******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
>It is a shame that those without such connections will likely never be able to afford books that are essential in developing a class rather than a geopolitical understanding of what took place in Syria. FYI both books are available for free on LibGen.is Amith R. Gupta On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 11:10 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > Ever since the civil war began in Syria in early 2011, the left has > largely ignored the social and economic circumstances that led to a > conflict costing over a half-million deaths and the migration—internal > and external—of half the population. The tendency was to see Syria as a > piece on a global chessboard with “the axis of resistance” fending off > attacks from the West. There was lip-service to the idea that Syrians > had legitimate grievances against the government early on, but by the > end of 2011, the “anti-imperialist” consensus was that the rebels were > jihadists interested more in fighting unbelievers than inequality. > > To my knowledge, the first attempt at an analysis of the internal class > contradictions appeared in 2015. Long-time Syria scholar Raymond > Hinnebusch and Tina Zintl edited a collection titled “Syria from Reform > to Revolt: Volume 1: Political Economy and International Relations”. (A > second volume never appeared.) I found this book invaluable in writing > an article titled “The Economic Roots of the Syrian Revolution”. My goal > was to demonstrate that a rural agrarian crisis provided the fuel for an > uprising. An article by Myrian Ababsa provided statistics that revealed > the depths of misery that led to the revolt. In 2009, 42 percent of > Raqqa governorate suffered from anemia owing to a shortage of dairy > products, vegetables, and fruit. Malnutrition among pregnant women and > children under five doubled between 2007 and 2009. That was the cause of > the conflict, not Saudi desire to impose shariah law on the country. > > full: > > https://louisproyect.org/2020/05/15/syria-from-national-independence-to-proxy-war/ > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
