arabia, we will work with you. we will walk -- we will work with iran. we will work with all of the region to bring some disability to the sectarian narrative. these issues in the region will not help anybody. no one is immune from it. neither jordan nor saudi arabia nor others. and we have been saying to them, please, pull your weight so we can all work together. this is where the prime minister was coming from. iraq countries bordering can control their part of the border and reduce the flow of the smuggling of weapons, etc., into iraq. >> would you include jordan. -- jordan? >> let's speak about jordan. the risk we have -- we have found this to be contained.

the jordanians have limited capabilities. they have been helpful. the area of desert is vast. it requires a lot of capabilities, strengths. where we have questions elsewhere, it was a political motive. we said we do not see that -- beyond the call of duty to protect iraq from jihadist. that is what we are talking about. >> ok. yes, sir. >> ambassador, the main problem between the iraqi government and -- krg is article 140.

a week ago, it was said [indiscernible] so, what is your understanding of that statement? >> ok. >> yes, sir. please. >> you've talked about how isis is this transnational threat and how it can't be solved in just one country. do you believe any military action against isis needs to include some form of action in syria as well as iraq? >> ok. another. yes. please? >> good morning. i have a couple of questions. the first one is, where is the european role in all of this, and if you see a role in all of the conflict going on right now, what would you like it to be?

the second question is, what do you think the tipping point in this conflict is going to be? if isis moves to jordan next, as they have been declaring, do you think that is going to be the tipping point where probably this will entail an intervention from the u.s. or other bodies? >> we have confidence that the united states will look into the situation in a holistic way. and god forbid, we do not want this to be escalated to other regions anywhere so that it forces the united states or anyone else to look at it. we think it can be contained -- let's contain it now. otherwise, the destruction is too big. the countries of the region are too fragile.

and therefore, we cannot afford the luxury of waiting until it becomes the third country and fourth country.- we are fairly confident that the united states will play a major role and bring capability against the isis spread or influence in the region. i'm sorry? >> only the kurds will ask that, by the way. [laughter] >> we talked about the ironies of it. article 140 has not been talked about apart from the kurdish government for a long time. .c., i have not had

any questions being asked about it when i've been here. which is a reflection of where i think people feel the party has to be, which is one inclusive government and trying to put aside disputed areas. president barzani made that statement public. the parliament was sitting. they will review that. if they think that 140 is addressed and the item is closed, then fair enough. if not, then it is the obligation of all parties to try to bring some closure on the discussion. not forcing status quo. >> what is 140? can you explain that. >> 140 is an item in the constitution. in 2005 the timeline was about 2007 that there will be a census -- a census done in the disputed areas. and where the boundaries, where some of the boundaries were changed, including the town of kirkuk.

which was a multinational, multiethnicity town. the demographic was changed by saddam's time or not since -- i would say not since saddam's time. since the late 1950's onward, until 2003. in the constitution, it is called the disputed areas. where they were controlling kirkuk. and you have to deal with that reality. but the gist of that as well. what we are saying is in a culture where people do not forget easily and a culture in , which things have taken a long time for things to manifest itself, it cannot be resolved overnight by one party saying i have nothing to talk about. that will not be feasible for either party.

and if the parliamentarians agree amongst themselves that the issue is resolved and the borders are clear then best wishes for all. if not, i would leave that for the parliament to decide on the best action. right now i would not think that is advisable for anybody. simply because people do not like to be forced. they have a revenge culture. they do not forget easily, and most importantly, these issues are important issues. but the dispute is not about land. the dispute is about identity which means forcing an identity on others will not work. and i would say my humble advice is, let time resolve this issue, but do it peacefully.

>> so you have a question about whether the iraqi military will have action in syria? >> we have -- no. we respect our relationship with syria. we respect the demarcation and so on, and we will not get involved in operation with syria. if syria will help us on their site, we will work with that. from our side we look forward to working with other countries -- such as the united states to control that border. and i would say as far as i know the united states are look -- they know of their interdependant cri of iso on either side of the border. do you see the europeans and the crisis? >> i think the europeans are issue -- are rectified with their own issues, which i think is making it somewhat difficult for them to play a role.

however, the foreign minister, the british foreign minister was in iraq last week. we talked about cooperation. we have yet to see a tangible role for the e.u. and iraq. however, the threat is immediate to them as well. s a large amount , of them coming from france and others. we've seen french players in syria and all kinds in iraq. so we know that they have the international dimension, the jihadist international dimension. we need to work closely. >> one last? >> yes. sure. >> please. >> thank you, minister. two questions. the first one is how do you see conditioning the u.s. help in achieving advances on the political process? and the second question is that there is some fears here in

washington that the administration may be giving the illusion of being concerned about iraq. but in reality there's nothing real going on, on the ground in terms of really supporting the iraqi government. william read from bankrupt international. from -- going back to the constitution. you see that there is a role for federalization in some sort of political settlement? >> ok. yes, sir. >> hi. paul richard with "l.a. times." i wonder if you can speak a little more about the iraqi government's thoughts regarding russian military support here. are there more arms that you think you might buy from them? is there a possible role for military advisors in iraq? >> let's take one last question. yes, sir. please.

>> richard owens, international relief. no one touched on the nearly half million internally displaced iraqis as a result of this. other than the u.n. and the thele bit of money, international relief response has been poor to, say the least. i can't think of anything the u.s. has done. mr. ambassador, what do you see as principle requirements for an international response to this humanitarian crisis? >> the displacement issue -- within couple days of this situation erupted. 400,000 and 300,000 people from mosul being displaced. 20,000 trying to leave.

that was the immediate threat, i would say. the u.s. provided some help when secretary kerry was in iraq, he talked about that as well. they have supported iraq financially. however, some of the challenges -- we, as a government don't have an issue of the funds but the issue of accessibility to it. that's the key challenge we have. it is not just an issue of funds, but we need to have tents and food and everything else provided to the displaced. the government is providing a tremendous amount of effort. and they are focusing on that. we are very much appreciative of that work. however, what we have is not sustainable. we need to help these people who have been displaced, coming back to mosul, that's what we are talking about. the fact that we resolve this issue militarily or that this can come back and also know that for example in basheer, they had an issue of booby trapping the

houses. so we have a domestic situation to address, which is crucial as well. and that's another area of concern. the expertise from russia, i think the formula we have declared is simple. we have a need. there is a void. if the u.s. cannot fill that void, whoever is available, including russia, it will come to that point. this is what we are talking about. we're not talking about having a military pact with any country. we have chosen the united states as our partner of choice. we still want to have a strong military security and other type of strong relationship with the united states as a strategic choice, which we have made that. and even when secretary kerry was there last week we said we need your help now. don't condition it.

