded this moment make victory even sweeter. One eye sheds tears for the dead, while the other cries out of much deserved joy. But let us go back one year. It was around this time in January 2014, when major international actors met at the so-called Geneva-II conference to discuss a resolution to the war in Syria. The Kurds, who had been fighting both the regime as well as extremists like the al-Nusra Front and ISIS ever since they took control over Rojava in 2012, were not invited. Further, in order to pacify the Turkish state, the international community adopted an explicitly hostile attitude towards Rojava, because the main actors in the region are ideologically affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish state’s arch enemy, which is labeled as "terrorist" by the US, the European Union (EU) and Turkey. In fact, the international community marginalised Rojava long before it marginalised the jihadists in Syria. Turkish state officials repeatedly emphasised that they would “not tolerate terrorists by the Syrian-Turkish border”, referring to the Kurds in Rojava, not to radical Islamists. Yet, without relying on anyone’s approval, and in spite of all this hostility, the people of Rojava declared three autonomous cantons at the same time as the Geneva-II conference: Kobanî, Afrîn and Cizîre. The message was: “We will build our autonomy and we do not need anyone’s approval.” For the last three years, the Kurds, who took a “third way” and refused to pick either the opposition or Assad, tried to warn the world about ISIS, but were completely ignored. The co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Rojava, Salih Muslim, was denied visas four times to the US. In 2013, almost a year before the world even knew about the jihadist group, his son died fighting against ISIS. The latest wave of attacks on Kobanî is just one out of many that preceded it. All of the Kurd’s warnings were discarded as conspiracy theories, simply because listening to them would mean to acknowledge that the anti-Assad block has indirectly or directly supported and sponsored jihadist murderers in Syria. Today, US vice-president Joe Biden and others state exactly what the Kurds have been saying for years: states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey supported jihadists. Literally overnight, after thousands of people had been murdered already, ISIS became an "issue", around the same time in which ISIS crossed over into Iraq -- the failed state into which the US poured billions of dollars after invading and where many forces hold strategic economic and political interests. And then the same states that formerly supported the jihadists suddenly became part of the coalition against them, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. After the people in Kobanî had already resisted for more than a month all by themselves, the coalition saw an opportunity to show that their strategy against ISIS works. They suddenly supported the same people they had previously marginalised. But even today, though everyone appropriates Kobanî's resistance for their own agendas, the same forces that lead this resistance are labeled "terrorists", while there are no consequences for the states that explicitly contributed to the rise of ISIS. If we lived in a world in which the dominant forces that portray themselves as the defenders of human rights, freedom and democracy were actually genuinely interested in the principles that they advocate, all of this hell on earth would have been avoided. But leaving aside the fact that arms trade and the destabilisation of the region are profitable for many global actors, another ugly truth is that those, who wanted to topple Assad, benefitted from jihadist presence in Syria for a long time. This was much to the benefit of the Assad regime, which kept on claiming that no genuine opposition in Syria exists. And today, the horrid reality is that Assad looks like the lesser evil so that even the coalition seems to soften on him. What a kafkaesque tragedy for the people of Syria! Considering all of this, are we really expected to congratulate the main instigators of war and conflict in the Middle East for liberating Kobanî? Those who funded or at least turned a blind eye to murderous jihadists? Those who started unjust wars and destroyed the region with their policies? Those who appeased the Turkish state, which has supported extremist rapists and murderers? What is really behind Kobanî’s resilience? What does Kobanî symbolise in an era of failed revolutions and endless wars? The people who are fighting in Kobanî have an ideology, a world view, a vision that has kept them going. Can we say that the coalition air strikes did not help at all? Of course we cannot. But let us ask ourselves why the coalition went from “Kobanî is about to fall and it is not our priority to save it” to putting all efforts into protecting it. Had it not been for the resilience of the people on the ground, who collectively mobilised with Kalashnikovs only to defend their city, the opportunity for the coalition to “rescue” Kobanî for its own interests would not have arisen. After all, half a year before US-led air strikes bombarded ISIS positions around Kobanî, elderly women in their 60s had established their autonomous “mother’s” self-defence battalions on the ground. Without these people’s determination and willingness to sacrifice, no air strikes on Earth would have saved the city. It is important to understand that the Rojava revolution has been a people’s struggle from the beginning until today. Unlike other uprisings in the recent times, it was luckily not co-opted by anyone due to geopolitical conditions and survived by relying on its own strength, against all odds. Kobanî's courageous stance against the men who want to draw the colours of the Middle East black, resonated with struggling people all over the world. Many are praising and some are instrumentalising Kobanî now, even right wingers and Islamophobes, because everyone wants a piece of the victory pie. But the same powers that now appropriate Kobanî for their own interests, label the politics of these courageous fighters as "terrorist". The resistance of Kobanî is based on a rooted tradition and did not appear out of nowhere. The fighters emphasise that it is the philosophy of the PKK that motivates their struggle. When liberating Kobanî, the fighters immediately chanted “Bijî Serok Apo” – Long live Apo (Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s imprisoned ideological representative). In other words, the strongest enemies of ISIS are internationally labeled as "terrorist", just like the rapist, fascist jihadist murderers. Similarly, everyone is trying to instrumentalise