Syria is back in the Arab League. During a special meeting held in Cairo on May 7, foreign ministers from 13 Arab League member states agreed to reinstate Syria's membership after a suspension of over ten years. This means that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be able to sit with his counterparts at the upcoming Arab League summit after a decade-long absence. So far, reactions to the development have been mixed. While the UN expressed hopes that the return will help end the war in Syria, some regional countries are not yet on board with the about-turn. The reactions from major countries are also starkly different. What does getting back to the Arab League mean to both sides? Is this a part of a bigger trend of detente? What does it mean for the world at large?


Sup comrades, Being part of or running a chapter/org sounds mega existing, but as anyone who's done so can attest...the daily work of revolution is much less glorious than you'd think. It's mostly just, well, organizational stuff. Writing emails, delegating tasks, writing protocols, making concepts, etc. Still, that part of political work is just as important as the speeches, discussions, protests, theory work, etc. Like a good supply and logistics system is the base of every military, well organized structures and processes are integral to an effective vanguard party. So what are some tips and best practices you'd give your comrades (without revealing internals obviously), whether they're just building something new or are part of something established Personally: - Seems obvious, but good documentation (opsec etc etc) is damn vital. Especially to anyone starting new, don't push this off - you'll lose an overview of what you've done and why within weeks as soon as the action starts kicking off. It builds institutional knowledge and there's nothing more frustrating having to take over a position or organization without proper documentation - Work conceptually. Don't just "do a thing". Make a concept. State goals, make a real plan and then evaluate the shortcomings and strengths of the concept afterwards. Don't just jump from one thing to the next, you won't build the institutional knowledge that's essential for any organization. You also won't be able to analyze reoccurring patterns and mistakes and grow less effectively because of it - People need tasks. Soon as you get someone even slightly interested, give them a *clear* and *appropriate* task to develop them politically and attach them to the collective body. People will not come back if they don't feel integrated and like they're not playing an important role. Whoever even gets close to a revolutionary organization wants to do stuff - let them. And let them fail too occasionally All fairly basic, but imo essential and unfortunately often overlooked because they seem so obvious.

I did laugh but I can understand how views can evolve over time leading to something like this mess but 🤷🏾‍♀️

China said on Monday that the country would never forget NATO's barbaric atrocities of bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, which killed three Chinese journalists and injured more than 20 Chinese diplomats. "We will never forget their blood and lives sacrificed for preserving truth, fairness and justice," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

Welcome again to everybody! Make yourhome at self. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread! Matrix homeserver at [genzedong.xyz](https://genzedong.xyz). See [this thread](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/484053) for information about our Matrix space. Short reading list for new MLs [here](https://teddit.net/r/communism/comments/wisiw). To find theory, try [z-lib](https://z-lib.is), [libgen](https://libgen.is), or [Sci-Hub](https://sci-hub.ru/about) (for scientific articles). If an article is unavailable, try [the Wayback Machine](https://archive.org).

*thanks to our wholesome new mod /u/Elara, we have a Matrix server again!* ## What is Matrix? Preemptive TL;DR: `Matrix ≈ Discord - tracking + end-to-end encryption (by default)` Matrix is a protocol for real-time communication (text, audio, and video) followed by various applications ("clients") -- the official one is [Element](https://element.io/download) for Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS), but there are many others (e.g. those listed [here](https://matrix.org/clients)). It's also federated, like Lemmy. To use a Matrix client, you need to make a Matrix account at one of the Matrix *homeservers* (similar to how you can make an account on lemmygrad.ml or lemmy.ml but still access both of them). We have our own Matrix homeserver at https://genzedong.xyz, and you don't need an email address to register an account there. ## How do I use it? 1. Download a Matrix client (e.g. [Element](https://element.io/download)) on whatever device you prefer. 2. Create an account in the client. You can select `genzedong.xyz` as your homeserver here; if you choose the default `matrix.org`, you'll need to enter an email address. 3. Log in. Search for the room `#welcome:genzedong.xyz` and follow the instructions there. ## How active is it? Not very active at the moment, but you -- yes, *you* (!!!) -- can help change this! Wow!