IWC Newsletters 268 & 269 (France, Russia, Sudan, Palestine (Gaza, West Bank)

June 2 antiwar rally in Paris sponsored by Workers Party gathers 1,800 activists

IN THIS POSTING:

FRANCE : Editorial of La Tribune des Travailleurs  (Worker’s Tribune): “Those who fear breaking with capitalism cannot defeat the far right”

RUSSIA : Revolt is brewing in the army

SUDAN: “A war no one talks about” – La Tribune des Travailleurs/ Workers’ Tribune’s report from a French-Sudanese woman, Manal Alfakira

PALESTINE – Gaza : a new Israeli war crime in Nuseirat camp — By Tareq S. Hajjaj, member of the Palestinian Writers’ Union from Gaza

Press review: Why did Gantz resign from the Israeli War Cabinet?

Renewed pogrom in the West Bank _ by J.A.

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FRANCE

Editorial of La Tribune des Travailleurs  (Worker’s Tribune) – N° 445 (June 19, 2024)

“Those who fear breaking with capitalism cannot defeat the far right“

If they really want to ward off the threat of the far right, the leaders of the “left” who are calling to fight it should learn the lessons of the past.

Over the past 43 years, the Fifth Republic has been headed, during 19 of those years, by a “socialist” president, then, for a further five years by a cohabitation government with a “left-wing” cabinet and a rightwing president.

During those 24 years, Communist, Socialist, Green and future rebel ministers stubbornly refused to carry through with a genuine break with the Fifth Republic and capitalism. As a result, workers and young people who had given massive support to those parties in 1981 have gradually turned their backs on them.

If a majority of MPs belonging to the New Popular Front managed to defeat the far right in the ballot boxes on 30 June and 7 July, they would be faced with the choice of either committing themselves to a genuine break with the past, or turning their backs on it and returning to the path of supporting the destructive policies dictated by big business. In the medium term, this would guarantee the far-right victory, which has this time been delayed.

In this paper, you can read about the terrible consequences of the new medical agreement signed between the public healthcare insurance system and the unions of general practitioners. The agreement requires GPs to reduce the number of medicines administered to patients with multiple medications. Does this decision meet health criteria? Not at all! It stems from the obligation to reduce public deficits, treaties since the Maastricht Treaty. The European Central Bank is seeing to that. President Macron is to guarantee that those deadly European treaties are implemented as requested by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.

A socially progressive government should, as soon as it takes office, repeal this heinous medical agreement. Understandably, this means breaking with the institutional framework.

Two rationales are conflicting: to reduce public deficits or to shorten patients’ lives.

The funds exist as we all know. The over €100 billion in dividends paid to shareholders every year, the hundreds of billions in the military program law… There is money. But to confiscate that money, one must not fear to break free from the straitjacket of the Fifth Republic institutions and the European treaties. One must not fear to break free immediately, to make policies focusing on life a reality and not the orders of the European Central Bank.

That is the meaning of working-class rupture.

Giving in to the power of bankers and of the military or meeting the needs of the people? Beyond 30 June, this alternative will be solved by the mobilization of workers and young people.

That is why it is vital to unite forces around a program for a working-class break with the past. That is what the Parti des Travailleurs (Workers’ Party) is all about, what it is fighting for and what it is building itself for.

• Daniel Gluckstein

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RUSSIA

Revolt is brewing in the army

Taking the floor at the Duma (Parliament) on 11 June, General Chamanov, a member of parliament and former commander of the airborne troops, commented on the state of the Russian armed forces: “Our army is like a guerrilla unit“.

And Chamanov went on to denounce the “corruption” that has become a system in the army and the State apparatus… a system of which this member of parliament from the presidential party is just one component among others.”.

It is a fact that soldiers increasingly vent their frustrations openly, in face-to-face video messages circulating on Telegram channels viewed by hundreds of thousands of Russians.

“We launched the attack, and today I am the only survivor of my group, all the others are dead“, says a young soldier who, before being captured, posted this message sent to a member of the Wagner group. The Telegram channel that broad- casts it claims that it “highlights the scale of the disaster for Russia and Ukraine alike, (to) recount the trau- ma of soldiers who return mutilated and abandoned by the state for the rest of their lives.”

