X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 16:41:22 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: psn@csf.colorado.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Nationalism: Enemy of the Working Class Those who made criticisms of the PLO from the Left were sometimes attacked as sectarian or splitting the struggle. But now it is clear that Arafat is mainly interested in carving out a piece of the empire that he can command, rather than providing true liberation for the masses. This is what ALWAYS happens in so-called national liberation struggles. The era of their usefulness as a way to tacticly weaken the imperialists is over, if it ever was useful. Now we are in an era where nationalism, even the nationalism of the oppressed, leads back to capitalism. Those who consider themselves "Marxist" should shed their illusions about the usefulness of nationalism---a pro-capitalist poison when it is in the working class movement. Alan Spector (forwarded message follows) ======================================================================= Reply-to: mer-L@middleeast.org Date: 97-05-08 10:57:40 EDT M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S - http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org ******************************************************* FEAR & REPRESSION CONTINUE TO ESCALATE FROM ARAFAT'S "PA" ******************************************************* To receive MER weekly send reply message with words "SEND MER" MER@MiddleEast.Org ------------------------------- PALESTINIANS FACE STILL GROWING REPRESSION AND INTIMIDATION FROM ARAFAT REGIME URGED ON BY US AND ISRAEL MER - 5/6/97 - In recent months what is increasingly an Arafat Police Regime essentially collaborating with the Israeli occupation forces has taken unprecedented steps to create growing fear and repression among Palestinians. * The books and articles of Edward Said and other leading Palestinian writers and political analysts have been banned and confiscated from bookstores. Few if any real voices of independent Palestinians are ever allowed in Palestinian newspapers or magazines, Arafat having brought all of them under his domination and corruption. * Even internationally-recognized human rights personalities such as Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj in Gaza have been arrested and tortured. In El- Sarraj's case an attempt was even made to frame him as a drug pusher! The result is that quite literally everyone has become extremely fearful that should they even speak privately to journalists, or even to other Palestinians, the knock could come at their door anytime. * The recent arrest of the leaders of the Teachers Union for striking for higher wages has still further escalated fear among academics and intellectuals. With what are essentially PA goons and thugs, along with PA car drivers, being paid more than teachers, Arafat is distorting the entire Palestinian society to bring it under the control of his small corrupt and self-serving clique. * The "Palestinian Authorities" cooperation with the Israeli Shabak and Army in the assassination of Yeyha Ayyash ("The Engineer") and the capture or killing of other Hamas activists has created deep fissures within Palestinian society and even within Palestinian families. A low- grade civil war is underway among Palestinians, acting as a kind of social acid eating away at the society's foundations. * And most recently, just within the past few days, a Palestinian lawyer in Gaza has been arrested for the "crime" of submitting an article for publication in a Palestinian legal journal criticizing the PA and wishing that the Palestinians had legal rights as do the Israelis. Referring to the recent Bar-On investigation in Israel, the lawyer, Naim Salameh, wrote in the article that he wondered "when we will see such examples applied in Palestinian Authority territory." It seems Salameh had sent his article to the Gaza Lawyers' Union for publication in their quarterly journal and a union lawyer then showed the article to the person Arafat has designed "PA Attorney-General, Khaled al-Kidra. Al-Kidra then decided to jail Salameh and ordered the article not be published. And in a still further outrage Salaman will tried in a military court on charges of hampering PA security! (Note: Arafat still does not have complete control over the civilian courts). For additional detailed information about the realities of what is known as the "Palestinian Authority" and what we refer to as "the Arafat regime" see the numerous MER items from the past year now available at http://www.MiddleEast.Org. MAB --------------------------------------5/8/97----------------------- MID-EAST REALITIES For latest information go to: http://www.MiddleEast.Org --------------------------------------------------- MER may be freely resent via email as long as it is sent complete without any editing or changes of any kind. Indeed further email distribution is encouraged and appreciated. For any Web or print publication written permission is required -- please contact MER@MiddleEast.Org, phone 202 362-5266 (Ext 638) or fax 202 362-6965.