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By Franklin Lamb

Damascus: As recent developments in the Levant make plain, the Sunni-Shiite conflict is increasingly dominating political and strategic initiatives and calculations in Lebanon. In the twelve months since declaring its “caliphate” on June 29, 2014, the “Islamic State” (IS/ISIS/Da’ish), basically a political power movement as opposed to being a religious project, continues birthing international and local franchises. The numbers of foreign fighters from diverse countries traveling to join Da’ish or Nusra increases after every victory. The US State Departments just released 2014 Country Reports (6/18/2015) spends considerably more time discussing the growth in popularity of the group’s ideology than previous reports.

The extreme’ ideology of Da’ish and its embrace of brutal violence have allowed it to quickly attract the attention of millions worldwide and is estimated to have resulted in thousands of recruits, many being from Lebanon. The group’s ability to effectively leverage social media and disseminate its message — with near instantaneous global repostings — has enhanced its success. Governments around the world-including Lebanon have been ineffective in significantly curtaining its actions.

The IS project is working as Da’ish metastasizes in Lebanon and in much of this region. A new political power chapter has arrived here of which the latest events in Yemen are only the most recent, but surely not the final, example.

It is not anymore a question of whether or when Da’ish and/or al Nusra will activate their sleeper cells in Lebanon. They already have. Da’ish (ISIS) and Nusra have been infiltrating Lebanese communities and offering poor youths cash to attack targets chosen for the political effect of increasing Sunni-Shia tensions. For example, the young man who perpetrated the January 2015 suicide bombing of a café in a Shia neighborhood of Tripoli was paid just $ 60 according to a family member. Some in Lebanon believe that Nurse will kill the Lebanese army hostages in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks and that this will further galvanize anti-Hezbollah sentiment around Lebanon.

This now largely accepted reality materialized despite intense efforts by Hezbollah, and rather less intense efforts by the confessionalized Lebanese army to stop them. Like every other institution in Lebanon, the army is also-if to a lesser extent- partially poisoned by confessionalism. It disintegrated twice, in 1976 shortly after the beginning of the civil war and again in 1984 when it took sides against a majority of Lebanon’s citizenry.

North in Tripoli and its environs, South in Saida and East in the Bekaa around Arsal as well as other localities Sunnis are getting over their initial revulsion and taking a second look at Da’ish (ISIS) and other extreme Islamist militia. Meanwhile, the relatively tolerant “Lebanese model” is disappearing in view of the increasing sectarian tone of military interventions in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and it appears to be the case that Lebanon in now part of this devolution into intra-Muslim violence as “with us or against us” sides are becoming ever hardened.

Like most Muslims these days, Lebanese Sunnis are tending to see themselves as victims of centuries of backwardness, marginalization, and defeat while searching for signs, or actors, that might help reverse Sunni weakness. Thus following Shiite ascendance, many of Lebanon’s Sunni expressed support when an ISIS offensive rapidly seized Mosul and a large swath of Iraqi territory in June 2014. As is becoming convincingly documented, Da’ish (ISIS) influence among alienated and radicalized youth is growing in Lebanon for many reasons. Among them are poverty, perceived empty lives, revulsion at rising crime and disgust with perceived as corrupt Lebanese politicians and religious leaders.

Sunni’s increasingly are feeling oppressed by the Shia who are accused of blocking Lebanon’s government, including Parliament and baring the election of a President under orders from a foreign country. Syrian refugees in Lebanon, mainly Sunni, who feel abused, harassed, and discriminated against by the government and with suspicion by Shia in areas where refugees have taken refuge.

In a report in an-Nahar (Beirut), June 27, 2014 one neighborhood leader in Tripoli explained that “Iraq witnessed a Sunni triumph against Shiite oppression. Forcing Tripoli’s Sunnis to denounce ISIS amounts to coercing them to exercise political self-suppression.” A political leader in Saida, claimed that “The truth of the matter is that hatred for Iran and Hezbollah has made every Lebanese Sunni heartily supportive of ISIS, even if it’s brutal methods will eventually affect them adversely.”

As American University of Beirut Professor, Hilal Khashan has recently reported, Lebanese Sunnis are willing to support whoever can defeat their enemies and restore their pride. Many of them find ISIS appealing for a number of reasons: the group has a strong aversion to Shiites and feel estranged from the Lebanese state while harboring nostalgia for the caliphate. Many admire power in any form and are seeking to regain it.

A vendor in Tripoli’s city center explained the popularity of ISIS: “People like whoever is strong. Poor, angry and marginalized teenagers in Tripoli want “great victories.” Even though public display of support for ISIS in Lebanon is a crime, “any young man in Tripoli, if asked, would confess how much he admired its power.”

When challenged with the brutal and bloodthirsty acts of ISIS, its supporters often find some words in the Qur’an to justify their position. In the case of Da’ish young men hanging around the streets, they regularly offer: “Muhammad … and those with him are firm of heart against the non-believers, compassionate among themselves.” (Quran 48: 29).

One Sunni Sheik in Lebanon expressed to this observer his belief that Da’ish “is our (Sunni) extremist Islamist militia and Hezbollah’s is Iran’s. In fact, in some disturbing ways both are more similar than either would want to admit.”

The Sunni Muslim community in Lebanon is also receiving various forms of support from abroad from coreligionists, as they move toward Da’ish (ISIS). Lebanon’s As Safir daily newspaper, reported this week that the government of Saudi Arabia has requested that France freeze the delivery of weapons to the Lebanese army under the Saudi’s $ 3 billion arms grant. The reason is reportedly because the new Saudi coalition and leadership believes the arms will end up with Hezbollah and thus under Iranian control. The Saudi government reportedly also requested that France not inform Lebanese authorities about the decision to freeze the delivery, “for the time being.”

This observer tentatively concludes that what is happening among Lebanon’s Sunni population is rather more complicated than the issues he cites above, powerful as they may be in pushing/pulling Lebanese to Da’ish. In fact, since Lebanese Sunnis are willing to support whoever can defeat their enemies and restore their pride, many of them find ISIS appealing for the reason that they feel hostility toward Shiites and feel estranged from the Lebanese state while openly expressing nostalgia for the return of the caliphate.

In Lebanon the tribes, like in Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Iraq that once acted rather secular, in line with trends of the time, are now Islamist in keeping with an underlying changing culture. One concludes that neither Da’ish nor Nusra are all that interested in the creation of an Islamic state, just as Hezbollah gave up its plans for creating an Iran-style Islamic Republic.

A Palestinian student from Yarmouk camp south of Damascus, now squeezed into Shatila camp in Beirut, summed up our discussion of this subject and left this observer sort of speechless.

