Rojava & Turkey’s war on the Kurds

[Education to Melbourne branch of Socialist Alliance, August 2, 2022.]

There are around 40-45 million Kurds — about 20 million in Turkey (a quarter of the population), 10-12 million in Iran, about 8 million in Iraq and 3.5 million in Syria. There is a Kurdish diaspora in Western Europe of as many as 2 million people, about half of them in Germany.

 

In each country they face a struggle for their rights. In Iraq there is the Kurdish Regional Government area but it is controlled by a neo-colonial kleptocracy headed by the Barzani family which colludes with Turkey to keep the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in check.

 

Stop Turkey’s war on Rojava

 [Speech at a rally in Melbourne on July 23.]

Socialist Alliance joins with you in calling for the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over the liberated territory of North and East Syria — Rojava — to block a new invasion by Turkey and its Islamist mercenaries.

Open Borders or a First World Fortress?

[From Asylum! A Socialist View of the Refugee Crisis (2022).]

The spectacular August 2021 collapse of the Western puppet government in Afghanistan in the face of the Taliban offensive generated a new wave of people seeking asylum.

Prime Minister Scott Morison made it clear that only Afghans who came through “official channels” would be resettled in Australia. If you come by boat forget it — apparently, making the slightest concession to “boat people” would open the floodgates to the dreaded people smugglers. And none of the 4200 Afghans already here on temporary visas would be permanently settled. Then Defence Minister Peter Dutton weighed in, claiming that some Afghan asylum-seekers could be terrorists or pose a threat to Australia.