As ISIS Massacre in Sweida Druze call for “international force” protection as charges of Assad and Russian complicity surface.

Druze Women Kidnapped by Daesh.

“She thinks reports of the demise of Isis are exaggerated and dangerous. “Every politician wants to be the one to prove he has made real headway against this group. Granted, 97% of the territory it held is now gone. But 3% is still around 1,000 square miles. That’s not a small amount of land. And its caliphate was never just Iraq and Syria. It was this global project. It is growing in Niger, it’s growing in Nigeria, it’s growing in Afghanistan, in Libya. It’s like seeds that have gone to the wind.”

Rukmini Callimachi: the podcasting terror expert getting into the minds of Isis.

Emma Brockes

Yazidis in Afrin forced to convert to Islam

5th of August. ANF News (Kurdish News Agency)

Occupation forces are forcing the Yazidi people in Basufane village of Afrin to send their children to mosque. Those refusing to do so are subjected to torture.

According to the sources, Yazidi citizens A.S. ve F. S. were tortured by the gangs because they refused to obey this imposition.

According to sources from Kaxira village of Mabata district, Furqat al-Hamzat gangs under the command of Abu Amsha have turned the village school into a center where religious lessons are lectured.

The house of villager Henan Ebdo stated has been turned into a mosque where children are given religious lessons. Another resident’s house has been burned down by the gangs.

Two months ago, the gangs tore down the Afrin Yazidi Union building, detonated the Zarathustra statue and burned the books about the Yazidi faith kept in the building.

After a New Massacre, Charges That ISIS Is Operating With Assad and the Russians

Daily Beast.  ANNE SPECKHARD ARDIAN SHAJKOVCI

The slaughter in the Druze region of Syria cost hundreds of lives last month. It happened after the Druze told the Russians they wouldn’t fight for Assad.

July 25 in the Syrian province of Sweida a massacre began in the early morning. Ten jihadists from the so-called Islamic State entered Sweida town. They wore the traditional baggy trousers and loose-fitting overgarments of Druze men, but beneath the clothes they had hidden explosive vests. Three detonated in the main vegetable market, then one of them accompanied the many injured to the hospital and set off his explosive charge there. The other six suicide bombers were overcome before they could detonate, according to senior officials in the Druze community.

At the same time, hundreds of ISIS fighters entered three nearby villages, moving house-by-house slitting throats and shooting to death men, women and children. Some reported that the killers left a witness from each family alive to tell their hideous story. In all, 273 Druze were killed and 220 injured, Druze officials told us.

They strongly suspect that the attack by ISIS was carried out in cooperation with the Russian-backed Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, and this is corroborated to some extent by ISIS prisoners we have interviewed who are being held by U.S.-allied Kurdish forces here in northern Syria.  The Druse politicians and officials came here to try to forge an alliance with like-minded Kurds for mutual self-protection, which is when they told us the details of the massacre.

…

The horror of the Sweida massacre in an area most considered safe—and in these last moments when ISIS rule in Syria appears to be all but over—was magnified when the Druze learned that some of their women and children had been taken captive by ISIS cadres. “Most of the Daesh attackers were killed,” a Druze official told us. “The only escapees were those who were kidnapped in the first village: 29 women, teenagers and babies.”

One 19-year-old student already has been beheaded by ISIS, which also quickly posted pictures of their Druze female captives and demanded that the Syrian regime stop attacking them and exchange ISIS prisoners held by the regime for these women and children.

In addition to the sensational pictures of the helpless women holding their hands above their heads in the desert, ISIS sent a video of one of their Druze captives, 35-year-old A Shalguinz, who delivered her baby in the desert.

“Daesh said they will make them sabaya [slaves] if the regime doesn’t’ give 100 prisoners to them and the regime refused,” one of our interlocutors told us.

The article, by respected reporters of the horrors of the Syrian events gives details of why the Druze suspect Syrian state complicity.

“We think there is complicity between Daesh and the regime,” another of the Druze leaders said. “It’s so obvious to us. The regime refused to send ambulances to assist the population. They cut the electricity as well and the local telephone service to make it difficult to communicate. They couldn’t cut the mobiles.”

One of the 10 captured ISIS attackers admits on an interrogation video shared by the Druze leaders that in the village massacres a man from the Syrian government guided them from house to house, knocking on the doors and calling the inhabitants by name so they would unwittingly open their doors to the ISIS attackers.

This is the heartfelt conclusion,

The leaders of Druze mountain tell us that they are now also appealing to the international community to be protected by an international force, as the Kurdish area is protected by the Americans, and to assist them to bring back the kidnapped women to their families.

“To safeguard our community and to protect the diversity in the future of Syria, we need to create a crescent against aggressors,” said one of the politicians. Running from north to south, including parts of Iraq, it would protect the Kurds, the Yazidis, Christians, and Druze. “The minorities are looking to the Coalition as the only credible force in the area,” he said, adding, “The crescent strategically speaking would also cut the Iranians from access to the regime.”