Farah said: “Actually Mr. Franklin, what we are seeing is just a continuation of the Damascus-based Umayyads and their successors, still fighting against the Baghdad-based Abbasids from Medieval times.”

With no doubt, the young lady for sure has better political instincts than this observer and it may well be that the attraction of Da’ish for Lebanon’s Sunni’s is about political power and perceived dignity.

Meanwhile, as we begin the Holy month of Ramadan, there are signs pointing to a violent post Ramadan Lebanese summer. Which if any militia will benefit most is not clear—the losers, as always, will surely be the rest of us.

Franklin P. Lamb, LLB, LLM, PhD, Legal Adviser, The Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, Shatila Camp (SSSP-lb.com). Volunteer with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign (PCRC) Beirut and Washington, DC committed to help achieving the Right To Work and the Right to Home Ownership for every Palestinian Refugee in Lebanon.

20 June, 2015
Countercurrents.org

 

By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

The worst fears are here to stay. In USA again on the racial grounds innocent people have been killed in African-American church by a very young white fellow. Nine people died on the scene at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church when young white men shot them dead. A 21 year old young white men Dylann Roof was arrested and presented before the magistrate on the charge of killing nine innocent black people. Dylann Roof also raised racially inflammatory statements during killing. This killing has brought out reality of racial structure in the US society.

Even US President Barrack Obama has stated that “the apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together.” This killing reveals the prevalence of undercurrent of racial segregation in the US society. Involvement of young adolescents shows that white young ones harbour a deep and sharp negative thoughts against the blacks. Young ones if maintains this sort of thinking; it means the family and school system in USA is on failure. Racism is thus systematic philosophical arguments indoctrinated in the minds of young whites. They learn from their family members’ racial socialization where they come to know about the differences between the people on the basis of the colour. Therefore the basis of racism in USA in pure psychological , its major agencies may include the family, schools and even the general white community with which these white young ones may interact during their early ages. The killing substantiates that in white community many may maintain such mental setup, albeit some may escape from such mindset but they may in less quantity.

This is contemporary diffusion about the evil thoughts about discrimination and differences between the whites and blacks. This diffusion appears to be quite perfect because blacks suffer discrimination in their daily lives at each step and movement. Even after the enactment of 13th constitutional amendment which abolished slavery from the country has not abolished the thoughts about racism from the minds of the people.

The root cause lies in the minds of the adult whites who in larger manner may practice racism and often discuss the issue affecting the young minds. This is a generational issue because since many generations the racism has existed in the US society. Since the days of slavery around 1700 the black Africans were introduced as slaves and were even purchased as a commodity. This laid psychological understanding among the whites that they were of inferior caliber and low quality. This psychological understanding became entrenched in the minds of succeeding generations. The basis of racism is a product of historical conditions and psychological elements which have been incorporated in the minds of these people.

Next generation of whites learn these ideas from their elder ones. At the family level things are not so equally discussed. At the police and bureaucratic level there exists a perception that African Americans are involved in low things. This perception is strengthened by certain incidents in which blacks are found involved. Though whites are also found involved but they are treated as a isolationist case but blacks involvement is considered as the collectivist case. This difference arises due to the mental perception among the authorities. Drug crime is such an example.

This situation absolutely resemble to the caste system prevalent in India where upper caste families harbour disliking for the lower castes and gradually their thoughts are transferred to their young ones. Moreover there are certain intellectuals who proclaim that due to lower caste people in administration; the corruption has increased, though truth is that upper castes people are also found involved in the corruption but sociological studies are presented to establish the wrong facts as the real truths. The caste system in India has been abolished by the law of the land, Constitution but at the social level the discrimination by the upper castes towards the lower castes is still widely prevalent. The root of this social evil lies in the psychology and perception. US racism and Indian caste system have similarity as both arise from this similarity.

The American racism will exist as long as the family-school system does not work together in unison to place the correct thoughts among the young whites. Moreover the bureaucracy including police will have to be more equality based which it is not. According to Guardian Newspaper during 1 January 2015- 30 May 2015 “102 of 464 people killed so far this year in incidents with law enforcement officers were not carrying weapons.32% of black people killed by police in 2015 were unarmed, as were 25% of Hispanic and Latino people, compared with 15% of white people killed, (whereas) black Americans, who make up just 13% of the country’s total population according to census data.(Black Americans killed by police twice as likely to be unarmed as white people, http://www.theguardian.com,1 June 2015

In this background not only the police reform is must but also the gun reform is essential. President Obama has rightly advocated for it but strong gun manufacturing companies seem to be a stumbling block to carry on the restriction on the guns purchase.

There is a close connection between racism and inequality. Both perpetuate each other. Inequality will destroy the US society if coupled with racism. (Refer the article “Inequality In American Society: Need For Reservation In Real Terms For Depressed Section” By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava, 04 December, 2014, Countercurrents.org).

US is faced with many challenges at the global level but domestic challenges are also strength full. Reforms in different institutions and psychological framework for racism may help it to contain the decline in social fabric.

Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava, presently Assistant Professor in CSJM Kanpur University[affiliated college],Vice Chairman CSSP

20 June, 2015
Countercurrents.org

By Evan Blake

Worldwide forcible displacement due to armed conflict or persecution is at its highest level in recorded history, according to a report released Thursday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The annual Global Trends Report: World at War estimates that a record 59.5 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2014, with the largest recorded annual increase of 8.3 million and a staggering increase of 22 million from merely a decade ago.

Despite their failure to apportion any blame whatsoever to those responsible for this crisis, the report succeeds in presenting a broad overview of the suffering and displacement that has been wrought by imperialism in the recent period. Those uprooted by “Persecution, conflict, generalized violence, and human rights violations have formed a ‘nation of the displaced’ that, if they were a country, would make up the 24th largest in the world,” roughly equal to the population of Italy or the United Kingdom.

Of the 59.5 million forcibly displaced people, 19.5 million are refugees living outside their country or territory of origin, 1.8 million are asylum-seekers whose refugee status has not yet been determined, and 38.2 million are internally displaced persons, those forced to flee violence or persecution but who have not crossed an international border.

Roughly 51 percent of the world’s refugees are children below 18 years of age, up from 41 percent in 2009 and the highest figure in over a decade.
Worldwide, one in every 122 people is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres declared in a press release, “We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before.”

