Fri Mar 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

In spite of the repression, the heroic struggle of the Syrian people accrues

Full support for the struggle of the Syrian people

For the fall of the murderous Assad regime!

The Arab world is on fire. Revolution and counterrevolution are waging a mortal combat in the midst of blood, powder, barricades, fists raised and cries of freedom.

The great victory of the Libyan people who got armed and is annihilating the Gadafi regime with direct action is here to boost the whole revolutionary ascent inflaming Middle East and North of Africa with extraordinary power. In spite of the tremendous perils that the imperialist invasion via NATO-UN and the bourgeois and the imperialism-loving character of the National Transitory Council (CNT) imply for the revolution, this democratic achievement of the Libyan people opens new space to deepen the “Arab spring” for it tips the scales of the strength co-relation more in favour of the masses.

In the midst of all this revolutionary gale, the dramatic case of Syria acquires renewed importance. The genocide Bashar-el-Assad, current president and member of some kind of dynasty ruling the country for the past 41 years, continues repressing ruthlessly the heroic Syrian people who, since February this year, have been the protagonists of massive and radicalised demonstrations against the regime.

The background for all the mobilisations of the Syrian is the same as the one that exists in the rest of the region. The explosive cocktail consists of – on the one hand – the legitimate democratic aspirations of the masses and – on the other hand, the terrible effects that the current economic crisis produces on the economy of a country where 50% of the wealth is in the possession of 5% of the Syrian population, specifically of the sectors most linked to the Assad family and those closest to the State leadership.

The massacre of Latakia…

Last 15th August, the Assad dictatorship opened fire on Latakia, one of the centres of the resistance and popular mobilisation, shooting from warships and tanks. The military operation took place in the middle of a demonstration of over 20 000 people who demanded Assad’s resignation.

During this raid on civil population, about 35 people – among them a two-year old girl – were killed. Further thousands were arrested and driven to a football pitch where, like in Pinochet’s bloodthirsty dictatorship in Chile, they were left without food or water. This repression has been so bloodthirsty due to the power of the revolution. According to the Syrian Observer of Human Rights, since the beginning of the revolutionary process over 2000 people were killed during protests. But far from being daunted, the masses got more infuriated.

… and the attack on a Palestinian refugee camp

Apart from that, during the military siege of Latakia troops responding to the government attacked a Palestinian refugee camp in the area of Al Raml, killing four and wounding further twenty according to a report by the oppositionist Committee of Local Coordination.

This caused the desperate flight of between 5 and 10 thousand Palestinians residents in the camp. They are now completely at a loose end according to the UN. A Syrian activist described the situation saying, “At night, armed men from the army of from El Shabiha (bullies under president’s orders) wander across the city in their vans and they shoot at the doorways of the buildings so as to prevent people from getting out to join demonstrations” (El País 15/8/11)

The attack on this Palestinian camp of refugees once more belies the falsehood of those who claim that Assad acts in solidarity with the Palestinian cause or that he defends a “Pan-Arab cause and “anti-Zionist”. The facts prove that, in spite of his sham discourse and his relation with the Palestinian organisation Hamas, the Assad regime abandoned the struggle against the nazi-Zionist state of Israel so far that at present the Israeli government regards its frontier with Syria as one of the most peaceful places. All that in spite of the fact that Israel is still usurping a part of Syrian territory known as the Golan Heights!

Even if at the beginning, pressed by the protests, the Assad regime made some vague promises to make headway in democratic reforms within the regime, the recent events revealed his falsehood. Now he has even declared overtly that there would be “no reforms in the middle of sabotage and chaos” and he called demonstrators as “germs” that “must be exterminated” as soon as possible due to “the speed with which they are reproduced. (El País 17/08/2011). More recently he stated that protests and deaths “do not worry him” and that “the thought of resigning had never crossed his mind”.

The fact is that faced with the just appraisals in quest of democratisation, the dictator responded in a bloodthirsty and criminal manner, turning Syria into one of the countries with the greatest toll of deaths since the beginning of the Arab revolutionary process as a whole.

