Re: [Marxism] Syria, the YPG/SDF, and the concept of solidarity

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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Michael Karadjis says:

"So, in this context, I am asking for statements from the SDF, PYD etc of
solidarity with *the people* being massacred, as literally dozens of
hospitals and schools are being hit, by a global imperialist power
intervening in the affairs of an oppressed country

"So what excuse does it have for
not criticising Assad?"

I think the reason is that the SDF, facing the threat of a Turkish invasion of 
north-eastern Syria, does not want to antagonise Assad, possibly resulting in 
the need to fight on two fronts at the same time.

The SDF has a fragile agreement with the Assad regime to cooperate in deterring 
the further expansion of the Turkish-occupied area.  There is a small 
contingent of Assadist troops west of Manbij to deter an attempted invasion of 
that city.

I think the reason Assad agreed to this is that he is worried that the Turkish 
occupation of a large part of northern Syria may become permanent, like the 
Israeli occupation of  the Golan heights.

Of course Assad wants to regain control of northeastern Syria, so this 
agreement is very unstable.

Michael says:

"The political quality of leadership of the revolution in Syria has never
been a factor cited as a reason to support the people’s uprising. That’s a
pity, and part of the reason for their defeat, but that’s reality emerging
from decades of totalitarian rule. Hell, we supported the “Iranian
revolution” in 1978-79, in a case where the equivalent of Jabhat al-Nusra
(ie, the Khomeini forces) was the central, undisguised, unrivalled
leadership; predictably the result was disastrous, but I’ve never heard
anyone go all Spart on the actual overthrow of the Shah; and in contrast to
that situation, leadership in Syria was always much more contested; and the
Khomeini equivalent, Nusra,. Was never more than 10-15% of the armed
rebellion (but a bigger proportion now in Idlib)."

Jabhat al-Nusra was not the only "Khomeini equivalent".  There were other 
Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.

Such groups were backed by Turkey, the most powerful state in the Middle East 
apart from Israel.  This made them a powerful force, creating a danger that the 
Assad regime would be replaced by another dictatorship.

Chris Slee





From: Marxism  on behalf of mkaradjis . 
via Marxism 
Sent: Friday, 12 July 2019 3:18 PM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: [Marxism] Syria, the YPG/SDF, and the concept of solidarity

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I've given this its own thread because it was a bit off-topic where it was.

When Chris explained, not wrongly, that liberation movements sometimes have
to make deals with the devil for the purposes of survival, referring to the
SDF's alliance with US imperialism in Syria, I noted that while this is
true, it is even more important to build alliances with other people
struggling. Therefore, I asked if there had been any statement from the
PYD/YPG/SDF condemning the current Idlib-Hama massacre. Chris responded:


“I am not aware of any such statements. I am also not aware of any
statements by rebel groups in Idlib and Hama denouncing the Turkish
invasion and occupation of Afrin.  If such statements exist I would like to
see them.”



The context here is that the people of Idlib and Hama are being mass
murdered for months on end now, in a truly frightening round of barbarism,
while the world ignores it (if I go all conspiracist I might even suggest
that the theatrics in the Gulf which, as I predicted, have not led to a
shot being fired, are designed as a good cover for Putin and Assad
“finishing the job”, while the US has now even joined in
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/us-targets-al-qaida-militants-northern-syria,
following the US-Russia-Israel summit in Jerusalem
https://www.albawaba.com/news/us-takes-calm-steps-contain-iran%E2%80%99s-presence-syria-1296303?fbclid=IwAR3HuUouso4Bvj9EnE83o00ZLQ9aISmH176vklF6RdqNgcNVQ7xMYvis-MQ,
but anyway …).



So, in this context, I am asking for statements from the SDF, PYD etc of
solidarity with *the people* being massacred, as literally dozens of
hospitals and schools are being hit, by a global imperialist power
intervening in the affairs of an oppressed country. I’m not expecting them
to express solidarity with the rebel groups defending the region, or their
politics. But

[Marxism] Syria, the YPG/SDF, and the concept of solidarity

[mkaradjis . via Marxism]

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I've given this its own thread because it was a bit off-topic where it was.