The detailed report quantifies the broad range of conflicts that have created this humanitarian catastrophe. The most devastated region is the Middle East, and in particular Syria, where the US-stoked civil war that began in 2011 with the financing of Islamic fundamentalist organizations laid the groundwork for the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The subsequent US-led bombing campaign and proxy war against ISIS, combined with the unrelenting brutality of ISIS itself has, over the past year, brought the cumulative displacement of Syrians to 11.6 million, so that globally “almost one out of every four refugees is Syrian, with 95 percent located in surrounding countries.”

Syria became the world’s largest source country of refugees during 2014, outnumbering Afghanistan, which had held this position for more than 30 years. Concurrently, an influx of roughly 1 million Syrian refugees caused Turkey to become the world’s largest refugee-hosting county, exceeding Pakistan, which for over a decade has given asylum to the majority of Afghans fleeing war and sectarian violence wrought by the ongoing US-led war in Afghanistan.
In 2014, 403,600 Syrian refugees were newly registered in Lebanon, which remained the third largest refugee hosting country with a total of 1.15 million refugees. Lebanon has by far the largest number of refugees in relation to its national population, with 232 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, or nearly a quarter of the total population. Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Lebanon was home to just 8,000 refugees.

The cumulative impact of imperialist intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria has created a situation where “Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran hosted more than 5.2 million or 36 percent of all refugees worldwide,” according to the report.

Across Africa, violent conflict has erupted or reignited in numerous countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (over 4 million displaced), South Sudan (over 2.4 million displaced), Somalia (2.3 million), the Central African Republic (1.49 million), Nigeria (1.38 million), Côte d’Ivoire (121,000), Libya (371,000), Mali (427,000) and Burundi (335,000).

The findings of the report stand as a damning indictment of the US-led imperialist order, which is ultimately responsible, either overtly through direct military intervention or covertly through the machinations of the CIA and weapons sales, for every war that has unleashed the cumulative chaos documented by the report.

With the full-scale eruption of American imperialism in recent years, there has been an unrelenting increase in the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide, particularly in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In the past four years alone, there has been a fourfold increase in the number of individuals forced to flee their homes each day, from a daily average of 10,900 in 2010 to 42,500 in 2014.

“It is not just the scale of global forced displacement that is disconcerting,” the report notes, “but also its rapid acceleration in recent years. For most of the past decade, displacement figures ranged between 38 million and 43 million persons annually. Since 2011, however, when levels stood at 42.5 million, these numbers have grown to the current 59.5 million—a 40 percent increase within a span of just three years.”

Following the February 2014 fascist-led putsch that toppled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the ensuing civil war in eastern Ukraine has forcibly displaced over 1 million people. An estimated 237,000 are now refugees, mostly residing in Russia, while 823,000 are internally displaced. Over the course of the year, the total number of refugees in Russia swelled from 3,400 to 231,800, with Ukrainians now constituting 98 percent of all refugees in Russia.
Significantly, 6.4 million refugees, or 45 percent of the total, are enduring protracted refugee situations, defined by UNHCR as a situation “in which 25,000 or more refugees from the same nationality have been in exile for five years or more in a given asylum country.”

For the vast majorities of refugees, the horrific conditions from which they flee are often found to be only marginally better in the country where they ultimately find asylum.

In 2014, developing regions hosted 86 percent of the world’s refugees, the highest value in over two decades, while those in the subcategory of Least Developed Countries hosted 25 percent of the global total. Over 5.9 million refugees, or 42 percent of the total, reside in countries where per capita GDP is below US$5,000.

The report offers no recommendations for ending the refugee crisis, but in media interviews Guterres has decried the lack of funding for aid organizations such as the UNHCR, which provides a range of services to a majority of refugees worldwide.

The only way to resolve this international crisis, whose origins lie in the private ownership of the means of production and the division of the world into rival nation states, is through the international mobilization of the working class in the fight for socialism, laying the foundations for the building of a new society based on social need, not private profit.
20 June, 2015
WSWS.org

 

By Alex Lantier

The six-month extension of European Union (EU) economic sanctions against Russia, agreed Wednesday in Brussels by ambassadors from all 28 EU members states, marks a milestone in the war drive waged by the imperialist powers of NATO against Russia.

These sanctions, first imposed amid the crisis over the still-unresolved shoot-down last July of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine, targeted exports of equipment to Russia’s oil industry and cut off Russian access to credit from European banks. As the EU is Russia’s largest trade and investment partner, the sanctions played a key role in the Russian ruble’s collapse last year.

Now, EU officials pointed to ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine, after the February peace accords negotiated in Minsk between the NATO-backed Kiev regime’s forces and pro-Russian separatists, to justify maintaining the sanctions. EU sources said, “The idea is to extend [sanctions] to end-January to give time to review progress on the Minsk accord before having to take a new decision.”

“EU foreign ministers will finalize the decision in Luxembourg on Monday,” Poland’s permanent representative to the EU said on Twitter.

Russian officials replied by accusing the Kiev regime of provoking recent fighting in east Ukraine to provide a pretext for their decision. “It’s obvious there are forces in the world and in Ukraine, which are interested in the deterioration of the situation on the ground in the run-up to major international events, including EU summits, in order to urge the international community to extend sanctions and impose new ones,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov.

Nevertheless, Meshkov neither condemned the sanctions nor called on the EU to stop them. He said Russian officials are “realists, we carefully analyze what our Western partners say,” adding: “Russia did not impose sanctions, we are not asking anyone to lift them.”

The latest EU sanctions are part of a broad drive by US and European finance capital to isolate Russia, threatening it with bankruptcy and war, in order to reduce it to semi-colonial status and establish the hegemony of the NATO powers, led by Washington, over all of Eurasia. This politically criminal policy, which NATO launched last year by backing a right-wing putsch against a pro-Russian regime in Ukraine, threatens to lead to all-out war with Russia, a nuclear-armed power.

In February, US officials discussed directly arming Ukrainian forces fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and earlier this month, Pentagon officials testified before the US Congress that Washington is preparing missiles strikes on Russia.

The EU sanctions are the most powerful weapon in the financial arsenal NATO is deploying to wage economic war on Russia. During the ruble crisis last year, financial analysts calculated that cutting off Russian access to credit from Europe could bankrupt much of the Russian economy in as little as two years. This policy appears to be aimed at convincing the capitalist oligarchs who control Russia’s post-Soviet economy to topple Russian President Vladimir Putin and install a regime that will obey all the dictates of Washington and the EU powers.

The pursuit of such an aggressive policy has vast and potentially unforeseeable implications. When the sanctions were first imposed last year, Russian officials attacked them as a campaign for regime change. “Western leaders publicly state that the sanctions must hurt [Russia’s] economy and stir up public protests. The West doesn’t want to change Russia’s policies. They want regime change,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Given that previous targets of NATO campaigns for regime change—from Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya—all died in custody of NATO-backed forces, Russian officials are doubtless preparing policies as fraught as those of Washington.