Chavez and Castro support Assad the murderer

It is a known fact, that ever since the beginning of the struggles of the Syrian toiling masses both, Hugo So far, they maintain the same position with respect to the practically deposed dictator Gadafi. Not even the horrendous massacres boosted by the regime made the Venezuelan leader change his mind and amazingly enough he calls Assad “humanist” and “brother”.

Recently Chavez declared, “Our greetings for President Assad. They are infiltrating into Syria and, well, producing violence and deaths and once more the president is to blame and nobody investigates anything.” Take not, that as far as Chavez is concerned, terrorists are the people who fight, not Assad.

This alliance which from a long time ago, has always produced commendation from the Venezuela leader towards the Syrian dictator. When Chavez decorated Assad giving him nothing less than “Bolivar’s sword” he said that “[Assad] is not only heading the Syrian people but also the peoples of Arabia in the constant and brave struggle for liberty, peace and against imperialism.” In the same tone of allegiance he said, “There is no exaggeration if I say that you are one of the liberators of this new world.”

When Castro-Chavism supports bloodthirsty dictators who commit murder on people who try to get rid of their yokes, they reveal their true nature. In the case of Syria, the betrayal by Castro-Chavism is even more eloquent, unlike Libya, there is no imperialist intervention in Syria that can be used to justify the support for the Gadafi dictatorship. All there is, is people savagely repressed for fighting for democratic liberties.

One might expect from governments that regard themselves as revolutionaries – like Chavez and the Castros – to support the struggle of people against dictators. But exactly the contrary is what takes place. They justify their position with an “anti-imperialist” discourse while they really favour imperialism enormously, giving them room where they can hypocritically fake to be “defenders of democracy” or of human rights. This trend hands over the struggle for democratic rights into the hands of the greatest criminals of mankind.

The IWL-FI wishes to express the hope that the impressing events in Libya, where the toiling masses are annihilating the Gadafi regime and armed forces and giving vent to the anger accumulated for years will produce the necessary change in the policy of the Castro-Chavist trend.

Consequently we are summoning all the social activists and the international left, including those who claim to be Castro-Chavist, to ponder on the position of Chavez and the Castros, their defence of dictators against people. It is a very grievous issue, because in Syria there is a popular revolution and it is being savagely repressed and that – more than ever – they need all our solidarity and active support. Solidarity is a must in any struggle; in the case of Egypt and Tunisia it has been determining for the triumph of the masses.

If the Syrian masses overcome the way it is happening, the Arab revolutionary process as a whole will become stronger. Consequently we shall be making precious steps towards the revolution in the Arab world and on the entire planet. But the triumph of the masses needs active solidarity. That is why the support granted by Chavez and the Castros to the dictator Assad (and to Gadafi) is fatal. It has direct political implications for, up to a great extent, it slows down, diminishes or annuls the solidarity that Syrian and Libyan revolutions need and could receive from ample sectors of the left.

Faced with this reactionary posture, it is necessary to demand from Chavez&Castro to break relations with Assad and show solidarity with the Syrian and Libyan revolutions against their oppressors.

Imperialism’s policy

Imperialism’s entire policy responds to their need of preventing the Syrian conflict to spread to the whole region and to get deeper for even the way things are, it is already living in a state of social and political effervescence.

Defeating the revolutionary process is a strategic question from the geopolitical and economic point of view.

If this goes on for long, the recessive dynamics of the world economy will get even worse. At present, it is fundamental for the interest of capital to pacify the region, guarantee supply of oil and maintain political dominion through these dictators or negotiated solutions.

From this point of view, imperialism acts in Syria in a similar way to what they did in Egypt or Tunisia. They began, the same as in those cases, by supporting Assad. As the situation began more radical and the masses started gaining confidence and became more mobile, they could no longer be contained by the Assad regime so imperialism began to shift positions in relation to the Syrian dictator.

That is how from the White House first a series of claims began to flow and now sanctions are boosted in response to the extreme violence furthered by Assad. Obama went as far as saying that Syria “would be better off without Assad” and Hilary Clinton said that the dictator had “lost legitimacy” and that he was not indispensable. Representatives of the UN and EU expressed similar opinions.