The world must decide whether or not to respond, but the record thus far does not hold out much hope.

Background:

At least, 14 Syrian women from the Druze minority were kidnapped by ISIS after the last massacre in #Sweida.

ISIS sent these pictures to their families. These are their scared faces. Who will help these women?@akhbar pic.twitter.com/M1TFcFNgTk

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) July 28, 2018

Lebanon’s Druze leader attacks Syrian government over massacre

Reuters 27th of July.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The main leader of the Druze sect in Lebanon on Friday attacked the Syrian government for failing to stop an Islamic State massacre of Druze in Syria, saying it should have noticed the militants gathering to attack.

No one can tell me that the squadrons of many American, Russian and foreign planes did not see this gathering which suddenly took the regime by surprise and raided Jebel al-Arab,” said Walid Jumblatt.

Islamic State’s assault on the city of Sweida and nearby villages in the Jebel al-Arab area on Thursday killed more than 200 people, many of them civilians.

Syrian state media said the army had intervened and battled the militants with both ground forces and air strikes.

Jumblatt, who heads the largest Druze political party in Lebanon, is a strong critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Other Druze parties are pro-Damascus.

The Kurdish led YPG issued this statement,

People’s Defense Units (YPG) Press Office released a statement condemning the ISIS attack in Suwayda city of Syria.

The statement by YPG Press Office reads as follows;

On July 25, more than 250 people were killed and hundreds more got injured due to IS attack on the Druze people in the city of Suwayda. During the attacks, hundreds of other people, mostly women, were kidnapped by IS. The attack carried out through suicide bombings and the following random shootings, caused us great sorrow.

The attack reveals once again the true face of IS and shows clearly that this terrorist group must be destroyed as soon as possible. IS terrorist organization continues its existence as a threat to the Syrian and all Middle Eastern peoples. As People’s Defense Units we will continue to intensify our efforts to struggle against the IS. As YPG-YPJ defense forces, we will continue our struggle in every place where the IS terrorism is present. We once again emphasize our determination to fulfill our responsibility concerning protection of all the peoples of Syria, including the Druze people, and we declare that we are ready to protect them everywhere where it will be necessary. This attack is as burdensome and painful as an attack on Kobanê and Cizir for us.

We give our condolences and respect to the Druze people, to those who lost their lives in this massacre.”

There is an entire Wikipedia pages in English, and in French on these massacres:  2018 As-Suwayda attacks.  Attaques de Soueïda.

The lack of an international response led the French weekly Marianne to write with indignation:

SILENCE, DAECH MASSACRE LES DRUZES

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As Controversy Rages on Boris Johnson, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Backer of the Burqa Ban, is invited to Momentum Labour Fringe.

‘Disparition’ by Yemeni photographer Boushra al-Moutawakel.

Boris Johnson should be kicked out of Conservative party for burka comments, Muslim peer demands.

"An apology is not enough… Take the whip from him, why not?"

Senior Conservative peer and founder of the Conservative Muslim Forum, Lord Sheikh, says Boris Johnson should be kicked out of the Tories over burka comments @AlexForsythBBC | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/1XjfvWjLRg

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) August 7, 2018

Plenty of people have commented on the words of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party’s relationship to Islam, not to mention those who’ve joined in, with glee at the opportunity to attack the prejudices revealed amongst the Tories and their supporters.

In a different vein I began writing on the wider European and international context of the controversy this morning.

Johnson may speak for a ‘liberal’ attitude peppered with a  few rude words (personally I find his handling of the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case, prisoner of the Islamic Republic of Iran far far worse).

An obvious point to begin with is that  that the Danish Social Democrats,  Socialdemokraterne, backed the public ban on the burqa,

“The Liberal, Conservative and Danish People’s parties all voted in favour of the bill, as did the opposition Social Democrats with the exception of MP Mette Gjerskov, thereby securing the majority.” The Local. 

The full law needs looking at it:

So just to clarify…before you kick off…it is all face coverings that are banned in public spaces! https://t.co/2BmaQ8jyhl

— Ex-Muslims Forum (@CEMB_forum) August 6, 2018

Another issue would be the silence of most of the people now shouting about Johnson faced with this: (March 2018): Iranian woman who removed headscarf jailed for two years. “Prosecutor says woman took off obligatory hijab in Tehran street to ‘encourage corruption’.”

But, to return to the issue of the burqa in general,  France, the best known secular country,  has, with the support of many sections of the left, prohibited the full face veil since 2011 (Loi interdisant la dissimulation du visage dans l’espace public.) The bill was passed by the National Assembly by a vote of 335–1.

Amongst the left who backed the ban was Jean-luc Mélenchon, vocal in his enthusiasm for Laïcité, secularism.