The decision to maintain EU sanctions testifies to the recklessness and anti-democratic character of EU foreign policy. A recent Pew poll found mass popular opposition in Europe to a policy of stoking war with Russia. The European powers are proceeding with a confrontation that has the potential to escalate into full-scale war.

The only force that can oppose the drive to war is the mobilization of the working class internationally in a revolutionary struggle against imperialism and capitalism. Neither Russia’s bankrupt capitalist regime nor critics of EU sanctions policy within the European ruling class can halt the war drive launched by the most powerful imperialist countries.

Significantly, the EU is adopting its sanctions even after significant sections of the European bourgeoisie criticized them as self-destructive and dangerous. Last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attacked the sanctions as “shooting oneself in the foot,” while former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said they amounted to “collective suicide.”

“I do not support basing policy on worst-case outcomes, I think sanctions must stop,” French President François Hollande declared in January. He added, “Mr Putin does not want to annex east Ukraine, I am sure of it. … What Mr Putin wants is to prevent Ukraine from joining the camp of NATO. The idea for Mr Putin is to avoid having a hostile military presence on his borders.”

Many argue that the EU sanctions are dangerous, because cutting off economic ties between Europe and Russia encourages Moscow to turn to an alliance with China against NATO.

After the announcement of EU sanctions last year, Chinese officials indicated that they could extend credit to Russia to keep it from going bankrupt. This year, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) chief Kirill Dmitriev said China was investing tens of billions of dollars in Russia, adding: “Within 2-3 years the investment inflow from China may be equal to that from Europe in recent years.”

One critic of EU sanctions against Russia, former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, declared: “My concern is that Russia could turn to the East by strengthening their cooperation with China and playing a greater role in Asia and deciding that Europe is irrelevant. This is my concern and yet another argument to say that this policy is against European interests.”

Nonetheless, on Wednesday, representatives of these governments all toed the line advanced by the United States, Germany and Britain, who have pressed for an aggressive stance against Russia.

Indeed, Italian and French officials criticizing EU sanctions are participating in the same imperialist scramble to grab resources and markets as their US, German and British counterparts.
19 June, 2015
WSWS.org

 

By Brigitte Knopf

With his encyclical “Laudato Si” the Pope has written more than a moral appeal without obligation. He has presented a pioneering political analysis with great explosive power, which will probably determine the public debate on climate change, poverty and inequality for years to come. Thus, the encyclical is also highly relevant to me as a non-Catholic and non-believer; the implications of the encyclical are very apparent through the eyes of a secular person.

The core of the encyclical makes clear that global warming is a “global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods” (25 – where the numbers refer to the numbering in the encyclical). The reasons identified are mainly the current models of production and consumption (26). The encyclical emphasizes that the gravest effects of climate change and the increasing inequality are suffered by the poorest (48). Since we face a complex socio-ecological crisis, strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty (139). So far, however, governments have not found a solution for the over-exploitation of the global commons, such as atmosphere, oceans, and forests (169). Therefore, the encyclical focusses on actors, such as non-governmental organizations, cooperatives and intermediate groups (179) and calls for a dialogue between politics, science, business and religion.

The encyclical is, with 246 individual points, too extensive to be discussed in here in its entirety, but three aspects are particularly noteworthy:

1. it is based unequivocally onthe scientific consensusthat global warmingis taking placeand that climate changeis man-made; itrejects thedenialof anthropogenicwarming;

2. it unmasks the political and economic structures of power behind the climate change debate and stresses the importance of non-state actors in achieving change; and

3. it defines the atmosphere and the environment as a common good rather than a “no man’s land”, available for anyone to pollute. This underlines that climate change is strongly related to the issues of justice and property rights.

1. The Pope and science

The statements of the Pope concerning the scientific basis are in principle nothing new. The scientific consensus is recognized in the encyclical at the outset:

A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. […] A number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases […] released mainly as a result of human activity (23).

Moreover, the Pope refers to the scientifically long-established fact that the use of fossil fuels and deforestation are the main causes of climate change (23).

What is now a commonplace in Europe is not uniformly accepted in the US. A turbulent debate surrounding the encyclical began even before its official publication. This is understandable, given that there are many in the US who still cast doubt on the scientific basis of climate change. Even Jeb Bush, the presidential candidate, does not deny climate change itself, but says that the human role in climate change is “convoluted“. Rick Santorum, also a Republican presidential candidate, has actually rejected the right of the Pope to comment on the scientific basis of climate change. There is no doubt that there will be a heated argument on this part of the encyclical especially in the US which will also frame the American debate on the future international climate agreement that is expected to be negotiated by the end of this year in Paris.

2. The Pope and politics

Although the encyclical puts a focus on the poor it is not merely a moral scripture. It is also no ordinary appeal to governments to act. On the contrary, it explicitly states that international negotiations have so far not made significant progress (169) and accuses international politics of its weak response (54). In addition, the Pope unmasks in very clear terms the political interests of those who deny climate change and hinder mitigation:

Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change” (26).

While the Pope does not address governments as main actors, nor does he frame the climate problem only as the responsibility of each individual. Instead, the encyclical underlines the importance of collective actors such as cooperatives, non-governmental organizations and civil society (179).

However, the encyclical remains rather unspecific concerning concrete recommendations for action to prevent climate change and overcome poverty. The Pope does not comment on whether the 2°C temperature limit is adequate or whether 1.5°C would be more appropriate from the perspective of the poorest. Concerning energy sources, the Pope often refers to renewable energy (26, 164) and explicitly states that coal, oil and gas “needs to be progressively replaced without delay” (165). But he does not provide any further details on transformation scenarios or requirements for specific technologies. This is for good reason; it is not the task of the Pope to intervene in the detailed mechanics of politics. In this sense, the Pope also recognizes the different areas of competence of religion, politics and science.

3. The Pope and the global commons

Much more important than the choice of energy sources is the question of ownership of the global commons. Here, the encyclical states:

The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all (23).

Several times the Pope refers to the common good and stresses that the “global commons” (174), such as the atmosphere, oceans, forests, and biosphere, belong to us all.

