Deadlock in Syria<http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/deadlock-in-syria.html> "Syrias opposition or parts of it are incapable of offering any serious guarantees for the future. Some of their earlier supporters have even turned away from the opposition. The Kurds, who were among the first to protest (to get national identity cards, which they had been denied), are now keeping their distance, shocked by the refusal of the Syrian National Council (SNC) to recognise their rights (4<http://mondediplo.com/2012/04/03syria#nb4>). The government has re-launched the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which it had already used in its military confrontations with Turkey in the 1990s and which remains popular among Syrias Kurds.
*There is a new split at the heart of the SNC, led by people such as Haytham al-Maleh and Kamal al-Labwani, former political prisoners who reject the SNCs foreign alignment. Ammar Qurabi, the former head of Syrias National Organisation for Human Rights and leader of the National Current for Change, has accused the SNC of marginalising Alawite and Turkmen activists (**5* <http://mondediplo.com/2012/04/03syria#nb5>*). Syrian Christians, who have watched many Christians flee Iraq, are worried by the rise of the jihadists and the anti-Christian and anti-Alawite slogans chanted by protestors. * ** *The SNC has many opponents, including the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, which rejects foreign military intervention. It has gone through a series of internal splits, and is now dominated by the Islamists, though it is fronted by a few liberal figures*. Its dependence on western countries and Gulf monarchies has gone down badly. *The result is total deadlock. The opposition cannot bring down the government, and the government cannot put down an uprising that has a surprising determination and courage. It would be impossible to return to the status quo ante: the government could never maintain the control it used to have over a nation that has been politicised over the last few months. The governments reforms (a new constitution, successive amnesties) are meaningless since the secret services and the army have a free hand to bomb, torture and kill opponents. There is a real risk of civil war, which could spill into Lebanon and Iraq. Foreign military intervention would intensify sectarian fighting and make the gun the only arbiter of religious divisions. It could destroy hopes of democracy in the **region.*<http://mondediplo.com/2012/04/03syria> *"* (thanks Bassam) Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil ---------------------------------------- *We, the Tarabut-Hithabrut movement <**http://www.tarabut.info/en/home*<http://www.tarabut.info/en/home> *>, support unequivocally the Syrian people in their struggle for their liberty and their rights...<** http://bandannie.com/2012/04/02/supporting-the-syrian-people-fighting-for-their-freedom-a-response-to-widespread-objections *<http://bandannie.com/2012/04/02/supporting-the-syrian-people-fighting-for-their-freedom-a-response-to-widespread-objections> *>* -------------------------------------------- ***Syrian activists targeted with Facebook phishing attack*<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/pro-syrian-government-hackers-target-syrian-activists-facebook-phishing-attack> * the Electronic Frontier Foundation documents the latest phishing attacks on Syrian activists* ***The Syrian school boys who sparked a revolution*<http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/the-syrian-schoolboys-who-sparked-a-revolution> * Amal Hanano writing in the The National about the beginnings of the uprising in Deraa * *Hezbollahs subtle shift on Syria*<http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/30/hezbollahs_subtle_shift_on_syria> * Nicholas Noe reflects on Nasrallahs indirect condemnation of the Syrian regime.* *Tales from Cafe Tahrir: Syrias Greater Revolution*<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/2012325102234283361.html> * Five Syrians exiled in Cairo discuss their experiences with the Syrian regime in the years under Hafez and Bashar.* *Syrian rebels form local command structure*<http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-rebels-form-local-command-structure> * Latest attempts by the FSA to organize the armed opposition into a cohesive group.* *------------------------------------------------------------* dedacted from http://www.marxist.com/world-perspectives-2012-draft-5.htm Syria As in Libya, the effects of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were felt in Syria, with similar results. The masses believed that to overthrow the regime all that was needed was to organise mass rally after mass rally. But the situation has proven to be more complicated than that. The regime clearly had some remnants of support among at least a section of the population. This together with the lack of a clear revolutionary leadership, and crucially without the working class coming out decisively, is what led to the stalemate for months. [image: July 22. Photo: Syriana2011]<http://www.marxist.com/images/stories/syria/jul_22-syriana2011.jpg>July 22, Hama. Photo: Syriana2011 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/syriana2011/>The Syrian Baath regime in the past was based on a planned economy modelled on that of the former Soviet Union, which allowed for significant economic development in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, however, the economy began to slow down. After the collapse of the USSR the regime began to move towards capitalism. As a consequence of this transition, greater and greater social polarisation emerged with a minority elite enriching itself at one end of the social spectrum and growing poverty at the other end. Unemployment shot up and some estimates indicate that it stands above 20 percent; for the youth this figure would be far higher. It is this growing social polarisation that is at the root of the revolution in Syria. The Syrian regime is now more hated than ever by the masses, but as in Libya, the imperialists have seen an opportunity to intervene and attempt to impose their own stooges on the Syrian revolution and divert it along safe channels. Splits have emerged within the armed forces, with many officers declaring themselves the Free Syrian Army. This indicates that many rank and file soldiers are in sympathy with the revolution and a section of the army elite seeing the writing on the wall, in an attempt to gain credence among the masses, have jumped ship before it sinks completely. These officers have called for a no-fly zone to be imposed by the imperialists, which indicates they will play a counter-revolutionary role within the revolution. What is lacking in Syria is a clear Marxist leadership that can explain to the masses that the regime must indeed and can be brought down, but that in its place, what is required is a planned economy under the direct control of the workers. Without such a leadership the revolution is being pushed in the direction of a democratic bourgeois counter-revolution. This will not solve any of the burning problems of the masses. In fact, social inequalities will increase further and at an even faster pace than before. Over time, the masses will learn that it is not enough to merely overthrow a dictator like Assad. They will learn that on a capitalist basis, none of their problems will be solved. The imperialists are seriously concerned at developments in the Arab world, which occupies a central place in their geopolitical calculations. also a very important read: In Defence of the Syrian Revolution: The Marxist position on the revolution and Assads so-called anti-imperialism Part Two<http://www.marxist.com/in-defence-of-the-syrian-revolution-the-marxist-perspective-2.htm> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