It did not take long to draw some connections here, and the Spectator had got there before me:

Man who supported a burka ban to speak at Corbynista festival

Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The French socialist veteran who ‘inspired the European left with his radical campaign for the presidency in 2017’ will be speaking to a Momentum-heavy crowd at the event. And what is his view on Muslim dress? Well, it turns out he has advocated a full face veil ban, as well as stating that the burkini was ‘a provocation’ – and the ‘fruit of a Salafist religious offensive’:

‘It is not impossible or contrary to public freedoms and fundamental rights to legislate on dress practices if the defence of public order and human dignity justifies it. The complete concealment of the face is problematic from this dual point of view. It prevents any recognition of the persons concerned, which disturbs public order. And it also deprives them of social existence and undermines their physical and moral integrity which puts into question the dignity of the human person. It is therefore on this double basis that the law could affirm the obligation to have the face discovered in all public places.’

The Spectator gives no source for this quote but it a pithy and accurate summary of the views of the leader of La France insoumise (LFI).

Here is the site of The World Transformed 2018.

As a service to those attending the rally here are Some further indications of his stand:

From Tendance Coatesy: (2016).

Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the Burkini : “C’est une provocation”.

Dans Le Monde d’aujourd’hui, JLM condamne les “militantes provocatrices en burkini”.  Michelle Guerci.

«L’instrumentalisation communautariste du corps des femmes est odieuse. C’est un affichage militant, mais quand on est l’objet d’une provocation, mieux vaut ne pas se précipiter dedans […] La masse des musulmans est excédée par une histoire qui les ridiculise. Valls a eu tort d’en rajouter. »

The ‘communitarian’ * exploitation of women’s bodies is vile. It’s a militant badge, but even so when we are the target of a provocation the best thing to do is not to get involved…The majority of Muslims are frustrated by this row, which makes them look ridiculous. Valls (Prime Minister) is wrong to add to it.

Il ressort de cette interview que JLM, ne condamne ni les maires qui ont pris ces arrêtés, ni Manuel Valls qui les a soutenus,  ni la droite sarkoziste qui a orchestré cette campagne, ni le gouvernement qui laisse faire (3), mais des femmes accusées d’instrumentaliser leur propre corps ou de l’être par leurs maris, pères, cousins… Bref la fameuse COMMUNAUTE.

It is apparent in this interview that JLM neither condemns the Mayors who have instituted these by-laws, nor Manuel Valls (Prime Minister) who backs them, nor the (ex-President) Sarkozy’s right-wing which has orchestrated the campaign, nor the the government which has allowed this to happen, but the women involved, who have used their own bodies, or have been ‘used’ by their husbands, their fathers, their cousins…to put it simply, the famous “community”.

Le burkini est le fruit d’une offensive religieuse salafiste qui ne concerne qu’une partie de l’islam […] La question politique à résoudre reste celle du combat des femmes pour accéder librement à l’espace public.

The burkini is the product of a Salafist religious offensive which only affects a part of Islam….There still remains the political issue of women’s struggle for free access to the public sphere.

Michelle Guerci points out that the Burkini is in fact a relatively new phenomenon, which would itself be prohibited under the rule of severe Wahhabist codes.

******

When the law banning the bukha was first debated in 2010 this post was on Tendance Coatesy.

French Left Leader Backs Secular Freedom Against Religious Garb.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Here

On proposals to ban the Burka.

What is wrong with the Burka (voile intégral) ?  “D’abord parce qu’il est obscène.”

To start with it’s obscene.

“Si l’objet de la nouvelle loi est bien de garantir la liberté, l’égalité et la dignité de toutes les femmes qui vivent sur notre territoire, d’autres mesures seraient opportunes dans ce cadre.

If the object of the new law is  to guarantee freedom, equality and dignity of all women who live in our land, there are other measures which should be taken within this structure.

The Parliametary Left should amend the law (he is a Senator).

The aim should be to extend secularism.

It is time to impose the principle of ‘mixing’ (that is women and men should allowed to be together) in all public places. Today this principle is not guaranteed by law, even in schools.

For example, one cannot accept the rule that reserves certain hours in swimming pools for one gender. Or that certain types of sport should be reserved for one gender.

Finally, if the legislators are really coherent they should extend secularism to French overseas territories and to Alsace Moselle (where there is still recognition of religion as part of the state and the education system).

The LFI chef has not dropped his hostile views on Islamic ‘modest’ dress, as can be seen in this furious attack on his opinions on the veil  in 2017.

Sur la question du voile, les propos choquants de Jean-Luc Mélenchon dans « L’émission politique »

During the 2017 Presidential elections the (now)  Candidate for the  Élysée emphasised his backing for banning the burka (voile intégral).

Jean-Luc Mélenchon est pour l’interdiction du voile, s’il est intégral, mais n’envisage pas de légiférer s’il ne l’est pas.

And in May 2018 the LFI leader criticised the fact that the new leader of the student union Unef, Maryam Pougetoux,, who has a veil, comparing it to himself advertising religion by wearing an enormous cross.

