politics
- Hezbollah - New General Megathread for the 3th and 4th of November 2023
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon, where its extensive security apparatus, political organization, and social services network have fostered its reputation as “a state within a state.” Founded in the chaos of the fifteen-year Lebanese Civil War, the Shiite group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.
Led since 1992 by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament.
Hezbollah was established in the wake of the 1982 Lebanon War by Lebanese clerics who had studied in Najaf. It adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the party's founders adopted "Hezbollah" as the name chosen by Khomeini. The organization was created with the support of 1,500 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps instructors, and aggregated a variety of Lebanese Shia groups into a unified organization to resist the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon.
During the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its objectives as the expulsion of "the Americans, the French and their allies definitely from Lebanon, putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land". From 1985 to 2000, Hezbollah also participated in the 1985–2000 South Lebanon conflict against the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and fought again with the IDF in the 2006 Lebanon War. During the 1990s, Hezbollah also organized volunteers to fight for the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War.
Since 1990, Hezbollah has participated in Lebanese politics, in a process which is described as the Lebanonisation of Hezbollah, and it later participated in the government of Lebanon and joined political alliances. After the 2006–08 Lebanese protests and clashes, a national unity government was formed in 2008, with Hezbollah and its opposition allies obtaining 11 of 30 cabinet seats, enough to give them veto power. In August 2008, Lebanon's new cabinet unanimously approved a draft policy statement that recognizes Hezbollah's existence as an armed organization and guarantees its right to "liberate or recover occupied lands" (such as the Shebaa Farms). Hezbollah is part of Lebanon's March 8 Alliance, in opposition to the March 14 Alliance. It maintains strong support among Lebanese Shia Muslims, while Sunnis have disagreed with its agenda. Hezbollah also has support in some Christian areas of Lebanon.
Since 2012, Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war has seen it join the Syrian government in its fight against the Syrian opposition. Between 2013 and 2015, the organisation deployed its militia in both Syria and Iraq to fight or train local militias to fight against the Islamic State.
From 2006, the group's military strength grew significantly, to the extent that its paramilitary wing became more powerful than the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah has been described as a "state within a state", and has grown into an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite TV station, social services and large-scale military deployment of fighters beyond Lebanon's borders.The group currently receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran and political support from Syria, although the sectarian nature of the Syrian war has damaged the group's legitimacy. In 2021, Nasrallah said the group had 100,000 fighters.
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- electronicintifada.net I should never have left Gaza
When I went to Qatar to get married, I knew I might never see my loved ones again.
- electronicintifada.net What has happened to my family?
From Malaysia, I am glued to the news about Gaza.
- Biden now claims that he talked Israel into a ceasefire
>A White House official told ABC News Wednesday evening that Biden did not misspeak when he said that he convinced Netanyahu to call for a “cease-fire.” The official suggested the president was talking about the temporary pause to free the two American hostages last month, arguing that the term has multiple meanings and that it could be interchangeable with “humanitarian pause."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-calls-pause-israel-gaza-conflict-hostages/story?id=104559563
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- Houthis Movement (Ansarallah) - New General Megathread for the 2nd of November 2023
The "Houthis" (known officially as the Ansarallah) is a broad grassroots movement with only a few defined political keypoints. This is deliberate, as the movement seeks to incorporate and represent the Yemeni people in its entirety across both Islamic and political differences. The movement has a right-wing, a centre-wing and a left-wing, each organized into separate unions and interest groups. For example, the left-wing is organized into what is called the "Cultural Front Against the Aggression", just to be very specific.
Origins
The Houthi movement was founded in the 1990s by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Zaidi Shia minority, which makes up about one-third of the population. Hussein was killed by Yemeni soldiers in 2004, and the group is now led by his brother Abdul Malik.
The Zaidis, once a powerful force in north Yemen, were sidelined during the 1962-70 civil war and then further alienated in the 1980s as Salafist Sunni ideals gained prominence across the border in Saudi Arabia, which exported the ideology to Yemen. In response, Zaidi clerics began to militarise their followers against Riyadh and its allies.
The intermittent insurgency gained support from Shia Yemenis fed up with the corruption and cruelty of the long-time authoritarian president and Saudi ally, Ali Abdullah Saleh, particularly during the aftermath of 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq.
