Islamism

Introducing the term “freedom-restricting harassment” (FRH), Sara Khan, the Independent Adviser to Government for Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience, finds that threatening, abusive and intimidating behaviour directed at people because of their views is “shockingly widespread” both online and in real life. 85% of people surveyed believe FRH takes place and 76% report having restricted their expression of personal views in public for fear of such harassment. The government published her report on 25 March. She cites journalists, arts and culture workers, teachers and local faith leaders...

Iranian pensioners have regularly taken to the streets in recent years to demand an end to corruption, free access to health care, and improvements to pensions which have been decimated by inflation. On Wednesday 10 January thousands of retired teachers demonstrated for better pensions and the release of jailed teacher trade union activists. Protests across Iran’s strategically important oil and gas sectors have been running since early September 2023. Workers are demanding pay increases, Iran’s currency, the rial, fell by 5% after the US-UK strikes on the Yemeni Houthi movement as fears grow...

Adam Keller, a longstanding peace activist in Israel, spoke to Solidarity in December 2023

The New York Times has sought interviews with Hamas leaders. It was told: “Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such. Hamas, the Qassam [its military wing] and the resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep and showed that this issue must remain on the table.” “This battle was not because we... seek to improve the situation in Gaza”, added Khalil al-Hayya. “This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.” “I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us”, said another...

Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) is one of the most prominent organisations at the Palestine demonstrations. It has large numbers of stewards in green bibs and seems to have successfully monopolised the production of Palestine flag stickers, all emblazoned with the FOA website and logo. FOA, established in Leicester in 1997, is another spin-off loose affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), one of the world’s oldest political-Islamist groups, Egypt-founded but global. FOA’s public focus is solely on Palestine activism. It is the main MB-sympathetic group in Palestine activity. FOA holds a seat on the...

Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden have urged the police to ban the 11 November Israel-Gaza protest in London. The Tories say it might harm the anniversary of the World War One Armistice on 11 November. But the march is planned to go to the US embassy in South London, nowhere near the Cenotaph, and the Remembrance ceremonies are 12 November, not 11 November. The Tories also talk of officially defining as “extremist” any effort deemed to “undermine the UK’s values”. Solidarity opposes state bans on protests. Where protests have reactionary...

We are right to call for a ceasefire. The alternative is to support mass bombing of civilians amongst whom Hamas hides. However, we should do that as people who are seriously in favour of Israeli self defence. Hamas wants to destroy Israel, any Israel. It wants to do to all Israelis what it did to 1,400 of them. There are perhaps, tens of thousands of Hamas hiding in the civilian population. There is more than an Israeli decision to it. They should get out? Yes, in principle. But effective Gaza independence has led to the rule of Islamic clerical fascism, and the horrible events in Israel of a...

The Algerian nationalist movement, the Front de Libération Nationale, (FLN), from the beginning of its military campaign (1954-62) launched terrorist attacks on civilian as well as military targets within Algeria, and sometimes also on the French mainland (although there they did not target cafés and so on, as they did in Algeria). Yet Trotskyists supported both the aim of full independence and those fighting for it. The FLN, incidentally, although it had some links with Arab nationalists elsewhere, especially the Egyptian government, was more self-consciously “Islamic” than many other such...

Picture shows a protest organised by Standing Together, many of whose leaders have signed the statement. In the photo, Uri Weltmann, one of Standing Together's Jewish leaders, holds the megaphone for Ghadir Hani, one of Standing Together's Palestinian leaders. Both have signed the statement. This statement was co-signed by dozens of Israeli peace activists, mostly Israeli Jews but including some Palestinian citizens of Israel. It is reposted from the website of Yachad, here . We, Israel-based academics, thought leaders and progressive activists committed to peace, equality, justice, and human...