Mélenchon sur le voile de la présidente de l’Unef à la Sorbonne : “C’est comme si j’arrivais avec une énorme croix”.

Many people will be uncomfortable with legislation on the issue of the face-veil, the burqa.

And with La France insoumise’s vision of a top-down administered secularism.

But from that to go and speak of this as if it’s simply a fashion choice, or worse, ‘celebrating’ it as a sign of diversity, is both insulting and reactionary.

The blood-stained tyrannies which have enforced this dress remind us that it is not, in the view of some currents of Islam, a ‘choice’ but an obligation.

As Terri Murray has put it, Why feminists should oppose the burqa.

The claim that covering yourself up in public is an empowering choice insults the intelligence and dignity of women everywhere, just as the theological claim that the burqa is a necessary defence against predatory male sexuality insults Muslim men insofar as it treats them as fundamentally incapable of responsibility for their sexual behaviour.

The reason Western feminists (male or female) object to seeing women in burqas is not that we can’t tolerate diversity, but that the burqa is a symbol of patriarchal Islam’s intolerance of dissent and desire to contain and repress female sexuality.

Without challenging the burqa we cannot challenge the oppressions it is bound up with.

At the minimum it is hard to disagree than nobody in a public function should  enforce their religious ideas of “Purity” and sexual segregation through the display of this oppressive costume.

Marie Laguerre on Street Harasser’s Slap “I can’t keep quiet and we mustn’t stay silent'”.

Harcelée dans la rue, elle publie la vidéo de son aagression (Le Monde)

Paris prosecutors opened an investigation Monday after a young woman was assaulted by a street harasser for telling him to stop, in full view of a terrace full of people and CCTV cameras in Paris’s 19th arrondissement.

France 24.

This outrage has been all over the francophone media – with good reason.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation Monday after a young woman lodged a complaint against a street harasser who hit her in the face after she told him to stop making obscene remarks.

The victim obtained a CCTV video of the incident that has since gone viral on social media.

The investigation involves sexual harassment and violence with a weapon after he threw an ashtray at the victim, resulting in an injury that will cause her to miss some work, French media reported.

Marie Laguerre, 22, posted footage of the incident on her Facebook page, describing how the man launched a series of “humiliating” comments coupled with whistles and explicit language as she was on her way home in northeastern Paris. (1)

So I let out a, “Shut up!” while making my way,” she wrote. “Because I do not tolerate this type of behaviour. I cannot keep silent and we must not be silent.”

But “this man didn’t like that”, she continued, explaining that he first threw an ashtray at her before following her and then “hitting her in the face in the street, in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses”.

Her Facebook post was accompanied by the video surveillance from the bar in front of which the incident took place. The video has so far been retweeted hundreds of times and the public video on Facebook has received hundreds of comments.

The French government announced in March that sexual harassment on French streets or in public transport will soon be punishable by an on-the-spot fine of €90. In announcing the measure, a government spokesman cited a 2016 survey that found 87 percent of women who use public transport had experienced harassment such as wolf whistles or comments on their appearance, intrusive staring or someone pressing up against them.

Only 2 percent of these women went so far as to file a police complaint, although in more than 85 percent of cases at least one witness was present.

The BBC has just reported on this:

France shocked by video of woman being slapped by harasser

Everyone at the cafe had found her response normal, she said, and the owner gave her the video to help catch the attacker. It has now been viewed more than a million times.

Ms Laguerre said fighting back against such aggression was hard, but all women were affected by it and it was time to say stop. “I can’t keep quiet and we mustn’t stay silent,” she wrote on Facebook.

(1)”Hier soir, alors que je rentrais chez moi, vers le Boulevard de la Villette dans le 19ème arrondissement à Paris, j’ai croisé un homme.

Il s’est permis de m’adresser des bruits/commentaires/sifflements/coup de langue sales, de manière humiliante et provocante à mon passage.

Pas de chance, c’était pas le premier de la journée et j’étais fatiguée. J’ai donc lâché un “ta gueule” en traçant ma route. Car je ne tolère pas ce genre de comportement. Je ne peux pas me taire et nous ne devons plus nous taire.

Ça n’a pas plu à cet homme. Après m’avoir jeté un cendrier dessus, il est revenu sur ses pas et m’a suivi dans la rue.

Il m’a frappé au visage, en pleine rue, en pleine journée, devant des dizaines de témoins.

J’ai porté plainte.

Ce n’est pas le seul. Le harcèlement c’est au quotidien. Ces hommes qui se croient tout permis dans la rue, qui se permettent de nous humilier et qui ne supportent pas qu’on s’en offusque, c’est inadmissible. Il est temps que ce genre de comportement CESSE.
#NousToutes

The reason why the video has been so widely shared can be see immediately.

