South Korean president declares martial law to clamp down on opposition

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by TTE
Armoured truck surrounded by protesters

Protest against martial law in South Korea surrounds a military armoured truck

Protests have erupted in South Korea against the right wing president’s coup.

Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Tuesday night in a vicious crackdown on the left, labour movements and “anti-state elements”. He announced the measure under the guise of attacking “shameless pro-North Korean” elements.

South Korea’s national assembly swiftly voted to block the declaration of martial law, setting up a confrontation between MPs and the head of state.

According to the country’s constitution, a parliamentary vote can reverse such a presidential move. But the defence ministry swiftly declared that only the the president could lift martial law.

Thousands of protesters have gathered outside of parliament, and at times tried to enter the parliamentary building, only to be stopped by riot police. They chanted, “Lift martial law, protest democracy,” and, “Impeach president Yoon Suk Yeol.”

One person on the protest told Socialist Worker, “It’s 2am here—the emergency protest is ongoing for about 3 hours and it’s getting bigger and bigger.

“The army’s armoured truck came to the National Assembly, but the protesters surrounded it and blocked it so it can’t move an inch.”

Worker’ Solidarity, a revolutionary socialist organisation in South Korea, posted on social media, “Yoon-Seok-Yeol declares martial law. Let’s overthrow Yoon Seok-Yeol.

“The KCTU, the Korean trade union federation, should immediately order a general strike.”

The martial law declaration bans “all political activities, including those of the National Assembly, local councils, political parties” and demonstrations.

It adds that “all media and publications will be subject to the control of the Martial Law Command”. It also prohibits any strikes, work stoppages and protests that “incite social unrest” and demanded that media workers on strike have 48 hours to return to work or face punishment.

The move is a political gambit by the president to try and rally right wing forces behind him at a time when he is under attack from the left.

Since the Democratic Alliance won the general election, Yoon Suk Yeol has struggled to pass any of his legislative agenda. Instead, he’s been reduced to desperately vetoing any bills that the opposition had been passing. He and the opposition have been stuck in a battle over the budget.

And Yoon Suk Yeol has been hit by a number of scandals recently, including a corruption scandal with his wife.

Just last week, the opposition voted to cut almost £2 billion from his proposed 2025 budget and moved to impeach cabinet members for failing to investigate the corruption around the president.

In parliament, with 190 of its 300 MPs present, all 190 voted through a motion requiring the martial law to be lifted.

In justifying the martial law declaration, Yoon Suk Yeol claimed, “Our national assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyse the judicial and administrative systems and overturn our liberal democratic order.”

He went on to label the opposition as “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime”. He is mobilising Cold War language to try and bolster his authority and carry out attacks on the left.

The left must respond—trade unions should call strikes and working class people take to the streets. And they shouldn’t be reigned in by the Democratic Party, the social liberal party that dominates the opposition.

Instead, the moment should be used as an explosion of resistance against the broken system that Yoon Suk Yeol embodies.

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Sixth form college strikers slam Labour’s inaction over pay

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Thomas Foster
Workers at a picket line during the strike of non-academised sixth form colleges

A picket line outside of City and Islington College in north London (Picture: Socialist Worker)

Sixth form strikers vowed to “convince Labour through action” to give them a pay rise, as they began their second day of strikes on Tuesday.

Over 2,000 NEU union members at 32 sixth form colleges across England struck last Thursday. They are set to walk out on Wednesday—and plan further action next Friday and on 7, 8 and 9 January.

Labour snubbed workers at 40 sixth form colleges that haven’t been turned into academies in the summer. It announced that teachers will receive a fully-funded 5.5 percent pay rise this year, but didn’t include non-academised sixth forms.

There were solid picket lines across England. Zen, an NEU union rep at Loreto College picket line in Manchester, told Socialist Worker that the education secretary has effectively “split” sixth form colleges “in half”.

“The mood is very angry. We feel that we are undervalued. Why are we being treated differently to an academised sixth form college down the street?”

Around 20 people joined the picket line at City and Islington College in north London. “There hasn’t been any movement from Labour, so we will convince it through action,” one sixth form college striker told the picket line.”

Mike, a joint NEU education union rep at the college, told Socialist Worker that “there’s been complete silence from the government”. “It’s frustrating just being ignored,” he said.

He slammed Labour’s education minister Bridget Phillipson who “doesn’t seem to understand the arguments”. “It’s not very expensive to give us a pay rise, it doesn’t cost a lot,” he said.

