Head-spinning changes are swirling, not always under the control of the imperialist powers.
Last week, the president of South Korea declared martial law, to ban free speech and protests. Armed troops began surrounding the National Assembly, while civilian staff prepared to stop them with fire extinguishers. But ― surprise! ― people began massing, chanting “Strike down dictatorship!” The president had to back off. The story continues as opposition parties failed to impeach him. But what a lesson to learn from… the decisive power of the people in action.
On Sunday, Syrian opposition forces drove the hated Bashir al-Assad from Damascus. 14 million Syrians had been driven from Syria into exile, tens of thousands of political prisoners were tortured and killed in prisons, and hundreds of thousands civilians killed by the military. There is joy in the streets.
But we have to keep an eye out! Israel, with U.S. weapons, has been bombing Syria this week and seems ready to grab the Golan Heights for settlements; the U.S. still has troops in the country. The Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian backers, or many of the forces who have now overthrown the Assad regime, in particular the Islamic fundamentalist forces, and certainly the U.S. and Israel and Turkey, don’t represent the interests of the peoples of Syria.