 

Now in English:

 

While Marie Laguerre has received enormous support, some remark on the passivity of witnesses (a dubious point for reasons too obvious to cite):

#BFMStory Agression de Marie à Paris: "Je voudrais saluer son courage". "Une lanceuse d'alerte contre le harcèlement de rue", dit @MarleneSchiappa

📺 https://t.co/LIEhlp6yN7 pic.twitter.com/evJ2OXWsFI

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) July 30, 2018

Labour NEC Elections. Vote Ann Black!

Ann Black: the Members’ Voice.

As the Labour Ballot papers arrive I am voting for Ann Black and am deciding who else to back.

Many of us are unhappy about being called to vote for a left slate for which we – that is the overwhelming majority of the left activists – have had no say in drawing up.

No doubt like other left-wingers I will put a cross by some from the JC9. But how they were ‘selected’ remains a mystery, well it’s not a mystery, but it had nothing to do with 99% of the voters.

In these conditions while it is clear that many of the JC9 candidates are fine people it is up to us to decide who to cast our ballot for-just as it was for those who decided on the list to decide who was on it and who was not

Loyalty to ‘Jeremy’ is not enough.

Clearly a left-wing European socialist is not going to support long-standing right-wingers – a list which includes admirers of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Some may have a soft spot for Eddie Izzard, who has made a point of standing up for the pro-European left.

But his other views are not particularity left-wing.

As I say, I make one choice already, independent of the JC9: Ann Black.

I have known Black since the Original Grassroots Alliance (and Labour Reform) in 1998.

Like many I would then, and now, not agree with her views on everything.

But Ann has made it her business to stand up for ordinary members.

She has continued this while many of us left the Party.

Ann Black is a great people’s tribune: she stood up to Blair acolytes, and is now smeared for not being at a different group of people’s beck and call.

These are some of her guiding themes:

When I joined the NEC Tony Blair was the leader, followed by Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and now Jeremy Corbyn. Throughout that time my personal politics continued firmly on the left. I voted against austerity, privatisation, selective education, war in Iraq, Trident, and for public services, fair taxation, decent pensions and social security benefits, restoring funds to local government, and large-scale social housing, sometimes in a minority of three or four, now, with the popular 2017 manifesto, in the party mainstream.

While I have my own views, I consult widely and listen to what you tell me. All of us, particularly those with public profiles, owe loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn as our democratically-elected leader. However our party is a broad church, and In these polarised times it’s particularly important that every member is heard with respect, not treated as the enemy within.

Exactly: she is an independent centre-left voice who listens to the grassroots.

This is her reply to one of the best known smears against her:

The veteran activist, who lost the support of Momentum last month, said that the grassroots group had falsely accused her of robbing 125,000 members of a vote in the leadership election of 2016.

She countered that in fact Corbyn himself was to blame, after he appeared before the TV cameras instead of backing an NEC move to enfranchise thousands of members in that year’s ballot.

..

The ruling NEC infuriated Corbyn supporters that year when it voted to impose a ‘freeze date’ of January for eligibility for the ballot.

But Black said that she had proposed amending the cut-off date to June but her plan failed because the vote was tied.  Corbyn and fellow MP Jon Trickett left the meeting to give TV interviews about winning an earlier vote to put the leader automatically on the ballot paper

“If Jeremy had stayed, many thousands of additional members would have been able to vote,” Black wrote. “I may have committed other crimes, but that is not one of them.”

Huffington Post. 20.2.2018.

I talked to her properly at the Chartist AGM a few weeks ago: she is 100% approachable.

She is great.

Whatever else: Vote Ann Black!

Here are some reasons why:

Why Non-Factional Members Are Supporting Ann Black For The NEC

Luke Hurst

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Labour Party can be divided simply into the two camps that tend to dominate our internal affairs discourse. For the current NEC elections, on the left, there’s Momentum with Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) and Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA), and towards the centre, Progress and Labour First. But there is a growing number of middle-of-the-road members paying their annual subs, socialists appreciative of the leftward shift catalysed by the consecutive elections of Jeremy Corbyn yet loyal to neither slate and looking for a broad, pluralist left. In this year’s NEC elections, this group is presented with a highly appealing option in Ann Black and Open Labour.

Formerly the NEC chair and head of the disputes panel, and currently the National Policy Forum chair, Black’s non-factional bid for re-election to the NEC has been launched without the support of either key slate. This marks a change, given that Black had previously stood on the left slate before being (falsely) accused of supporting the exclusion of new members in the 2016 leadership election, and subsequently being removed.

Instead, she now stands independently on a decisively proud record of commitment to socialist policies and party democratisation. She has the respect of individuals from all parts of the party, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. She spoke truth to power throughout the New Labour years, opposing privatisation, the Iraq War and the centralisation of power; she fought for the extension of one-member-one-vote elections to different parts of our party and secured increased funding for CLPs. When some opposed Corbyn’s automatic inclusion on the 2016 leadership election ballot, Black voted for his inclusion, giving members a say.