Pippa teaches at the college and is joint secretary for Islington NEU union. She told Socialist Worker, “We’re out on strike because the national, pay award of 5.5 percent has been awarded to everyone but us.

“One thing is the unfairness. Another is that if ends up as have academised v non-academised, it will be breaking up our collective bargaining agreement and we will end up like a wild west.

“Our conditions of service will be eroded if that happens.”

Non-academised sixth form colleges also play a crucial role in our education system. Pippa said, “We offer a second chance to many students who haven’t thrived at school but are ambitious.

“Sixth form colleges provide places where those people can come and study in a place that isn’t quite like a school but allows them a bit more freedom and positivity.”

Despite this, successive governments have hammered sixth form colleges with cuts since 2010. They’ve lost the educational maintenance allowance, which helped disadvantaged children to come, tutorial hours, have had to shrink courses and now get less learning support workers.

“We know the government has money, look at how much they spend on weapons. And there are some very wealthy people in Britain who could be taxed. We need things to change,” Pippa said.

One striker told Socialist Worker, “I’m very angry. We are doing the same job as those who are being remunerated. It’s divisive to have our section separated from the others.” She thought that the move was “another push to academisation”.

Another striker said, “Is this really a Labour government? It is constantly talking about cozying up to business but that’s not where Labour came from.”

Rinny, a student activist, said, “I’ve been on the picket lines since I was at college. It’s important for students to come out and support teachers. My parent was a teacher and you can see the toll it takes on people.”

She argued that “teachers play an integral role” and “how little they get paid makes me incredibly sad”.

“The workload teachers are subjected to is a nightmare, at the very least we could pay them better.”

Sam, a joint union rep at the college, told the picket line, “We do what we do because we care about our students. I’ve been at this college for nearly ten years. I can’t imagine moving somewhere else.

“We’ve been ignored by the government and it will continue the deskilling of our colleges.”

Another striker said, “We have to keep up this fight until the government capitulates. Sixth forms must stay together as a group. We can win this.”

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Labour is driving state racism

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Arthur T
Keir Starmer

Heading up the government. Keir Starmer is driving state racism (Photo: Flickr/UK Parliament)

The Tory government locked up refugees on a prison barge in Dorset, tried to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and built a “hostile environment” for migrants. But according to Labour prime minister Keir Starmer, that wasn’t the problem with Tory immigration policies.

Instead, he claims, the Tories ran an “open border experiment” by “design, not accident”. He promised that the Labour government would “turn the page” and clamp down on immigration.

Labour launched a charm offensive with the right last week. Starmer crossed the floor of the House of Commons to shake hands with Nigel Farage, leader of far right party Reform UK.

Why is Labour trying to out-racist the Tories and Reform UK?

The answer partly lies with Labour chasing right wing votes. Reform UK has been taking support from the Tories and Labour in by-elections. Starmer and his team fear they will haemorrhage support in the local elections next May. And so Labour tries to be more right wing.

This has been the pattern throughout Labour’s history. Rather than challenging right wing and racist lies about migrants, Labour makes concessions and brings in harsher rules.

In 1968 the right wing press whipped up a scare that Asians in Kenya, who had British passports, would “flood” into Britain. Labour rushed through a blatantly racist immigration law in less than two days.

That only emboldened racists and pulled the political climate to the right. Labour’s pandering to racism didn’t win it back support but it did help the right.

This was the context for the infamous Rivers of Blood speech by one of Farage’s heroes, Tory MP Enoch Powell. Labour’s betrayals also fuelled the rise of the fascist National Front

Today, Labour’s pandering will boost Reform UK and supporters of Nazi Tommy Robinson. This will in turn see Labour shift even further right. Labour isn’t just making concessions to racist scapegoating—as the government, it’s driving it.

It’s part of Starmer presenting himself as a safe pair of hands who rules in the “national interest”.

But immigration is not a “real problem” that has to be “managed”. Politicians claim there aren’t enough homes, schools or hospitals to accommodate rising numbers of people.

The real reason there are not enough houses and hospitals is because of over a decade of Tory austerity—and Starmer’s refusal to break with it. There is plenty of money in Britain—it’s just in the wrong hands. That’s a real problem.

Sexism isn’t working class

TV “personality” Gregg Wallace last week suggested that complaints about his sexist behaviour came from “middle class women of a certain age”.

