At the beginning of this month the Danish government ran a proposal through parliament in two days to deploy seven fighter jets (F16) and almost 300 military staff people to Iraq to participate in the US led bombing campaign against ISIL. Only the Red Green Alliance and one unaffiliated MP voted against [1].

To some people this stance differed from the vote some weeks earlier when the RGA supported the decision to deploy one military Hercules aircraft to Iraq with the task of supplying Kurdish forces fighting ISIL with arms (link to my previous article).

Actually both votes are consistent with the basic approach of the RGA to the conflict. We want to do the best to support local progressive forces in the region that are fighting ISIL or other reactionary armies. On the other hand the party opposes US, UK or Danish direct military intervention whether is bombing campaigns or ground forces.

As MP, Nikolaj Villumsen, RGA, said during the parliamentary debate before the vote: “The government is proposing a bombing campaign that may last more than a year according to the prime minister. These bombings may very well lead to a strengthening of ISIL and of creating even more chaos. When civilians are killed and foreign military again is bombing Iraq, it may increase the recruitment of ISIL.

Many hidden agendas are involved in this alliance that the government want Denmark to join. It is a 100 percent certain that Saudi Arabia and the Golf states do not want democracy in Iraq. Likewise, Turkey does not want Kurdish self-government anywhere inside or outside Turkish borders. I fear that Denmark just will be tail-ending the interests of big powers in the region.”

He might have added that the imperialist powers together with their allies in the region are the basic reason for the conflict and for the emergence and growth of ISIL. Even though the US has turned against ISIL now, it would be foolish to trust US and other imperialist powers and to help them get the power to dictate the state of affairs when fighting has stopped.

At the moment the Kurds of the region – together with other ethnic minorities – are the most able and effective force against ISIL. The saved Erbil in Iraq, and they have bravely fought to defend Kobane in Northern Syria. Against all odds they – at the moment of writing 17.10.14 - seem to have been able to keep ISIL out of Kobane and in that way saved tens of thousands of people from being killed. As they themselves admit, they have this last week been somewhat helped by US bombings of ISIL positions.

Not only are the Kurds able fighters (of both sexes), they defend democratic rights, secular values and equal rights for women, and some of them are declared socialists. In the areas that they control in Syria, they have built a local peoples’ democracy, involving all ethnic groups. In an region where the main forces are either imperialist supported reactionaries or Islamic fundamentalists or both at the same time, the Kurds are a beacon for the fight for social and democratic progress against imperialism and Medieval brutality.

That is also the reason why the RGA – also on October 1 - tabled a proposal in parliament that Denmark help to supply weapons and humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Kurdish/multi-ethnic areas in Northern Syria. This proposal was voted down by all other political parties.

For that reason the RGA made a blitz collection of money from its local branches, and two days later, October 3, at a press meeting the RGA handed over 40.000 DK (5.500 €) to Saleh Muslim, a representative of PYD, the party of Kurds in Syria that works closely together with the PKK of the Kurds in Turkey. The money is earmarked for weapons.

At the press meeting, Nikolaj Villumsen said: “Since the offensive of the jihadists against Kurdish areas in Syria began, we have tried to convince the government and the other parties to supply the Kurdish defence forces with weapons and humanitarian aid, with no effect at all. Now, ISIL is just outside Kobane, and 400.000 civilians are in danger.

That is why we have collected this amount of money among the local branches of the RGA at only a few days’ notice. It is only a symbolic amount, but we will continue collecting money. We call on all democratic and progressive forces in Europe and the rest of the word to support the fight against ISIL.”

Since then the RGA has repeated its call to the government for arms supply to the Kurds several times and used all parliamentarian options for raising the question. Until now the only result is that also the Socialist People’s Party (SF) supports the proposal now.

Money is still coming from the branches to the national office. Now considerations are to broaden the money collection outside the RGA together with other forces.

During the last month the Kurdish communities in Denmark have organised demonstrations and other kinds of events against ISIL and for the defence of Kobane. At most of these demonstrations members of the RGA have spoken from the platform. None of them have numbered more than 1000 participants, most of them Kurds. At the moment the different Kurdish groups are trying to get together and call for a united demonstration next week. Such a call will have the potential for much larger demonstration.

Michael Voss, 17/10/2014