don't put any conditions. not that we are not willing to work with you to address these issues, which is having to do with political situations an -- and other types of issues. yes, we will do that discussion and we are working on it, but don't condition it because the risk is too immediate and threat is too important for us to think of the conditionalty of it. changing the politics -- they will tell you, it's not easy in our region. there's a change of culture. and that's not a simple job. however, providing military help can significantly change and can induce and provide -- i would say an influence for the united states in iraq. this is what i call the acid test. this is an acid test to that relationship. >> there was a question about

whether the u.s. really has genuine concern? >> yes, they do have. we know for example yesterday's example of military and position such as help. we know that the united states and especially the white house are serious about and they understand the scale and depths of the threat. and we never doubt that. however, what we are saying is that we need more. because of the urgency of the crisis. that's what we are talking about. we are not disputing in any way, shape or form the commitment of the united states to iraq. that's not the issue. the issue is the scale of the support we're talking about. thank you very much for a very lively discussion and for the nashese answering difficult

questions. please join me in thanking the ambassador first. [applause] thank you very much. >> more now on the situation in the middle east in a forum on militant group, isis, in syria. from the international institute for strategic studies, this is an hour. >> i think we will go ahead and get started. thank you all for joining us this morning at the international institute for u.s., thestudies washington a home of the answer to. .y name is bryce campbell i am the managing director. for those of you who do not yet know as well, we are a global think tank headquartered in london.

and bahrain and singapore and here in washington. has pioneered over the last decade or more if phenomenal dialogue with the middle east and a dialogue for the agent pacific. -- asian-pacific. the institute also has authored an international journal of international affairs. as well as a book series -- some of which are on display in the back of the room, for those of you here in the room. this office is a critical part of our network. we seek to both bring a global perspective here to washington and to convey washington's sometimese to a skeptical international audience. today's discussion will be very much the former, and we are quite privileged to have our hearague emile hokayem from our middle east office to

share his insights on the -- officeom the middle east to share his insights on the tragedy unfolding in syria. before i introduce improperly, i should mention that we are a membership organization. those of you in the audience who are interested can learn more. there are flyers on the back table. onlinef you following us or on tv can visit our website, learn more.o the structure is >> -- simple. emil will provide remarks for 20 or 30 minutes and then i will turn to you to moderate a session. prior to joining the institute, editors the political for the abu dhabi english based newspaper "the national." he served as a resident fellow

at the southeastern gulf agent program here in washington. he has written extensively on gcc relations, regional has testifiedhe in front of the u.s. foreign relations committee. he has spoken in front of various government and nongovernment audiences. he is embarrassed. he wants to cut to the chase and begin his talk. will leave his introduction there and let him take the floor. >> thank you. good morning to all. it is a pleasure to be here. it is a pleasure to run away from the horrid warmth of the

golf. no one wants to be there. but it is also ramadan. -- i can report there is a new game in town when it comes to syria. the search for the new and derogatory more acronym for isis -- if you are on twitter or read arabic -- unnests perhaps the f thing happening in the arabic world these days. i encourage you -- there are many ways one can play with those letters, put them together to find something that will make them fume a bit more. that was already a pretty extreme and insulting from their perspective. what i am going to do in this presentation, because i expect there will be many questions

about isis or the islamic states at this point, the regional fallout over u.s. policy, i am going to focus on serious -- syria. when i look at the current debate, syria has fallen off the radar. a racket is taken dominance in public and policy -- iraq has taken prominence in public and policy debates. the public has not well analyzed -- there is not great interest. look at the number of journalists who have written about that compared to the cover job syria. dangerous lot more place. on balance, what is happening inside syria is not getting enough coverage and policy attention it deserves. i will spend most of my time doing that, because i think it is fundamental to understand

what is happening there. the reasons for the conflict are there to last many more years. the spillover cannot be contained. containment is not the strategy. it is an avoidant strategy actually. fewme start by making a points of warning. the first one is there is a tendency to embrace broad narratives when it comes to syria too easily. the narrative was that the rebels were winning and the region was collapsing. in recent months, it has been the opposite. the regime is winning. the rebels are lapsing. both are understandably tempting narratives. they are also simplistic. because they ignore a secondary , elements that have a on theimpact over time big picture. when the regime was weakening,

it was also reorganizing to push back. well. did so pretty two months ago however, the most of aquered region alongside the border with lebanon, and everyone focused on that victory. which is a very important victory. it secured the highway to it cuts rebels supply lines. it peoplee time ignored the rebel offensives. and perhaps the largest rebel offensive and the north and west in a year. the broades not fit narrative, we tend to ignore those -- well, those facts. there is another point of warning. resist the temptation to be

my commentsly -- relate to the tendency to describe the syrian conflict as a proxy war. i say this for two reasons. first, there is direct uranian intervention. iranian intervention. it is not proxy. it is direct. the second is there is a strong regional aspect that exacerbates the violence. to only limit one's analysis to that is, in a way, satisfying and convenience because it allows us to do what we like to do, which is engage in geopolitical analysis. if only the russians and americans could get along and somehow things would be much better. in reality, the local and

transnational dynamics of the syrian conflict shape events on the ground a lot more than the regional competition. to accept this -- and once you accept this, you accept the limits of our understanding of a lot of those dynamics. it is very obscure. it is much more difficult to understand research on the ground. it also makes a lot of the tools we have at our disposal much less useful. not arming,rming or sanctions or no sanctions. this is a problem. often our analysis is driven by the tools we have at our disposal, other than the other way around. what has happened in three years in is the emergence of actors who have their own legitimacy, their own way of mobilizing fighters, their own way of building support, acquiring resources, acquiring resources

domestically. the conflict today has self-sustaining dynamic send all of the ingredients are there for a long-lasting war. course, one can identify disruptive events. we can go through that later. but in a way, one looks at the linear trajectory, and the syrian war has what it takes to last five or 10 more years. the war economy has created ample local resources for the various fighting groups, whether on the regime's side or the rebel's side or the jihadist's side. happen alongations communal lines, but there are also transnational mobilizations, which i will get to in a second. and small and light weaponry is available in sufficient wanted seized. small and light weaponry is available in sufficient quantities.

today it is not about whether the weaponry is there. know, at that level, all of the gradients are present. -- all of the ingredients are present. points here.w we have to resist the temptation of drawing direct links between rebel groups in particular and perceivedunders -- regional sponsors. let me give you a specific example. when the islamic front came into control, everyone said this is a saudi croatian -- saudi creation. why is that? one of the main leaders of the islamic front has a father who is a syrian cleric who has lived in saudi arabia for a long time.

