With the overthrow of the Assad government in Syria, the last bastion of Baathism was destroyed. On this occasion, we see that the confusion about Baathism within the socialist movement has once again been exposed. This article from 2006 deals with both Chavismo and Baathism , analysing their similarities, their emergence and their subsequent meaning.

In order to interpret the developments in the Middle East amidst the rising flames of war, it would be meaningful to emphasise the important points of the process we are facing, without chasing after the day-to-day moves. Because the details of the war raging in the Middle East as part of the 3rd World War can change at any moment. What we really need to do is to try to analyse the main tendencies and the general framework. Let us remember that years ago, the USA’s Greater Middle East Plan was introduced in relation to redesigning the Middle East. This plan still exists, expresses a strategy and its aim is to redivide the region. This project was put into effect after the collapse of the USSR. When the Soviet Union existed, the world was divided into two different systems, the capitalist system was not alone. There was a cold war between the two systems or blocs based on a policy of equilibrium under the shadow of nuclear weapons. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the old cold war period came to an end and the world began to witness wars of re-division between imperialist powers. The parties have determined their strategic positions accordingly. Greater Middle East Plan is the expression of this for the USA.

The Syrian war, which is a part and a front of the ongoing Third World War, has flared up with unprecedented speed after nearly five years. HTS forces, together with other partners, launched an offensive on 27 November, captured Aleppo and started advancing towards Hama. First of all, we must say that this wave of attacks following the war that Israel started in Gaza and spread to Lebanon is a sign of a new phase in the Greater Middle East Project. US imperialism together with its partners has decided to accelerate the project. The US, which has taken the war to a new level with Israel by using the excuse of the organisations it calls terrorist and their actions, is now accelerating the act of destruction through HTS, which it calls terrorist.

Trump is elected, but this is not due to his success, his breakthrough, etc. Therefore, this result should essentially be interpreted as Trump did not win, but the Democratic Party lost. Under the current conditions, the Democratic Party government, which failed to meet the expectations of the masses and disappointed them with its policies has the political responsibility for Trump's re-election despite his actions in his first presidential term. The masses did not experience a major shift to the right, Trump retained the votes he received in the previous election, whereas the Democrats suffered a catastrophic loss. It not possible to say that those who voted for the Democrats last time but did not go to the polls this time have withdrawn out of cynicism and disappointment. We can predict that the eight million people who reacted and did not go to the ballots, together with the combative elements who went and voted for the Democratic candidate against all odds, will not easily succumb to Trump. The dynamism of these groups is sufficiently evident in the anti-war demonstrations and strikes of recent months. Moreover, the opinion that those sections of the working class who voted for Trump are a “lost cause” is absolutely wrong.

In recent weeks, controversies over a new “solution process” have dominated the agenda. Although it is said that the process has been prepared for a long time at the state level, the fuse of the debate was lit by Bahçeli’s gestures of sympathy and his outstretched hand to the members of the DEM party at the opening of the new parliamentary term. What really fuelled the debate was Bahçeli’s invitation to Öcalan to come to parliament and make a speech in his parliamentary caucus speech. However, the fact that these “agenda-breaking” statements and gestures were followed by armed actions, bombings, new arrests of politicians and the illegal dismissal of elected mayors and the appointment of so-called trustees in their place shows from the beginning that the heated political process will not follow a straight course.

The Third World War is spreading and intensifying. US and British imperialism, despite occasional statements to the contrary from the mouths of their political representatives, are working both to intensify the Ukraine-Russia war and to spread and deepen the war in the Middle East on a much wider area. Today we face the reality of a world war and the way to put an end to it is through the revolutionary mobilisation of working people against militarism and capitalism. It is the most urgent need everywhere to create a united resistance front of labour against the economic destruction caused by capitalism, the rising danger of fascism and the growing world war.

The fundamental revolutionary political organisation of the working class, as well as the trade union organisation, which plays a role on the mass level, becomes even more important. It is necessary not to encourage the exaggerated emphasis on individual social media reactions, fancy word games, exposures against the government on the basis of religion, etc., instead of organised struggle. In the struggle against fascism, the organised struggle of the working class and increasingly of all working masses on the basis of their class interests is essential. Therefore, mobilising the working class organisations and forming a class front is the right way.

Both the liberation of the Palestinian people and the liberation of the peoples of the world from becoming part of the new links of the war depend on the workers of the region, the Israeli workers and eventually the workers of the whole world to raise the struggle. Considering the impact of the short-lived general strike in Israel and the growing protests on the Israeli rulers, it is clear which way the workers of the world should take to oppose the war.

The working class has already shown the will to resist against the attacks it suffers and has been fighting for some time, although only partially. There are even big protests against the Zionist policy of massacres in the Middle East and the British imperialism that supports this policy. Similarly, the working class in France is raising the banner of struggle on different occasions. The anti-fascist protests and actions on the occasion of the last elections are another manifestation of this. As we mentioned in the beginning, the order has lost its ability to make improvements and reforms in favour of the working class. The multifaceted attacks continue with even more aggravation and the working class has no other way but to fight.

On the evening of 30 June, a terrible racist attack took place in the Melikgazi district of Kayseri. The next day, with the news that anti-Turkish demonstrations were organised in the cities under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces in Northern Syria and that Turkish flags and institutions were attacked, racist attacks spread to cities such as Antep, Adana, Antalya, Hatay, Konya, Urfa and Bursa. In Antep, workers’ shuttles were stopped and Syrian workers were hunted down, while in the Serik district of Antalya, a 17-year-old Syrian child worker was stabbed to death in the street and two of his friends were seriously injured.