the suffering of the Yezidi people from Mount Sinjar (Shengal) for their own interests, but the thousands of Yezidi refugees in the Rojava state that the international community is doing nothing for them, while it was the YPG/YPJ and PKK that rescued them in August and looked after them ever since, in spite of the embargo on Rojava and the war in Kobanî. Uncomfortable facts for those, who portray themselves as the rescuers! Rojava is an alternative for the region, torn by ethnic and religious hatred, unjust wars and economic exploitation. It does not aim to build a new state, but to create an alternative system to the global capitalist, male-dominated nation-state paradigm, by advocating regional autonomy through women’s liberation and in cooperation with all peoples of the region, termed as “Democratic Confederalism” by Öcalan. The refusal to accept the parameters of the global system is what has mobilised the population in such a devastated region, in between war and embargo, and this is precisely the reason why Kobanî will never fall. In the midst of war, Rojava’s cantons have managed to establish an incredibly empowering women’s movement, a self-governance system that operates through local councils in a bottom-up grassroots fashion, and a society in which all ethnic and religious components of the region work hand in hand to create a brighter future. This is in radical contrast to the monopolist “one religion, one language, one nation, one state, one flag” policies, the dictatorships, monarchies, sectarian tyrannies and patriarchal violence in the region. And the anticipation of such a free life is the main motor of the Kobanî resistance. The dominant system makes us believe that principles and ideals are dead, which is why a collective mobilisation and sacrificial resistance such as the one in Kobanî seems so unbelievable to most people. But the fact that the second-largest city of Iraq, Mosul, fell into ISIS’s hands within days, even though the US had put billions of dollars into training the Iraqi army, while the small city of Kobanî, where elderly women created their autonomous battalions, has become a fortress of resistance for people across the globe, shows us that the possibility of a different future is well alive! You cannot separate the political mobilisation of the people in Rojava from their victories against ISIS. That is why the least we can do to honour the fighters of Kobanî is to respect and support their political aims! The recognition of the Rojava cantons is long overdue. But even if the world does not recognise Rojava, it will still insist on being, because it has proven that it does not need anyone’s approval to exist. It is exactly this resistance and self-reliant struggle, this refusal to subscribe to the Stockholm-Syndrome-like state in which the Middle East finds itself, so much so that it is forced to be happy over “democracy” that comes in the form of breadcrumbs, that has not allowed Kobanî to fall. The victory and dignity of Kobanî should give hope to all peoples of the Middle East and beyond. Surrounded by the dark flag of ISIS, the bloodthirsty Assad regime, the vicious Turkish state, a suffocating embargo, cold-blooded foreign policy calculations by global hegemonic powers, ethnic tensions and sectarian wars, the smiling people of Kobanî have stuck to their liberationist revolutionary principles and helped the sun of Mesopotamia rise against all of this darkness. Victory belongs to those who dedicated their lives to it. Let us honour the braveness of these selfless human beings and the victims of the war by exposing the policies and interests of the states and structures that created this inferno to begin with. May we look forward to more revolutionary moments of joy like today and never forget those who dedicated their lives to it! Bijî Kobanî! Posted by Urun Harvest at 1:20 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest “The Kobanê resistance proved the correctness of the policies of the Rojava administration.” Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-chair Salih Müslim has commented on the victory in Kobanê, the reconstruction of the city as well as the meetings in Cairo and Moscow on Sterk TV. We have frequently highlighted Salih Müslim and the PYD on this blog and we have recently done some analysis on the Cairo and Moscow meetings.Salih Müslim told Sterk TV that the victory in Kobanê will bring the breakdown of ISIS in Syria in general and criticized the attitude of the Turkish state, saying, “We expected Turkey to remain loyalto neighborly customs” and added that while they are open to all kinds of support for the reconstruction of Kobanê, they will mainly rely on their own means and strength. Salih Müslim said “The Kobanê resistance proved the correctness of the policies carried out by the Rojava administration.”The PYD co-chair said that the cleansing of Kobanê of ISIS gangs was an important development as it was the start of the total breakdown of ISIS across Syria and commemorated all those YPG/YPJ (People's/Women's Defense Forces) fighters who fell in the fight against ISIS, saying as well that peshmerga forces provided spiritual support to them.Salih Müslim said that the victory of Kobanê demonstrated to the whole world that ISIS can be defeated and that there are many ISIS-like structures or organizations in Syria, but that it is not possible to negotiate with them.He stressed that these organizations must be liquidated, which is only be possible if the powers behind them are stopped. Speaking to the attitude of the Turkish state regarding Kobanê, he said, “We expected otherwise, we expected Turkey to remain loyal to the customs of being neighbors. I hope they will change this attitude. We last met on October 4, 2014. Since then we have had no contacts with the Turkish government.” He also announced that they met with U.S officials in January in Europe.Salih Müslim said that a commission has been set up to coordinate the work needed in Kobanê and added that decisions made by this commission and through participation by people in the process will be implemented by the administration. There are many proposals on how to rebuild the city, and even a proposal to build a new city, with some people advocating that parts of Kobanê be turned into a museum and other parts of the city be rebuilt. Salih Müslim said that no final decision has been made yet. A commission has been set up abroad as there are many NGO’s and countries willing to support the reconstruction process. Kobanê is open to all support, but they will rely more on their own forces as they have done in the war.Salih Müslim also reported that the operations to liberate the villages around the city