therefore it was natural that it was somehow a saudi creation. except the father was actually closer to the website muslim brotherhood saudi affiliate -- quasi-muslim brotherhood saudi affiliate. it was in fact difficult to get the saudi officials and supporters to come together. of course, there was a quick roque well and the arrangement over time. was no direct relationship of control, command, between those various groups. it makes our analysis easier if you assume that. but the reality on the ground tells us a pretty different story. aother example has to do with

cell of this organization and saudi arabia. a pretty formidable force, actually. that theyoes not mean report to saudi arabia. those who are familiar with the ideology know it can be all over the place. in saudi arabia, they accept the --monarch'sole role. they are in flux. they have not decided where they are. plein, that sim relationship between these perceivedder and a relationship and a rebel organization is -- it of skewers more than it helps -- it obscur es more than it helps. today -- and this will be the

crux of my recent tatian -- what we are missing is the soft partitioning of syria. going to but i am not go there. it is extremely bloody. but over time, it is likely the levels of violence will drop. and of people will have been killed in these areas and there will be a voluntary movement of people, which is already happening. we are talking about 3 million refugees-plus. this will make a political settlement much less likely. we will probably see quid pro quo arrangements on the side, arrangement isal much less likely than ever before. assessment is the regime of bashar al-assad is in a better situation since early

2012. let's be honest about this. it's survival is no longer survival is nos longer threatened. is thessure on damascus least it has been in two years. june election was a political horizon all along. he saw theve election as not ony a show of defiance and cohesion and legitimacy to fire up his constituency, but also a way to -- there weres of people inside serious who had not necessarily taken sides. we like to think it is a totally polarized environment. you had many urbanites, many segments of syrian society in a state of denial, rejection,

despair. did not want to be forced to take a stand. in fact, the election was useful way that it put pressure on his constituency. for two months, they built up to the elections. visually, banners, it is colorful, people are demonstrating, etc. there was something to get excited about. it has worked in the short to medium term. begun the process of rebuilding on the pretense that he leads the state. i will get to this in a second. regimelity is the assad has maintained the military edge . it has rebuilt its helicopter force. it has adapted militarily. there are downsides. i will talk about that in a second.

but it remains the dominant military actor inside syria. to conquergoals were territories where it matters. these central corridor. her territories, not people. this is a fundamental principle and it explains the military strategy they pursued. assad's push people out of important areas. he did not want to commit to the toitical, economic resources regain the loyalty of the people. it may have been impossible to start with. spend precious resources at a moment when you are fighting for your survival in trying to win back the loyalty of people who have suffered so much? this is a key point. by doing this, he shifted the burden on rebels, on

international agencies, on neighboring countries, on , to takef syria, etc. care of massive numbers of people and created paralysis on that front. theoint here is humanitarian tragedy, rather than being the unfortunate outcome of the fighting as often per trade -- portrayed, it is actually a deliberate regime strategy. this is a key point. it it is not well understood. we like to see wars as great events. the reality is that the regime has pursued this as a way to debilitate its foes. that being said, there are challenges ahead for assad. the first challenge -- a necessary condition for the survival of the regime was its intoformation from a state

a collection of malicious. in fact, assad could not have militarily counter the rebels by just operating as a conventional military, deploying its fighting conventionally against all of these rebel forces. build a more loyal, but also less costly units to support the fight. so, he encouraged the development of locally-based are loyal to the regime, but have their own behavior, their own set of interests. overhey developed them time. they started differentiating themselves from the regime over time. some are more radical. some are less radical. i will give you very specific examples. there is a clash of interest

with regime forces. there is a clash of loyalty of organization between those various elements. willtime, i suspect this erode be coherent's and the sense of purpose of the groups ofied with -- the coherence the sense of purpose of the groups allied with assad. let me give you a couple examples that capture this point. you remember in february, there settlement to get civilians and fighters to relinquish their weapons in the city of palms -- homs? , the localure commander of the national defense force, which is one of aborted the,

mission. it was very difficult to implement. of his topo send one security officials from damascus to make it happen. it was actually a pretty problematic process in terms of assad showing he controlled the ground and the militias. and another group have operated largely independently from the syrian military, the conventional forces, which led to a lot of confusion and military setbacks, including the army and the village of -- it is not just the rebels and some of the radicals among the rebels. it is the forces supporting communicate well. they did not have a sense of the battlefield. that was very problematic.

the national defense force see themselves as a local protection force. they do not want to be involved in fighting in other areas. and they actually resisted assad 's orders. my point is this. in the short term, these frictions are manageable and we should not overstate them. however, this poses a problem as assad tries to rebuild the pretense of a functioning state inside syria. this is a challenge. some has to engage in dimension of stabilization and all thosetion to show who look at him as a better alternative than the rebels that he can deliver. the, that necessitates strategy and resources. if you believe the cost of the

fighting was already massive in , wait until you see the reconstruction. all of us who have seen civil wars and reconstruction know that reconstruction can be more costly than the fighting in and of itself. lebanon being a very good example of that or iraq, etc.. who is going to provide that? how do you convince the local actors who have risen to support assad in his moment of need to a centralization strategy here you go -- here? these are groups that expect respect and rewards from the authority. they are weakened. another problem is assad's dependence on foreign supporters -- has block, the iranians, etc. , the array news,

air roads his ability to command a legitimate state. i was looking at some youtube videos from jihadist groups. one shows fighters dancing and saying, we are not here for bashar. to broadcastneed their presence, their successes, etc., to mobilize at home, to recruit, to build a narrative that they are fighting or the broader good of the shia community. pretenseerodes assad's of being a nationalistic settler state, which is so fundamental. let me briefly touch on two points. the isis phenomenon and how it plays out in syria. it is the best example of local and transnational dynamics at play. isis is not the creation of

saudi arabia. it is the product of the failing governments and the polarization in iraq and syria. its growth and its reach were not only predictable. they were predicted. we were not necessarily surprised by this. what we are seeing is the effective merger of western iraq and eastern syria. the constant movement of money, resources across this border, this no longer existent border. the real surprise is that isis, which at first pretended to be a vanguard organization, today has perhaps too soon, that it intends to be a state. i think this may actually be the down fall of isis. much more vulnerable

to pressure. you tell me that you have buildings and you expect to provide services. aid you create expectations. this is one of the very contentious points inside the syrian rebellion. does assad benefit from isis's growth, the growth worldwide of the isis threat? i was talking to a few regime associates recently. they have very mixed views. some say, yes, it benefits assad . first, it validates the narrative assad has broadcast since 2007. there is also the i told you so factor. if only you had listened to us, we could have avoided that. this is a language that assad mastered. he had done so during the iraq war. his intelligence services can do a good job of it.

