The Kurdish city Kohani in Syria near the Turkish border is under attack by the Islamic State. American air strikes have so far saved the city and prevented a massacre. According to Adman Khan who lives in Istanbul and Islamabad (The Globe and Mail, October 22), instead of celebrating the American intervention, Kurds in Istanbul are protesting against the United States and its allies, including Canada, on the grounds that a revolution is in progress in Kohani which Western imperialism and capitalism is attempting to destroy. At the same time, they lash out against the Islamic State.
A leftist protester told the writer:
“The Islamic State is attacking a revolution…. This is not a struggle against the Islamic State. It’s a struggle against the system and its supporters, including the Turkish state as well as a mix of others, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, England, France and the USA. All the imperialist and capitalist systems should be opposed.”
For the Turkish government, the writer believes, this sort of fervour threatens to tear down years of capitalist enterprise and return Turkey to the bloodshed and economic ruin of the 1990s.
Eric Koch’s new book, New Beginnings, was launched on September 20. The book is available from 