of Kobanê are continuing successfully, adding that the Tel Abyad region separates the cantons of Kobanê and Cizire so that it will also be liberated soon. “We have contacts with some Arab tribes there that want to be part of our administration. We will cleanse the ISIS gangs there,” he said.The Moscow and Cairo meetings recognized the autonomous administrations of Rojava and they were officially invited to those meetings. “The Kobanê resistance proved the correctness of the policies of the Rojava administration,” Müslim stressed. Another meeting with a large participation will be held in April in Cairo.The meetings between some opposition groups and the regime did not fully represent the whole of Syria so that the meetings were set to share thoughts, Salih Müslim said. The regime delegation in Moscow still saw the problem as a “terror issue” and the Baathist regime has still not changed its views as regards recognizing Kurds as an ethnic group.The PYD co-chair ommented on the clashes in Haseke and said, “Some people are trying to provoke a Kurdish-Arab conflict, but we will not fall into this trap.” He said that the regime wants to throw Kurds out of Haseke and the potential and risk of clashes continues in the town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Some people are under the illusion that the fascist elite controlling the north american continent (US'ers), based in washington is responsible for the Kobane peoples victory against the fascistic IS created by US'er actions. This propaganda is aimed at eventually neutralising the Kurdish Liberation Movement, the true victors, The PKK and its affiliates.Because the PKK are true revolutionarise with a long formed, remarkably progressive program that offers a new social model to all peoples of the world, they have the people of the world in thrall and the people they and their followers eventually will overthrow waking up to this, the struggle is now entering a new phase. The survival of this idea is just like the idea of an independent sovereign socialist Cuba that makes the US'ers wet theirselves.This article in the australian pink Green Left Weekly: Revolutionaries liberate Kobane, defeat IS Thursday, January 29, 2015 By Jemma Nott YPJ fighters celebrate. After a fierce struggle lasting 134 days, mainly Kurdish fighters belonging to the Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Womens Defence Units (YPJ) finally freed the town of Kobane on January 26 from attackers belonging to the terrorist group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS). Kobane remains intact — although, only just. Moreover, there are various forces that have shown hostility over the past four months to the YPG, YPJ and other Kurdish revolutionary forces. This will prove a challenge for the ongoing Kurdish struggle for autonomy. In fact, there are some elements who claim to support the Kurdish fighters but do so for opportunistic reasons and are proving a hindrance to the cause. The Western media has reported the defeat of the IS in Kobane as a victory for US-led airstrikes, creating an air of legitimacy around the US’ military tactics. “We congratulate its [Kobane’s] brave defenders,” the US State Department’s Jen Psaki said in a January 28 briefing. “We’ll continue to support them as we look to the coming weeks ahead. This is an important step in the direction of a long-term campaign to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL because of the strategic value ISIL places on Kobane.” Of course, the Kurdish resistance was helped along by Western aerial bombing in Kobane. However, they did not choose to help them until the last minute, despite continual pleas for assistance. Since July 2012, when the local, grassroots-based forces of the YPG and YPJ liberated Kobane and two other cantons in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), they have been fending off attacks from forces aligned with both the government and opposition in Syria’s civil war. The IS began their siege of Kobane in mid-September last year, the same time that the US-led coalition extended their air war in Iraq into Syria. However, for more than three weeks they did not strike the massive concentration of IS heavy weaponry surrounding Kobane. Even when they finally did so, it was another week before they began coordinating their attacks with the Kurdish forces defending the town. This is the first large scale success since the US declared war on IS and that’s no coincidence. The strength of the defenders of Kobane was that they were defending not only their homes, but an ideal. The autonomous cantons of Rojava are a unique social experiment based on the ideology of “Democratic Confederalism” that was developed by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the late 1990s. Under this model, power is held by local communities, equality between and representation of all ethno-linguistic groups is guaranteed and religion is separated from the state. Women’s liberation is emphasised, with a minimum of 40% female participation in all decision-making bodies and independent women’s organisation in all spheres, including the military. Cooperative ecologically sustainable development, not neoliberal capitalism, is the economic model. While these ideals strengthened the morale of Kobane’s defenders, they were also a factor in Western reluctance to assist. Initially the West seemed prepared to let Kobane fall and use the atrocities that inevitably would have followed as the pretext for increased Western military intervention in the region. However, after the tenacity of the town’s resistance and protests by the global Kurdish diaspora had focussed the world’s attention on Kobane, allowing the heroic town to be massacred would have undermined the US-led intervention by exposing the stated goal of fighting the IS as being merely a pretext. Moreover, the revolutionary forces in Rojava are affiliated to the Kurdistan Union of Communities (KCK), the largest component of which, the PKK, has been engaged in armed resistance against Turkey since 1984. Turkey is a NATO member and a key US ally in the region. Kobane lies on the Turkish-Syrian border. The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blockaded Kurdish forces in Kobane while allowing IS free access across the border, including for the resupply of heavy weapons. The US decision to coordinate its airstrikes with the YPG and YPJ created a rift between the US and Turkish governments. However, US policy remains hostile to the aspirations of the KCK-affiliated forces and the PKK and some other KCK affiliates remain on the US (and Australian) lists of terrorist organisations. The Turkish government has claimed to be housing 200,000 refugees