there is the expectation that there will be cooperation with rebel groups under pressure from isis. you start with tactical cooperation and then you go to those famous truces and cease-fires that we see left and right. i am not sure this is a sustainable strategy or will happen. , the problemhing in the west about what to do about isis is a source of delight. just today, in the new york times, they were arguing about direct cooperation with isis. this is good for the regime anyway. others argue, no, it is not good news for assad. has failedly assad to get westerners to embrace his view of the threat. i think here, we should give credit to john kerry. bad things tof say about u.s. policy, but on this specific point, i think

some of this is a good centralizing of the problem. when john kerry said, assad cannot be a solution against isis because he is a magnet for terrorism. this word "magnet" accurately captures the dynamics at play. there is a lot of concern that this narrative has not taken hold in the west. there is also the strain on the militias that have to fight on several fronts today. iran has inherited two failing regimes in iraq and syria. can they do it? , they have totias decide what they want to do. the news is not necessarily good for assad. to these are medium long-term considerations. in the short term, the regime is

on solid ground. longerspoken for much than i should have. sorry. but thank you for your attention. >> thank you. that was fantastic. i am sure there are a number of questions in the audience. i will do them one at a time. please welcome for the microphone to come your way. be sure to identify yourself and your organization. we will start right here in the middle, the woman. >> my name is -- [indiscernible] www.c-span.org -- to asktion is i want about syria, the amount of inment of the people -- terms of the total population,

how many out? i mean just to get a sense of the specifics of it? first-time question. >> sure. the numbers are quite frightening. we're talking 3 million refugees, three and a half million refugees, and about 7 million internally displaced people. many of those internally displaced people are located in refugee camps in the north of syria and difficult to access. there is also another set of dilemmas when it comes to you win --vided help -- you provided help. there is a series of legal considerations that should be overcome according to international two minutes area in law experts.

the help is not making it this way. the numbers are just beyond frightening. the magnitude of the crisis is stunning. it is much bigger than what we at its worst. there is another related problem, which is the housing infrastructure has been very, very badly damaged. i mean, again it does not 2003.e to iraq in that is because of the nature of the fighting. entire neighborhoods have been leveled. 50% of the housing hamas, aleppo,in etc. is totally gone or very heavily damaged. even if the fighting were to aop tomorrow, we are talking five to 10 year process to rebuild the number of units needed. and that is assuming the money will flow and where will it flow from? look, syria is a

conflict that has erupted at the worst possible time. 's, talk to in gao's -- ngo and actors providing relief, and they say they are meeting 20% of their needs. it is just heartbreaking. is, theundamental point humanitarian tragedy is a deliberate regime strategy. it is not the unfortunate outcome of the fighting. this,we totally accept we're not going to make much headway. adopted resolution was several months ago. practically, nothing has been implemented. and there has been no progress deliveryof the direct

of rebel held areas where you have millions of displaced people. >> what is the total population there you go -- total population there? >> 22 million. >> so we are saying -- >> 50%. >> [indiscernible] at this point, what are the two sides fighting for? do the sunnis expect the aloe was to -- [indiscernible] what is the near term goal and what should be u.s. over four as a solution? -- hope for as a solution? >> i think the groups have adjusted their expectations. dohink assad and his allies not hope they can retake all of the territory that has been lost

. and anyway, why waste of those resources covering land that is aaron and where you have millions of refugees? to secure this area, make it economically viable. not necessarily economically viable. those who know the geography of syria know that wheatfields are in one place, oakfield's or the fields are somewhere else. people talk about the sunni city that is not viable on the porch in the mediterranean. this is whyult and i say what we are witnessing is a self-partition of syria. none of these are viable on their own. there will always be a degree of trading between all of them.

i think that assad has a pretty realistic vision of what he wants to achieve in the short-term and midterm. his problem is maintaining coherence among the various groups that support him. you cannot take this for a given. we have spent time describing, theyzing, and disparaging factionalism and fragmentation of the rebellion. we should spend an equal amount of time looking at the factionalism inside the regime. i give you examples. we should not overstate that. this is a medium-term challenge. , -- look, issue is there is a lot of ab and flow among rebel groups. i gave a presentation that the big groups that i was in touch with.

have taken very heavy losses from the fighting against isis. -- a few months who told an official me that, in two months of tooking against isis, they 500 casualties. dead fighters. how manymany -- guess they lost against assad forces? 2100-2200 fighters. in two months, you lose 500 and in 2.5 years, you lose -- so, the fortunes of these groups very considerably -- vary considerably based on support and they do not have a clear angle about what they want.

they are fighting for their survival and they need to secure territory and resources inside the territory to sustain the fight. they become very self-involved. it is all about their own survival. this is the opportunity that was lost early on. there was a more positive spirit to the rebellion. you know, a forward-looking east coast -- ethos. that has been lost and this is problematic. it is hard to imagine a coherent rebel entity in syria. >> great. the gentleman right there. >> thank you. my name is edward joseph. this is an excellent presentation. nt that wase poi excellent about the need to be precise.

you for ake to ask bit more precision when you talk about the local character of the conflict. the reason i ask is twofold. first, the implications. if it is so fragmented, it seems hopelessly complex. why do we even dare do anything about it? it is fragmented so much. so, that is the first. the second is, it doesn't it imply that assad is more attractive? you have assad. i would ask you to be precise about that. difficulties these local units present to assad, they do not switch sides. this is not like somalia. there is one plan here and there.

-- clan here and there. who is the enemy? they are not jumping sides in a fragmented way. there is a coherence, to the extent that it is sectarian. i would ask you to respond to that. the policytart with implications of your question. as someone who is advocating arming since 2012 of the rebels, today, arming comes at a higher cost and higher risk. thanmes with lower returns it would have had two years ago. i understand the elements that policy makers are facing. at the same time, these are the policymakers who turned down the opportunity because of faulty assessment or because of a total

reluctance to take the fight seriously. i have many bad things to say about u.s. policy in the last couple of years. here is the one word, bankrupt. i understand the current dilemma. the current dilemma should not excuse the policy paralysis and the wishful thinking that happened. yes, it is unbelievably difficult to maneuver and navigate those dynamics. but, guess what? if you want to address the isis challenge. we all realize how big a challenge that is. and the strategy is only effective strategy is to work with the local actors. because of the size of the threat. because they have the legitimacy. because they have the human intelligence to do something about it. anse groups have

opportunistic way of doing things. ago, we couldears have appealed to their ideals and values. some meetings with the hearts and these are revolutionaries and -- today, ,ou know, they look at, at foreign actors and say, where were you in our moment of need? make a case for why we should actually help you. become a transactional relationship and we have to be honest about it. describing thee, complexity should not lead one to overstate what assad can offer. i do not understand what, operationally, he can offer. he has limited resources and is focused on his survival. someone saying that assad will send some of his forces to

rebuild ties with the west -- does one really think that he has a better understanding of jihad he forces -- jihadi forces than the rebel forces fighting isis? at the political and strategic level, working with assad validates the suspicions of many sunnis, and including moderates, that reluctance to helping rebels is linked to a preference for a side and a strong secular dictator. ," let's qualify what that means here. it will be difficult to undermine the legitimacy. if we go down this road, this applies to iran. run rock the best ally is a

iran.q, the best ally is if we had not realized what matters is the local actors and the legitimacy of the intelligence. the rationale to stand up to radical actors, perhaps, we should not be in that business altogether. the few successes that were q ared in yemen and ira due to local actors taking on the responsibility. can you create a set of incentives and disincentives for local actors to join the fight? the level ofs, massive and there

is no recognition by us in the general discourse about that fundamental point. >> an attorney to isil or isis, whatever, part of the problem with the name is what do they mean. do you see, at this point, any indication that there is groundwork amongst the palestinians? was -- it was very interesting to see that fi jihadi figures welcome the call for the caliphate.

