91��̳ - Tony Iltis

Western Sahara: Africa’s oldest conflict reignites

Tony Iltis — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 15:30:00 +1100

Tony Iltis explains what led to the lifting of the ceasefire in occupied Western Sahara.

Philippines: COVID-19 crisis reveals simmering tensions in the regime

Merck Maguddayao — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 17:45:00 +1000

The COVID-19 pandemic is being mishandled in the Philippines with political consequences, write Merck Maguddayao and Tony Iltis.

No war on Iran

Tony Iltis — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 14:15:00 +1100

The United States military strike on January 3 that assassinated Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Quds Brigade commander Qasem Soleimani and deputy commander of the Iraqi government-affiliated Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iran’s retaliation against two US military bases in Iraq on January 8 brought the World to the brink of war.

Turkey launches genocidal invasion of Rojava

Tony Iltis — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +1100

The horrific violence that has been devastating Syria for the past eight years is intensifying, writes Tony Iltis. On October 9, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave the order to NATO’s second largest army to begin the shelling and aerial bombardment of civilian populations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA).

The world must recognise Western Sahara

Tony Iltis — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 15:30:00 +1000

Tecber Ahmed Saleh, a health worker for the Ministry of Health of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), is touring Australia, advocating for international recognition of her country. She spoke to Tony Iltis.

Interview with Western Sahara advocate Tecber Ahmed Saleh

Tecber Ahmed Saleh — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:30:00 +1000

Tecber Ahmed Saleh is a prominent Western Sahara human rights advocate who was born in a refugee camp in Algeria where her family has lived for more than 40 years. She is currently touring Australia, hosted by the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA). Tecber was interviewed by 91��̳'s Tony Iltis. Video by Zebedee Parkes.

Newstart poverty crisis: Raise the rate now

Tony Iltis — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 11:15:00 +1000

It is fast becoming a recognised fact — almost a truism — that the Newstart Allowance is too low. For unemployed people trying to get by on about $300 a week ($277 without rent assistance, $227 for those under 21), this is not news.

‘Raise the rate’ campaign needed

Tony Iltis — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 11:15:00 +1000

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) campaign coordinator Pas Forgione outlined why a campaign to “Raise the rate” of the Newstart unemployment benefit is desperately needed, at a June 15 community forum in Sydney’s west.

Disaster capitalism, national liberation and the Philippines election

Tony Iltis — Mon, 27 May 2019 18:30:00 +1000

Disaster capitalism, not repair and restoration is the agenda of the Filipino oligarchy in the war-torn city of Marawi, writes Tony Iltis.

Philippines: Left prepares for ‘long fight’ after Duterte steals election

Tony Iltis — Sat, 25 May 2019 16:00:00 +1000

Sonny Melencio, chairperson of the socialist Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses, PLM) spoke to 91��̳ Weekly on May 21 about the left’s response to the recent Philippines elections, which were rife with alleged fraud, vote rigging and vote-buying.

India: Communists organise to resist fascism

Tony Iltis — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 12:30:00 +1000

A population of 800,000 makes Mansa a small town by Indian standards. The main market town of the agricultural Malwa region of Punjab, it has a long history of peasant struggle.

A stronghold of the revolutionary peasant movement since the 1920s, and the communist movement since the 1930s, within a few years of Indian independence left-wing peasants’ struggles had expropriated the region’s large feudal landowners.

As Syria's conflict intensifies, where do democratic hopes lie?

Tony Iltis — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 14:00:00 +1100

The defeat of ISIS in Syria last year raised hopes that the long-running war that has displaced more than two-thirds of the population might be coming to an end. However, the attempted Turkish invasion of the Afrin region of Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), which began on January 20, has underlined that the war is in fact intensifying.

Afrin invasion: Turkey attacks northern Syria’s democratic revolution — with Russian and US approval

Tony Iltis — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +1100

Three years after Kurdish-led forces liberated the northern Syrian city of Kobane from ISIS — after a months-long siege that captured the world’s imagination — the democratic, multi-ethnic and feminist revolution in Syria’s north is facing a new assault.

Revolt by the poor shakes Iran

Tony Iltis — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 18:00:00 +1100

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of cities and towns throughout Iran since December 28 in militant protests against the theocratic regime that has ruled the country since the 1979 revolution.

A glimpse at Nigeria’s little known revolutionary left

Tony Iltis — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 11:00:00 +1100

Adam Mayer’s book on Marxist currents in Nigeria is what it says on the cover — a rich history of Marxist and revolutionary thought and struggles that are little known outside the West African nation.

Somalia: The West's role in violence and terror

Tony Iltis — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 11:00:00 +1100

Three things stand out about the October 14 truck bomb attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

First is the huge number of casualties. The detonation of a large truck packed with explosives created an apocalyptic scene of carnage. It levelled nearby buildings, killing at least 327 people and injuring more than 400 others.

Raqqa largely liberated, Rojava revolution holds commune elections

Tony Iltis — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 10:00:00 +1000

The flags of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) and Shengal Women's Units (YJS) were planted in the city centre of Raqqa, which had been the capital city of ISIS, on September 14.

Australia is being dragged into US wars

Tony Iltis — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 10:00:00 +1000

The threat of nuclear annihilation is closer than at any time since the end of the Cold War as two heads of state use nuclear weapons as props in what looks like a fight between two adolescent boys.