The encyclical thus implicitly describes the core problem of climate policy: we currently use the atmosphere as a disposal space. Everyone is allowed to pollute the atmosphere without paying for the negative externalities. Science has shown that we are limited to atmospheric emissions of around 1,000 GtCO2 in order not to exceed the 2 degree temperature limit (see Figure 1). However, substantial fossil resources are still stored in the ground, and these would give rise to emissions of about 15,000 GtCO2 due to combustion. If, due to climate policy, these fossil fuels may no longer be used, the resources would necessarily be devalued. The owners of coal, oil and gas would in fact be expropriated. In this context, the encyclical stresses the principle of “subordination of private property” (93-95, 156-158). This means that private property of fossil fuels can only be ethically justified if it serves the common good. Therefore, the devaluation of assets is not an unjustified disenfranchisement, but is legitimate because it serves the common good, namely the reduction of the risks and consequences of climate change.

To frame the climate problem as a “global commons” problem has far reaching consequences. This became clear when the term was relegated by the governments from the main text into a footnote in the report of the IPCC Working Group III. Some countries feared legal and distributional consequences. If the atmosphere is accepted as being a global commons, this immediately raises the question of who owns the atmosphere and who is allowed to pollute it. The encyclical is very clear about this:

The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone (95).

Ownership thus goes hand in hand with a responsibility to take into account the principles of justice. The currently prevailing “law of the jungle”, causing the atmosphere to be overused in terms of the deposition of carbon ad infinitum, is thus de-legitimized by the Pope.

Implications for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris

The encyclical is only expected to have an indirect effect on the UN climate change conference – but it will probably be long-lasting. Its timing may have a positive impact on the negotiations in Paris, but more importantly, it is timeless and emphasizes the fundamental question of solving the intertwined problems of climate change, poverty and inequality. Providing an answer to these questions is becoming globally ever more pressing. The encyclical does not address the governments directly but refers to a global “ecological movement” (166). For the Pope it is clear: without pressure from the public and from civic institutions there will be no progress (181).

With this analysis the encyclical describes a phenomenon that has now become global. While the nations of the G7 commit to decarbonization but do not agree on corresponding joint policy measures, there are many positive signs of movement in the climate carousel aside from the international climate negotiations: a new study by UNEP shows that a substantial contribution can be made to reduce emissions by cities and other subnational actors; the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has decided to sell its coal investments and sends a strong signal for a global divestment strategy; and six large oil companies get together begging for pricing CO2 emissions.

Individual actions alone will achieve little, but together they can make a difference; they could well contribute to an international climate agreement serving as a foundation for the governance of the global commons.

The fact that the commons can indeed be successfully managed has already been proven at the local level: Elinor Ostrom has shown that communities can develop diverse institutional arrangements for managing the commons without overexploitation. For this finding, Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 2009. It is now time to show that the management of global commons is collectively possible.

Perhaps this is the overarching message of the encyclical: the fair management of the global commons is one of the most important tasks of the 21st century. This can only be successful if a large number of actors across different levels of governance, ranging from global, to regional and local, link up together. This convinces also me as an atheist: heaven belongs to us all.

Dr. Brigitte Knopf is Secretary General of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and an expert on European energy and climate policy and one of the Editors of the Book “Climate Change, Justice and Sustainability”.

19 June, 2015
Realclimate.org

By Greg Miller and Karen DeYoung

Key lawmakers have moved to slash funding of a secret CIA operation to train and arm rebels in Syria, a move that U.S. officials said reflects rising skepticism of the effectiveness of the agency program and the Obama administration’s strategy in the Middle East.

The House Intelligence Committee recently voted unanimously to cut as much as 20 percent of the classified funds flowing into a CIA program that U.S. officials said has become one the agency’s largest covert operations, with a budget approaching $1 billion a year.

“There is a great deal of concern on a very bipartisan basis with our strategy in Syria,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the intelligence panel. He declined to comment on specific provisions of the committee’s bill but cited growing pessimism that the United States will be in a position “to help shape the aftermath” of Syria’s civil war.

The cuts to the CIA program are included in a preliminary intelligence spending bill that is expected to be voted on in the House next week. The measure has provoked concern among CIA and White House officials, who warned that pulling money out of the CIA effort could weaken U.S.-backed insurgents just as they have begun to emerge as effective fighters. The White House declined to comment.

Recent CIA assessments have warned that the war is approaching a critical stage in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is losing territory and strength, and might soon be forced to relinquish all but a narrow corridor of the country to rebel groups — some of them dominated by Islamist militants.

[Assad hold on seen as increasingly imperiled}

“Regime losses across the front lines are edging the conflict closer to [Assad’s] doorstep,” a U.S. intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Syrian president “is not necessarily on the verge of defeat,” the official said, noting that Russia and Iran continue to support him and could help him stave off collapse. But because of regime losses in Idlib and elsewhere, the official said, “many people are starting to openly talk about an endgame for Assad and Syria.”

The projections have prompted a flurry of discussions at the White House, CIA, Pentagon and State Department regarding post-Assad scenarios, officials said, and whether U.S.-backed moderate forces will be in a position to prevent the country from being overrun by extremist groups, including the Islamic State, which has beheaded Western hostages and declared a caliphate encompassing large parts of Syria and Iraq.

This week, President Obama expanded the U.S. military’s role against the Islamic State, unveiling plans to deploy U.S. advisers to new bases in Iraq, while announcing no change to the limited American-led bombing campaign that began in Iraq and Syria last year. A separate Defense Department program authorized to train moderate fighters to combat the Islamic State has not yet begun.

But the sudden contraction of Assad’s sphere of control has focused renewed attention on Syria and the CIA program set up in 2013 to bolster moderate forces that still represent the United States’ most direct involvement on the ground in Syria’s civil war.

The cost of that CIA program has not previously been disclosed, and the figure provides the clearest indication to date of the extent to which the agency’s attention and resources have shifted to Syria.

At $1 billion, Syria-related operations account for about $1 of every $15 in the CIA’s overall budget, judging by spending levels revealed in documents The Washington Post obtained from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

U.S. officials said the CIA has trained and equipped nearly 10,000 fighters sent into Syria over the past several years — meaning that the agency is spending roughly $100,000 per year for every anti-Assad rebel who has gone through the program.

The CIA declined to comment on the program or its budget. But U.S. officials defended the scale of the expenditures, saying the money goes toward much more than salaries and weapons and is part of a broader, multibillion-dollar effort involving Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to bolster a coalition of militias known as the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army.

Much of the CIA’s money goes toward running secret training camps in Jordan, gathering intelligence to help guide the operations of agency-backed militias and managing a sprawling logistics network used to move fighters, ammunition and weapons into the country.