With the political backing of only Open Labour – an impressive group that, since renewing its strategic aims, is emerging as a directional and potentially influential section on the left of the party, calling for diverse, tolerant socialism – Black stands distinguished as a formidable, experienced candidate able to represent large swathes of our membership and to build a broad, radical left where the two main factions cannot do this alone.

Although Momentum and Progress can be applauded for offering cohesive and consistent choices to some members in line with their values, this duality inevitably means that complex issues are condensed and independent thought is limited to parameters set by those leading the factions.

And what about those members who I spoke about earlier, socialists who may not be factionally engaged? We are a democratic socialist party of over 500,000 members, and many of us don’t relate entirely to a faction. There are valid criticisms of the dominant left and centrist wings of the party – and this doesn’t amount to rejection of them completely, or their contributions.

Without outspoken, independent socialists like Ann Black on the NEC, a large section of our party risks being deprived of representation. There is a reason that turnout in our internal elections is consistently so low. Debate is restricted and voting options are few. Members are expected to pledge allegiance to one of two factions, which do not represent plurality and breadth of opinion.

This can change. An organised, diverse left in the Labour Party is emerging and this is why the activity of Open Labour and activists like Ann Black is so important. As we debate our future relationship with Europe and how to rebuild Britain after eight years of Tory destruction, we should realise that our future lies in the enfranchisement of as many activists as possible – not just those who are factionally engaged. I genuinely look forward to using one of my votes to re-elect Ann Black to our NEC.

Luke Hurst is Co-Chair of Leeds Labour Students.

Toff Priyamvada Gopal Throws a Wobbly Over Uppity King’s College Porters.

‘Madam’ ne sied pas à son altesse, Dr Gopal.

Priyamvada Gopal is a person with a bit of a history.

Support for gender segregation in 2013, See, Gender Segregation and the Postmodern Politics of Despair.

Attack on Mary Beard earlier this year: Oxfam scandal sparks Twitter row between Cambridge academics.

Her latest escapade was not in long in getting into the media.

The Cambridge academic Priyamvada Gopal announced today that she will refuse to supervise any students at Kings’ College, due to what she described as “consistently racist profiling and aggression by Porters”.

The Cambridge Student.

This is apparently the substance of her charges.

She described one of her experiences at the college: “‘I repeatedly asked them to address me as ‘Dr Gopal’ and repeatedly failed to get them, including the aggressive Head Porter to whom I attempt to complain to address me as anything other than ‘madam.’”

Gopal apologised to students but pointed to similar testimonies from other members of the university from ethnic minorities. She said that a King’s student told her that “the issue of racial profiling and unconscious bias at the King’s gate is something we are aware of”.

The response from King’s College Visitor Service was described by the academic as a “classic nopology” – the head of the department stated “it has not been my experience”, according to Gopal.

The professor, who came to Cambridge in 2001, has been involved in several public controversies in recent months, including an argument with Mary Beard over the Oxfam scandal and a Daily Mail article depicting her as a “hate-filled don”.

She has also been an active user of Twitter as a platform for defending her beliefs, having 18,000 followers. In March, however, she announced she would tweet less as she feared “turning into an anti-troll”.

King’s College have said the following: “We have investigated the incident and found no wrongdoing on the part of our staff.

“Every visitor was asked to show their card during the course of that day, as the College was closed to everyone except King’s members.

“Non-members such as Dr Gopal were asked to take alternatives routes, around the College.”

“This was a matter of procedure, not discrimination.

You, madam, are an entitled snob.

— Jamie Palmer (@j4mi3p) June 18, 2018

Some might observe that Madam Gopal is the embodiment of conservative upper-class entitlement masquerading as the fight against oppression.

Apparently she has taken the following action ” I have finally decided on my behalf & of other people of colour.”

 

With deep regret but with 17 years of consideration behind it, I have finally decided on my behalf & of other people of colour @Cambridge_Uni to refuse to supervise any students at @Kings_College. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH of the consistently racist profiling & aggression by Porters. 1/2

— Priyamvada Gopal (@PriyamvadaGopal) June 18, 2018

Bless!

Solidarity with Lush Campaign Against Spy Cops!

Tell Lush They Are Right and Have Support!

We are ex-wives of undercover police officers who had relationships with other women without our knowledge, while we were married with families, and write with regard to the Lush campaign and reaction to it (Report, 5 June). We trusted our husbands (and their managers) and now feel betrayed. Although we have been recognised as core participants in the undercover policing inquiry, our voices have yet to be heard in public or within the public inquiry.

When she was home secretary, Theresa May set up a public inquiry to investigate undercover policing and the related concerns of significant malpractice. It was due to report back within three years. Three years on, the inquiry has yet to hear any evidence, including our own. Although the events in question took place many years ago, they continue to have a profound effect, and we are still waiting for the officers concerned (as well as their chain of command) to give an account in public. These officers, together with the Metropolitan police, have spent a significant part of the last three years seeking both anonymity and continuing secrecy as to their conduct within the inquiry. While this process continues and the evidence stage is further delayed, our view is that the amount of public money spent to date for such little progress is of far greater concern than the Lush campaign.