On 18 June 2004 Saleh sent government forces to arrest Hussein. Hussein responded by launching an insurgency against the central government, but was killed on 10 September 2004, the insurgency continue intermittently until a ceasefire in 2010. During this prolonged conflict, the Yemeni army and air force was used to suppress the Houthi rebellion in northern Yemen. The Saudis joined these anti-Houthi campaigns, but the Houthis won against both Saleh and the Saudi army.
Later, the Houthis participated in the 2011 Yemeni Revolution, as well as the ensuing National Dialogue Conference (NDC). However, they rejected the provisions of the November 2011 Gulf Cooperation Council deal on the ground that "it divide[d] Yemen into poor and wealthy regions" and also in response to assassination of their representative at NDC.
The "Houthis" ceased being a rebel group in late 2014 with the advent of the September 21st Revolution and the signing of the UN-sponsored Peace & National Partnership Agreement.
Prior to 2014, the group could indeed be described as a rebel movement as it fought 6 consecutive wars against the corrupt Saudi-backed government of Ali Abdullah Saleh. In September 2014, when the "Houthis" entered Sana'a to topple said government, more than 2/3rds of the entire Yemeni Armed Forces switched and took their side instead of the side of the government, giving the "Houthis" access to missile stockpiles and heavy weapons.
There are currently two competing governments in Yemen, one based in the constitutional capital Sana'a, and one de-facto based in Aden - although the Aden-based government remains unable to exercise its authority there. The "internationally-recognized government" based in Aden doesn't actually operate from within Yemen, but from a shadow cabinet based in the luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh where they've been exiled since February 2015.
Their direct authority is limited to warlord figures and tribal factions doing their bidding, representing less than 15% of Yemen's total population. In turn, the so-called "Houthi rebels" are part of what is called the Government of National Salvation, which exercises direct authority over 85% of Yemen's entire population.
content by Aldanmarki on twitter
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- ❤️ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
- 💛 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- 💚 Come and talk in the Daily Bloomer Thread
- ⭐️ September Movie Nominations ⭐️
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
- The New Atlas - The 2009 US Plan for Iran War Sees New Opportunity in Israeli Gaza Ops + Update on Ukraineiv.ggtyler.dev The 2009 US Plan for Iran War Sees New Opportunity in Israeli Gaza Ops + Update on Ukraine
- Ukraine's "operational pause" is Kiev annoucning the "Spring Offensive" has for all intents and purposes, ended; - West continues to suffer setbacks in supplying ammunition to Ukraine including diverting much of it to Israel now; - Israel continues air and ground attacks on Gaza, compounding a...
- The New Atlas - Israeli Ground Operations Begin in Gaza as Wider US-led Regional War Loomsiv.ggtyler.dev Israeli Ground Operations Begin in Gaza as Wider US-led Regional War Looms
Update on the conflict in the Middle East for November 1, 2023: - Israel begins ground operations in Gaza; - In addition to incursions in the north along the Mediterranean Sea and north of Gaza City, there is now Israeli forces moving to cut Gaza City off from the rest of the southern strip; -...
- solidarity-us.org In solidarity with the peoples’ struggles against unbridled imperialism, for the liberation of the peoples and saving the environment
Palestine solidarity demonstration in Liège, October 28, 2023. (Photo: Fourth International) 1. The contradictions of global capitalism continue to bring forth brutal wars and occupations. Threaten…
- www.opendemocracy.net Is Labour ready for an immigration overhaul?
Labour may be entering No. 10 next year. What did their conference tell us about their plans for migration?
- theconversation.com 'Unreasonable, unjust, oppressive': how a police program targeted Indigenous kids
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has handed down a damning report into an unlawful policing strategy. It’s the latest example of First Nations children being over-policed.
- original.antiwar.com Iraq Monthly Roundup: 41 Killed in October - Antiwar.com Original
During October at least 41 people were killed, and 28 more were wounded. Americans were among the casualties. Last month, 45 people were killed and 12 - Margaret Griffis for Antiwar.com Original
- tribunemag.co.uk Organising Against Apartheid: Why Union Solidarity With Palestine Matters
When thousands of Palestinians are being massacred by weapons built in Britain, our labour movement must answer the call for solidarity from Palestinian workers: to end all complicity in Israel's war on Gaza.
