For the past six years, British imperialism has been fighting a "secret" war along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf and in the South-East corner of the Arabian peninsula, known as Oman and Dhofar. For this. purpose Britain maintains the Salalah air base in Dhofar and with good reason, as the petroleum interests in the Gulf are threatened by the extension of the revolution from Dhofar.
Unfortunately very little is known on the revolutionary left in Britain and Europe about the revolutionary movement in that part of the world. That is why The Red Mole is pleased to publish an interview with Comrade Saleh Nasser, a leading militant of the Popular Front for the and to extend to the comrades our fullest support. -Could you give us a simple and brief account of the history and development of the struggle in the Gulf?
This is in fact a long subject if one treats it in detail, but it is possible to reduce it to the development of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) in the Gulf. The first signs of an emerging national movement in this region began to appear at the beginning of the twentieth century, which took different forms of struggle, strikes and demonstrations. This stage was in fact led by bourgeois layers, layers who had their class origins in certain feudal and bourgeois families. They were presented with the opportunity of leading the patriotic activities of the time.
With the development of the NLM in the Gulf, revolutionary elements made their appearance, elements who were able to learn from the experience of the NLM in the Gulf, the Arab world and various other parts of the world. They made use of several aspects of their experiences in terms of the methods of struggle. For it was a peaceful strugglę which took a non-violent form in the shape of demands on the part of the workers and political organisations which were then operating in the region. The forces which were able to make use of these experiences arose as the opposite or the negation of the forces which controlled the NLM prior to 1965. The struggles prior to 1965 were scattered and isolated. There were for example separate struggles in Bahrain, Kuwait and Interior Oman; in the region of Dhofar also there existed regional separate organisations. The NLM represented the opposite of all these practices by unifying the struggles in the whole of the Gulf region. This we regarded as an important and fundamental step. The other important step was to adopt the method of organised violence in this region, the method of armed struggle.
The revolution was initiated on 9th June 1965 by some patriotic groups which bore the mark of nationalist ideology. They had split from nationalist organisations in the region and began their struggle in Dhofar. In that period the type of Marxism... Marxist ideology as such was put forward in a correct form. The dominant outlook was a nationalist-patriotic one.
The movement was influenced by the political experience of the region and the Arab world in general. Revolutionary groups emerged which began agitating for Marxist, socialist ideas. These groups began to move in and influence the situation in the region. In Dhofar they were able to intervene and enter into the ranks of the revolution, changing its orientation (this change took place at the Second Congress). We can thus make a distinction between 1965 and 1968. In 1965 the Dhofar Liberation Front was formed from localist, nationalist groupings. As a result of the influx of leftists and Marxist elements into the ranks of the revolution, and with the changed conditions in the Arab region, where Marxism began to take a more mature form, those elements were able to influence the orientation of the revolution in Dhofar and take it a few steps further.
With the continuation of the revolution from 1965 to 1968-that is over a period of three years-and in forging close links with the ranks of the Liberation Army and the masses of We can in fact say that our revolutionary experithe region, these elements were able to change the course of the revolution, to give it its revolutionary character. This took place at the Second Congress, held on 1st September 1968 At this Congress the Marxist groups were Ml D1111 1CL1 1071 D 10 actually able to give a correct orientation to the revolution and change its strategy from a front for the liberation of Dhofar to include all the Gulf region. The name was also changed from DLF into PFLAG (People's Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf). At this Congress the Front adopted Marxism-Leninism as a theoretical guide and the leading ideology for the revolution in all its successive stages.
We regard this period-from 1965 to 1968as a wonderful leap, a qualitative leap which bypassed the NLM in the entire Gulf. It amounted to the transformation of a patriotic movement with a bourgeois, nationalist ideology into a Marxist, socialist one, whose ideas are now Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG), propagated throughout the Gulf. This was not a simple or easy task, it was one of the problems which the Front had to face after this Congress, and it suffered a great deal for the sake of this leap and its determination to spread these ideas throughout the Gulf.
-Could you tell us how it was possible for Marxism to replace nationalism in such a backward sector of the Middle East-and indeed of the world-as the Gulf?
The problem does in fact seem insurmountable if one clings to "Marxist" dogma. But the actuality is much more complex than it appears and the contradictions which exist in the area reveal this clearly.
What constitutes the first seeds of revolutionary consciousness is the existence of contradictions and the form they take. Marxist ideas can serve the exploited classes in any society independently of the way in which the contradictions manifest themselves.
In this region, despite its backwardness, contradictions do exist, but they are not similar to those that exist in developed capitalist societies. In the Gulf states the contradictions manifest themselves between families with economic and social privileges and the overwhelming majority of the population which feels this oppression, in addition, of course, to the basic contradiction with imperialism and its monopolies in the region.
That is one reason for the spread of Marxist ideas despite the backwardness, but there is to penetrate the Gulf, especially Dhofar and the interior of Oman. Thus they were not able to establish a poisonous climate of their own. We regard these regions as virgin lands, clear from any obstacles, and ready to accept any ideas that were put forward. When Marxist ideas were put forward, they did not gain ground overnight as some imagine. It was a process which took a certain amount of time. After the revolution there were discussions among the young people, ever since 1965, centring on bourgeois and revolutionary ideologies. Since the vast majority of fighters came from extremely poor backgrounds, they were daily experiencing oppression as well as seeing the total failure of bourgeois organisations in other Arab countries to liberate the masses from the yoke of oppression and exploitation.