In bringing this issue to the attention of the general public, Lush has achieved far more in a weekend than the inquiry has in three years. Its campaign has not only drawn attention to the plight of some of the victims, but has also brought into focus legitimate concerns about how the inquiry is proceeding, which we also share. We would like supporters of the police who are criticising Lush to be aware that we, as affected police ex-wives, endorse the points that Lush are now publicising.

Although we are not involved in the Lush campaign, we recognise that it draws attention to legitimate concerns about how the inquiry is proceeding. Lush’s campaign is not an attack on hard-working police officers and we ask critics of the campaign to hold an open mind, look into the facts of this issue (which relate to a specific unit of undercover officers only – see uk.lush.com/article/spycops-statement) and to note that the families of undercover officers are also victims of this scandal. Together with other core participants, we still await answers.
“S” and “HAB”
Core participants in the undercover policing inquiry

Guardian

Called into Lush shop to buy present and express my solidarity. Along with many of the victims of #spycops I am grateful to Lush for supporting the campaign for truth and justice. It’s appalling its staff have been intimidated because Lush stood up for us. Let’s stand up for them pic.twitter.com/Hwhxfq8ade

— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) June 7, 2018

This Blog covered the case of Bob Lambert from when it first broke.

Sack Bob Lambert! – Police spy, agent provocateur, exploiter of women.  2014.

Bob Lambert, Police Spy, Sex Infiltrator, State Adviser on Islamism: The Met Pays Out.

Bob Lambert, Police Spy, Resurfaces to Offer to Advise Government on Islamists.

Today his name figures in this excellent article in the ‘I’:

Lush ‘Spycops scandal’ has real PTSD truths for every day life too

Deborah Orr

The cosmetics group, Lush, has been condemned for using what has become known as the “Spycops scandal” in an advertising campaign. Critics say that it was a cynical and exploitative stunt, and all just to flog bath bombs. Victims are considerably more enthusiastic about the attention it has drawn to the horrific psychological crimes they were subjected to, or suspect that they may have been subjected to. No one knows how many people were targeted in a protracted undercover operation run by Scotland Yard, which involved police posing for years as the lovers of women involved in political, environmental and animal rights campaigns that the government didn’t like, even going as far as marriage and children in the service of their false identities. They were called the Special Demonstrations Squad (SDS).

One name now in the public domain is Jim Boyling, who married and had two children with one of the women he spied on. Another is Bob Lambert, who had a son with a woman in her early 20s and left without trace when the child was two years old. He had a “real family” with someone else, and continued to have relationships with other women while secretly investigating their lives in their various protest groups.

The promiscuity of Lambert’s investigations allowed various women to put two and two together. The mother of his son didn’t realise what had happened until Lambert was outed by others. The woman had suffered psychological distress significant enough to call for psychiatric treatment. She took legal action and was awarded a compensation payout by the Metropolitan Police. Still, they refused to confirm or deny that Lambert had been a detective working for the SDS until a high court ruling forced them to. There has not been a great deal of progress since all this happened four years ago. The Lush campaign sought to highlight the need for a full public inquiry into the operation, particularly so that victims can ascertain whether they were deceived in this deeply intimate way. Many people involved in these groups, who met and had relationships with men they later lost touch with, have no idea at all whether they were duped.

Go to Lush and Back their Campaign for our Comrades!

After the Fall of Afrin and the Heroic Fight of Anna Campbell.

Anna Campbell: Died Fighting with her Comrades against Turkish and Jihadist Attack. 

Kurds devastated after Turkish-backed Islamists take Afrin

The mood amongst Kurds turned grim when Turkish-backed Islamist rebels took Afrin on Sunday and looted the town. Many Kurds were especially upset after fighters destroyed the statue of Kawa, the Kurdish blacksmith who is a symbol for the Kurdish New Year celebrations known as Newroz that will take place on March 21.

“I’m devastated, heartbroken, that’s the least I can say about this, I actually still can’t comprehend this,” said Berfin, a woman from Afrin who had fled to Aleppo. “We have an emotional bond with our land and the people there, the old men and women, our olive trees, Maidanky lake … it’s unbearable,” she said.

A day before the city was captured, the Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), took the decision to evacuate most people and move the local administration to the Shahba region, north of Aleppo. Rather then having Afrin surrounded, the town destroyed and hundreds of civilians killed, Kurdish fighters decided it was better to evacuate and withdraw.

Al Jazeera,  Erdogan vows to extend Turkey’s operation to Syria’s northeast

Turkey has vowed to expand its operation in Syria’s Afrin region to other Kurdish-held areas further east, prompting fears for a possible confrontation with US troops stationed in the area.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s plans to extend the operation a day after Turkish-led forces entered the city of Afrin in northwestern Syria virtually unopposed.

“We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli,” the Turkish leader said.

Turkey, together with the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, launched a military operation into Afrin region in January to vanquish the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, which it deems “terrorists” near its border.