- priceofoil.org First Ever Norwegian Oil and Gas Industry's Influence Mapped Exposes Fossil Fuel Sway in Multiple Sectors - Oil Change International
Oslo, Norway– Norway, Europe's largest producer of oil and gas, plays a pivotal role in the global energy landscape. In the last ten years the country has
- peoplesdispatch.org Israel wants either an apartheid state or an ethnic cleansing process, both crimes under international law : Peoples Dispatch
The Israeli political class appears to be using the conflict that began on October 7 as the pretext to erase Palestinians from Palestine
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TLDR imperialism. Israel helps the US control the middle east and also does stuff elsewhere.
> Israel is basically the US's attack dog in the middle east. Any job that the US is unable to do, or would look too imperialistic to do, Israel carries out on its behalf. > > Israel has played a crucial role in attacking and destabilizing independent Arab governments determined to defy US dictates. In 1967 Israel attacked two such governments in Syria and Egypt in a surprise invasion. Israel's narrative has always been that they launched a preemptive strike to prevent an impending Arab genocide of Jews, but in reality Israel just wanted to take Arab land. Mattiyahu Peled, one of Israel's commanders in the six day war, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, > > > 'The thesis that that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only a bluff, which was born and developed after the war.' > > This invasion was crucial at a time when 550,000 American troops were bogged down in Vietnam fighting the spread of socialism there. The library of Congress study of the Israeli War recounted, quote, > > > The traumatic defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the June 1967 war with Israel discredited the radical socialist regimes of Nasser's Egypt and Baathist Syria. The defeat strengthened the hands of the moderates and the rightists. > > In 1981, Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear power plant with US approval at a time when the US was publicly supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Secretly the US wanted both governments to destroy each other but couldn't be seen as playing such an intentionally destabilizing role. > > in 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the full support and funding from the United States in an attempt to crush the Palestinian resistance there and appoint an ultra-rightwing Lebanese Phalangist as president. The US would end up sending marines in to aid this effort, only to be defeated by the Lebanese resistance forces. > > Israel also has a long history of doing the empire's bidding outside the Middle East. Israel continued to arm and support apartheid South Africa even after it became too unpopular for the US to do so. Israel even built an electrified fence around Namibia, then a South African colony, to protect it from neighboring Angolan liberation forces. > > Israeli police helped train torturers in the US-backed Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. They trained the right-wing Guatemalan army that was committing genocide against indigenous people. Israel has also been a loyal partner in the US war on terror. The islamophobic hysteria following 9/11 gave the US an excuse to attack any country that stood against its interests in the region, especially Iran. While the US has been careful not to directly strike Iran, Israel has served a very useful purpose by continuing to bully and harass Iran, assassinating its nuclear scientists, seizing Iranian ships, and providing intelligence on Iran through massive spy networks. > > Israel also routinely bombed Syria, a country the US attempted to topple in 2011. Just by being there, Israel gives the US a constant excuse to intervene in the region under the guise of protecting Israel. As Joe Biden once put it: > > > Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel, to protect her interest in the region.
- Can someone explain to me restrictions on travel between cities in the DPRK?
So I heard someone mention not too long ago that whole thingy about apparently needing government approval to go to another city as a North Korean, and how this is supposed to be this really terrible thing meant to Control the Population or whatever... and like, I didn't argue against what that person said because truth be told I don't know much about it and learning more about it is Kinda Difficult, but I just thought... aren't things in practice already pretty similar where I live?
Like, if I am employed, then I need to clock in every day, and notify and get the approval of my employer in order to be absent from my workplace. So if I randomly decide to spend the night in the next town over and miss or am late to work or perform worse at work because of it, then I could be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including getting fired and all that entails. And if I move to a new city, then the government expects me to notify them of my new address, because that could have implications for welfare and taxation and voting and census statistics and so forth. If I don't notify the government when I move to a new city, then that is Illegal and Bad and I'll get fined for it.
To me it then makes sense that if the state is my employer, that there would be a similar system in place, and that a centrally-planned economy would have a greater need for statistics as well (companies do well keep track of who's in which department, too, don't they!). And so to me it follows that inter-city travel would be expected to be documented and approved. Because "needing approval" does not equal "99% of applications are denied", right? That much should be obvious.