in lebanon, you have a group that actually welcome the call. aside from that, very few actors. they attacked a couple of has below convoys. lah convoys. the success is the brand that is going up 1.5 years ago. these are franchises. they announced their allegiance to or loyalty to because they hope to get something in return. it is sexier to say you are isis. as i said, it is opportunistic behavior. precisely because it is opportunistic, the response should be political. a number of groups have joined ra becauseaw -- al nus

they were getting more funding and scoring middle terry victories. -- military victories. they left or switched. can you build incentives or disincentives? it is a huge bet. the announcement of the caliphate. this is high expectations. secondly, it is hegemonic behavior on his part. groups arejihadi resisting that and are not necessarily convinced about the caliphate or the modell it he -- modality or timing. they see it as vulnerable. soberimportant to be about the military capabilities of this group. can sustaine they victory. the point is, they can mount

spectacular attacks and have done it in mosul. we will see, during ramadan, if they can pull off something in baghdad. again, it's -- the debate within jihadi circles is heated. there is no massive consensus that the caliphate under baghdadi's leadership is the right way to go. espouse an alarmist assessment. everything depends on the response. if the response is purely counter-terrorism, isis will arrive. -- thrive. they will present themselves as persecuted by the right enemies.

>> i am tricia johnson. wartalked about how the does have the possibility of lasting another 5-10 years and isis operates in syria. think the length of the syrian war will affect isis activities in iraq? expert.no iraq i have to quickly develop knowledge because of the effective merger of these two battlefields. my colleague has written an excellent book on iraq and is in the lead on that. has been good at

mobilizing local resources. whether it is true extraction, -- they, racketeering have proven very good at co-opting or entering alliances with some tribes and some elements. it is difficult to believe that the events in iraq oh nothing to local groups. nothing to local groups. there is savvy on his part and his lieutenants. the announcement of the caliphate, in a way, changes the game because of the hegemonic ambition. i think that, in the medium term, the backlash against isis will be massive. debilitating? i do not know. will isis be able to hold a

territory the size of jordan on the border of turkey, that , i am doubtful. sent -- isis i becoming a model to other al qaeda franchises in the region. p. see this in aqa they are saying, perhaps, he is right. there is a different way of doing business and that is his territory. but -- it is taking a massive risk to announce the state. a state is something recognizable. they will not have a world cup team anytime soon. well, who knows? isis, when you look at the

theyl media and presence, organize summer camps for kids. there is indoctrination and other things. they are pretty savvy at the level of engagement and, at the same time, they, you know, nail people on crosses. a bit problematic. aboutint is, it is all the expectations you set and being able to meet them. they may have $.5 billion in their coffers. how do you make sure you get all the food that you need? i am talking about an area that contains about 8 million people. how do you meet the needs? how do you make sure that electricity and water are flowing if you are at odds with everyone? do local deals do enough?

the local deals i refer to our with the assad regime or isis and al nusra. oil and products because they need gasoline for trucks and etc. it is not a fireball model -- viable model. independent diplomat. thank you. great talk. you talked about the diminished cost-benefit with the u.s. engaging with the opposition. i wondered about your opinion how theorward and opposition could play a large part in the u.s. strategy. >> i see mainstream rebel groups

as an essential element of anti-isis strategy. otherve to accept the priority, the fight against assad. you cannot turn to rebel factions and say, we will provide you weapons if you fight isis and forget about assad. the most atrocities , is stillcement, etc. done by assad and his forces. are, the the jihadis balance of atrocities is very clearly the doing of assad. there needs to be a recognition of this fact and not creating -- not a creation of a false equivalence.

few of them a week ago and i told them, what is your top priority? they said, preventing the encirclement of aleppo. if we need to invest in one thing, it is that. poe encirclement of alep would be another terrible humanitarian tragedy. 150,000 civilians are still in that area. it would be a much bigger symbolic blow to the revolution than the loss of the capital of the revolution. the is the capital where rebels hope to gain in 2012. aleppo wase into terrible and they need to continue holding it. there is a question about what

the rebels can do in the south. there was a lot of hype about thesouth of france and rebels were organizing in jordan and other places. getting pushed from the south. added pressure on damascus from the south has not materialized for a number of reasons. it is not necessarily bad that it has not materialized. i did not see how it would have been sustained of a -- sustainable. without air cover, you cannot make sustainable gains in urban areas and shift loyalty or maintain loyalty of civilians. something that is key. that lesson has been learned the hard way in aleppo. policy should not be to encourage rebels to seek massive military victories. it should be about protecting the areas that they have and the

population against more abuses. --stablishing local establishing local governance. they do not have the means or the strategy to put it off. i am not talking about the margins. i am talking about a more forward strategy. a time for him adventures -- --itious investors adventures is long gone. >> we are about out of time. we had two primary objectives today. i thoughtnsight and we did well. we also achieved the second incriminating the iss in any criminal activities.

i want you to thank him for his remarks. >> getting to the point where you can make peace is never

easy because you don't make peace with your friends. you make it with people who are your adversaries, who have killed those you care about, your own people or those who you are trying to protect, and it's a psychological drama. you have to get into the heads of those on the other side because you have to change their calculation enough to get them to the table. i talk about what we did in iran. we had to put a lot of economic pressure to try to get them to the table. and we'll see what happens but that has to be the first step. and i write about what we did in afghanistan and pakistan trying to get the taliban to the table for a comp hencive discussion with the government of afghanistan. well, in iraq today i think what we have to understand is that it is primarily a political problem that has to be addressed. the ascencion of the sunni

extremists, the so called isis group is taking advantage of the breakdown in political dialogue and the total lack of trust between the maliki government, the sunni leaders, and the kurdish leaders. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> hello. my name is chauncey robinson. i am from oakland, california. but, i was born and raised in jersey. and, i am a member of the communist party and the ycl. what i was asked to do was do a speech honoring our elders so i am going to do that. we are gathered here this weekend for the 30th national convention of the communist party usa. it is a party that has had 95 years of history of struggle. dedication, defeat, and victory. from each of those struggles that the party has been a part of, we have been able to learn from those experiences in order to go forth and analyze the ever-changing political climate. here in the year 2014, we deal with a nation and a world in a state of unrest where the working class continues to struggle, fight, and most of all, survive. in a capitalist society hellbent on our exploitation and demoralization.