The move by the House intelligence panel to cut the program’s funds is not mentioned in the unclassified version of the spending bill. But statements released by lawmakers alluded to some of their underlying concerns, including a line calling for an “effort to enhance the metrics involved in a critically important [intelligence community] program.”

That language, officials said, was a veiled reference to members’ mounting frustration with the program and a perceived inability by the agency to show that its forces have gained territory, won battles or achieved other measurable results.

“Assad is increasingly in danger, and people may be taking bets on how long he can last, but it’s largely not as a result of action by so-called moderates on the ground,” said a senior Republican aide in Congress, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject.

In the past two years, the goal of the CIA’s mission in Syria has shifted from ousting Assad to countering the rise of extremist groups including al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL.

“Unfortunately, I think that ISIS, al-Nusra and some of the other radical Islamic factions are the best positioned to capi­tal­ize on the chaos that might accompany a rapid decline of the regime,” Schiff said.

Even defenders of the CIA program acknowledge that moderate factions in Syria have often performed poorly and are likely to be overwhelmed in any direct showdown with the Islamic State.

Still, officials said U.S.-backed fighters have made significant gains in recent weeks — including the seizure of a government army base — and represent the only meaningful prospect for the United States and its allies to maintain a foothold in the country if Assad falls.

“This is especially true in southern Syria, where [the U.S.-backed coalition] is emerging as a significant force capable of capturing key regime bases,” the U.S. intelligence official said. “Slowly but surely, U.S. government support to the moderate opposition forces has paid off.”

Opposition leaders in southern Syria, where the CIA-trained fighters are concentrated, said the groups have recently become better organized and more effective in their use of heavier weapons, including U.S.-made TOW antitank missiles.

“They have coherent command and control and have unified Sunni groups,” said Oubai Shahbandar, a former top adviser to the opposition leadership who maintains regular contact with rebels on the ground. Moderate militias have kept control of border crossings into Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and are fighting on the outskirts of Damascus.

The training program, Shahbandar said, “is a precedent in terms of what works.” Rather than cut funds, he said, the United States “should really double down on its southern program.”

Rebel units in the area have set up functioning civilian governments that could be models for the kind of political transition the United States says it seeks as a replacement for Assad, said Lina Khatib of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Despite those gains south of Damascus, experts and officials said that the most significant pressure on Assad’s regime is in northern Syria, where the Islamic State is on the offensive. At the same time, a separate coalition of rebel groups known as the Army of Conquest has taken advantage of infusions of new weapons and cash from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

The intelligence spending bill would set budgets for the fiscal year beginning in October. The chairman of the House intelligence panel, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), declined a request for an interview.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to begin work this month on its own budget for U.S. spy agencies. U.S. officials said the White House has signaled that it will seek to persuade the Senate panel to protect the CIA program from the cuts sought by the House.

Liz Sly in Beirut contributed to this report.

Greg Miller covers the intelligence beat for The Washington Post.

Karen DeYoung is associate editor and senior national security correspondent for the Washington Post.

12 June 2015

Press Release

Dalit Adivasi Mahila Swabhiman Yatra travelled more than 3000 kms across 11 districts of Odisha, conducted more than 45 village/street meetings, several public rallies in towns and submitted memorandum at District Collectorate of all districts. The Yatra team comprising of Dalit leaders from Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, volunteers, leaders and cultural activists from Odisha and several Dalit Adivasi community women leaders who travelled from village to village, town to town, district to district are now witness to brutal and heinous crimes against Dalits & Adivasi’s and Dalit women in particular.

We have shed tears and shared pain with the victims – survivors and their family members. We have shared the grief of losing lives of young daughters, mothers and wives to the clutches of the evil caste system.

The team has also expressed their anger and anguish at the utter failure of the Odisha police and administration in securing justice to the victims of caste violence. From wilful negligence of duties to the complicit in the violence against the women and young girls; and the indifference by the investigation officers, doctors, administrative officials was observed in several cases. It is shocking to note that the team came across with uncooperative police and officers who were unwilling to listen to the pleas of the victims-survivors.

Asha Kowtal, Gen. Sec. All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch expressed her disgust saying, ‘ Past ten days in Odisha reveals the full spectrum of caste violence, particularly the women. To my utter shock, I have met survivors and victims of every sort of violence, including kidnap, rape, murder, sexual assault, stripping, naked parading, beating, verbal abuse, untouchability and discrimination.’

Gayatri, a 27 year old rape survivor in Kendrapada district explained, ‘ I have been running from pillar to post demanding the arrest of the accused but there is nobody in the administration to hear my cries of justice. The perpetrator is scot free and I am struggling by myself to maintain my life and dignity.’

Violence against Dalit women is often a tool in the hands of the dominant caste people to induce fear, maintain status quo, control access to resources and reinforce the caste hegemony. Bodies of Dalit women are often the sites on which caste wars are fought. We have observed this in Zabara village of Jajpur district in which women are fighting hard to to save the common grazing land. Many of the women said, ‘ Instead of arresting the accused, who created hell for us by beating our people, the police have filed false cases against us. How can we expect a safe, secure and dignified life, when the entire system is working against us?’

Police inaction and purposeful negligence in the investigations reveal severe lapses in the implementation of the SC/ST PoA Act. Absolute lack of relief, legal support, compensations, pyscho social support has left the community in deep trauma, fear and state of hopelessness.

Ms. Anju Singh, National Coordinator, AIDMAM exclaimed, ‘ Where should we Dalits and Adivasi’s go to seek justice? This is a utter shame of the Odisha Government for turning a blind eye to the severe caste atrocities. What is the use of special legal provisions when none of them are of any meaning for me and my community?’

We note that several instances of caste based violence against women. There is an increasing insecurity and vulnerability among the women and young children in different corners of Odisha such as the issues in a village in Jajpur district, where a small altercation involving Dalit youth led to violent attack by dominant caste people on Dalit colony; destroying houses and brutally assaulting the women and children. Worse still, the culprits went even to the extent; one of the Dalit women was stripped and paraded naked. She said, ‘Not a single officer has visited us since the incident. In fact we are living in constant fear of the bullies. They have also imposed social boycott on us and we can’t even go to the nearby shops. The violence has shattered our lives adding to already stricken by poverty..’

Young wives and mothers of little children are battling alone in search of justice for their murdered and seriously injured husbands. Both in Kendrapada and Jajpur districts, we learnt that there is no financial compensation and relief, no legal support nor medical assistance provided while the perpetrators have impunity. It is sad to note the police have closed their eyes.

In the recent chilling and inhuman case, there is no head way into the 15 years girl of Sargipally village in Bolangir district.

Caste is not cultural, but criminal. The caste based gender violence perpetrators seem to think otherwise.