All these factors played a part in increasing the strength of Marxist ideas and the response to them. The 1968 Congress merely settled in a decisive way the state of affairs in the revolution and sealed the victory of the Marxist elements for a whole period. In addition these Marxists did not have to face certain problems and "hangups"-problems which other political currents, were entangled in-or have to compete with strong nationalist, political organisations for hegemony. Also the fact that large numbers of militants in the DLF (Dhofar Liberation Front) did not have any strong ideology and therefore it was possible for the masses to respond favourably to us because we were conscious of the nature of the contradictions. The masses were predominantly composed of rural poor and downtrodden elements. What was put forward was so obviously in their own interests. And the weakness of petty bourgeois ideology meant that the masses were untainted. —What is the present stage of the armed struggle?
ment is going from one success to another on various levels, and not only the military one. The revolution started in very difficult conditions in 1965; it did not have any revolutionary ideology, it was encircled by a conspiracy of silence on the Arab and international level, it was isolated from the revolutionary forces in the Arab region and the world. During the past period we achieved positive results on the military level; the revolution managed to achieve successive military victories in battles with the enemy forces. So far we have not fought a lost battle against the occupation forces. As a result we now control most of Dhofar, an area of 35,000 sq. miles, or three times the size of Lebanon. The puppet government now only controls the city of Salala and a few coastal villages. In any case these are not important, and the front is not interested in occupying them for the time being. Apart from that, we now have a politicised army experienced in battle with a high combat capacity, ready to face the most difficult of conditions. We can say the same thing about the people's militia, practically everybody in the liberated area is trained in the use of arms.
The second important task for us, apart from militarily consolidating the liberated area, was to raise the degree of awareness and political consciousness among the people. This task was given an urgent priority in view of the conditions of extreme backwardness in the area: schools were established (for the first time in the history of the region) to eliminate illiteracy. programmes of political education were shown on three levels -for the Liberation Army, the people's militia, and for the people of the region. We look upon this task as our surest guarantee of a firm base for the revolution and as absolutely indispensible to ensure the active participation of the people in the revolution, and hence its continuity.
Another task which the Revolution took on itself was the emancipation of women. As is well-known, women in our part of the world were doubly and triply oppressed, as part of an oppressed people and as domestic slaves. We started by abolishing polygamy and by formally recognising the equality of women. This was, in fact, initiated by our women comrades, who also demanded the abolition of dowries. We agreed, but suggested that this should be done in a progressive manner in order to avoid social tensions which this step might invoke. We limited the dowry to a nominal sum and all our women comrades in the liberated zones refused absolutely to recognise the dowry system. This is no mean achievement for an Arab Muslim nation where people still look upon the family as a holy institution. Women are now completely equal to men in the camps; they train and they live together in the same camps; they participate in all military and non-military aspects of the struggle. Therefore we say that women are playing an active and important role in the revolution today.
We can confidently say to you that our liberation army is not an ordinary army composed of regulars, but a principled, political army which struggles on a political basis and will not give up until final victory has been achieved. - Knowing as we do the strategic and military interests of American imperialism in this whole area, and knowing their strength and that of their puppets in this area, does the comrad think it will be possible to limit the struggl the Gulf alone, or does he think that we wi have to extend it, and if we have to extend the whole question of the Arab revolutiona party is raised. What are his views on that?
Actually this is a very important question.
believe that the region of the Gulf constitu a part of the struggle being waged in the Th World against imperialism and its monopoli whether these are economic, strategic or id gical struggles. We also regard our struggle i Gulf as part of the struggles of the oppresse people against this imperialist monster, whe it is in South East Asia, Africa, Latin Ameri or any part of the world. We therefore feel necessity for a revolutionary mass movemer as many areas as possible. We regard the ext sion of these revolutions and movements as victory in the Gulf also, hence we continou work to establish contacts with revolutiona forces in Iran and the Arab world, so that th can be a revolutionary upsurge in the whole area. We are convinced of the necessity for fying the revolutionary process not only in Arab world, but also in East and South East Asia, Africa, etc. as the only solution to eno imperialist oppression prevailing in every pa of the world. With this in mind we aim to establish meetings and good relations with a revolutionary groups in the Arab world and countries outside it.
On the other hand we recognise that imp lism has a huge economic interest in the Gul For example, 90% of Japan's supply of oil c These interests are threatened directly by th revolution, by its extension and increased ef tiveness. They will then have to make conce sions to any revolutionary forces in this are preserve at least part of these interests, rathe than seeing them completely destroyed. But revolution did not advocate that power can conquered in a short period of time. We app ciate that it is an enormous conflict with im perialism. Hence we struggle to ensure that t revolution can be a continuous, permanent o and not to simply reach a certain and limitec objective. The struggle against imperialism w be a long one, and it is not confined to the region of the Gulf, but related to the international struggle also. This is how we educat our ranks and cadres, this is what we constan put forward to them.
We hope to establish relations with all left organisations, not only in the Arab world, bu also outside it. At the moment we are in con with Tudeh party in Iran [Iranian C.P.-Ed.] and we hope to establish contact with left organisations in Pakistan and the areas near t the Gulf. Because the Pakistan Army plays a role in backing the reactionary state in Omar relations with any revolutionary force in Pakistan will be very important-Pakistan, an India too.
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another important factor. Bourgeois ideologies and petty bourgeois organisations were not able
from the Gulf, 55% of Europe's supply also apart from British and American consumpti