Expanding Turkey’s military campaign into the much larger Kurdish-held territory further east would risk confronting troops of a NATO ally, the United States, that are deployed alongside a YPG-dominated force in northern Syria.

Turkish authorities have described the stretch of northern Syria under Kurdish control as a “terror corridor” on the long southern border.

The YPG has been Washington’s main ally against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Syria, in a partnership that has infuriated Turkey.

US criticism

Pentagon spokesman US Army Colonel Rob Manning reiterated Washington’s criticism on Turkey’s operation in Afrin in a press briefing on Monday.

“We are very concerned about the effect that fighting there [in Afrin] has had” on efforts to defeat ISIL, he said.

Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera that Ankara and Washington had reached a general agreement on Manbij and that the Turkish side is now waiting for its NATO ally to implement the deal.

Ankara considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its armed-wing YPG to be “terrorist groups” with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK has waged a decades-long armed fight against the Turkish state that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The YPG had come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the seven-year Syrian war.

It gained the territory after defeating the ISIL group while fighting in a US-backed rebel alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Erdogan also said in his speech on Monday that Turkey would carry out an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq if Baghdad does not clear the region of them, referring to the PKK presence there.

Drawn to a Cause, British Woman Dies Fighting Alongside Kurds in Syria. New York Times,

Anna Campbell, a young woman from southern England, did all of that. Last week, as the Turkish military and its Syrian rebel allies hammered their way into Afrin, in northwestern Syria, Ms. Campbell died for her commitment — the eighth Briton and the first British woman to be killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces.

In Britain, Ms. Campbell, 26, was active in causes like animal rights and environmental protection, but until recently, she had no personal connection to the Kurds. Yet she was deeply moved, family and friends said, by the fight to defend an autonomous, mostly Kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, whose leaders advocate a secular, democratic and egalitarian politics, with equal rights for women.

“She was somebody who saw the injustices of the world and the plight of the weak and vulnerable and disempowered, and she also saw the idealism, the amazing utopian vision of Rojava, and she found those two elements irresistible,” her father, Dirk Campbell, said in an interview. “She wanted to prevent that from being stamped out, which Turkey and Syria are trying to do.”

The Free Syrian Army, a rebel group, and Turkey declared on Sunday that they had taken control of Afrin, a mostly Kurdish city near the Turkish border that had been held by the People’s Protection Units, the Kurdish-led militia known by the initials of its Kurdish name, Y.P.G. The Kurds appeared to have withdrawn, but the Y.P.G. claimed in a statement that the fight was not over, and that it had only shifted “from direct confrontation war to hit-and-run tactics.”

Continue reading the main story.

La combattante internationaliste Anna Campbell tombée à Afrin 

Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign Press Release on martyrdom of YPJ volunteer Anna Campbell.

Read: https://t.co/JQcXii2RBh
Email info@kurdistansolidaritycampaign.org for more information. pic.twitter.com/5w3Pz2SZDi

— Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign (@KurdsCampaign) March 19, 2018

The Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign is devastated to hear of the martyrdom of Anna Campbell aka Helîn Qerecox. A prominent activist in Brighton and Bristol anti-fascist, anarchist and feminist circles, Anna went to Rojava in May to join the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) fighting the patriarchal, women-enslavers and rapists of ISIS. As a member of a workers’ co-operative and tenants’ right activist, Anna would have found common cause not just with the military fight against the ISIS fascists but also with the creation of a new society in Rojava built on common ownership and self-determination and the ethos of a co-operative society.

Anna’s sheer heroism was demonstrated by her insistence on taking part in the Afrin resistance despite the great danger of fighting against NATO’s second-biggest army and their array of jihadist proxies. Anna is not just the first woman from these shores to die fighting for the Rojava revolution, but the first British citizen to be killed by our NATO “allies” Turkey. It cannot be forgotten that NATO’s invasion of Afrin is illegal and has no basis in international law. Their attack on the convoy which killed Anna constitutes a war crime and we call on all progressive forces in this country to pressure the UK government to take firm action against Turkey. Enough is enough, we cannot stand by whilst our government colludes in Turkey’s war crimes, killing Kurds and British citizens alike, and reviving ISIS in northern Syria.

Anna’s act of bravery and martyrdom will never be forgotten by the Kurdish community, by her friends and comrades here and around the world, and by all those who fight for a better world. Through her acts she has become immortal and will live forever. Sehid namirin – the martyrs are immortal.” http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqflk

Eight British citizens have now lost their lives fighting for the Rojava revolution. We take on their struggle and redouble our efforts in support of the radical grassroots socialist democracy in northern Syria.

Şehîd namirin – the martyrs are immortal
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 pic.twitter.com/Y03TYCbUlX

— Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign (@KurdsCampaign) March 20, 2018

This how the ‘Free Syrian Army’ and the ‘National Coalition Of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces presented their murderous assault.