from Kobane. It has used this claim both to offset criticism of its actual support for the IS attack on Kobane and to bolster the argument it has unsuccessfully made to Washington that there are no civilians left in Kobane, and therefore the city does not need saving. In reality, not only are there civilians remaining in Kobane, but most of those who fled across the border have been housed by the local Kurdish population. Amed Dicle wrote in Kurdishquestion.com on January 27: “Of the 116,000 people that fled Kobane, only about 10,000 are living in camps built by the Turkish state. The AKP government’s constant reminder that they are ‘looking after 200,000 people from Kobane’ is rubbish.” The US-led air war against IS began in response to the June-August offensive in which IS forces swept out of Syria into Northern Iraq, threatening the existence of the fragile US-backed Iraqi state and providing the West with the pretext for a new Middle East intervention by filming their own atrocities and promoting them on social media. The most stable component of the Iraqi state is the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has been a de facto US protectorate since 1991. Arming the KRG forces was the initial cornerstone of the Western intervention. In August the IS attacked the Sinjar region, whose Kurdish population mainly belongs to the Yezidi religious minority and were therefore targeted for genocide. KRG forces fled, after refusing to arm the population. Hundreds were massacred and hundreds more were enslaved. The survivors were rescued by the intervention of the PKK, YPG and YPJ, who helped the local population to create their own armed forces to fend off further IS attacks. IS then attacked the KRG capital, Irbil, whose defence was assisted by the KCK-affiliated forces. The KRG has historically been hostile to the KCK, but following the defence of Irbil relations improved. In Kobane, the main military problem faced by the Kurdish forces was the IS having overwhelming superiority in heavy weapons. While the US-led airstrikes countered this to some degree, the YPG demanded that the US pressure Turkey to end its blockade and allow better armed YPG and YPJ fighters from other parts of Rojava to reach the town. A compromise was reached whereby Turkey allowed a small contingent of KRG-aligned fighters with heavy weapons to go to Kobane in early November. While the US was hoping that the KRG-aligned forces would politically dilute the revolution in Rojava, the YPG and YPJ made sure the KRG fighters were under local command. Continuing tensions between the KCK-aligned and KRG-aligned Kurdish forces reignited on January 14 when the Yazidi communities of Sinjar declared the establishment of local autonomy and participatory democratic institutions along the principles of the “Democratic Confederalism” practiced in Rojava. Rojavareport.wordpress.com reported on January 20 that this was condemned by the KRG, who view the locality as their territory — despite having abandoned it to IS — and condemned the autonomy declaration as PKK interference. Dancing in the Streets As the Kurdish fighters united in celebration of their achievements and danced under the moonlight, one of the things they understand is just how much they have already gutted the IS’ military morale. The IS used up countless fighters on a strategic advance to take Kobane. By the end of their battle they had run out of fighters to the point that, according to the accounts of Kurdish fighters, they were sending in children, Associated Press reported on January 26. More than 1000 IS fighters have been killed according the Syrian Observatory for human rights. Further hope is created by the fact that previously IS-sympathising militant groups such as the Chechen Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar have turned against IS and even lauded the Kurds’ victory. Yet on the ground, bombings have destroyed half of Kobane and the city remains to be put back together in order to house the large numbers of refugees. The Kurds’ success against IS in this case was not an example of how the US could potentially win against IS — it was an example of how those who fight on principled political grounds are able to be effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 KCK: Women to lead the liberation of our leader and people The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-presidency has sent a message to the women joining the long march from Switzerland to Strasbourg for freedom for imprisoned Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan. The KCK saluted the honorable march with revolutionary feelings and the same determination and commemorated with respect all the woman comrades who were martyred in the Kurdistan freedom struggle while putting up an epic resistance in four parts of Kurdistan, Kobanê and Sinjar being in the first place. Putting emphasis on the Kurdish leader's commitment to the freedom of women and all humanity, the KCK statement said that Abdullah Öcalan created an ideology for women's freedom and has waged a great struggle for the achievement of this goal. The KCK said that this has enabled the emergence of the reality of free women based on their self-organization, self-action and the power of their struggle, as well as the advancement of Kurdistan freedom struggle in the form of a women's revolution. "Together with their friends, women of Kurdistan, to whom the Kurdish leader introduced a sense of freedom, free will, struggle and self-organization, are marching for Leader Apo's freedom today. The dialectics of this march will be the freedom of Leader Apo and Kurdistan," the KCK underlined. Drawing attention to the importance of the march which coincides the 16th anniversary of the international plot to capture Abdullah Öcalan, the KCK said that the challenging resistance and stance of the Kurdish leader in prison has become a rebirth for the Kurdish women and people, as has also been proved by the level reached by the Kurdish freedom movement and women's freedom today. According to the KCK, the struggle waged by the Kurdish people and movement with strong will and determination has shown the failure of the international plot in its 16th year. Dozens of brave martyrs of ours who became immortalized by burning their bodies and chanting the slogan "you cannot darken our sun" have played a great role in this, the KCK said, once again commemorating all these revolutionaries with gratitude and bowing respectfully before their memory. The KCK continued by stressing that the Kurdish struggle and revolutionary movement against colonialism and ISIS fascism in Kobanê, Sinjar and four parts of Kurdistan is in essence a women's