OCHA has reported that 92% of infants and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are not meeting their nutrient requirements, while the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a statement Friday warning that malnutrition among children is on the rise across the enclave.
In general, wars in which white soldiers from the global North—whether American or European, including, of course, Russians—do not directly participate receive very little global attention. This is the case of Sudan, which is witnessing a war between two exclusively local parties, even if fueled by regional parties, particularly through their support for the genocidal Rapid Support Forces militia.
Western imperialism believed that the process of capitalist restoration would gradually mold China into a liberal or neoliberal economic and political system and eventually turn it into a subordinate and compliant state. They had similar dreams about Russia at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse. But, as we see, in both cases, these dreams have turned into nightmares for them.
The events of the past decade and a half, much like the two world wars, have once again demonstrated that even in the most advanced societies, the foundations of capitalist order and civilization are neither absolute nor permanent. In times of crisis, these societies can rapidly descend into fragmentation, chaos, and conflict. Meanwhile, the condition of underdeveloped or so-called developing societies, already plagued by poverty, backwardness, and instability, continues to deteriorate.
It is of outmost importance that these social processes from below can generate politics. These social processes should engage people who seek for a political expression and revitalize the political scene by shifting it to a radical left direction. We have past experience of such a process in Greece.
There are two conspicuous myths about the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect last Sunday: that it was due to Trump’s pressure on Netanyahu, and that it was a victory achieved by Hamas.
It’s easy to see why this agreement has been greeted with a very cautious optimism by the Palestinians. Any respite from the horrors of the past year is welcome. It’s an extraordinary tribute to the legendary resilience of the Palestinian people that they have survived this holocaust at all.
In its desire to convince the United States and Israel of its ability to quell the Palestinian people, which necessarily implies an imitation of what the Zionist state does, the Ramallah PA has gone so far, while waging war on the Jenin camp at the same time that the Zionist forces were waging war on the Jabalia camp in the Gaza Strip, as to decide to ban the Al Jazeera TV network on its territory, similar to Israel’s ban of the same a few months ago.
The regime was saturated with corruption, patronage, and inefficiency. It had almost no support outside of the Alawite community, the grouping which the Assads belonged to. Even there, the support was often motivated by fear of the alternatives and being blamed by guilt by association for Assad’s crimes.
The plain fact is that once external support dried up, the regime collapsed like any “puppet regime” that is abandoned by the power that used to hold its strings. The latest striking example of such a collapse was what happened to the puppet regime in Kabul in the face of the Taliban’s advance, after US forces gave up propping it in 2021.
Women and children, situated at the lowest rungs of this hierarchy, are subject to intensified forms of physical, psychological and sexual violence that are products of the system. As the system’s crisis deepens, systematic violence escalates, until violence becomes the sole means of its survival.
It’s now clear that the “General’s Plan” of depopulating northern Gaza is not a possible policy operation but is being vigorously implemented in real life. The Plan’s objective is to clear an area north of the Netzarim corridor, a horizontal line across Gaza just south of Gaza City, of all Palestinians. It’s estimated that 400,000 Palestinians will be affected.
Students have the capacity to spark a political upheaval within the working class, but to advance effectively, the leading role of the latter is essential. Although the working class did eventually join the movement to some degree, their involvement has largely been as a mass rather than as a class and an organized political force.
Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian assistance and repeated attacks on aid convoys have sparked catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave.
Even though serious bourgeois newspapers have gone into hysterical overdrive about Sinwar’s killing, it’s not going to fundamentally change the situation. Of course, the killing of a central leader is a serious blow to Hamas. But Hamas is a mass organization; other leaders will be selected.