These few instances of caste violence represent only the tip of the iceberg ! This cross section of cases of violence committed against Dalits Adivasi historically is deep seated in Odisha. Untouchability practices of various forms including discrimination in schools, anganwadi’s, shops and hotels, access to water in public places, renting houses in villages and towns, entering places of worship are rampantly practised in many villages. There is huge surge of trafficking of young girls to other states due to rising of drop outs and abject poverty.

Ajaya Kumar Singh, Convenor – Odisha Forum for Social Action said, ‘ For the last ten days, the Dalit Adivasi Mahila caravan that visited from villages to villages, towns to towns, meeting the victims survivors to community leaders; from civil society groups to district officials. There is an overarching fear and insecurity not just among the victims survivors but also among the dalit adivasi communities as the perpetrators of the caste based gender violence make mockery of criminal justice delivery system The executives and the police if not complicit remain indifference and callousness to the atrocities giving rise to untold sufferings and increased violences. The caste based gender violences could only be addressed if civil society and human rights groups come together to make the duty bearers accountable as well as right holders aware of the due rights and equality. Sure, the Yatra has brought in a new energy to carry on the struggles for equity and dignity.

This 10 days caravan that ended in candle Rally in Bhubaneswar and intense mobilisation of community on the ground leaves us with the hope of collective action in breaking impunity by calling out the authorities to take immediate action in curbing violence against Dalit women and monitor the policies meant to protect and deliver justice to the victims-survivors.

Our Demands:

1. Govt must strengthen the institutional mechanism (Exclusive Special Courts) for the protection and security of Dalit and Tribal women in the state through establishing the special cell through allocating special budgetary package for the same.

2. As the number of rape cases in Odisha is increasing day by day in the State, hence police must take proactive steps to create an atmosphere and environment to ensure that Dalits /Tribal girls and women are safe.

3. It is saddening to note that, there are no head ways for horrible inhuman tragedy to the Dalit young girls of Sargipali village of Bolangir. Hence we demand a stringent and urgent action against those perpetrators.

4. Adequate compensation and proper rehabilitation must be ensuring to the Atrocity victims along with a Govt job as per Rules 12(4) of SCs & STs (PoA).

5. Special Component Plan should be legislated in the State of Odisha. 50% budget should be reserved for women and direct schemes for their empowerment should be introduced.

6. Govt should amend the PoA Act and strengthen the implementation of PoA Act in the state.

7. Stringent punishment should be given to the Govt officers for their wilful negligence of their duties & responsibilities on deliver justice to the victims-survivors of caste based gender violences.

8. There is no representation of Dalits and Adivasi communities in all the existing commissions including Women Commission, Children Commission and other bodies; thus these commissions become cover up bodies rather ensure justice for the victims survivors even though they communities constitute nearly half of the population in the state.

9. The sexual violence and pregnancy cases against Dalit and Tribal minor girls in SC/ST Ashram schools are continuously increasing in different districts in the state. Hence we demand that Govt must set up a strong monitoring mechanism to ensure that, these children are safe and well protected.

10. Govt should establish hostels for the minority children of Dalit and Muslim origin in every block with a proportionate pre and post metric scholarship.

11. The officials purposefully interpreted wrongly in the FRA to deny the land rights to Dalits, who have been inhabitated in the same areas for centuries. Thus, we demand the land rights for the Dalits in the same.

12. It is a very sad thing that, due to the caste system and untochability practice in the state, the rented houses are not being provided to Dalits and Tribals resulting huge exclusion. Therefore Govt should amend the PoA to give justice to these marginalised communities in the state.

Asha Kotwal, General Secretary, All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, New Delhi

Ajaya kumar Singh, Convenor, Odisha Forum for Social Action, Bhubaneswar

12 June, 2015
Countercurrents.org

By Louisa Lamb

Baddawi Camp, Tripoli, Lebanon: Life as a Palestinian refugee is more than a constant struggle these days, in fact more than in memory, according to a representative sampling of some of the more than 200,000 Palestinians in Lebanon’s camps.

Every day looms with pessimism, as many wonder if they will be able to feed their families and have drinkable water, while also anticipating, with apprehension, the possibility of being shelled by militia or individual jihadists. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, including the tens of thousands of refugees coming from Syria since 2011, now face an even bigger problem as United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) recently apologized for its drastically reduced funding and warned there would soon be even more aid cuts.

The UNRWA was established in December 1949, by resolution 302 (IV) of the UN General Assembly, as a reaction to the 1948 Nakba. It was created as a temporary measure designed to respond to the plight of approximately three-quarters of a million Palestinian refugees, pending achievement of a political settlement in their homeland, Palestine.

Sixty-six years after its establishment, in the continuing absence of a solution to the theft of Palestine, the agency continues to exist and function. These days, however, it lacks the necessary funds to fulfill its mandate. That mandate, was recently renewed by the UN General Assembly again until 30 June, 2017. This needed extension and the agency’s continuing existence are due, as UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon said recently, to “political failure” and the inability of the international community to bring about a durable solution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees, millions of whom are scattered all over the globe with nearly a quarter million existing in squalor and abject poverty in Lebanon. This political failure—a policy choice made and upheld by the leading world powers—has perpetuated and imposed continuous Palestinian suffering over four generations.

During my recent visit to Tripoli, Lebanon, where two of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps, Badawwi and Nahr al Bared, are located, I was able to witness the courtyard of the school filled with Syrian-Palestinians holding a peaceful, sit-in protest. When I first approached the gathering, accompanied by my friends Wisam and Manal, both from Syria, I noticed about 70 people in the courtyard, some standing in small groups conversing, others sitting silently, praying, or talking among each other. Many families gathered together in the evening for several hours before returning home to put their children to sleep, sometimes returning to re-join the demonstrators. With the help of Abdullah Othman and Wisam Kraein who interpreted, I had the privilege of speaking to several individuals about their background, what they hoped to achieve, and what they expect of the future.

Among the people who had attended the protest every day since it started fourteen days ago, were two older gentlemen named Abo Feras and Abdullah. Abo Feras has been in Lebanon for thirty-three years, after coming during the civil war to fight for the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization). He was in Beirut when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, and has been residing in Baddawi camp ever since. Abdullah was born in the camp and has spent his life there.

Besides being at the UNRWA school protesting every day, the protestors sometimes spend the night inside the school. Abdullah described in detail the many problems in Baddawi camp, explaining with dolor that UNRWA has reduced financial aid to Syrian-Palestinians (and Palestinians born in Lebanon) by $100 a month, effective in July. Monthly funding is contingent on how many family members are in a household, but the $100 reductions means families will now receive only half on the monthly funding they rely on and are accustomed to.

