This is the Call issued for a Convention of News and Letters Committees at a moment when the rulers are inflaming one crisis after another more recklessly and thoroughly than they have done since World War II.
Middle East
Women World Wide: June 2026
June 21, 2026Takes up: Afghan Women United recognized by FIFA as Afghanistan’s official national women’s team; the life of Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French author, film director and actor; and a demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya, against inefficient investigations of femicides and child disappearances.
‘Greater Israel’ fanaticism devastates Palestine, Lebanon, Iran
April 9, 2026The ambition for an ethnonationalist “Greater Israel” is being put into practice with devastating consequences. Events in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, within Israel itself and in the U.S. reveal where the world is heading if we don’t stop the wars and retrogression.
World in View: Pakistan-Afghanistan war
March 26, 2026Before Netanyahu and Trump launched their war against Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan began their own war. To understand this latest outbreak of death and destruction, an understanding of some of the complex history of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations is required.
The war on Iran and beyond: Trump drives for a new fascist world order
March 8, 2026The war on Iran and the Venezuela coup are part of Trump’s attempt to reorganize the world order and grasp for absolute power. In countering this tumble toward world war, can we build a movement that is not only against Trump and capitalism, but keeps developing the fullness of what we are for?
Detroiters demand an end to genocide in Gaza
August 8, 2025Participant report of the Coalition Against Genocide’s protest in Detroit on Aug. 2: “We are determined to stop the Israeli government’s ongoing siege and murder of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.” said the author.
Lead article: Middle East wars versus desire for freedom and peace
July 18, 2025The genocidal undertone of anti-immigrant politics, from the U.S. to Iran and from India to Germany, reinforces the fact that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is not some outlandish exception. In the aftermath of Israel’s war on Iran and Iran’s rulers crackdown on their own people, the question arises: Is Israeli’s genocide in Gaza the signal of where this stage of world capitalism is heading if it is not stopped?
Editorial: Israel’s genocide against Palestinians must stop!
March 19, 2025Israel ended its ceasefire in Gaza not with words but with the slaughter of over 400 Palestinians. The genocide and struggle for freedom call for our deepest solidarity with Palestinian masses’ efforts at self-activity, without which self-determination is out of reach.
Women WorldWide: January 2025
February 1, 2025Takes up: International Criminal Court prosecutors investigating the Taliban’s horrific laws oppressing women as war crimes; the formation of a “morality police” to enforce new restrictions on women in Libya; and “deepfake” porn targeting girls in Toronto, Canada.
Syrian revolution roaring back
December 13, 2024The Syrian revolution rose again, ousting Bashar al-Assad. While the HTS played a key role, so did the people rising up. What is urgent now is solidarity with these revolutionary masses, making a category of them, helping them be heard, and opposing all efforts to subordinate them.
¡Fin a la guerra de Israel contra la población palestina!
May 19, 2024La guerra de Israel contra las masas en Gaza alcanzó proporciones genocidas. ¿Cuándo podrán los palestinos regresar a los lugares donde vivieron y podrán reconstruir? Su autodeterminación debe comenzar con sus ideas y aspiraciones.
Editorial: End Israel’s war against Palestinian masses!
March 11, 2024Israel’s war against the masses in Gaza reached genocidal proportions. When will Palestinians be able to return to the places where they lived, and will they be able to rebuild? Self-determination must begin with their ideas and aspirations.
From the Archives: Terrorism Is Not Revolution
November 29, 2023The way some of the Left glorified the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of mainly civilians by Hamas calls for a deeper examination of the contradictions and retrogression underlying that type of pseudo-revolutionism.
World in View: Pakistan expels Afghans as ‘illegal’ immigrants
November 23, 2023In October, the Pakistani government announced mass deportations for all migrants without papers by Nov. 1, mostly aimed at Afghans and causing great hardship. It decided on this mass expulsion mostly because of the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan.
Featured article: Rulers’ fear of revolution won’t stop Iranian masses
October 3, 2023In the weeks before the anniversary of Jina Mahsa Amini’s murder, the Iranian regime hardened its repression. None fear revolution more than it. But the people of Iran are letting the world know what they are fighting for on “the day after” the revolution. Their demands, if met, would transform Iran into one of the freest, most humane countries in the world.
World in View: Blood on Saudi Arabia’s hands
September 13, 2023There is an “Eastern route” for migrants from Africa that crosses Yemen and lands in Saudi Arabia. A new report from Human Rights Watch documents the violence of Saudi border guards against Ethiopian migrants. The U.S. has chosen not to raise the issue publicly.
