This is the anniversary of the titanic Arab Spring uprisings which all began about this time in 2011, including in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, with reverberations in Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Libya. Despite the sneering postmortems of cynics, they were glorious events when working people by the millions put their lives on the line to bring down dictatorships & make this world a better place to live. To speak of them with scorn & sneering only exposes ignorance about the immense problems faced in the complex process of social transformation. Massive repression is required to contain them in Egypt & Bahrain; counterrevolutionary coalitions engaged in carpet bombing in Yemen & Syria have still not brought those revolutions to a decisive defeat. Libya is now a hellhole with two regimes, ISIS, & foreign armies. If you want to understand the hatred for Muslims & the use of Islamophobia as a battle cry, look to the impact of the Arab Spring uprisings.

We should take a moment to pay tribute to the millions of revolutionists, so maligned in propaganda, who fought so intransigently against insuperable odds, & to the thousands who lost their lives. They show the best humanity is made of; they are the vanguard of social transformation. Those who look at the Arab Spring with scorn have missed some of the most remarkable events in human history. The Arab revolutions have not been permanently defeated. Those of us who want to create a suitable world for human beings to live & love in are wise to look to them to understand the complexities & problems faced in the struggle for social transformation which they began & can be brought to completion.

Photo is a young woman in Tahrir Square when Mubarak’s resignation was announced on February 11, 2011. We hold that same hope today for the eventual defeat of dictatorship, for democracy throughout the Middle East, for democracy throughout the world.

(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Russian military officials just announced the sale of six fighter jets to the Burmese military junta & said they may also be selling them naval ships & land weapons. Talk to us again about how Putin is being vilified, about the “new McCarthyism”, about the fake news of Russiagate, about the emancipatory role Russian jets are playing in bombing Syrian civilians, & other such rubbish. Better yet, smarten up.

This is another photo of baby Karim whose mother was killed & family home destroyed by Syrian bombing of eastern Ghouta near Damascus on October 29th, 2017. The infant, who is about three-months-old now, lost his eye & sustained a broken skull in the bombing. He’s being cared for by his grieving father, sister & older brother who is 11-years-old.

When he’s grown, his father can explain to him that losing his mother as an infant & being disfigured & disabled was for the greater good of national sovereignty for Assad’s dictatorship, so Assad can continue to imprison, torture, & hang political prisoners, forcibly disappear dissidents, & carpet bomb civilians.

The only principled demands are that Syria, Russia, & the US coalition stop the bombing of civilians & for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.

(Photo by Amer Almohibany)

The Bangladeshi government announced that the forcible deportation of Rohingya refugees has been postponed. It was scheduled to begin two days ago but unlike past forced repatriations of Rohingya refugees, this one is under critical international scrutiny. They can’t withhold food from refugees to force them to return, as they’ve done in the past. Certainly the protests of Rohingya refugees against deportations are playing a central role because of the wide coverage in media, mostly social media.

The UN is barred from monitoring the deportation situation, even in its wimpy-assed way, & humanitarian organizations will be barred from entering Arakan state to provide aid & monitor human rights. It must be said that the protests of NGOs at forcible deportation are nowhere near the velocity & scale required for such monumental human rights criminality & violation of refugee rights. According to a report yesterday, the Burmese army & vigilante death squads are still torching villages in the killing fields of Burma & refugees are still streaming across the border.

The Burmese ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, & Resettlement, a cabinet position in Suu Kyi’s government, is overseeing the construction of concentration camps outside Maungdaw in Arakan state. They report they have only constructed barracks for 30,000 of the 655,000 to 800,000 they plan to deport over the next two years. Will they have health facilities, unlike the concentration camps set up after the 2012 offensive? Is there a sanitation infrastructure–because from photos of the new camps, it sure as hell doesn’t look like it? Is it really necessary to surround the camps with enforced wire fences topped with razor wire?

Stand with the Rohingya people in demanding no forced deportation & for full refugee rights in whichever country they choose for asylum.

(Photo of concentration camp outside Maungdaw from Reuters)

That ignorant dirtball in the White House just put Palestinians in his crosshairs while sitting with Netanyahu at the Davos meeting. We cannot be lethargic in our political defense of Palestinians.

We should take a moment to honor the life of musician Hugh Masekela who died Tuesday at the age of 78. He was a remarkable & renowned South African trumpeter, composer, & singer whose music encompasses dance beats, love lyrics, & political protest that championed the struggle against apartheid.

He’s probably best known, at least in the US, for “Grazing in the Grass”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKcGCObEb28

But certainly in South Africa he is known more for his political songs including: “Soweto Blues” sung by Mariam Makeba:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGbEQ210_J4

“Bring Him Home” about releasing Nelson Mandela from prison which became an anthem of the anti-apartheid movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3oKb2JQow

“Shuffle & Bow” from his last album “No Borders”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN2Ql4LqANI

May he Rest In Peace.