we are coming together to share our experiences, learn from one another, analyze our current political situation, and hopefully leave here with a better outlook for tomorrow. the keyword i think of when thinking about what we are doing here this weekend is experience. for i think experience greatly connects to how we go about talking about our current situation and how we go about our futuve been th from our history that we stand on today that enriches how we think on and decide what to do going forward. and who is to have such a wealth of experience in this struggle if not the elders of ur movement, of our party? when i was asked to give a speech honoring our elders, i was fearful of being someone who would come up, list things

from the past, and give a tone of the past being archaic, unmoving, and gone. i was afraid i would get up here and give something of a eulogy. thing is this is not a funeral. the elders that are with us today in this room and with us in spirit in their local place of residency are very much alive and fighting. and a wonderful resource of knowledge of the things we are. it is the party we need to know in order to be the best we can be and looking forward towards the future. political activist james baldwin once said, "children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." i think this holds true for the party. sometimes life is busy. the struggles of the day-to-day can get us down or we get wrapped up in our own affairs that we can get tunnel vision. we think -- we can think this

is the first time something is being done, a problem is arising, or a battle is being fought. the battle and struggle for the end of capitalist exploitation and for society based on the quality has been a battle that the communist party has been waging for 95 years. it is a battle that has taken on many forms. it is a culmination of issues. this is a battle that has gone on for some time and we have elders, people in this very room and around the country, who have been fighting for decades and continue to fight. we can at least hope in some ways to imitate their strength and resilience. to be able to have similar life lessons they had and to be able to help contribute to the rich legacy of the party as they ave as well. ok.

all right. ok. we have some of the greatest resources through our elders. to learn from and be thankful that we're come before us, i am reminded of a political activist. i feel very lucky to have grown up having interaction with adults who were making change but were far from perfect beings. that feeling of not being paralyzed by your incredible inadequacy as a human being which i feel is part of the legacy i have gotten from so many of the adult elders. elder may not be the best way to describe them. i am reminded by what author elizabeth roth wrote when speaking about the older generation. the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, suffering, struggles, loss, and have found their way out of the depths. these persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.

beautiful people do not just happen. she is right. beautiful people are created and blossom in the complexity of life and struggle. that is who our elders are. truly beautiful people who we are so grateful to have still fighting by our sides and being able to learn from their experience and lessons. thank you. >> hi, everybody. jarvis tyner, executive vice hair of the party. i hope you are feeling as uplifted as i am right now. ya'll look great, let me tell you. good afternoon.

i say we are going to have a great convention here. i have a very specific task for this evening. i am going to talk to you about extending a welcome to our international guests. coming from the most powerful and fearless nation in the world, our party has a long and courageous record of anti-imperialist solidarity. workers of the world and oppressed people of the world unite has been more than a great slogan for our party for 95 years. we have fought this fight all through those 95 years with all that we have to translate those powerful words into powerful movements of struggle. the founders of our party

lifted the banner of internationalism and solidarity with the first socialist nation developed in the land of linen. we carried it against spain, fascist berlin, tokyo, ome. the axis. the banner protested batista and it embraced cuban socialism. today it reads end the embargo and free the cuban five. our banner was lifted in solidarity with the courageous people of vietnam and their valiant struggle against u.s. imperialism. we are with the people of vietnam today and are hopeful that a peaceful solution will

be found to end the current most serious conflict with the people's republic of china that is going on. our banner of antiracism and internationalism was raised high in solidarity with south frica's fight for freedom. when we hailed the founding of the new antiracist democratic republic of south africa. we continue to raise the banner in solidarity with the new pro-socialist venezuela and all the new elected progressive governments in latin america. we stood with the people of iraq against u.s. invasion and occupation in their country. and their continued struggle for lasting peace and self-determination. the banner of the cpusa forever

will wave against u.s. imperialism and in solidarity with the oppressed and xploited in the world. it is against austerity which is being spread by the most powerful economic forces around the world. we are for labor and people fighting back all over the world. we stand with the people of iran against the threats of war coming mainly from our ultra-right but not only from them. also from the israeli ruling circles. we hold high our banner of anti-imperialism to stand with the people of central and south america their struggle for social justice and for economic and political independence. independence from u.s. corporate dominance. workers and oppressed people of

the world unite. in the ukraine, u.s. policy is to join with those who wave the lag of nazism, including the confederate flag was waved in kiev. these coup people who carry the confederate flag of slavery, they are supposed to be our allies in the ukraine? hell no. the world has not forgotten what nazism is. u.s. imperialism does not represent the interests of the american people -- we know that. their goal is not peace on earth, but how big a piece of this earth they can dominate and exploit.

it is the wasted treasure of our nation squandered on war that we cannot afford. it is the blood of our working and middle class young men and women, many of whom were coerced, bullied, and deceived into military service on behalf of u.s. corporate imperialist interests. that same interests that exploited our jobs in the first place. we have to die for their profits after they took our jobs. that, comrades, that problem is the greatest danger to our nation. peace is patriotic, therefore. that is why our party banner of solidarity must never be lowered until peace and justice prevails for all people. the fight for peace is where u.s. people's basic interests lie.

it is where we as a people make our greatest contribution to the future of humanity. we are in chicago and we know it was the international solidarity with the haymarket martyrs that established may day as a worldwide workers' holiday and helped win the eight-hour day. internationalism saved angela herndon, and so many who faced the gallows. the whole fight to bring down the system of u.s. slavery gained worldwide political muscle because of international solidarity. it was a wealthy english woman abolitionist who put up the oney to purchase the freedom

of frederick douglass who was a fugitive slave up until then. during the civil war, the great karl marx led the fight against the english dock workers who refused to unload ships made by slave labor. antiracism -- antiracist solidarity is basic to a orking-class solidarity. our party -- it's been a long time. our party will never forget what communist and workers parties did in the fight to save angela davis. long live international

long live international solidarity. workers and oppressed people of the world unite. our unity is our strength. comrades, many parties have sent in wonderful greetings to our convention. we are especially delighted to have our many international guests who have joined us. many traveling thousands of miles to be with us. a number of other parties were blocked by the state department. the cubans sent in their application. they didn't say no. they just hid the visa. nothing came out of it. why are they so scared? i thought we were irrelevant? what are they scared of? [applause]

our secretary of state -- come on. we have had conventions before. what is your problem, brother? i think it is part of their -- whatever. i don't know. [laughter] anyway, the south african delegate would be here. they always come but there was a problem of health. he could not make the trip. they send their best wishes. we say to those who are here -- welcome, comrades. we are honored by your presence. i want to ask each one to stand as i call your party's name. please try to hold your applause until our wonderful international comrades are all standing. fat chance, i know. first of all, from the communist party of brazil -- please stand. [applause]

remain standing because i want everybody to stand. the communist party of britain, please stand. [applause] that is all the applause you can do? come on. i'm teasing. the party of germany, please stand. [applause] the party of iran. [applause] the communist party of iraq is here. [applause] the communist party of japan is here. [applause] and, the communist party of vietnam. [applause] welcome. [applause] please, give them a rousing hand. [applause] you will get a chance to hear much and meet them. long live international solidarity. i am sorry i got emotional. thank you. [applause]