revolution, adding, "Kurdish women have written an epic through the resistance they mounted to colonialism, five-thousand-year-old male-dominant culture and most recently to ISIS fascists in Kobanê and Sinjar. With their power of awakening, organization and struggle, Free Kurdistan women have reached a level of leading the world's oppressed and fighting women. The free women ideology and the Kurdistan Free Women's Movement is facing not only national but also international duties and responsibilities today." The KCK Executive Council Co-presidency called on all Kurdish people and their friends across Europe to gather in Strasbourg on February 14 to manifest their will and determination as one more step towards the liberation of Abdullah Öcalan and Kurdistan. It is certain that our leader and people will attain freedom under the leadership of women, the KCK said, ending its message by once again saluting the march and the struggle of women. Posted by Urun Harvest at 9:34 AM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Gaal Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Dozens of children feared dead after being injected with 'tainted’ measles vaccine in Syria As many as 36 children were reported to have died excruciating deaths last night after receiving tainted measles vaccines under a UN-sponsored programme in the rebel-held north of Syria. The programme was suspended amid rumours of sabotage of a high profile international effort to ensure the brutal civil war does not result in an outbreak of measles. Doctors in clinics in the towns of Jirjanaz and Maaret al-Nouman in the northeastern province of Idlib said children started falling ill soon after the doses were administered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Murat Karayılan: We are discussing withdrawing the guerrillas from South Kurdistan HPG (People's Defense Forces) guerrilla Armanç Kurdo (Talib Mahmudi) was martyred in clashes with ISIS in the village of Mektep Xalit in Kirkuk on January 30 and was laid to rest in Kandil in the Medya Defense Areas. He was 24 years old and came from Meriwan (.East Kurdistan). The funeral ceremony was attended by hundreds of HPG and YJA Star (Free Women's Forces) guerrillas, PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) Executive Committee member Murat Karayılan, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council member Savaş Amed, KJK (Kurdistan Communities of Women--Komalên Jinên Kurdistan) Coordination member Jiyan Lav, HPG Military Council member Ali Piling, YJA STAR commander Hêzil Dersim, Mahmudi's parents and hundreds of other people from the four parts of Kurdistan. Speaking at the military ceremony, PKK Executive Committee member Murat Karayılan said that HPG guerrilla Kurdo, who was from East Kurdistan and leading the resistance in South Kurdistan, was martyred defending Kirkuk under the flag of the PKK. Murat Karayılan promised all the martyrs in the person of Kurdo that they will follow in their path, raise their flag higher and keep their memory alive in the struggle for a free and democratic Kurdistan. Murat Karayılan also said that Kurdistan is going through a historic period and that attacks on Rojava and South Kurdistan targeted the gains of the Kurdish people and are related to plans to occupy Kurdistan. "We will resist to this concept till the end. The defense for the protection of the Kurdish people's gains is a sacred one," he underlined. Murat Karayılan emphasized that ISIS would have succeeded in taking Kirkuk and seizing the oil refinery if Kurdish forces had failed to break the ISIS attack, saying also that HPG and YJA Star guerrillas had intervened on time, come to the help of the peshmerga and defended Kirkuk when it was first attacked on January 29. He said that Armanç Kurdo was martyred while attempting to rescue a wounded peshmerga fighter and added, "This is a matter of great resistance, self-sacrificing spirit and bravery." Murat Karayılan criticized the South Kurdistan forces and South Kurdistan media for imposing censorship on the truth and making it look as if the guerrilla forces weren't there. He pointed out that PKK forces have played a major role in the defense of South Kurdistan, in Sinjar, Makhmur-Hewler and Kirkuk, and reminded everyone of the false charge that the guerrillas went there in order to occupy the regions. "We consider these approaches as an insult. They want to present the PKK as an illegitimate force," he said, criticizing this attitude, which he said aimed to cover up the truth. "We are fighting there, giving our lives and sacrificing our respectable and brave youths. We are there for the sacred lands of Kurdistan, not for propaganda. The denial of the truth, however, cannot be accepted. Our administration is discussing whether or not to withdraw the guerrilla from South Kurdistan." For Murat Karayılan the attitude of the people and the approach to them is all-important. Murat Karayılan stressed that the South Kurdistan government should change its attitude towards the guerrillas and said that they might withdraw their forces unless the South government changes their approach that denies the legitimacy of the guerrilla struggle. He added, "We want our people to know that this is not a preference of ours. We predicate the resistance on our people and want to defend their gains. Our guerrillas and movement have the experience and spirit to defend our lands and resist ISIS attacks and break them. However, this requires the elimination of deficiencies." Noting that guerrilla and peshmerga were fighting shoulder-to-shoulder while commanders didn't come together, the PKK commander said, "Against the attacks targeting the gains of the Kurdish people, military forces are fighting together, in Sinjar, Kirkuk and Baqırtê, but there are two major deficiencies. Why is there no military council, a joint command and a joint force of Kurdistan? This is a suggestion of ours (no one is responding to). This is a necessity that the history and the sacred resistance in Kobanê, Sinjar and Kirkuk obliges us to establish. This is an unacceptable approach that must be changed." Murat Karayılan also said that the fight against ISIS must become stronger and that ISIS could be finished in Kurdistan by means of a tactics and strategy based on active defense to replace the present passive method that is being pursued as reports say that ISIS is preparing for further attacks. The fight should continue on the basis of active defense and more successful strategies, he underlined, adding that, "We hope all the relevant forces and commanders of peshmerga as well as South Kurdistan politicians and Kurdistan regional government consider this truth." Murat Karayılan stressed that the scale