Resistance to Occupation

Zafar Bangash

Resistance to colonial occupation is an inherent right of the occupied, including armed struggle, recognized in international law. Occupiers try to delegitimize resistance struggle by branding the resistors as “terrorists.” Often the oppressors are more successful because they have the propaganda tools denied to the occupied at their disposal.

The struggle of the African National Congress (ANC) against apartheid in South Africa illustrates this point clearly. A tiny minority of white Europeans oppressed the overwhelming majority of blacks. When the ANC launched its campaign to overthrow the racist apartheid system, it was branded a “terrorist” organization. Its leaders were arrested and suffered decades of imprisonment.

Nelson Mandela, later regarded as an icon of resistance and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was also declared a terrorist! Even when apartheid officially ended, he was on the list of persons banned from entry into the United States. The US State Department had to issue a waiver to allow him entry. This ludicrous ban was finally lifted in 2008.

There are other legitimate resistance movements that have been proscribed because they oppose the West or its favorite client regimes. Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine are all branded as “terrorist” organizations although they are liberation movements struggling to overthrow their Zionist occupiers. The Taliban in Afghanistan have been similarly branded although in recent years, the US has been forced to sit with them and negotiate (notwithstanding Trump’s Twitter tantrums that are seen by some observers as a hiccup). Resistance of the Kashmiris against Indian occupation has also been tarnished with the terrorist brush.

In all instances, the occupiers are aided and abetted in their vile propaganda by allies and major media outlets. It is interesting to note that when the Afghans were struggling against the Soviets, they were declared freedom fighters and welcomed to the White House. When they rose up to fight American occupiers, they became terrorists! So, from the West’s point of view, armed struggle per se is not the problem; the real issue is who is being resisted.

International humanitarian law drafted by Western regimes considers wars of liberation as legitimate forms of struggle. It was the victors of the Second World War that drafted laws through such instruments as Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Liberation struggles were declared a protected and essential right of occupied people everywhere.

The time period is important. The war had left the colonial powers exhausted. They could no longer hold on to their colonial possessions in Asia and Africa. Thus it was convenient to declare national liberation movements as legitimate.

Once the West and its client regimes felt comfortable with the post-Second World War order, they began to flex their muscles against liberation movements. This was particularly pronounced in the case of resistance to the Zionist entity, a colonial beachhead in the heartland of Islam.

Since the UN Security Council is dominated by veto-wielding predatory powers, primarily the US, Britain, and France, nothing meaningful comes out of its deliberations. Hence, it is the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that acts as the collective conscience of the world. It has affirmed that human rights and dignity must be protected through self-determination and independence.

In 1974, when the Palestinian liberation struggle was its peak, resolution 3314 of the UNGA prohibited states from “any military occupation, however temporary.” It was aimed at the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands.

The resolution not only went on to affirm the right “to self-determination, freedom and independence […] of peoples forcibly deprived of that right, […] particularly peoples under colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination” but noted the right of the occupied people to “struggle… and to seek and receive support” in that effort.

While “armed struggle” was implied without spelling it out explicitly, colonial powers exploited this ambiguity and used it against the oppressed. They resorted to vile propaganda to delegitimize the right of indigenous peoples to overthrow their occupiers.

The occupied and their allies quickly realized the West’s hypocrisy and were determined to confront it. Unlike the Security Council, the General Assembly is an open forum where each country’s equal right is recognized. On December 3, 1982, the General Assembly passed resolution 37/43 removing any doubt about the lawful entitlement of occupied people to resist occupying forces by any and all lawful means. The resolution reaffirmed “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”

This resolution entitles the Palestinians and Kashmiris to resist their occupiers by all means necessary. Despite the occupiers’ attempts to delegitimize their struggle, they have every right to wage armed struggle against their occupiers.

Considering the horrific tactics used by the Zionists in Palestine and Hindu fascists in Kashmir, it is all the more important that they are provided every kind of support to free themselves from the clutches of oppressors.

Zafar Bangash is Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT).