Wallace seems to think that making lewd comments in the workplace is fine if, like him, you are a working class man from Peckham. And the likes of millionaire Penny Lancaster should learn how to take a “joke”.

But sexism has nothing to do with so-called “working class culture”. Instead, these backward ideas runs right through society and are repeated by those at the very top of the system. 

The undeniably posh former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson once called female Labour MPs “hot totty”. And one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders was billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Sexism of the kind that Wallace is accused of is common in workplaces. More than half of women surveyed by the TUC trade union federation had experienced sexual harassment at work, often related to unwanted sexual jokes.

Women from all backgrounds experience sexism. But it is often a way for the rich and powerful to keep working class women in their place. We should all stand up to sexist bullies at work.

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Industrial round-up: University bosses’ plan job massacres

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Arthur T
Unite workers on strike over discrimination at UCU union (Photo: X/@GoldsmithsUCU)

Unite workers on strike over discrimination at UCU union (Photo: X/@GoldsmithsUCU)

Workers at Newcastle University have started a consultative ballot after bosses announced £35 million of spending cuts.

The university claims it needs to make cuts due a fall in the number of international students, who pay much higher tuition fees. But the UCU union says the university should rein in fat cat salaries and reduce spending on projects such as new buildings.

A UCU member at Newcastle told Socialist Worker, “The employer has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies or provide information that we have requested regarding the financial situation or adequate equality impact assessments.

“We are seeking guarantees for members of all contract types to ensure that staff do not pay for the failure of senior university management.

“We are recommending a yes vote in this indicative ballot for industrial action. A successful result and a good turnout would result in authorisation of a postal ballot that is legally required to take industrial action.

“The problem is the funding model and the way it relies on student fees. The way education is funded has to change otherwise we will see this year on year. This can be funded by taxing the super-rich.”

Newcastle UCU branch chair Matt Perry told Socialist Worker, “Too many people’s futures—both students and staff—are being destroyed in the sector wide job cuts. And the union needs concerted protest action to prevent catastrophe.”

Dozens of other universities are announcing cost cutting measures. Such measures are predicted to affect over 100 of Britain’s universities by the end of the year.

Sunderland university has threatened to make 76 workers redundant, including both academics and support staff. Brunel university in west London has talked about redundancies that could affect 130 full time workers.

This is a cut of 14 percent for academic staff and 25 percent for other staff. The University of East Anglia (UEA) has announced it wants to cut 170 full time equivalent posts to try to save £11 million. It has already axed 400 workers by using a voluntary redundancy scheme and freezing recruitment.

University workers say that the cuts are likely to affect subject areas such as the arts, humanities and languages. They will limit working class young people’s opportunities. UEA UCU union co-chair Nick Grant said, “Staff and students are potentially being thrown under a bus because of the historic mismanagement of the institution.”

The Labour government’s recent increase in tuition fees will do very little to address the ongoing catastrophe in higher education. The UCU is also set to end a national consultation over the bosses’ latest pay offer which could see strikes in universities across Britain. 

Unite workers set to strike over UCU’s discrimination

Unite union members who are employed by the UCU union are set to strike for three days from Monday of next week.  They are in an ongoing dispute this year over serious problems with the culture and environment in their workplace.

This relates to issues of discrimination against black workers, high workloads and work related stress and the lack of an agreement from the employers about a policy on working from home.

The Unite members are also angry about a breach of the organisation’s recognition agreement with Unite after some members left to join another union and the

UCU recognised it. The UCU is now pushing ahead with a restructure. Unite members say it should be focused on resolving the dispute.
Unite said, “We want to improve our workplace and improve the support for UCU members. That’s why the employer needs to pause their plans and resolve the dispute.”

Another dispute at Ford Dagenham

Workers employed by Lineside Logistics in London are being balloted for strikes.  The Unite union workers at Lineside are based in the Ford Dagenham site in east London.

They have rejected a 2.5 percent pay offer. Workers at Lineside are also angry at the state of the toilet facilities and potential union-busting as one active Unite member was dismissed for spurious reasons. 

 The ballot closes on Wednesday of next week. It comes after over 1,000 workers at Ford Dagenham and the Speke plant, in Liverpool, struck over pay and contract terms last month.

Strikes are just the ticket in Hounslow

Traffic wardens in Hounslow are set to strike over pay throughout December and January.  The Unite union workers, employed by NSL, recently rejected a derisory pay offer.

Strikes were set to take place from Thursday to 27 January.