of the danger requires unity and work on the basis of national unity and said, "A joint command and force must be established in order to advance the resistance to ISIS with the right strategies and tactics. We believe resistance at such a level will enable the expulsion of ISIS from the entire Kurdistan territory with severe blows. Kurdish powers do have this strength, it will be enough just to display the right attitude." He said that the PKK is ready for any kind of self-sacrifice for the protection of the gains of the Kurdish people, and called on Kurdish politicians to answer this approach. Armanc Kurdo's mother Behya Muradi said, “The martyrs are immortal, they do not die. They never bent their head. They marched to victory holding their head high. I hope the people of Kurdistan who have always taken their place in the battlefield and resisted will attain freedom.” Kurdo's father Cafer Mahmudi said that his only hope is the success of the PKK, extending thanks to the people of Kirkuk for owning the struggle with his son. “I am very much impressed by the welcome of the guerrillas and our people. I thank the guerrillas whose struggle has enabled us to come to these days. I wish success to all the Kurds and our people.” Posted by Urun Harvest at 2:42 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 The People's/Women's Defense Forces Are Advancing On Three Fronts, The Communist Party of Turkey-Spark (TKP-Kıvılcım) Is In The Struggle, Solidarity Is Strong & Kobanê Is Rebuilding This post comes from our friends at The Rojava Report. Operations undertaken by Rojava's People's/Women's Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ) to clear remaining ISIS elements from the villages around Kobanê continue incessantly along three fronts, according to an article appearing in Özgür Gündem. According to a statement from the YPG Press Center released on the 146th day of fighting around Kobanê, 19 more villages have been liberated from ISIS over the past 24 hours: the villages of Solanê, Lêhênê, Mîlê, Koran, Ûçkardeş and the two villages forming Xerbîsan on the Eastern front; the villages of Korê, Bîra Remê, Xanê, Qenter, Kiran, Kûlan and Qereko on the Western front; and the villages of Komçi, Şêx Botan, Cumo, Piştê Zêrik, Ziravik, and three strategic heights near Ziravik on the Southern front. 2 YPG fighters also lost their lives in the fighting. We Are Resisting Shoulder To Shoulder With The YPG/YPJ Fighters with the Communist Party of Turkey-Spark (TKP-Kıvılcım) confirmed that they were fighting together with the YPG/YPJ against ISIS, announcing in a statement that “we declare that we will be offer our active support as Kobanê is reconstructed…The Rojava women’s revolution is resisting and growing and increasing the hope of our peoples. TKP-Kıvılcım fighters are standing shoulder to shoulder on the front with the brave fighters of the YPJ/YPG and have the honor of defending freedom.” Greetings Without Borders For The YPG/YPJ Thousands of local residents standing watch across the border in the villages of Mehser, Misaynter and Elîze in the district of Pirsûs (Suruç) sent their greetings to YPG/YPJ fighters last night as they advanced against ISIS. Thousands lined up waving flags of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), YPG, and YPJ and shouting slogans such as “Long Live The Resistance OF the YPG/YPJ” and “Long Live President Apo.” "Apo" refers to Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. Kobanê Should Be Structured Around The ‘Hewş’ Culture While work continues to rebuild Kobanê, Master Architect Mükremin Barut has commented on the project, saying that instead of multi-storied concrete buildings it needed to be restructured along the ‘Hewş’ (courtyard) culture. Barut said “Kobanê is a chance, an opportunity to found a new model based on the perspectives of the architects, landscape architects, and engineers who once again want to realize their dreams in the Middle East.” Posted by Urun Harvest at 12:09 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Wednesday, February 11, 2015 A statement from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party on the conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) Executive Committee has issued a statement on the occasion of the February 15, 1999 conspiracy which led to the imprisonment of Kurdish liberation movement leader Abdullah Öcalan on Imrali island, saying that the party is determined to mobilize for the freedom of the leader and to construct the democratic nation. “We believe that all PKK militants and our patriotic people will transform this year of struggle into one where we will break the chains of İmralı,” the statement said, calling for actions to be stepped up for Öcalan’s freedom and to create a democratic nation. The statement comes as mass mobilizations and marches are being carried out in western Europe, as people rally in North Kurdistan and Turkey behind the issue and as progressive forces in Turkey push forward with the peace effort Abdullah Öcalan initiated between the Kurdish liberation movement and the Turkish state. The PKK Executive Committee statement reiterated the party’s devotion to, affection for and loyalty to Abdullah Öcalan on the 16th anniversary of the February 15 conspiracy and condemned the states involved in the plot. The US led in that effort. The statement said that Abdullah Öcalan had been removed from the Middle East by the conspiracy, but had returned with the hope of the Rojava revolution and thousands of resisters inspired by his philosophy. It continued by drawing attention to the on-going resistance in Kobanê, Sinjar and Kirkuk, adding, “We are witnessing the victory of Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas. Despite his incarceration and isolation, we can see the reality his idea of freedom has created worldwide.” The statement also said that Abdullah Öcalan has frustrated the system established in İmralı over 16 years, bringing a universal dimension to the freedom struggle with his perspective of a democratic nation. The statement emphasized that the conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan was a continuation of the system of denial and cultural genocide that had been imposed on the Kurds after the borders of the Middle East were drawn after the First World War. The PKK statement made clear that in order for the current and on-going process of negotiation to develop and achieve a conclusion for the Kurdish question, which would have a historic significance for the Middle East and the whole world, Abdullah Öcalan has to have his freedom. The statement said that the party leader must have an environment where he could carry out dialogue and negotiation and that