But all of this is really just me making assumptions about a country I've never actually been to and honestly know way too little about, based on what I feel makes more sense than "it's a literal 1984 hellscape where they eat babies".
If anybody actually knows anything about this topic or similar domestic travel restrictions in other AES states, then I'd love to hear about it.
- jacobin.com Workers in the US Should Support the Call for a Cease-Fire in Palestine
Israel’s brutal war on Gaza promises to drain billions of dollars that could have funded housing, education, and more, all while exacerbating disastrous divisions among workers in the US and abroad. Workers have an interest in demanding an immediate cease-fire.
- Wow. A statement that actually makes it worse:
Holocaust Museum in Israel criticizes the UN delegation wearing Yellow Stars...but not for the reason you'd think.
- Fuck it, mask off
One term for Genocide Joe
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-administration-actions-combat-antisemitism-college-campuses-rcna122712
>The White House will also highlight how the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has expedited an update of its complaint form. For the first time, it will make it clear that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits certain forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
- www.beep.blog .io considered harmful
The .io top-level domain funds and legitimises Britain's exile of the Chagossian people from their homeland. Here's the history and the facts.
- electronicintifada.net Where is the world's conscience?
Gaza's gentle breezes are now contaminated with the smoke of Israel's bombs.
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- haha you're in danger
Being pro-palestine is gonna be a jailable offense so soon*
$5 says these people aren't in favor of jailing nazis
*in the US i mean, in the cursed UK people are already being charged with terrorism for wearing shirts with paragliders on them
- What is the function of elections in AES states?
All current and historical AES states have had electoral systems that differs significantly from the systems known from bourgeois parliamentary systems. Candidates are selected either by the vanguard party or by a unity front dominated by the vanguard party. Voters can then view either for our against the one list of candidates.
To my my knowledge there are virtually no historical examples of voters rejecting the list and there are reports (in Western sources, so they should be taken with a grain of salt) of significant social pressure being levied on voters to vote yes for the list.
You don't get the election night dramas known from bourgeois systems where there can be genuine uncertainty as to whether ghoul A or ghoul B gets elected. In bourgeois states the function of elections seems to be to legitimise the system by giving voters a relatively free choice between a selection of candidates within the accepted spectrum of (liberal-conservative) opinion. In AES states, at the time of the election voters doesn't seem to have much influence and their participation seems to be ceremonial in nature.
This begs the question what the function of these elections are. The lazy liberal explanation is that the evil commies are hiding sham elections that they think people are too stupid to see through. However, AES states has been around for more than a century and almost all of them uses some version of this system so they clearly must have some function in legitimising the state and mobilising popular support.
I would love if someone with knowledge in the subject could elaborate on this.
- newpol.org Gaza, the West, and the Rest - New Politics
How the Gaza conflict is viewed from the Global South
- www.idcommunism.com The Palestinian people between Zionism and Hamas
The Palestinian people between Zionism and Jihad. By Nikos Mottas In these critical hours, the only right side of history is one: With the suffering
- resumen-english.org Venezuela: A Perilous 6 Month ‘Honeymoon’ with the US
By Jessica Dos Santos on October 28, 2023 If a genie, or a demon, showed up and said “I’m granting you six months to improve your precarious life,” what would you do? That is more or less the dilem…
- peoplesdispatch.org When the journalists are gone, the stories will disappear. : Peoples Dispatch
Over 29 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 7 in Israeli's genocidal bombing of the Gaza strip
- jacobin.com For Netanyahu’s Government, Israeli Hostages Are Just a Propaganda Tool
Israel claims its brutal assault on Gaza is justified by the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas. But the Israeli government’s actions suggest that it cares little about the hostages’ well-being — and more about using them as anti-Palestinian propaganda.
- [CW: Possible ableist slur?] When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economicstheintercept.com When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics
How an elite clique of math-addled economists hijacked climate policy.
I have searched the term but haven't found anything about whether its a slur. The article is good tho
- web.archive.org Harvard Study: 51% of young adults ages 18-29, do not support capitalism
A Harvard University survey found that 51% of young adults between ages 18 and 29 do not support capitalism, and less than half, 45%, view…