Abdullah also informed me that UNRWA has fired teachers due to budget cuts, while increasing classroom sizes, from approximately twenty-five students in a classroom to forty or more students. Abo Feras described his concern about being able to pay rent, because that additional $100 was barely, and sometimes not even, enough rent money. Abo Feras and Abdullah agreed that they would remain at the UNRWA school every day until something happens, and if in the future they can no longer pay rent, they will sleep at the site among other protesters.

The goal that all the Syrian-Palestinians want from protesting, Abo Feras explained, is for UNRWA to take responsibility to help refugees with health, education and finances. Approximately 70 to 90,000 Syrian-Palestinians have fled to Lebanon since 2011 and like Abo Feras, many believe UNRWA doesn’t do enough.

One Syrian-Palestinian woman, who requested to remain anonymous, suspects that UNRWA is getting pressured by Israel to reduce funding as a method of dividing Palestinians and keeping them from their homeland. This, she says, encourages Palestinians to move abroad, most likely to Europe and South America, to keep Palestinians away from the Jewish state. She wasn’t the only person I spoke with who believed this conspiracy; Abo Khaled, one of the main organizers of all Palestinians in camps in the north region of Lebanon, stated that this is the first course of action in a greater plan.

While these ideas spurred around the sit-in protest, most Palestinians were less concerned with the greater politics, but are more focused on what the immediate future holds for their families. Abo Khaled acknowledged a debate among many protesters between the Right to Return and staying in Lebanon compared to the wish to leave Lebanon and travel to other countries for a better life. According to Abo Khaled, the Palestinian parties want Palestinians to stay and fight against the obstacles, but the majority of Palestinians want to leave the Middle-East altogether.

Ikbal, a Palestinian from Yarmouk camp who has been living in Baddawi camp for a year and a half, says “it’s like death” to live without the funding from UNRWA. She, like all the other members of Baddawi camp with cell phones, was informed of funding cuts through SMS message. She already struggles to pay rent, and lives with her family in a house with two other families. She describes barely being able to afford rent and food before the cuts, and she doesn’t know what to do now. Like many women, she sits every day at the UNRWA school in solidarity with other mothers, while their children play. Ikbal says the despite the war in Syria, she would go back because she hates her life in Lebanon.

Safeia, originally from Sabineh camp in Syria, who has been protesting for thirteen days with her son says she desperately relied on the UNRWA money because her husband has cancer and most of that money went towards his medicine. Her husband needs an operation which costs $300, and she is stressed and discouraged about how to find money to pay for it. In Syria, her husband was a lawyer, but since coming to Lebanon their life has changed drastically, where work is scarce and Palestinians are lucky to find a job, and the jobs available to Palestinians pay little since they are barred by law from working in more than 35 professions. Safeia will continue to protest, and if she has to she will sleep in the school or the streets until she gets what she needs for her family.

Most of the people I talked with were Syrian-Palestinians, already living as refugees in Syria and had to relocate again to Lebanon. Manal, a mother of two small children, left Yarmouk Camp because of the lack of food and water and constant bombing. For eleven years she worked as a fashion designer, before getting married. Her husband worked as an electrician and doing home renovations. In Yarmouk, the living situation was terrible and she remembers getting food from the Palestinian Free Army. After her husband’s arrest and worsening conditions in Yarmouk camp, Manal came to Baddawi with her children to stay with her husband’s family. After 10 months of living with another family, she finally got her own place in April 2015. Manal is now worried about how to pay rent and feed her children, and if she cannot pay rent and is evicted, she will live among many others at the UNRWA school. Manal wants to leave Lebanon, but restrictions prevent her from doing so. She hasn’t seen her mother in four years, and wishes to move to Egypt to live with her sister and her parents. Until she finds a way to leave, she will unite with her refugee community and protest.

For every person in Baddawi camp, as well as the people currently residing in the Palestinian camps of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip and West Bank, the future suggests hardship more severe than what they have already endured.

As an American whose government in partly responsible for their plight, I left with guilt and sorrow as I said goodbye to my new friends in Baddawi camp and returned to Beirut. Their gift to me was a deep effect of what their human spirit has shown as they continue to prove their ingenuity and resilience while staying in Lebanon.

Hopefully, sooner rather than later, UNRWA will find a way to gain funds and continue providing assistance to these noble people, and hopefully the world community will do what their claimed humanitarian values demand, and return them to their country, Palestine.

Louisa Lamb is an independent researcher and journalist reporting on the underclass and marginalized. She can be reached c/o louisaalamb@gmail.com

12 June, 2015
Countercurrents.org

 

Former Deputy Prime Minister Of Iraq

By Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann

Dear Zaid,

I write to you with a heavy heart. You may not remember me, but we have spoken at least once or twice when my dear friend and brother Ramsey Clark put me on the phone with you. That was a few years ago and now I am almost totally deaf and need to see the lips of people when they speak to hold a conversation. That is why I am writing this e-mail at the very kind offering of Naji Haraj and Curtis Doebbler.

I am extremely sad, beyond my capacity to express in words, for I did (and do) love Tariq very much. We were good friends and we both believed and worked for the Reign that it was Jesus’ mission to proclaim.

Your father, Zaid, was a great man and a rare example of a Christian in world where too many leaders are ready to make compromises. He was the face of the great Iraqi Revolution and he was much loved and respected by decent people throughout the world.

We went to mass together in the outskirts of Baghdad in what I think was a very old church from Nestorian times. I had the opportunity to meet all of its priests and have breakfast with them, together with your Dad. With dismay I later heard that the church, and all the priests in it, were destroyed by one of the “smart bombs” of the genocidal U.S. empire.

I hope you can take some comfort in knowing that Tariq willingly gave up his freedom, and ultimately his life, for the well-being of his family and know that your own ability to love others, in no small part, derives from the example and love he generously bestowed on you, your mother and siblings. Your ability to follow his example as a man of principle, a leader, husband and father is, I believe, the greatest tribute that any son can offer his parents.

Zaid, my love and condolences to you, your mother and all the family and we shall remain, as before, united in prayer until the day of our Resurrection, when once again you will be rejoined with your father and I with my dear friend Tariq.

Until then may you feel God’s grace and the loving presence of persons around the globe, Christians and Muslims, believers and non-believers, who share your suffering and feel your loss at this special moment.

Love and blessings,

Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, M.M., Nicaraguan former Foreign Minister, President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009

12 June, 2015
Brussellstribunal.org