 

Zafar Bangash

Protests against the Sisi regime from unexpected quarters

Crescent International

How did the videos posted by contractor Mohamed Ali recently achieve what the Egyptian opposition TV channels based in Turkey — “the legitimacy channels” — failed to achieve in six years?

How was he able, armed with nothing more than a mobile phone camera, to mobilize the Egyptian public into overcoming their fear through which Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his regime have imprisoned them since 2013?

These are the tough questions posed by Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh, a regular contributor to the Middle East Monitor.

In her response to the hard-hitting questions Dr. El-Fetouh provides several good reasons, one of which is the fact that “Ali is not affiliated with any political party… what’s more, he worked for the corrupt regime and learnt some of its secrets, giving him credibility. Ali was an eyewitness who lived in the shadow of this corruption and profited from it, then rebelled against.”

Mass demonstrations by the people of Egypt against the despotic Sisi regime caught many by surprise.

Many decent human beings worldwide hope that it will be a spark that will bring down the NATO-backed murderous regime.

Will the Sisi regime crumble, is a question many people are asking. At this stage it is difficult to give a definitive answer, however, al-Sisi’s regime is facing an unprecedented crisis.

One of the biggest setbacks for the Sisi regime is that the protests began eliminating the fear factor in the Egyptian society and removed the untouchability aura from al-Sisi himself.

According to the Middle East Monitor, the UAE-based Khaleej online reported that there were military officers trying to jump on the protests’ bandwagon and declared support for the former chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sami Anan, who is currently under arrest.

Meddling of the most corrupt Egyptian institution in the political process carries no good news for the Egyptian people, but if it creates infighting within Egypt’s most despotic institution. The people of Egypt could attempt to use this to their advantage.

It must be remembered that one of the reasons the Egyptian revolt failed to eliminate the NATO backed system in 2011 was because the masses lacked a God-conscious leadership capable of rising above petty politics.

Currently, all potential leaders of the people are either in prison or in exile.

This factor makes it very difficult for ordinary citizens to organize themselves and create immunity to al-Sisi’s political machinations that can easily confuse and distract the leaderless masses.

If the situation in Egypt escalates, it is unlikely to turn into an organized ouster of the current regime. Rather, it is likely to be a series of revolts and clashes that will loosen the regimes’ grip to rule Egypt.

Within this process, as the regime begins to lose control, established socio-political forces could potentially mobilize the masses and this time push the army out of the country’s political life and into the barracks where it rightly belongs.

Al-Kaabi: al-Nujaba follows the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist

In an exclusive interview, the secretary general of al-Nujaba applauded the attempts and endeavours made by Islamic Republic of Iran for prevention from the plots made by the enemies against Islam, and then said, al-Nujaba Movement religiously follows the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.

According to Qods News Agency (Qodsna), al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance, as an Islamic-Jihadi Group, based mainly in Iraq, believes in Islamic principles and values as well as the absolute rule of Islam. The name of the group is an inspiration drawn from the sermon, “...ألا فالعجب کل العجب لقتل حزب الله النُجَباء بحزب الشیطان الطلقاء...”, delivered by Zaynab, PBuH, in Syria.

In 2004, al-Nujaba was a simple Resistance group, started to cooperate with some revolutionary elites, and then developed and currently, more than 10000 fighters are under its command across different regions in Iraq, and now it is active in different areas, including military, social, cultural, media, religious and  etc.

The US Treasury Ministry, through the Executive Order no.13438, on 16 September 2008, put the secretary general of al-Nujaba, “Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi” on its blacklist and prosecution. But nine years later, on 4 November 2017, Washington took another hostile step, and Ted Poe, Texas Representative submitted the bill no. H. R. 4238, imposing sanctions on al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance, to the US Congress.

Qods News Agency (Qodsna) did a specific interview with Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi. In the interview, he firstly stressed that the Resistance groups should urgently employ the Islamic potential hidden in seminaries and the grand Source of Emulations, and then described the said relation as the guarantee for the life and salvation of the Resistance.

Pointing to the plots made by the US for decomposition of Islamic states and debilitation of the Resistance, the secretary general of al-Nujaba stated, “in the past, the enemies divided the Islamic states based on Sykes–Picot Agreement and currently they attempt to divide Muslims to religious, racial and ethnic groups”.