Capita pensions workers ballot

Unite union workers at Capita Life and Pensions are being balloted for strikes. In Manchester, Plymouth and Glasgow, workers were due a pay rise in April this year.

Capita postponed pay talks and assured workers they would see their pay rise in October, but that never happened. The ballot will close on Tuesday 17 December.

Harrods workers have had enough

Around 250 workers at luxury store Harrods in west London will begin balloting for strikes on Thursday. Their UVW union said workers “faced stripped benefits, staff shortages and stagnant wages” while the Harrods boss received a
£2.1 million salary.

Workers are demanding an above-inflation pay rise, a £500 Christmas bonus and more staff to cover shortages. Strikes could begin on 19 December.

Will strikes take off in Edinburgh?

Tanker drivers employed by North Air at Edinburgh airport could strike. The Unite union members recently rejected a 4.5 percent pay offer from North Air after years of below inflation pay increases.

North Air is the only fuel supply company at Edinburgh airport. Unless North Air produces a better offer, workers have said they have “no option” but to strike.

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The limits of Labour’s Employment Rights Bill

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Arthur T
Keir Starmer employment rights bill

Labour’s Employment Rights Bill isn’t on the side of workers (Photo: flickr/Keir Starmer)

Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, which is currently making its way through parliament, is fairly extensive and should make employment lawyers busier than they’ve been for a while. But it isn’t necessarily comprehensive.

A number of measures are also welcome, especially after the attacks of the Tory years. Top of this list is the repealing of one of the the biggest barriers the Tories put in the way of effective industrial action—the Trade Union Act of 2016.

Here, the Bill proposes that a simple majority will be enough for a valid yes vote in a strike ballot, instead of the 50 percent turnout threshold required by the Tory rules.

The Bill will make union recognition easier in several ways. It could strengthen measures aimed at stopping bosses undermining workers figthing for union recognition. This includes bosses using large-scale recruitment to scupper recognition campaigns.

That’s what Amazon did when it brought in 1,300 new workers to dilute the GMB union’s membership, ending any recognition bid for the moment.

Other elements of the Bill aim to make it harder for employers to impose zero hours contracts. And a new requirement for bosses to draw up Equality Action Plans, showing how they intend to reduce gender and other pay gaps, also seems promising.

But much of the Bill brings to mind what the great Irish satirist Jonathan Swift said about the law— or, more precisely, the loopholes in the law.

“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let hornets and wasps break through,” he wrote.

The Bill’s main weaknesses lie here—and in what it doesn’t cover. A widely trailed promise to introduce electronic balloting is missing. Instead the government has promised a “round table” with various experts.

But this sounds like kicking it into the long grass, presumably for fear that it would actually make organising industrial action easier.

The Bill also includes concessions to bosses. In particular, Labour has weakened a move to make unfair dismissal a “right from day one” rather than the present two years.

Instead, the Bill includes a “light touch” procedure for dismissals during an “initial period” which could be as long as nine months.

Socialists see unions places where workers can learn to fight for a better world. In contrast, Labour regards the main role of unions as “negotiation and dispute resolution”—in the words of an accompanying document to the bill.

Tellingly, the government makes clear that it isn’t repealing legislation limiting unofficial industrial action because it fears more would take place. But this is how the campaign for union recognition at Amazon began, with an unofficial walkout over pay in August 2022.

Unofficial and solidarity action—when workers strike in solidarity with another group—was the sort of activity that built the trade union movement in the first place. And strong shopfloor organisation made Britain a slightly more equal place in the 1970s, before the Tories began their assault on organised labour.

The Employment Rights Bill ends some of the worst restrictions on workers’ organisation imposed by the Tories, but it also shows the limits of Labour’s vision.

It doesn’t go far enough.

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Strikes in Manchester mental health service

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Arthur T
Manchester mental health workers on strike

Unison union mental health workers on strike in Manchester

Some 40 health workers in Manchester are preparing to return to picket lines next week in a vital strike for better mental health services. And they plan to escalate their action to a three-day strike, starting on Tuesday next week.

The Unison and Unite union members are nurses, psychologists, social workers, support workers, welfare rights workers, CBT therapists and employment specialists. They work for Manchester Early Intervention in Psychosis teams.

Unison assistant branch secretary and striking social worker Claire told Socialist Worker that the mood among her colleagues was “solidly behind the action”. But she said that so far neither management, nor the health bosses above them, have budged on the main question. That’s the lack of resources and appropriately skilled staff.