World in View: Protests erupt in Syria against Bashar al-Assad
September 12, 2023On Aug. 25, the flag of revolution flew high in villages, towns and cities across Syria. The Syrian revolutionary process of the second decade of the 21st Century was one of the most important developments to arise from the Arab Spring. Now is the time to solidarize with it, a solidarity that has been sorely missing.
Women WorldWide: May-June 2023
May 15, 2023Worldwide domestic violence has intensified: The Strangulation Clinic was opened in Surrey, B.C. Canada, as this form of violence has increased since 2014; Iraqi women and allies demonstrated at the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad demanding a strict law to deal with increasing domestic violence and “honor killings”; and there has been an explosion of femicides in several countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, and Sudan.
Women Worldwide: September-October 2022
September 24, 2022Women Worldwide on Pope’s apology to Indigenous peoples in Canada; Sudan rolling back rights women had won over the past two years; the conviction of Aydin Coban in Canada for sextortion, and Spain passing the “only yes means yes law”.
From the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: What is philosophy? What is revolution?
November 27, 2020This Political-Philosophic Letter of Raya Dunayevskaya speaks to the need to return to philosophical roots at times of deep crisis, including addressing the question of how to maintain independence when fighting counter-revolution.
From the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: The methodology of Perspectives
May 1, 2020History warns us of other critical periods…which give us historic proof that mere opposition to such monstrous degeneration (of capitalism) does not lead to new societies. On the contrary. It only assures the transformation of that type of bare opposition into one form or another of a halfway house.
II. The true pandemic war
April 29, 2020Draft thesis for discussion about where the world is heading, and what to do about it from a revolutionary standpoint. Part II. The true pandemic war: A. The capitalists’ class war; B. Subjects of revolution fight back; and C. Pandemic class war reveals the social structure.
Editorial: Trump after impeachment
March 8, 2020In the aftermath of Trump’s impeachment trial, impunity and purges rage while checks and balances failed. Armed with a philosophy of freedom, the opposition to Trump and to the capitalist system that spawned him would give Trump the challenge that fellow politicians could not.
Readers’ Views: January-February 2020, Part One
January 22, 2020Readers’ Views on Capitalism and climate; Mideast upheaval; Trump the Mullah?; war crime hero; Trump’s judges; detransition debate; and women’s liberation.
Editorial: The death of counter-revolutionary Qassem Soleimani
January 21, 2020The death of counter-revolutionary Qassem Soleimani, together with Donald Trump’s war moves, illuminate this changed world.
Readers’ Views, November-December 2019, Part One
November 17, 2019Readers’ Views on youth climate strike; Socialism and ecology; counter-revolution and revolution in the Middle East; auto and teacher strikes, and Brexit and labor
World in View: Sudan and Syria test revolutionaries
September 2, 2019Gerry Emmett writes on the crossroads reached by the Sudanese Revolution, with the accord between the revolutionary Forces for Freedom and Change and the genocidal Transitional Military Council signed on Aug. 4. He sees a parallel between the Left’s response to the Sudanese Revolution and the Syrian Revolution.
Trump plays with fire in his ‘golden era’
June 26, 2019Donald Trump’s threats to Iran analyzed in light of his use of capitalism’s lifeblood commodity, oil, and the continuity and discontinuity of U.S. imperialism.
Readers’ Views: July-August 2017, Part 2
July 6, 2017Readers’ Views on Cooperative Form of Labor vs. Abstract Labor; Marx vs. Trump-Putin; Voices From Behind Bars
Trump won’t smash Assad’s genocidal regime—support the Syrian Revolution!
April 9, 2017Assad’s chemical attack on civilians reveals the lie the world has been living. Trump’s limited counterstrike was a response to the unprecedented mass opposition to him, not an abandonment of his counter-revolutionary agenda. It is crucial to take the living freedom struggles in Syria and globally as our basis, to oppose the lie that “there is no alternative,” and to clarify what we are for, not just against.
Editorial: Yemen as world’s future?
March 13, 2017The U.S. raid that destroyed Yakla in Yemen, killing 25 civilians, drew world focus on slaughter of Yemenis since the 2011 uprising in Change Square in Sana’a toppled the Saleh dictatorship.
Where to now for the Middle East?
November 30, 2016A look at the situation in the Middle East in light of Donald Trump’s election that takes up Syria, Yemen and the arming by the U.S. of varying forces–some of whom are fighting each other.
Britain’s hate-driven referendum a victory for the Far Right
June 26, 2016With Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the Far Right has been emboldened worldwide. As the economic and social crisis deepens, so does the brutality, while the Right seeks scapegoats for the results of capitalism’s objective laws, which only have force as long as humanity’s struggle to be free is not yet complete. The only solid ground for opposing this latest stage of reactionary retrogression is that of revolution in permanence.
