Al Mayadeen TV Socialist Fight report

On 15^th June 2019 George Galloway held a filmed event for his TV show Kalima Horra on Al Mayadeen TV in London, which was launched in 2012 in Beirut, with George Galloway joining shortly afterwards as a presenter.

The topics for debate in this show were ‘Sudan: a regime change’ and ‘Trump’s Israel-Palestine Deal of the Century: or, the Slap of the Century?’.

The format of the show takes the form of George Galloway outlining a basic introduction to the topic followed by participation from the audience, which consists of guests with direct experience, or political commentators who may have an interest. On this show some members of Socialist Fight were invited to attend and participate.

Trump’s Israel-Palestine “Deal of the Century” or, the “Slap of the Century”?

This was the first part of the show and some of the points discussed were:

● What is Trump aiming to achieve in the so-called deal?

  ● Does anyone know what this deal is exactly about?

  ● Would this plan, discussed in Bahrain this month, have any chance?

● What would be the effect of Iran vs. US-Saudi-Israel tension over this plan?

A range of participation from the audience held a common consensus, which was that this is nothing new on offer but further exploitation of the Palestinians who have suffered immeasurably since the 1948 Nakba.

The US administration’s push by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict is nothing more than an attempt to bribe the Palestinians to fully surrender and kill the ‘two-state’ solution with $50 billion, not Israeli or US money, but Arab money…. the Arabs themselves having to pay for a peace that Israel will profit from.

The two-state solution is already dead, this would just legitimise it. The Palestinians have already boycotted the June workshops, with the Palestine Authority arguing for a political settlement first followed by a financial settlement, and not the money-first carrot that Kushner is dangling. This is just another cynical attempt by the US and their proxy in the Middle East, Israel, to circumnavigate a lasting political settlement, justice for the Palestinians and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Kushner stated, “If we want to find a pathway forward, it means that both sides need to find a place where they both feel that they can gain more than they give and move forward and have the opportunities to live better lives”. The trouble with this approach is that the Palestinians have been the ones doing all the compromising, the Israelis have not conceded anything, zero in fact, and have no intention to do so.

The annexing of East Jerusalem, the declaration of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and its recognition by the US, Netanyahu’s declaration that the illegal settlements in the West Bank are to be annexed and recognised as Israeli sovereignty (along with the Golan Heights), and now his cynical distortion of history by claiming that Palestinian DNA is European in an attempt to delegitimise the Palestinians claim for a right to their homeland. This is nothing more than race science and is similar to what the Nazis used in their attempts at justifying supremacy and territorial expansion.

The only positive sign that can be taken away from this is that it will be another attempt at ‘peace’, which will fail and that will bury the two-state solution, which will in turn change thinking towards a one state solution. One where it will be more acceptable in the eyes of people to argue for equal rights for all, equal rights for the Palestinians side by side with Jews. This position will be far easier to argue for and work towards and far harder for people to deny, which after all is a fundamental human right.

Sudan: a regime change

Some of the discussion points in this show were:

●   Who is in charge of Sudan at the moment?

●   Are the supporters of Israel, Saudi and UAE backed by Egypt and the US now standing in front of Qatari-Turkish Alliance?

●   Where do Russia and China stand in this situation?

● Has the military council achieved what the military expected?

Many of the people in the audience, who had direct or indirect experience of the situation in Sudan, described the events that unfolded and argued for a new government formed by the people and reorganised from the bottom up. How this was to come about was what was open for debate, with several calling for support from the ‘international community’.

It is the international community that are reacting against these protests, which have been taking place since December 2018. These protests initially started due to the rising costs of living and the deterioration in economy, and then turned into the demand for Omar al-Bashir to step down.

This TV debate was against the background of the strikes, the deposing of al-Bashir on the 11^th April (who had a grip on power for 30 years) and the Khartoum massacre just days previously on the 3^rd June, where 118 people were killed, 70 raped and many injured.

Numerous bodies were dumped into the Nile, and there were reports of violence and rapes against both the medical professionals and injured civilians that were being treated. According to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) at least five major hospitals were closed by the militias with the internet being shut down to prevent news reaching the outside world.

The large protests and strikes are clearly having an enormous effect, the reaction from the generals and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces), who are formed from the Janjaweed militias, have become more reactionary and violent. The same Janjaweed who were responsible for the massacres in Darfur over a decade ago and are now being funded by the EU.

Since the massacre President Al-Burhan, Hemedti and the members of the Transitional Military Council have opened dialogue with the protesters resulting in a draft agreement for a ‘sovereign council’, which are set to see civilians take up to six out of eleven seats in a transitional government, but this seems to be a sticking point.

While the ceasing of violence is welcome, it seems that this is an attempt by the TMC to reorganise and undermine the revolution and demands from the people for democracy by just buying time. They are very reluctant to cede power and the protesters need to be very careful that the huge momentum that was built is not lost.

To simply enter into a power sharing agreement with the same individuals and generals in place will achieve very little, the protesters need to understand that the whole system needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. As Marx wrote in his letter to Kugelmann,:

“If you look at the last chapter of my Eighteenth Brumaire you will find that I say that the next attempt of the French revolution will be no longer, as before, to transfer the bureaucratic-military machine from one hand to another, but to smash it.”

For this Revolution to work it mustn’t fall into the trap of being absorbed into the state to break it but rather to break the existing state machinery and sweep it clean with a new broom. ▲