She described early intervention mental health services in Manchester as “totally overwhelmed” and said that underfunding of those teams was a “false economy”. “An increase of just one additional person to the caseload of an already overworked care coordinator can lead to hospital admissions going up,” she said.

“Too big a caseload causes an increased reliance on anti-psychotic medication. It carries the risk of rapid weight gain—up to 3.7 stone per year—which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular problems and diabetes.

“The NHS services that then have to pick up the pieces are themselves under resourced but still have to deal with the consequences.”

Claire pointed out that her service has only two physical health workers to look after the interests of more than a thousand service users. This can have devastating consequences.

“Life expectancy for someone with severe mental health problems is up to 20 years lower than for people without,” she says. Union members have for several years fought for a better service, and the current dispute has been four years in the making.

Now a management proposed reorganisation of the Community Mental Health teams threatens to make an already bad situation worse. Waiting lists for those teams are extensive.

And, because of service pressures, there is a push to discharge people despite them having been assessed as having a severe and enduring mental health condition. This is thought to have been the case for hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals over the last few years.

Claire says many workers found the decision to strike difficult. But, she says, everyone, including service users, understands that things “cannot go on like this”. This strike is a vital part of the fight for better mental health services across Greater Manchester. The region has some of the highest mental health needs in Britain, but some of the lowest spending per head of population.

“This dispute has national implications because we are fighting the government for more resources,” said Claire. “When it comes to wars, the government seems to have endless resources. But what about heath? We are hoping that everyone will get behind our fight.

“We would love to see other mental health workers, service users and their friends and families on our picket lines.

  • Join the picket line Tuesday 10 December between 8am and 11am, Prestwich hospital, Bury New Road, M25 3BL. Nearest tram stop is Prestwich
    Send messages of support to [email protected]
West Wales HCAs walk out

Hundreds of healthcare assistants (HCAs) in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot are set to walk out next week as part of a rash of disputes over pay banding.

The Unison union members are planning a two-day strike beginning next Tuesday. The move follows that in dozens of other trusts in England where workers were described as “non-clinical”. For years they were placed in the NHS’s bottom pay bracket—band 2.

Bosses in the Swansea Bay area insist the HCAs only perform patient personal care tasks. But workers know that’s not true. HCAs regularly take blood, do ECG tests and perform clinical monitoring.

No wonder they voted by 99 percent to strike in a recent ballot and are confident of success. Neath Port Talbot Hospital healthcare support worker Hollie said, “The strikes will show that healthcare support workers are serious about getting fair pay for the work they do. We love our jobs, but we want to be paid properly.”

Similar disputes across England have won—and generated back pay settlements that sometimes run to five years. That means some workers can expect a payout worth thousands of pounds, in addition to a salary increase of around £2,000 a year.

Essex and Suffolk fightback

Striking NHS cleaners, porters and housekeepers in Essex and Suffolk have a big week ahead of them. The 350 Unison union members are on strike until Friday 13 December, or until the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS trust abandons plans to outsource their jobs.

The trust board is set to meet this Thursday but according to the union, it won’t announce its decision until the following Monday at the earliest. Rep Matt Prior says the union will carry on the fight if the trust board votes the wrong way.

“We’ve still got hundreds of us out on strike every day and we’ve got good numbers on the picket lines,” he told Socialist Worker.

London fights outsourcing

Hundreds of NHS domestics, porters and cleaners working for hospitals in south London completed a four-day strike over management bullying and pay on Monday of this week.

The GMB union members are contracted out to hated outsourcer ISS, and work at the Croydon Mayday, Maudsley, Bethlem, Lambeth and Lewisham hospitals.

“Our members have had enough of being bullied, harassed and taken for granted,” said union official Helen O’Connor. “They work hard ensuring hospitals are safe, clean and that patients are well fed and get to appointments on time.

“We are calling on Croydon NHS and South London and Maudsley NHS to get involved in resolving this dispute as they have ultimate responsibility over these contractors.” Workers are right to fight to be valued and respected.

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Spycops scandal puts British state on trial

Posted on: December 3rd, 2024 by Arthur T
Police tape spycops

Spycops scandal shows there are no lines the police—or the state—won’t cross

“Everything about my life has just been absolutely ruined…I don’t really have a life anymore.” Those are the words of a woman known as Jacqui, speaking last week about how she feels now she has learnt the truth about notorious spycop Bob Lambert.