>> juan lopez, the organizer of the northern california district. [applause] >> thank you. it is a great privilege and pleasure to introduce our national chairman, sam webb. [applause]

sam has been a mentor and an inspiration to many of us, including myself. i am proud to say that sam and i at the ripe age of 69 share a common destiny. we are one year from entering the prime of our lives. [laughter] [applause] as young men, our baby boomer generation was shaped by the movement of the 1960's civil rights and anti-vietnam war era to which the party just emerging from the mccarthy period made important contributions. at the time, first as a college student and then a worker, sam served as leader of his party in his native maine with distinction. in the 1970's at the party's

urging, sam and his family moved to detroit when the automobile industry was still king. under his leadership, the party in michigan was able to contribute and reenergized the labor movement unleashing the process resulting in today's progressive trends. in the 1980's, out of the national party in new york, sam became secretary of the party's national labor commission. he went on to take national assignments becoming a very effective troubleshooter on major fronts of the party's work. after the soviet union and the socialist camp in eastern europe imploded, sam played a pivotal role in helping lead the party out of one of the most challenging periods bringing unity, stability, continuity, and renewal to the party. it was a united party that

enthusiastically elected him as national chairman in 2000. it is this continuity and renewal -- continuity and renewal that our national chairman has told us to pass through the eye of the needle resulting in sound policies and forward-looking trajectory that characterizes our party today. in today's world, when the contradictions have never been greater in our lifetimes between the 1% and the 99%, together sam leading with other highly capable comrades in the leadership's collective bodies. together, with comrades at all levels. together, with close coalition partners, we are molding a modern 21st century communist party. [applause] through the course of the next three days, we will have the opportunity to review our party's considerable accomplishments, both where we

excelled and where we fell short. with fresh minds together, this weekend we chart a course that will build on the great strides we have made since our last convention. sam has brought outstanding qualities worth of mentioning because of the impact they have on our party and through our party carry over into the mass arena. a deep understanding of the science and art we call marxism. marxism is not fixed in stone for all time. but one very much alive -- masterfully applied to concrete circumstances and evolving with ever-changing reality.

a keen appreciation for the sensibilities and aspirations of our nation's working class of people and members of our own party. a style of leadership utterly collective and viewed with disarming humility at the same time reality-based bold initiatives. leadership by example as well as persuasion. being aware that sam is not one for personal aggrandizement, nevertheless, i felt obliged to

bring these qualities out because they represent much of the best in our party's collective experience. so, it is with our minds set on continuity and renewal that we set out as we said leading to our national convention not to perform some radical makeovers, but rather to make adjustments, do some fine tuning, and discuss and agree on some exciting new initiatives. without further ado, i present to you my dear friend and comrade, sam webb. [applause] >> thank you, juan, for your overly generous introduction. i accept it in a collective spirit.

that is how we tried to function over the past 14 years and i think we did a pretty good job at it. i accept it in a collective spirit. it is great to see all of you here. a special thank you to the convention organizing committee who did work. john, judith, rosanna, joe, joel, elana, tony. let's have a hand. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. a special good afternoon to our international guests. thank you for coming so far to be with us. it seems like everybody is ready to go so i hope i can get this -- get us off and running well. every convention has its own particular mission. what is the mission of this 30th convention?

in addition to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, breaking bread together, and having a good time, our mission is to take a fresh and sober look at today's realities and challenges. this includes making adjustments in a strategic nature to new conditions. it entails taking better care of the future and the struggles of the present. over the next three days, we will turn our attention to those social movements which are critical to recasting our country's politics, economics, and popular thinking. while we will look ahead, we will keep in sight the immediate challenge of this fall's elections. we will give our attention to the building of a party for the 21st century. such a party should be modern, mature, militant, and mass.

in my world, a 4m party. we must utilize our collective far more effectively than it has done up until now. i am going to turn my attention to the main challenges that the leadership of the party would like you to discuss and decide over the next three days. i will present them one by one for the purposes of clarity. real-life intermingles with the other in countless ways. challenge one, people surge. it seems like somebody new is raising hell everyday. rattling the cages of the powers that be. one day it is the dreamers and the next day it is moms of walmart and fast food workers. then, the moral monday movement the day after that.

then, there are seemingly endless actions to increase the minimum wage. there are initiatives to stop deportations and the militarization of the border. we have to add the mobilizations against voter suppression and ongoing campaigns to register to vote. nor can we forget the struggles to stop mass incarceration and overhaul a system that is driven by racial and class bias. of great significance are the efforts to protect a woman's health and abortion clinics which are under fierce attack. there are the inspiring student campaigns against global energy corporations, student debt, and the keystone pipeline. we should not forget the flood of phone calls that nearly overwhelm the congress. switchboards to attest that look like imminent u.s. military action in syria.

also of great significance was the transformative aaflcio convention last fall. another impressive example of this surge was the landslide win of bill de blasio of mayor of new york, who was a self-described progressive. a few weeks ago across the mighty hudson, ras baraka, in another impressive victory was elected newark's mayor. [applause] finally, an aspect of this surge that is so inspiring it brings tears to my eyes has been the passage of marriage equality legislation in state after state. [applause]

these victories have become so common that it is easy to lose sight of the enormous change that this represents and thanks goes to the courage and tenacity of the lbgt movement. from this podium, i will tip our banner to the late harry hay as well to the pioneering stonewall generation which includes gary donovan and eric gordon. eric is with us. stand up. [applause]

the stonewall generation came out when it was very difficult to do so. they battled and lost loved ones to the aids epidemic. they never give an inch to ignorance and hate. if i could sum up the surge in a few words, i might say that things are breaking good, not breaking bad. i will be the first to say the surge of struggle doesn't have to resolve capitalism in a consistently working class manner, but does it have transformative potential? yes. i believe it contains the seeds that could, if properly cared for, sprout and bring a new burst of economic freedom and peace to our land. the devil's advocate would quickly remind me of the barriers that make any kind of progress, let alone social transformation, unlikely. you know what? the obstacles are formidable. the task is daunting. we should lower our sights or lose those precious gifts called hope and desire or give up on the american people. the present surge is real and