When Chris explained, not wrongly, that liberation movements sometimes have
to make deals with the devil for the purposes of survival, referring to the
SDF's alliance with US imperialism in Syria, I noted that while this is
true, it is even more important to build alliances with other people
struggling. Therefore, I asked if there had been any statement from the
PYD/YPG/SDF condemning the current Idlib-Hama massacre. Chris responded:


“I am not aware of any such statements. I am also not aware of any
statements by rebel groups in Idlib and Hama denouncing the Turkish
invasion and occupation of Afrin.  If such statements exist I would like to
see them.”



The context here is that the people of Idlib and Hama are being mass
murdered for months on end now, in a truly frightening round of barbarism,
while the world ignores it (if I go all conspiracist I might even suggest
that the theatrics in the Gulf which, as I predicted, have not led to a
shot being fired, are designed as a good cover for Putin and Assad
“finishing the job”, while the US has now even joined in
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/us-targets-al-qaida-militants-northern-syria,
following the US-Russia-Israel summit in Jerusalem
https://www.albawaba.com/news/us-takes-calm-steps-contain-iran%E2%80%99s-presence-syria-1296303?fbclid=IwAR3HuUouso4Bvj9EnE83o00ZLQ9aISmH176vklF6RdqNgcNVQ7xMYvis-MQ,
but anyway …).



So, in this context, I am asking for statements from the SDF, PYD etc of
solidarity with *the people* being massacred, as literally dozens of
hospitals and schools are being hit, by a global imperialist power
intervening in the affairs of an oppressed country. I’m not expecting them
to express solidarity with the rebel groups defending the region, or their
politics. But never mind, I realise that’s asking a bit much.



Of course, the vast majority of those around the world who have supported
the Syrian revolution over these years condemned the invasion of Afrin and
the participation in it by some of the rebel groups there. You’re right,
other rebel leaderships not taking direct part did not condemn it.



The political quality of leadership of the revolution in Syria has never
been a factor cited as a reason to support the people’s uprising. That’s a
pity, and part of the reason for their defeat, but that’s reality emerging
from decades of totalitarian rule. Hell, we supported the “Iranian
revolution” in 1978-79, in a case where the equivalent of Jabhat al-Nusra
(ie, the Khomeini forces) was the central, undisguised, unrivalled
leadership; predictably the result was disastrous, but I’ve never heard
anyone go all Spart on the actual overthrow of the Shah; and in contrast to
that situation, leadership in Syria was always much more contested; and the
Khomeini equivalent, Nusra,. Was never more than 10-15% of the armed
rebellion (but a bigger proportion now in Idlib).



Meanwhile, if the SDF can justify years of collaboration with US
imperialism in 5 years of bombing Syria, even levelling entire cities and
killing thousands of civilians, on the basis of the SDF being under siege
by ISIS or by Turkey, then surely those who are *actually* under armed and
bloody, near genocidal, siege for years might have the same rationale, no?
And given that it is only Turkey which, for its own reasons (it doesn’t
want 100s of 1000s more refugees pouring in), that is giving some active
assistance to the cornered Idlib-Hama rebels, it seems all the more reason
for them not to be criticising Turkey at this point. I’m not justifying,
just noting the situation.



By contrast, the SDF in (allegedly) the same circumstances (well, nothing
like the same, but anyway …) would perhaps be justified going quiet on
criticising its protector, US imperialism. So what excuse does it have for
not criticising Assad?


Seems to me the difference is that those who chose to narrowly support only
Rojava rather than the rest of the uprising do so on the basis of the
quality of the political leadership, seeing it as socialist, feminist,
left-wing, revolutionary etc. That is quite different to the reasons we
support the Syrian uprising more generally.


And it is in that spirit that I ask the question. Saying “neither do the
others say the right thing” is therefore irrelevant. If the PYD/SDF is
unable to issue a sim-ple statement condemning this bloody massacre
occurring under their noses, then all the chatter about “Rojava
revolutionaries” being somewhat exceptional are just bunk. There’s this
thing important to revolutionary politics called *solidarity*. But this
word does not exist in the