Lambert fathered a child with Jacqui—and had intimate relationships with at least three others—while spying on animal rights and environmental groups in the 1980s.

Jacqui was giving evidence to the Mitting Inquiry, which is investigating the role of 139 undercover police officers in infiltrating left wing groups.

The callousness of the way Jacqui was treated was not confined to the sexist attitudes of the 1980s. She—and her son—received no support when she accidentally found out her ex-partner’s real identity in 2012.

The spycops’ targets included animal rights groups, anti-racists, socialists and environmental protesters. As a way of integrating themselves into groups and gaining trust, cops manipulated women into relationships.

But a clearer picture is emerging about how spycops didn’t limit themselves to deceiving and traumatising women. They also misreported the nature of protest movements and tried to incite victims to increasingly extreme forms of protest.

Lambert is a particularly odious character. He spent years spying on Jacqui, including during the “intimate experience” of childbirth when he cut their son’s umbilical cord. 

We’ve known for a while that Lambert didn’t just passively report back what he found—he was central to key moments of direct action. And he was responsible for co-authoring an anti-Mcdonald’s leaflet that was at the centre of the “McLibel” trial between the multinational and anti-capitalist activists. Ending in 1997, it was the longest trial in English legal history. One its defendants, Helen Steel, herself became the focus on a spycops relationship at the hands of undercover officer John Dines.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is now focusing on how the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) spied on animal rights groups from 1983 to 1992. Five witnesses told the inquiry that Lambert was responsible for planting an incendiary device inside a Debenhams department store in 1987. The fire at the shop in Harrow, west London, caused some £340,000 worth of damage.

Andrew Clarke and Geoff Sheppard, were sent down for three and four years respectively for causing the fire. Now four activists have told the inquiry that Lambert was responsible for planting the device and was central to organising the action.

This is significant, partly because Lambert is such a central figure to the Spycops scandal. He received special commendation for his time under cover and went on to become the boss of the SDS. Later on he forged a career as a university lecturer, receiving an MBE in 2008.

Activists served prison sentences and had their lives torn asunder by the actions of undercover cops. The spycops themselves not only escaped legal justice but sometimes went on to have glittering careers.

The spycops scandal shows us what the British state thinks of ordinary people. Spycops stole the names of dead children. The state thinks their identities are conveniences to be plundered. And it thinks women’s bodies are assets to be manipulated and then discarded.

Spycops weren’t exposed in a moral reckoning by the Metropolitan Police. They were found out because of tireless campaigning by activists. Instead of immediate and frank accountability, the cops initially tried to hush the story up by conducting their own internal investigation.

The real test of the Mitting Inquiry cannot just be in exposing the horror of the spycops’ behaviour. Undercover cops should be held accountable to the law—and there needs to be real justice for victims of their lies.

Lambert may continue to evade real reckoning for now. But it is undeniable that the spycops scandal has exposed the mucky reality of the British state and the lengths it will go to criminalise activists.

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Imperial rivals circle Syria as civil war returns to Aleppo

Posted on: December 2nd, 2024 by TTE
Syria has been torn apart by imperialism and civil war

Syria has been torn apart by imperialism and civil war

Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria faces its biggest challenge in a decade as the civil war ­reignited last week. Forces led by Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), an armed Islamist group backed by Turkey, launched a military offensive in the north of the country.

HTS was formed out of a merger of several groups in 2017. Its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani broke away from the Al Qaeda organisation in 2016. It took control of Syria’s second city, Aleppo, last week and its ­militarised forces are now pushing further into the country. Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, is determined to regain control.

Syrian socialist Ghayath Naisse told Socialist Worker that in order to unpick the latest events, it was important to understand three things.

First, the 2011 Syrian Revolution (see below). Second, Assad’s brutal civil war to defeat it. And third, the imperialist wars and ­rivalries that dissect the region. “After Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel last year, the Turkish regime called for the normalisation of relations with the Syrian regime,” he said.

“This process was slow, and Syria refused to advance it because Turkey was unclear about its armed presence in Syrian territory. The Syrian regime would not negotiate because it wants a ­monopoly over the region.”

Ghayath said that, in part, the Turkish state wants a presence in Syria as a means to expand its economic and imperialist influence. But, he added, its main objective in Syria is to crush the struggle for a Kurdish nation state.

Turkish president Recep Erdogan has waged a brutal and repressive war against the Kurds, who maintain a presence in the north east of Syria, as well as parts of Turkey.