Oleg Vesnine, from the 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade, described how he and his companions, who had been on mission for three days, were left without food or water by their officers: “I can’t walk any more, but I want to live. We’re going to surrender. Maybe we’ll survive a little longer. We have no ammunition, nothing, and above all, we’re dying of thirst”.

Another scandal: the hundreds of young men from Sri Lanka who were lured into joining the Russian army with the promise of a salary and a Russian passport. Once at the front, they were sent to the front line and decimated. They returned home in zinc coffins.

The same fate befell Russian soldiers. With both legs amputated and bedridden in hospital, another soldier explains: “The military command treats us as if our lives were worth nothing. They send soldiers into battle without training and without weapons or ammunition. And when soldiers protest, the officers have the right of life and death over us. I can tell you that there are no qualified, trained and motivated soldiers left on the frontline” n

With our correspondents

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SUDAN

A war no one talks about

La Tribune des Travailleurs/ Workers’ Tribune is publishing the following report received from a French-Sudanese woman.

“Since 15 April 2023, the people of Sudan have been going through a brutal war, massacres described as genocide, in three major regions of the country (Darfur, Khartoum and Al Jazeera). More than 15,000 deaths have been recorded, 10 million people internally displaced and 1.4 million refugees in neighboring countries (Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic). Today, Sudan is the country with the highest number of displaced people in the world, according to the United Nations, which is warning of imminent famine. Access to humanitarian aid is blocked, and humanitarian workers are killed, including Red Cross staff.

The country has been brought to a standstill for a year and this means: no more schooling , over 40 million people facing unemployment, areas where the State has dissolved, and all means of communication (telephone and Internet) have been cut off in the combat zones.

A year of fear, displacement, torture, rape and ‘ethnic’ massacres. Survivors receive financial assistance from family, friends and relatives living abroad through a mobile application from a national bank called Bankak. Of course, this requires a telephone network and an Internet connection. The Internet has become a source of survival in wartime: a means of communicating, of reassuring those you are away from, a means to continue showing the atrocities to the world. The Internet then is becoming a weapon of war. The Sudanese army has cut off all communications in areas outside its control. As a result, the other armed group and some independent individuals have introduced Internet access via Starlink, a branch of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

SpaceX recently announced that it would be withdrawing Starlink’s service in Sudan wherever it was not authorized. Ninety-four humanitarian organizations working in Sudan denounced: “Any closure of telecommunications services is a violation of human rights and can be seen as collective punishment that will not only isolate individuals from their support networks, but will also make the increasingly horrible economic situation facing millions of people still worse” (The Guardian, 16 May).

All the people in Sudan know that this will be a catastrophe. Those who survive in Sudan will be totally cut off from the outside world. A real blackout! They will be shot, bombed, raped and starved in total secrecy. Their parents and relatives who have taken refuge abroad are deeply anxious and feeling completely helpless.

There is very little coverage of Sudan in the media. If you are reading this article, go and get more information, read about Sudan and talk about the suffering of the Sudanese people, which continues in silence. Don’t leave the Sudanese alone.

— Manal Alfakira

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PALESTINE

Gaza : a new Israeli war crime in Nuseirat camp

Tareq S. Hajjaj, member of the Palestinian Writers’ Union from Gaza, has written an account of the new Israeli war crime in the Nuseirat refugee camp for the American online media Mondoweiss (June 9th). We are publishing extracts from it. It is a crime, a genocide, that demands one single response: the immediate severance of all diplomatic, military and economic relations with Israel!

“The Israeli massacre in the Nuseirat camp to free four Israeli prisoners held by Gaza resistance factions began at 11am on June 8th. Although the scenes of Palestinians running for cover may have seemed sadly familiar, this invasion was unlike any other that had taken place before in the Gaza Strip.

