Issues 89-90 of the journal Aspects of India’s Economy, titled "West Asia: The People Refuse to Submit," published by the Research Unit for Political Economy (RUPE), serves as a comprehensive documentation of how the oppressed peoples of the world are mobilizing to overpower US imperialism. The special issue underscores a central thesis: despite the merciless military power of US imperialism and its regional gendarme, Israel, and while weapons remain an important factor, it is the people who play the most decisive role in shaping historical proceedings.
Through in-depth analysis, the collection testifies to the escalating global capacity of the masses to combat imperialism, linking their economic class interests with the broader anti-imperialist struggle. It offers a thorough exploration of the ruling classes across different countries and their contradictory dynamics. The research highlights how resistance in the Third World has crystallized into diverse forms—from the armed insurgent organization Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Ba’athist government in Syria, the Ansarallah movement in Yemen, and the Islamic government in Iran.
By examining not just the manifestos of these entities but the essence of their actions, the articles reveal the underlying content of this resistance. Ultimately, the collection portrays the tortuous road the masses travel, refusing to relent to subjugation and battling adverse odds to make history, viewing regional developments not as isolated events but as a systematic eruption of struggle between imperialism and the people.
The collection opens with an analysis of the conflict in Gaza. The first piece, “Gaza 2023: High-Tech War Revisited” (November 14, 2023), demonstrates that despite possessing advanced military technology and vast resources, Israel was unable to crush the low-tech operations of Hamas. Because Israel could not militarily defeat Hamas, which had effectively adopted the principles of guerrilla warfare, it resorted to a punitive war orchestrated by US imperialism aimed at annihilating civilian infrastructure. In the backdrop of this severe military imbalance, Hamas relied on political influence to draw public sentiment worldwide, particularly within the region.
A subsequent article, “Reading the Gaza Ceasefire” (October 18, 2025), highlights how Hamas succeeded in preventing the Israeli army from fully subjugating Gaza, brightening the prospects for the eventual victory of the Palestinian resistance and linking it to a broader political struggle. Hamas’s military campaign stands as a testament to the legitimacy and efficacy of guerrilla struggle—encompassing tactics, weapons, infrastructure, and fighting strength—within the specific conditions of Gaza. Furthermore, the text notes the escalating popular revolt within the US itself against the Zionist state and its genocide of the Palestinians.
Shifting the focus to Syria, the review details how, more than a year later, the legitimate government headed by Bashar al-Assad was overthrown with the direct patronage of Turkish rulers and the indirect backing of US imperialism, resulting in the installation of a terrorist junta in Damascus.
While Western media portrayed this regime change as the liberation of Syria from a dictator, the article “The Jackals’ Celebration” (December 29, 2024) reveals that the developments in Syria since 2011 were, in fact, a calculated imperialist aggression. Under these circumstances, the Assad government manifested the resistance of the Syrian nation against this foreign intervention. The overthrow of the regime is contextualized as a strategy pursued by US imperialism since 2003 to secure the entire West Asian region. Notably, the text points out that BRICS failed to intervene positively in this crisis; Russia, despite having previously provided critical military assistance to the Assad government, ultimately cooperated in its overthrow.
Amidst these geopolitical shifts, the collection emphasizes that the struggle and sacrifice of the people of Gaza had an impact transcending West Asia, inspiring people globally—even in imperialist countries—to support the Gazan resistance and recognize their own rulers in the perpetrators of the genocide.
Highlighting the global resonance of this resistance, the issue examines the working-class response in the imperialist core. “The Significance of the General Strike in Italy” (September 24, 2025) analyzes the countrywide strike by class-conscious Italian workers, who mobilized to confront and denounce their government’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. The article frames this mobilization as an event of great historical consequence, representing the first major action by the European working class in direct support of the Palestinian people.
The collection then turns to Iran, analyzing both internal subversion and external military aggression. It details how protests that unfolded in December 2025 over price rises—themselves triggered by brutal US sanctions—were exploited by shadowy forces committing vandalism and arson to instigate an overreaction from the state. When the government suppressed these riots, imperialist media and international NGOs circulated fabricated casualty figures, prompting various ‘Left’ politicians and commentators to hastily condemn Tehran.
Against this backdrop of internal destabilization, the US and Israel waged a direct military assault on Iran in June 2025. The review clarifies that this aggression was not merely engineered by Iran’s nuclear program, nor was it simply the result of Netanyahu manipulating Trump or the influence of the Israel lobby. Rather, it represents a strategic transition aimed at restoring and escalating US global and regional hegemony. This aggression intensified with the targeted elimination of much of Iran's political and military leadership.
In “The War on Iran, and India” (March 5, 2026), the authors affirm that this offensive was designed to reassert US military and economic dominance, principally by attacking the Third World. The text draws a sharp distinction: countries that defy US imperialism face military invasion, while those whose rulers supplicate it, such as India, face economic subjugation. Consequently, the invasion of Iran has enormous repercussions for India. Any state power genuinely valuing its citizens' lives would have mounted active diplomatic efforts to prevent the war; instead, India’s rulers acted in complicity with Israel, signaling their alignment with the US and the subordination of Indian big business to American imperialism.
Nevertheless, the chapter illustrates that despite being jointly brutalized by the world's and the region's most powerful militaries, Iran has unwaveringly resisted. Millions flooded the streets to express their rebellious spirit against the aggressors. “The Political Underpinnings of Iran’s Military Strategy” (April 12, 2026) explores how the Iranian government formulated its strategic approach and, most importantly, orchestrated the conscious support and spontaneous mobilization of its people.
By mobilizing the masses to sustain its resistance, the Iranian government has engineered a political process of high consequence. It demonstrates that to achieve a complete fight against imperialism, the democratic participation of the masses is imperative, and once mobilized, the people possess the potential to reshape their society and the world.
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*Freelance journalist
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