On one side is a narcissistic bully, born to inherit great power and with credible reports that his personal life includes indulging in acts of sadism, whose policies in government are driven by a combination of xenophobia, ego and whim and who is threatening nuclear Armageddon if he doesn't get his way.

On the other side is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

New devastation in Iraq

Tony Iltis — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Flanked by military commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was in the nation’s second-largest city, Mosul, on July 10 to announce the city’s liberation from ISIS.

An end to the three-year-long rule by the extremely violent and authoritarian terrorist group is obviously good news for the city's residents. But it seems unlikely the group’s defeat will mean an end to their suffering, which began long before ISIS captured the city in June 2014.

Philippines: Protests, repression as Duterte pushes towards dictatorship

Tony Iltis — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s annual State of the Nation (SONA) address on July 24 reflected his government’s increasing trajectory towards dictatorship. Outside, protest marches converged on the parliamentary complex at Batasan, reflecting the growing grassroots opposition to the worsening dictatorial trend.

Turnbull transforms immigration into a security issue

Tony Iltis — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +1000

A hallmark of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was responding to falling opinion polls by holding press conferences full of totalitarian imagery, announcing moves to weaken civil liberties or intensify persecution of refugees in the name of keeping Australians safe from the apparent existential threat of terrorism. His successor, Malcolm Turnbull, is trying to out-do him.

Afghanistan occupation leads to war crimes

Tony Iltis — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Australian special forces routinely commit war crimes in Afghanistan.

Such a conclusion is strongly suggested by hundreds of pages of secret Australian Defence Force documents leaked to the ABC, which were revealed on July 11.

Syria: Kurdish-led forces on the verge of taking Raqqa, but what comes next?

Tony Iltis — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Raqqa, the de facto ISIS capital in Syria, is on the verge of falling. The rapid advance of the left-wing Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since they entered the city on June 6 contrasts with the slower advance of forces of the Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdistan governments in Mosul, the ISIS capital in Iraq, which the pro-government forces entered in February.

However, the June 18 downing of a Syrian fighter jet by a US war plane, after the former attacked SDF positions near Raqqa, is just one indication that eliminating ISIS will not end the violent multi-sided war in Syria that spawned it.

Governments’ anti-terrorism moves won’t make public safer

Tony Iltis — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Once again the mainstream media is using lurid headlines and racist hyperbole to convince us that Australia is under threat from the spectre of Islamist terrorism.

Right-wing columnists are whipping themselves into a frenzy calling for further curbs on the already minuscule opportunity for refugees to settle in Australia, further criminalisation of ideological views and imprisonment without conviction.

Philippines: Duterte imposes martial law in new authoritarian step

Tony Iltis — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Filipino police and military forces in the small city of Marawi on the island of Mindanao attempted to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf criminal gang, on May 23. By the end of the day, President Rodrigo Duterte’s government had declared martial law throughout the island for 60 days and launched a military assault.

By June 2, that ongoing assault, including air strikes, had killed at least 160 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

This dramatic escalation represents the further slide of Duterte’s administration towards authoritarian rule and a betrayal of his election campaign promise to pursue a negotiated end to Mindanao’s multiple insurgencies.

Syria: Amid terror, blockades, autonomous democratic federation struggles to meet refugee needs

Tony Iltis — Sat, 13 May 2017 10:00:00 +1000

An ISIS attack on May 2 near the Rajim Salibi border crossing between Iraq and Syria left 37 refugees dead and at least 20 injured. Victims were as young as three months. “The attack was repelled [by] the intervention by Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] fighters,” Firat News Agency reported.

Most of the refugees were fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul, which for months has been the scene of heavy fighting as Western, Russian, Iranian, Iraqi government forces and allied militias try to retake the city from ISIS.

Now Turkey is bombing Kurdish-led revolutionaries in Syria — with Western complicity

Tony Iltis — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Turkish war planes launched air strikes against Syria and Iraq on April 24.

For months local and foreign forces have been closing in on the main ISIS strongholds: the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. Turkey is a NATO member and recognised as an ally against ISIS by the US-led coalition of Western powers in Iraq and Syria, that includes Australia.

But the Turkish air strikes did not target ISIS. Instead, they were aimed at the terror group’s most consistent opponents — left-wing Kurdish-led revolutionary forces.

Bloodshed and uncertainty grow amid chemical fog of war

Tony Iltis — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 10:00:00 +1000

United States warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched a large cruise missile strike against government-held airfields in Syria on April 7. They fired about 60 Tomahawk missiles on the Shayrat air base near Homs in central Syria as the US government called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be removed from power.

Behind the US's confusing, shifting Syria policy

Tony Iltis — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 11:00:00 +1100

After Turkish forces took the previously ISIS-held town of al-Bab on February 23, clashes have intensified in northern Syria between Turkish forces and local proxies occupying an enclave in northern Syria, on one hand, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the other.

The SDF is an alliance of progressive armed groups — the largest of which are Kurdish-based Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Women’s Defence Units (YPJ) — that is subordinate to the grassroots democratic structures of the Democratic Federation of North Syria.

Why Israel loves Trump

Tony Iltis — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 11:00:00 +1100

Since the January 21 inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Israel has approved the construction of 8000 new homes for Jewish Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967. This represents a significant rise in the rate of illegal settlement building.

There has also been a rise in the rate of demolitions of Palestinian homes and land confiscations, both in the territories occupied in 1967 and in those that have been within the Israeli state since 1948.

91������̳ - Tony Iltis