VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention

AS SOCIALISTS we must recognise that everything has changed. We have entered a period of unprecedented instability — climate change, Covid, war in Europe and now an escalating cost-of-living crisis that is due to plunge millions of workers into poverty and destitution.
Hard-won rights like the eight-hour day, the right to be paid on time for hours worked, the right to sick pay, job security and even the right to food are being rolled back to Victorian times for too many working-class people.
We are now in a class war of a type not witnessed for generations. The capitalists are serious about preserving their wealth, privilege and entitlement.