“This time, the Israeli soldiers wore civilian clothes, drove Palestinian cars and moved in disguise among the population. Without any warning to evacuate nor any order from the army to flee, the people were surprised by the Israeli special forces and tanks. Many of the hidden special forces revealed themselves only at the beginning of the murderous operation, while others were storming the area in cars loaded with luggage, similar to those used by displaced persons, with mattresses, pillows, blankets and bags. When the Palestinians unmasked them, the soldiers quickly called in reinforcements, and then a host of helicopters, fighter jets, artillery and tanks appeared. Reconnaissance aircraft and infantry men then began slaughtering the civilian population.

“The intensity of the bombardments and gunfire quickly alerted the inhabitants that a massacre was taking place. They left their homes and took to the streets, running in search for shelter, which they did not find. The Israeli operation killed 274 Palestinians, including 64 children, and injured a total of 689. (…)

“While the whole world celebrates the release of four Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip and the media focuses on their lives, their freedom and the happiness of their families, there is hardly any mention of the number of Palestinian victims or of the fact that each of those killed leaves behind a bereaved family. (…)

“Several Palestinians have published photos and videos of the scene in Nuseirat which confirm the accounts gathered by Mondoweiss. They show an Israeli special forces vehicle entering the camp at the start of the invasion, followed by indiscriminate shelling as a cover for support.

“Tawfiq Abu Youssef, an 11-year-old child, sits in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis where he has been sent for treatment. His face is bloodied and his eyes are swollen with bruises after he was pulled from the rubble of his home in Nuseirat. He says he doesn’t know how he escaped death (…) ‘I stayed under the rubble for hours. I never thought for a moment that I could survive. Under the rubble there was only death. I don’t think I will ever forget or recover from these moments.’”

– Tareq S. Hajjaj

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Press review

Why did Gantz resign from the Israeli War Cabinet?

The four hostages “freed” at the cost of bloodshed has done nothing to help. Benny Gantz, the Americans’ man in the Israeli war cabinet, resigned after Netanyahu rejected his plan for the “management” of the Gaza Strip by an “American-EuropeanArab-Palestinian civil administration, with Israel retaining overall control of security” (Al Jazeera, 9 June).

And this on the eve of a tour by the US Secretary of State, “as Washington tries to put pressure on Israel and Hamas” (Reuters, 7 June). After having financed and encouraged genocide, a few months before the presidential election, Biden needs to regain control… and put pressure on everyone, Netanyahu and Hamas. “Qatar threatens to expel Hamas leaders if they refuse the ceasefire agreement (…) the current campaign of putting American pressure on several countries is unprecedented“, points out the Lebanese daily L’Orient Le Jour (7 June).

Gantz’s departure has brutally tipped the balance even further to the right: “The far-right Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has demanded to join the war cabinet“. (L’OrientLe Jour, 9 June).

According to The Economist (9 June), all this will exacerbate “the unprecedented crisis with the Americans”.

The Biden administration is therefore pushing Netanyahu to the limit… to force him to accept the American “solution”. The Wall Street Journal (June 9) reveals that Biden is finalizing an agreement with Saudi Arabia: “normalization” of diplomatic relations with Israel and a few promises about a hypothetical “Palestinian State”, in exchange for increased American military protection for the Saudis.

As for the split between Gantz and Netanyahu, it is a new notch in the conflict that is undermining the very fabric of the Zionist state apparatus: “Don’t let our people be torn apart“, says the former, while the latter warns: “Israel is engaged in an existential war“. (Times of Israel, 9 June)

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Renewed pogrom in the West Bank

An army report to the Netanyahu government describes the situation in the West Bank as a “time bomb” and worries about a possible “Intifada” (uprising). At issue are the daily abuses by the army and the settlers.

According to The Times of Israel (7 June), “Jewish extremists sparked off riots on Thursday evening in the West Bank town of Qusra, throwing stones at Palestinian residents and burning property (…).

A security source told army radio that ‘hilltop youth’ attempted to burn down a house and succeeded in burning several agricultural fields in the town, not far from the city of Nablus, describing the incident as ‘Jewish terrorism’ “.

Yet it was Palestinian villagers that the army fired on, not those it calls “Jewish terrorists“. Israeli Member of Parliament Ofer Cassif denounced this as “another in a long line of pogroms committed by scum from the hills“.