could evolve into the interests of the immense majority. it reaches into small towns and suburbs as well as cities. into san francisco. into the south and north. into the heartland as well as the coasts. into red states as well as blue states. to put it differently, only a movement as one progressive analyst wrote which includes the desperately poor and the insecure middle class has any chance of success. that is not exactly a marxist formulation, but framing it like that encourages big universe thinking and expansive tactics both of which is something lacking in the left and in the

party at times. which brings me to challenge two -- an economy that works for working people. the 99% are not faring too well. are you? economic recovery is anemic and things do not look good going forward. the phrase economic stagnation has reentered the conversation after a long absence. the nobel prize-winning economist of the new york times wrote a while back -- "what if the world we have been living in for the past five years is the new normal? what if depression-like conditions are on track to persist, not for one year or two years, but for decades?" wow. that is big stuff. present-day capitalism while being governed by the same

underlying laws bears little resemblance to u.s. capitalism in the years stretching from the end of world war ii to the mid-1970's. during that era between 1945 and 1975, sometimes called capitalism's golden age, the economy grew steadily and dynamically. but this changed in the mid-1970's when the conditions of sustained capitalism with a near continuous expansion over a 25-year period largely disappeared and gave way to stagflation. high inflation, slow growth, and a sharp fall in profitablility. i am happy with this turn of events and especially the decline in profits. the money bags and the corporate sweeps did two things. first, they declared war on labor. in this class, it goes on unabated. they loosened a good chunk of their money in the sphere of material production and said to it -- you are free. go wherever you want.

multiply many times over and make me rich. which is exactly what their profit-seeking money did. it settled everywhere, established connections everywhere. the main place it flowed was into financial markets and channels. the flow was so massive it became the main factor in shaping the interrelations and evolutions of the national and global economy. we know only too well this enormous flow of overwhelmingly speculative, parasitic, nonproductive money to the financial sphere while pumping life into an underperforming economy was anything but a mixed blessing. sure, a few people on wall street or connected with wall

street got rich, rotten rich. they lived in unconscionable luxury and accumulated enormous power. most of us got spanked and spanked hard. we lost jobs and homes. piled up debt so we could get by. it did nothing but worry about the future for our families and communities. when the financial feeding frenzy finally unraveled and the whole economy came down in 2008, damn it if we did get spanked again. to think not even one of these thieves of high finance spent a day in jail. five years later, things are no better for us. with all of the income gains during this time have gone to the 1%. the prognosis for the economy is

more of the same -- slow growth, stagnation, and mounting contradictions. the force of the stagnation pressures to the vast changes that have occurred in the global economy since 1980. on the one hand at the apex of the economy, huge multinational corporation and banks. on the other hand, marxist reserve army of the unemployed, underemployed, and formerly employed has doubled in size during that time. the scale of this absorption of wage exportation has radically we leveraged the relative positions of capital and labor in favor of the capitalist class. this disparity of wealth and power at the core of the economy constitutes a new and powerful source of downward pressure on u.s. in global economy. this turn of events and

reconstitution of capitalism could not have happened without a major assist from the government and political class. a crucial importance was the election of ronald reagan in 1980 and the ascendancy of the right wing that followed. to be fair, the democrats, especially the clinton administration, were not bystanders. they had the chance to change the economy to the advantage of the 1%. the question before the house is how do we get out of this mess? here are my two cents. what is needed is nothing less than the restructuring of the economy and the consistently and deeply anticorporate and eventually socialist direction. first -- [applause] first, the conversion of a fossil fuel based on and

developing renewable energy sources. second, major infrastructure construction and renewal. third, you will like this, a guaranteed livable income for all and the reduction of the work week with no cut in pay. [applause] fourth, major expansion of every aspect of the public sector to education, housing, retirement security, health care, elder care, and so forth. [applause] fifth, strengthening our workers rights and people's rights generally.

sixth, turn too-big-to-fail banks into public utilities. [applause] seventh, measures that overcome long-standing inequality for hard-hit communities. [applause] finally, control on capital stability to abandon communities and move around the world. such reforms will be met with a refrain, there is no money. perhaps the biggest of all lies in the past few decades, trillions of dollars in unearned wealth has been amassed by the 1%. this should be transferred into public hands, our hands. [applause] another -- another huge source of funds is the reordering of government priorities away from military spending. finally, passing of the financial transaction should get our radical economic programs

off and running. [applause] let me add this. the purpose of such a reform program is not to level the playing field or to ensure that everyone who plays by the rules and works hard and gets a fair shot at the american dream. to the contrary. the purpose is to decisively change and tilt the playing field in favor of the underpaid, the underemployed, the unemployed, the discriminated against, the struggling family, the indebted student, the underwater homeowner, the bankrupt city, the underfunded schools, every victim of capitalism. [applause] where do we begin? my answer is that we begin where

we are. that is with the existing movement and struggles. there are so many. starting with the growing movements against economic inequality, the low-wage economy, and right-wing extremism. one day the aflco president spoke about the growth of inequality. the next day, president obama made a speech on the same subject. the books of thomas picketty and elizabeth warren both on the subject of glaring and unjustified inequality are on the "new york times" bestsellers list. a progressive bloc in congress stands firm behind economic justice. the minimum wage movement is really picking up. the latest victory was the seattle city council that lifted the minimum wage to $15 an hour. [applause]

meanwhile, around the world, powerful movements. in some cases, even governments are demanding economic justice. before we move on, as a former altar boy, i got to bring the pope into the conversation. who said, i have to quote--- "while the earnings of the minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. imbalance is the result of ideologies to defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. a new tyranny is thus born. invisible and often virtual. a new tyranny that readily imposes its own laws and rules.

the thirst for power and possibilities knows no limits in this system which tends to devow -- devour everything that stands in the way of increased profits. whatever is fragile like the environment is defenseless before the interest of the market which becomes the only rule." powerful stuff. [applause] like lebron james, the pope's got game. one of the most compelling struggles against economic inequality, maybe the most compelling, is the low-wage worker organizing campaign. who are these workers? they are us. they are young as well as old, black and brown as well as white, women and men, immigrants as well as nativeborn.

suburban and rural as well as urban. i am sure gay and straight. they come from red states as well as blue states. in their corner are important sections of the u.s. labor movement. we and many others are supporters of the struggle. at this convention, we should agree to up the ante. i say let us decide here right now at this 30th convention of the communist party to make the struggle a strategic focus. can we agree to that? [applause] i thought you would agree.