Stressing that “without the honourable position adopted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the sanctity of the holy places would be violated by the savage Takfiri groups, the innocent would be killed and countries would be ruined”, he pointed out, “al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance religiously follows Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist”.

The full text of the interview is as below:

How is the relation of al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance with Najaf and Qom Seminaries? And what is the stand of the Sources of Emulations about the Movement?

- Islamic Resistance firmly believes that seminaries, as the owners of sciences and principles of the conduct of the prophet and Ahl al-Bayt, PBuT, are the showcase and flag of Islam and the indestructible fountains of science. We believe on the sanctity of all the Sources of Emulation, as they are the brilliant stars among Muslims and they are the guides to the path of Truth and Direction.

We emphasize on the relation with the Seminaries and the religious Sources of Emulation, especially Qom and Najaf ones, so that the direct path is the way of our salvation and resistance.

And the Sources of Emulation have always received us with much hospitality and kindness and they have also provided us with their advice and supports, and accordingly we believe al-Nujaba Movement won’t survive in case it doesn’t follow the Sources of Emulation, and if it neglects the brilliant ideology, the heavenly instructions, wisdom and experience of these grand characters.

The US has long attempted to decompose the countries of the region, including Iraq. What will be the impacts of this dangerous project in your opinion?

- the plots made by the US are aimed at debilitation of Islamic states, schism and attacking the ideology and culture of Muslim states so that it can plunder their wealth and carry out its expansionist and colonising plans.

The enemies divided the Muslim countries based on Sykes–Picot Agreement. Today they also attempt to divide Muslim countries to religious, racial and ethnic groups and whatever has been done is for the execution of the colonising plots.

These plot will be foiled solely through commitment to the ideology of Imam Khumeini, that was established based on the reinforcement of the Islamic unity and avoidance of division, the thought that introduced Quds as the flag and slogan of all the Muslims; therefore we observe that Imam Khumeini innovatively named the last Friday of Ramadan month as the day of Quds so that it reminds Muslims of three elements of unity, Ramadhan month, the superiority of Friday and Quds as the first Qibla of Muslims, and for Muslims know their true enemy and their elements of power.

Accordingly, without unity and knowing their true enemies, Muslim nations won’t be able to stand against the plots of their enemies.

What are the similarities and commonalities between al-Nujaba and other groups of the Resistance Axis? And what is/are different between al-Nujaba and those groups?

- we respect the ideas and the way the other Resistance groups act, even if they are slightly different from us, as each group has its own way and style of management.

The targets and the ways of helping people to solve their problems differentiate these groups; therefore we introduced no candidate in the recent elections in Iraq so that we can share the problems and hardships of the nation, and in order that we can attempt, in an arranged and mobilised manner, to provide the nation with culture and wisdom and serve them to the point feasible to us.

Through these attempts we only seek the consent of God and on the Way of Imam Mahdi, we try to attain Resistance.

How are decisions made in al-Nujaba Movement?

al-Nujaba Islamic Resistance religiously follows the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, and for the management of its affairs and making decisions, it follows the institutional and scientific methods; therefore we have established some research centres and formed some advisory councils so that we can definitely make proper decisions.

How do you assess the part played by the Islamic Republic of Iran in both military and cultural areas in the fight against enemy?

- Islamic Republic of Iran has played an important role in the fight against terrorism, as this country supports the oppressed and defends the rights of the Muslims across the world. We found the men of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist pious on the days and courageous at nights, and without the honourable position of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the sanctity of the holy places would be violated by the savage Takfiri groups, the innocent would be killed and countries would be ruined.

Takfiri groups, as the proxies of the world Zionism, fight to divert Jihad and liberation efforts from Quds, in order to drag the Islamic countries to war, to debilitate Muslim countries and to prepare the ground for the implementation of the evil plans of the enemies.

If God didn’t helped us through Islamic Republic of Iran, we would experience a horribly devastating conditions; but strong Islam, moving forward as fast as development and civilization, as an obstacle defending the Muslims, stood against the enemies.