******************** 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. *****************************************************************
Below are excerpts from an important statement from Syria Solidarity International. The full text is at https://www.facebook.com/AssadOut/posts/709302565896741 "Answer" Trump's Racism & Islamophobia: Build Solidarity with the Syrian Democratic Revolution! Democracy is the Alternative to the Phony War on Terror, Sectarian Violence and Dictatorships! The handover of power in Washington DC this week will inaugurate a deeply unpopular president-elect Trump into the White House, and a new era of unprecedented threats to hard-won civil liberties and basic democratic rights across the country. ... This new era also poses grave challenges for supporters of peace and justice internationally. ... .................................................................... We cannot oppose the War on Terror while being silent about Putin´s methods of genocide in Ichkeria, Russian occupied Chechnya, and Putin´s intervention to defend the 46-year Assad dictatorship in Syria against the popular uprising for freedom and democracy, which began in 2011 as part of the immensely hopeful Arab Spring. ... ....................................................................... We can only stop fascism at home by standing against fascism everywhere! We can only fight for democracy at home by fighting for democracy everywhere! There is a great deal we can do if we stand together to stop Trump´s agenda. But we can only do this from a position of principled solidarity with the democratic struggles of the Arab people - and in particular, the Syrian Democratic Revolution! Sadly, the antiwar coalitions we build together in struggle against the Bush-era wars have been coopted by leaderships who seek to substitute isolationism --Trump´s program!--for international solidarity with democratic struggles and principled opposition to attacks on civilians. Leaderships such as UNAC and ANSWER do not understand that peace,justice, and democracy are international principles, that these principles should never be surrendered! The leaderships of the ANSWER Coalition, UNAC and other remnants of the broad Anti-War Movement built in opposition to Bush and Clinton´s criminal war against the Iraqi people, propose to ANSWER US wars abroad and repression at home by supporting Russian imperialism and Assad´s repression! These organisations have stood resolutely in defence of the Assad dictatorship, and support the intervention in Syria by Russia, Iran and its proxy militias, including Hezbollah. To oppose US imperialism, ANSWER and the like support sectarian genocide and the disintegration of Syria! Ironically, by apologizing for the regime´s crimes against humanity, ANSWER and the like have resorted to the same arguments used by Israel to justify its terrorist attacks on civilians in Gaza or by previous administrations to dismiss civilian casualties as "collateral damage". Worse still, by repeating Assad´s lies that all who oppose him are terrorists, ANSWER and company have adopted Orientalist and Islamophobic rhetoric. Even as they exclude Syrians from speaking about their revolutionary experience and Assad´s repression, ANSWER and their followers propose themselves to lead the fight against racism, sexism, Islamophobia and xenophobia! Hypocrisy! It is high time to Listen to Syrians! To stop Trump and his ilk leading us into the abyss of fascism, we must cut off the tree at its root! The root from which this right-wing shift in the world has grown includes the isolation of the Syrian democratic revolution - an unacceptable injustice vigorously promoted by the very forces who today pretend to lead our resistance! Leaving the Syrian revolution behind cannot be the way forward! How can we fight racism in the US while asserting Arabs must choose between dictators or jihadists? Who is ANSWER to choose for them! Orientalist and Islamophobic garbage! Chauvinism! The same kind of vicious logic was once used in an attempt to discipline African Americans and postpone their struggle for civil liberties until after defeating fascism in WWII. ......................................................................... The real "ANSWER" is that we cannot! Our failure as the broad progressive forces of the US to defend our Syrian sisters and brothers these past six years has contributed greatly to the crisis we face here today. ... The Syrian revolutionaries have shown international solidarity in their own struggle. Even as they struggle against the Assad regime, Syrians have built solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. As their own struggle has grown into the current revolutionary struggle for democracy, they have publicly expressed solidarity with other democratic struggles. The banners and signs raised in Kafranbel and other liberated areas have specifically expressed support for Black Lives Matter, the #NoDAPL struggle against the invasion of and environmental threats to Native American lands, and for the rights of refugees and immigrants, Syrians stand together with all refugees and immigrants, in the US and beyond, seeking safe harbor and a place to rebuild their lives. WE CALL ON ALL PROTESTERS DEMANDING PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE US TO STAND TOGETHER WITH SYRIANS DEMANDING THE SAME IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY! .................................................................. Issued on 20 January, 2017 by: Syria Solidarity International - A coalition of Syria solidarity activists and organisations working to build a united international solidarity movement with the Syrian democratic revolution. <> _________________________________________________________ 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