he should have direct contact with the PKK. The PKK Executive Committee statement said that the party is determined to mobilize for the freedom of the leader and to construct the democratic nation and saluted the marches taking place in Europe demanding freedom for the party leader. The statement called on the people to step up actions in order to make 2015 the year when the İmralı system will be brought crashing down. The statement concluded by calling on Kurdish people and their friends everywhere to protest the international conspiracy and to step up actions for the freedom of the party leader and to wage a struggle to create a democratic nation in opposition to capitalist modernity. Posted by Urun Harvest at 4:34 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest News from the liberation movement and the common front fight against ISIS We have some news from the anti-ISIS fronts to mention this afternoon. Some of the news reflects different views and opportunities for the liberation movement. The Shengal/Sinjar Resistance The Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) General Command has issued a statement criticizing the embargo and the obstacles imposed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on the Êzidi people, saying that the KDP’s policies against the Yazidis has created a strong reaction among the people. The YBŞ said that the KDP’s attitude also impedes the possibilities for a Kurdish national unity especially after all of the massacres the Êzidi people have faced. The KDP is the lead party in the Kurdistan Regional Government in South Kurdistan, or so-called “Iraqi Kurdistan.” The YBŞ has become the leading liberation fighting group in Shengal (Sinjar) in the course of the fighting. The YBŞ recalled in their statement the massacres, the exiles and the repression that the Êzidi people have suffered during their history and added that the latest savage attacks by ISIS drew world attention. The statement said, “Against these attacks, primarily the Kurdish and Êzidi youth undertook the responsibility of the defense against the massacre and turned their face towards the Shengal Resistance Units.” The YBŞ said that the KDP’s asayish (security) forces have created obstacles over the past 3 months for the return of the Êzidis, primarily the youth, to Shengal in order to join the resistance units, adding that the YBŞ General Command of the resistance units has criticized the approach of the KDP to the question of national unity several times and that there is strong negation reaction growing among the Êzidi people towards the KDP’s unacceptable policies. The YBŞ called on the KDP administration to immediately put an end to these policies. The YBŞ also stressed that they will not be responsible for any incident which may occur as a result of the people’s reactions to the KDP. In Kobanê's villages with the liberation movement Rojava’s People’s/Women’s Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ) fighters have begun to monitor the town of Jarablus, across the Euphrates to the west of Kobanê and under ISIS occupation. The YPG/YPJ fighters in the village of Qiran on the western front are saying, “We will liberate our lands” while peshmerga fighters from South Kurdistan say that liberating Kobanê is important for national unity and that there is no difference between the YPG/YPJ and the peshmerga. We spoke about this briefly in a blog post yesterday. A second operation aimed at liberating the villages around Kobanê began with the liberation of Kobanê city. The continuing operation is being waged under the leadership of the YPG/YPJ. They are gradually pushing the ISIS gangs away from Kobanê city on the eastern, western and southern fronts. To the east the resistance is close to the border with Girê Spî (Tel Ebyad), and in the west to Jarablus. Liberated villages extend along the border with North Kurdistan as far as the village of Qiran, about 30 kilometres to the west of Kobanê. From that village some DİHA reporters who visited the region could see the Euphrates between Jarablus and Kobanê and the village of Çariqlî, which is occupied by ISIS gangs. From time to time shots could be heard from the village opposite Çariqlî where fighters have taken up positions. The town of Jarablus is much smaller than Kobanê. YPG fighter Îdo Ehmed told the DİHA reporters that all of Kobanê’s villages will be cleansed of the ISIS gangs in a short time. Îdo Ehmed is from Qiran and joined the YPG when ISIS launched their attacks. He said, “When ISIS attacked our families had to leave their homes. After a long resistance we have achieved victory in the city and are now cleansing the villages one by one. Now we are in the village of Qiran where I was born and grew up. ISIS is only a kilometre away, but we will entirely cleanse our lands of these gangs.” Peshmerga commander Tariq Ehmed Elî, who was sent by the Federal Kurdistan Regional Government to defend Kobanê from the attacks of ISIS gangs, said, “We fought against the occupiers with our brothers and sisters in Kobanê and we are continuing to fight. The resistance and victory in Kobanê was an important stage for national unity. As long as we have a drop of blood left in our veins we will continue to fight the gangs that are occupying the land of Kurdistan.” Şakir Omer, a peshmerga wearing a YPG uniform, said, “There is no difference between the YPG/YPJ and the peshmerga. We are fighting here together against our foes. Kobanê has been liberated, now we will liberate the villages from the gangs.” The liberation movement and the peshmerga in South Kurdistan ISIS gangs have again attacked villages around the town of Daqoq in Kirkuk city in South Kurdistan. Early morning clashes broke out as HPG/YJA STAR guerrilla (People’s/Women’s fighting units) and peshmerga forces immediately responded to the ISIS attacks which targeted the villages of Zanqi, Kobanê, Esirê, Sera in the town of Daqoq. The area is inhabited mainly by Kakaî Kurds. Clashes continued as peshmerga forces hit ISIS headquarters in the village of Banişaxê. One peshmerga fighter, identified as Êrîş Malîk Kakeyî, lost his life in the clashes. In the meantime, it was also reported that ISIS positions in the village of Vahde have been shelled by coalition aircraft. Airstrikes are continuing in and around the village. The situation in Aleppo People’s Defense Forces (YPG) Aleppo Commander Rêzan Rojhat has said that the Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo have become safe places for the people. The YPG Aleppo Commander said, "In the last two years they (the Syrian regime) have tried everything, but achieved no result” and also said that "A secure life has been established. People who fled to Iraq