Letters of January 27

Workers Dump on Trump
Our collective is responding to the Progressive Labor Party’s call for action to fight anti-Muslim racism! Friends joined a group that invaded a Donald Trump rally to disrupt it. Another friend reached out to people she knew in her building who made racist slurs against Yemeni staff. She began a campaign posting signs of support in the entrance hall of the building.
Working with a synagogue that has forged an ongoing relationship with a Muslim congregation, we are building Jewish-Muslim working-class unity to fight racism. Their youth groups have begun doing joint social service projects together.  Just last week, they co-hosted a holiday celebration of solidarity. One PL’er was part of a conversation with a young rabbinical student and a Muslim high school student. The Muslim student was angry because he wanted to study aeronautical engineering but feared he would be branded a terrorist who would blow up planes! The rabbi-to-be was appalled at the racism and pledged to fight this kind of bigotry throughout his career.
Another PL’er met with a leader of a regional denominational organization to explore ways to promote interfaith congregational solidarity throughout the state. They then appeared at a press conference to oppose anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant racism. Little by little, we are building solidarity with Muslim workers and students.
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Gas is ‘Leviathan’ of Syria Civil War
It was inspiring to see our comrades from Israel write an article titled “Israeli Gas Deal Pumps Racism, Nationalism” in the previous issue (1/13). However, the article left out an important piece of information.  The Eastern Mediterranean coast, also called the Levantine coast, is a major cause of the Syrian Civil War. The rights to this vast reserve of natural gas was a point of conflict that has led to the imperialist proxy war going on in Syria between U.S. and Russia.
Israel, U.S.’s proxy, has actually provided medical assistance to the fascist groups such as Al Qaeda fighting against the Syrian regime because they see that regime as their greater enemy! The Alawite coast of Latakia is where Syria has a border on the aptly named Leviathan gas field.
The map that went with the article left out that Syria is to the north of Lebanon and thus a major player in the Leviathan scramble. The PLP’s Challenge blog reported on September 1, 2013 that:
The imperialist rivalry between the U.S. and Russia also stems from the U.S.’s desire to enter into the natural gas market. Russia already has a stranglehold on Europe’s natural gas markets, and the U.S. would like to loosen their grasp. [According to the U.S. Geological Survey government agency], there are 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Levant oil basin.
Unsurprisingly, 1.) Syria’s coast is part of the economic zone that would have the liberty of exploiting this gas and oil bonanza 2.) Israel is already exploiting it 3.) The Israel, U.S., France, Saudi, Turkey, and Qatari axis is feening to dominate this field. Russia has no interest in letting this field fall into the hands of the U.S., thereby allowing their rival to weaken their influence in Europe. Lebanon does not want to outright challenge Israel, and so is using their state apparatus to “protect the peace” in Lebanon, while actually supporting Hezbollah’s backing of Assad.  If Assad is preserved, then they will have a better chance at renegotiating their rights to the oil and getting a bigger slice of the natural gas bonanza.  If Israel wins, then they can still negotiate since it was a proxy force doing the fighting.
Once again, oil is the driving motive for the U.S. to prepare for war and murder the working class. The PLP does not support the butcher Assad nor his fascist sexist puppet master Putin.  We know that neither is a friend to the working class and we will do all that we can to build communist revolution and class struggle in their countries.  The USSR and Syria were once beacons and havens for communists.  We know that as PLP grows in the Middle East, we will bring communism back to the forefront.
I hope that this information helps. For more blog articles or to submit articles, comics for the blog, visit www.challengenewspaper.wordpress.com/
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