That enclave, known as Rojava, borders Turkey and is backed by Kurdish groups there. Last Sunday, HTS began to attack the Kurdish population north of Aleppo.

Ghayath outlined why HTS—and Turkey—sees a key opportunity to mount a challenge to the Assad regime. 

“HTS is the most significant armed Islamist group in Syria, and is heavily backed by Turkey,” he said. “Hezbollah and Iran heavily support the Assad regime—but they are struggling with Western ­imperialism and Israel.”

Because Assad, Iran and Hezbollah are so closely bound up, an attack on any one of them effectively weakens them all.

“Russia also supports Assad’s regime, but its backing is constrained by the war it is fighting against the West in Ukraine.

How the Syrian revolution was lost
How the Syrian revolution was lost
  Read More

“That we are in a period of ­transition between US administrations is also a factor—the Turkish state knows that president-elect Donald Trump likes Erdogan. Looked at this way, now is a good time for Turkey to attack Assad.”

But that dynamic is contradictory, because the United States doesn’t want the chaos that would come with the fall of the Assad regime.

Ghayath said, “HTS will create a very unstable regime, so the US will likely support Assad to keep some stability for the sake of ­imperialism”. He added that “the group’s main objective is to control more of Syria”.

And that serves Erdogan’s interests because it pressures Assad into negotiating with the Turkish regime. “There could be a new agreement between Turkey, Russia and Assad, which would inevitably see Erdogan gain more influence in Syria,” he said.

“As HTS develops its attack, Russia will intervene to limit it and then negotiate with Turkey to find a new agreement.”

Russia was slow to respond to HTS’ initial offensive last week but has now launched air strikes into Aleppo.

“The winner in this event is Turkey,” said Ghayath. “That’s mostly because Syria’s international supporters are engaged elsewhere. Erdogan has found the exact strategic moment to intervene in the future of Syria. And his state will also reinforce its ability to repress the Kurds.”

Ghayath says HTS is challenging Assad’s regime but is, in effect, acting in the interest of the Turkish state. “Between 2014-24, Syrian people protested against HTS,” he explained. “The Islamist group is against civil rights and freedom of opinion, it oppresses women and is socially conservative. Like many religious-inspired groups, it is full of contradictions.”

Amid a melting pot of imperialist rivals fighting over Syria, Ghayath stressed, “There is nothing here that is in the interest of the people. There’s just bloodshed.

“We are against this war—and we demand the withdrawal of all forces from our country and to give Syrian people the right to self-determination.”

How Assad used sectarian war to break a revolution

The Syrian Revolution was part of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. Its target was Bashar al Assad, a dictator who has run the country since the death of his father, Hafez, in 2000.

Anger at years of poverty and dictatorship boiled over into mass protests, and by March 2011 huge forces battled against state repression. Workers and the poor played the central role in the fighting.

In response, Assad launched a brutal, sectarian civil war in a bid to drown the revolution in blood.

Ordinary people, many of whom had never fired a weapon in their lives, joined newly formed militias to fight against the regime.

The militias themselves were often formed by soldiers that had broken ranks and refused orders to fire on the people.

In an attempt at coordination, the militias together formed the Free Syrian Army. But the resistance remained fragmented, and without a centralised command. By 2014, Assad was receiving military support from Iran and Russia.

Russian president Vladimir Putin sent in airstrikes against the revolution in a bid to shore up the regime. Iran also used its influence to persuade the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah to back Assad.

Imperial powers used that as a pretext to “intervene” in Syria. The United States threatened to bomb Assad’s regime, and then backed Kurdish forces in the north that were fighting against him too. But the West quickly abandoned the Kurds after Turkey invaded northern Syria.

Assad succeeded in crushing the revolution but at some cost. Syria was now more divided than ever, with both regional and major imperial powers vying for control.

Today, the regime controls roughly 65 percent of Syria, and even that is thanks mainly to Russian airpower.

Armed Islamist groups, such as HTS, are winning ever more territory in the north of the country. There they are in conflict with Kurdish fighters for an independent state.

Since the revolution, Ghayath said that Assad’s regime has been “militarily weak, relying on other regional powers for military and economic support”.

“The region is exhausted. There’s no electricity, water or healthcare—people’s basic needs are not being met. And this means the people have little means to survive, let alone resist.”

Assad is relying on their impoverishment to stay in power.

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