Save Aleppo! May Day Solidarity with Free Syrians
May 18, 2016Participant report of Chicago May Day demonstration in solidarity with the Syrian Revolution.
IV. Counter-revolution and revolution in the Middle East and North Africa
May 13, 2016Part IV of the Draft Perspectives 2016: The renewal of Syrian demonstrations for freedom refuted the state powers’ belief that the idea of revolution can be destroyed by bombs, and highlighted a civilizational crisis and the need for international solidarity.
The need for new beginnings in thought and in action
April 25, 2016Contents: Introduction; I. Discontent, revolt and reaction in the U.S.; II. The worldwide war against women; III. Chinese labor in revolt; IV. Counter-revolution and revolution in the Middle East and North Africa; V. Toward organizational new beginnings. The fact that the old, crumbling order will not go away quietly explains why we print the Marxist-Humanist Draft Perspectives in the pages of the paper of News and Letters Committees. It is an open window onto the needed philosophy of revolution, without which all revolutions and freedom movements remain incomplete.
Review: Headscarves and Hymens
March 10, 2016A Review of “Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution” by Mona Eltahawy, reviewed by Adele an expert on the theocratic Right.
Russian imperialism’s genocidal attack on Syria aims to destroy the revolution
March 3, 2016Russian airstrikes create havoc in Syria, embodying a philosophy of unfreedom. Revolutionary unity in Syria isn’t just a tactical issue, but a philosophic question, on the revolution’s ground of freedom and dignity, needing philosophic as well as material solidarity.
World in View: Deadly war waged on Yemen’s civilians
December 10, 2015Saudi’s seven-month-long campaign of death and human suffering has been abetted by logistical support from the Obama administration. The Houthis they purport to oppose wasted the popular welcome they received entering Sana’a in 2014 by allying with former oppressor, ex-ruler Saleh, and imposing their own brand of narrow sectarian rule.
World in View: Terror and old prejudice in a changing Turkey
Behind the bombing that killed over 100 peace marchers in Ankara, the state equated the Kurdistan Workers Party with ISIS despite the heroic struggle to defend Kobane.
Against ISIS attacks in Paris and Beirut: Counter-revolution must be defeated everywhere!
November 23, 2015We condemn these horrific massacres and the reaction that feeds upon them. To destroy ISIS and all other counter-revolutionary forces will require a battle of ideas, even more than a struggle of arms.
Counter-revolution in Middle East shows crisis of humanity
August 28, 2015From the signing of a nuclear weapons agreement by the U.S. and Iran, to the ongoing war in Syria including the roles of Turkey and of the Left, this wide-ranging article delves into the Middle East situation with an emphasis on the forces fighting for genuine freedom and a multi-ethnic society.
Readers’ Views, July-August 2015
July 4, 2015Black lives as Subject; Russia in crisis; Nothing about us without us; Homelessness in L.A.; Central Canada Alliance; Perspectives and philosophy; Elderly to the streets?; Women and Yemen half-peace; Labor and climate justice; Dialectic and women’s liberation; Voices from behind the bars
Yemenis under bombardment speak for themselves–two stories
June 10, 2015Two articles from Yemeni citizens, speaking in the midst of war about their experiences with food, water and gas shortages, and of being shelled while trying to flee and seeing relatives and others killed in front of their eyes.
Yemen on the verge of total collapse
May 16, 2015In-person report: Everything in Yemen is being destroyed horribly: humans, the fabric of society, national unity, the infrastructure, including public services systems.
In-person report from Yemen: ‘Actually we are in hell’
May 12, 2015Another human tragedy is unfolding in Yemen, where civilians are under attack. As in Syria, the world is doing virtually nothing while civilians are targeted. Here is an in-person report sent to News & Letters.
World in View: Death in Yarmouk
May 7, 2015The world’s attention was once more belatedly drawn to the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, by the invasion by IS/Daesh terrorists, facilitated by another fundamentalist faction, Jabhat al-Nusra.
World In View: Nihilist Daesh attacks humanity, history
March 11, 2015The late Syrian writer Alisar Iram, for one, saw where IS/Daesh were heading, long before they took their hammers into the Mosul Museum.
Stop Israeli settlements
We protested RE/MAX involvement in Israeli settlements that have displaced thousands of Palestinian families in direct violation of international law.
From Turkey to USA, women as force & reason fight inhumanity
March 5, 2015Another savage sexual assault and murder—this time in Turkey—brought forth thousands of demonstrators, mostly women, throughout the country and beyond. Özgecan Aslan was a student taking a bus home. Worldwide, women are not only railing against sexism and challenging men to change what is often deadly behavior and when not deadly, deeply oppressive; they are as well explicitly extending their critique to the state itself.