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Support the struggle of the Syrian people to overthrow the Assad dictatorship! (from Detroit Workers' Voice #121, Sept. 5, 2016, distribution beginnng at the Labor Day march in Detroit) The Syrian uprising against the dictator Bashar al-Assad has lasted more than five years. The people have had enough of dictatorship after living through half a century of the rule of the Ba'ath party and its state of emergency. Peaceful demonstrations against the rule of Bashar al-Assad began in February 2011; this was part of the Arab Spring. But the regime replied by shooting down demonstrators and imprisoning and torturing opponents. The result was a mass rebellion that swept across the country. Local Coordination Committees were formed in one town after another; thousands of soldiers deserted from the official Syrian army to form the Free Syrian Army; militias also formed to fight against the regime. Thus the Civil War began. It has lasted year after year, while the regime dropped thousands of barrel bombs on civilians, devastated town and after town, systematically bombed hospitals and killed medical personnel, and gave the people the ultimatum to "starve or kneel". The civil war would have been over long ago, and Assad would have fallen from power, but one outside power after another has intervened. Some want to prop up the Assad regime at all costs; others wouldn't mind seeing Assad fall, but want the outside powers, not the Syrian people, to determine the nature of the next government. The theocratic regime of Iran has financed Assad's war and sent troops to kill the rebels. Russia provided Assad with heavy weapons to be used against cities, sent military advisors, and then began massive bombing last year. The murderous fundamentalists of ISIS have sought to carve out territory in Syria and establish their own hell on earth. The US government blocked the rebels from getting the weapons needed to fight the regime's tanks and aircraft. And so on. But with incredible heroism, the Syrian people have persisted in struggle despite suffering immense casualties. Over 400,000 people, almost 2% of the pre-war population, have been killed. Many more have been wounded or imprisoned. Half the population has had to leave their homes, either being displaced in Syria or becoming refugees abroad. And yet the struggle continues. The crisis of the American left --------------------------------------- Workers around the world naturally sympathize with struggles for democracy. So their impulse was to welcome the uprising against the brutal Ba'ath regime. But they have been held back by the fact that many left-wing organizations have opposed the struggle against Assad. The support for the dictator Assad by such groups as the Workers World Party or the United National Anti-war Coalition shows that something is really, really wrong with these groups. The left-wing is supposed to support democratic rghts, not oppose them. Yet these groups find excuses for Assad or even organize trips to visit Assad. In the name of opposing war, these groups give aid and comfort to one of the worst wars of the present-day: the Syrian government's war on its own people. In the name of opposing intervention, these groups approve those interventions that benefit the Assad regime. According to the supporters of Assad, the Syrian uprising is a U.S.-organized plot for "regime change". But they cannot explain why in two years of U.S. bombing in Syria, the U.S. and allies have only targeted ISIS, and never the regime and its foreign props. They can't explain why the U.S. "boots on the ground" in Syria are not there to help the rebels overthrow the Assadist dictatorship, but only to assist some groups in the fight against ISIS. They can't explain why the U.S. has made Syrians sign contracts saying they would NOT fight Assad, only ISIS, before providing any assistance. And these fraudulent anti-imperialists cannot explain why the U.S. and Russia coordinate their imperialist air wars, with the U.S. mostly bombing ISIS, and with Russia bombing the hell out of the rebel-controlled areas, and neither side interfering with Assad. Support the Syrian people! --------------------------------------- Let's oppose the lies of the apologists for Assad. Let's listen to the voices of the Syrian democrats who have suffered incredible hardship. Accounts by them, such as the book _Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War_ by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami, tell the story of the uprising against Assad. Let's understand how to really oppose imperialism in the Middle East. See articles on the nature of imperialism and the democratic struggle at http://www dot communistvoice dot org/00ArabSpring dot html and http://www dot communistvoice dot org/00Stages dot html. Let's help improve the left-wing movement in the US by supporting the Syrian struggle. If we really want to fight US imperialism, we need to have solidarity with peoples who are rising in struggle. Our allies are the working people who are fighting against dictators, not organizations who back dictators like Assad. The struggle against Assad is only one step in the struggle for freedom and a decent life. The fall of his regime won't bring utopia, but it will pave the way for class struggle in Syria and it will encourage people throughout the Middle East, and the world. It will pave the way for the peoples of Syria and elsewhere to take their fate into their own hands, rather than seeing their countries ruled by the small cliques of crony capitalists who benefit from dictatorship. Support the Syrian people against the Assad regime, ISIS, Russian and Iranian imperialist attacks, and U.S. imperialist manipulation! Let the Syrian people, and not a conference of outside powers, determine the Syrian government! <> ================================================ To subscribe to the Detroit Workers' Voice list or send in comments, write to m...@communistvoice.org. For more information about the DWV list, see http://www.communistvoice.org/DWV_email_list.html. ================================================= _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