and Turkey have begun to return. We are calling on people to come back.” He made these comments while talking to reporters from the ANF news service. Rezan Rojhat said that for 2 years the Syrian regime has carried out airstrikes and mortars attacks. Many people have died in these attacks, including an eleven-year-old girl killed by mortar fire. He also said that another method used by the Syrian regime was to incite the gangs to attack the Kurdish neighborhoods. Rezan Rojhat said, "There is sometimes dialogue with the opposition within the framework of the needs of the revolution. In fact, the YPG/YPJ has proved itself here, so there is now broad acceptance, but the regime sometimes tries to incite certain gang groups against us. It is evident that they want to create contradictions between us and the opposition.” In December, opposition forces came together to establish the Damascus Front. Rezan Rojhat said that clashes have intensified between the Front and the Syrian regime. He also said that around 100,000 people lived in the Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo and that people who had taken refuge in the city from other places make up 60% of the population of these neighborhoods and that these neighborhoods are protected by the YPG/YPJ. The YPG/YPJ forces gained the trust of the people by resisting attacks over the last 2 years by both the regime and the gangs. The YPG commander said that there is also an Arab battalion within the YPG and Christians in the public security force. He said that people have started to come back from Iraq and Turkey and that some of the people in Aleppo had fled attacks by ISIS gangs on villages in Kobanê. “We expect people to return now that we have established security in the Kurdish neighborhoods. Of course there are problems. For instance, unemployment. We have tried to resolve this with economic projects. Our part of Aleppo is an example of the progress we have made as regards our understanding of democratic autonomy,” he added. Posted by Urun Harvest at 3:58 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest The women's struggle will liberate the region We have three important items detailing advances by women in Turkey, North Kurdistan and Rojava. Steps forward in Amed/Diyarbakır In Amed/Diyarbakır the DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) municipalities are creating projects that will transform the region into women-friendly space. Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor Gültan Kışanak has said that Diyarbakır is a pilot city in this effort and that the issue needs to be opened to discussion by everyone in the city. Gültan Kışanak called for all women to come up with suggestions, ideas and plans and said that the municipality will be eager to work with them. She argued that women have the potential to transform the city and social areas and said, “This project also aims at the empowerment of women, their freedom, and creates spaces for their participation in social, political, and economic fields. Therefore, we want to create Women Cooperation in the districts to initiate this project with women.” Gültan Kışanak said that with women’s unification joined with the resources of the municipality, they will save the children from the streets and added, “Since this project serves mother-tongue education, it is also against assimilation. Women will be able to attend economic and or political activities if they find safer places in which their children are taken care of. It is very important for this reason.” A new organization forms The formation of Kongra Jinên Azad (KJA - Free Women's Congress) has been announced after the first Womens Congress was held under the inspiration of the Rojava Revolution headed by women. The KJA has explained that in order to fight against ideological and systematic attacks against women, they will work in collaboration with womens’ movements in Kurdistan and the Middle East and other world womens’ movements. Semiha Arı, a member of the Foundation for Solidarity with Women (KADAV), said that the KJA started with the motto “No women should remain unorganized” and that this is very important for the womens’ struggle. “The more women are organized, the more it is spread, we can revolt more strongly against this sexist society and the power of the state,” she said. Semiha Arı also emphasized that Rojava’s Revolution and Kobanê’s victory have shown women how vital self-defense and self-organization are and that was an important reason for the formation of KJA. Zelal Ayman, a member of the New Solutions for Women's Human Rights Association, stated that the KJA and the HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) are both focused on building alliances with people in the western regions of Turkey. She said, “Womens’ movements in Turkey are also a determining force in this regard because alliances cannot be formed without the will of both sides. The nationalist reflexes that accumulated over the years make it harder to form alliances in this regard…The more Turkish that the womens’ movement becomes flexible towards the Kurdish struggle and Kurdish women and the more they overcome their nationalist reflexes, the more it is going to be likely to form alliances.” Women are liberating Kobanê Women in Rojava’s Women’s Defense Forces (YPJ) have been in the vanguard of the resistance in Kobanê and are now also at the front in the operations to cleanse the villages of the ISIS gangs. DİHA news service reporters visted the fronts and met YPJ fighter Nergis, who was singing the popular resistance song “Kobanê iro xemgine” (Today Kobanê is sad) when the reporters met her. Nergis said, “We have defeated the mentality that sees women as slaves with our struggle. Today Kobanê is not sad, it is colorful.” Nergis is fighting on the western front and she emphasized that the women’s struggle at the front will continue. People’s/Women’s Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ) fighters who liberated Kobanê city are continuing their advance in the villages. Women are in the forefront of operations to cleanse the villages of gangs. Women fighters are taking up positions in villages that have been liberated, inspired by the victory achieved in Kobanê city. In the village of Qıran on the western front DİHA news service reporters met YPJ fighter Hevjin a few hours before an operation began against ISIS. Hevjin told the reporters, “The enemy is only a few kilometres away, but our morale is good. We have advanced to this point and we will continue to advance.” She added that that they will liberate all of their land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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