This change in the posture is obviously not due to imperialism’s concern or fuss about the thousands of casualties among the impoverished Syria. What moved imperialism so much is the stability of a country and a region that is red hot. 

As the Assad dictatorship has proved to be inefficient containing the masses and could not – so far – defeat the revolution, it has turned into a disposable piece or, as Mrs Clinton says, “not indispensable”. What is indispensable for the imperialists is the political stability, the brake that is a means of a negotiated solution to keep the regime of brutal repression of the impressing Arab revolution. Everything else is merely tactical, secondary. All their agents are fuses and are maintained as long as they fulfil their mission of containing the accumulated rage of the masses.

USA has given up supporting Assad and presses him for he no longer plays his central role: defeat the revolution of the toiling masses. The Syrian dictator has not only failed to fulfil this mission efficiently. He has been trying to put the fire out by pouring petrol on to it and imperialism can see the risk of losing everything.

So, they repeat the story of Egypt. While Mubarak was a useful piece, they supported him. When the situation became unsustainable, Obama put on his “democratic” make-up and played the defender of human rights… after having supported him for years, and he staked everything on Mubarak’s ousting.

Imperialism is very clever at using tactics. If the conclusion is reached that it is better to lose a ring (a servant like Mubarak, Gadafi or Assad) rather than losing his fingers (triumphant revolution) he will feel no qualms.

1.   This change of imperialism’s posture is not due to Assad’s “anti-imperialism”. The contrary is true. Assad has always negotiated with imperialism and had made quite a few concessions. For several years now, he has become part of the “order” in the region maintaining a situation of peace with Israel. All this goes apart from the numerous occasions when he betrayed the struggle of the Palestinians, whom he now attacks on their territory. Retired General Effi Eitan, the standard against which the Israeli right measures its policy, defined it clearly, “The current Syrian regime is the best for Israel formation of government.”

2.  Furthermore the fact that imperialism has withdrawn their backing from the dictator is an extraordinary vigour of the Syrian revolution that forces the so-called international community to shift away from Assad. Only Chavez, Castro and Iran still explicitly support that murderer.

Even if imperialism is more likely than not to keep up with their policy of pressing the regime and continue staking on a negotiated solution within the framework of democratic reaction and trying to save what is essential of the regime, we cannot discard the possibility – if the situation becomes unsustainable again –a military imperialist invasion in Syria the way it was done in Libya. In that case, the IWL would stand categorically against it, just the way we are against. An intervention of this type would weaken the Syrian and Arab revolutionary process as a whole and we are against any possibility like that.

All our support for the struggle of the Syrian people!

In the IWL-FI we hereby ratify our support for the heroic and uneven struggle that Libyan toiling masses are waging proving that they are matching up to the self-sacrifice and determination of all the other Arab nations.

We declare our unconditional solidarity with a struggle that is fundamental from the point of view of the world revolutionary situation. It is a battle that goes on and accrues in spite of the ruthless repressions.

We are all for the removal of Assad from power by means of direct action of the people and massive mobilization. We are against any attempt or type of imperialist intervention or any kind of negotiated solution that will change names or faces but will maintain the central pillars of this regime of starvation and repression.

Our greetings to the popular organizations that, with courage and disregard even for their very lives, challenged Dictator Assad. Among them we wish to highlight the emergence and activity of the Local Commissions of Coordination of Syria, networks that coordinate the protests and crop up in the heat of revolutionary struggle, consisting mainly of young people and popular sectors playing an independent role.

It is urgent to unite all the struggles of resistance and self-defense!

It is necessary to unite the mobilizations in the whole country so that Syrian people may topple the dictatorship, impose their demands and cope with the repression. That is why it is our opinion that it is necessary for the organizations that are part of Syrian resistance to discuss and take measures of self-defense how to use the heat of the mobilization to arm the masses. We believe that this should come together with a policy to win over the grassroots of the army, including the lower ranks of the non-commissioned officers for the cause of the revolution. There are favourable conditions for that.

Such is the strength and the forcefulness that this revolution displays though the impressing action of the masses that the regular army of the regime is beginning to crack and this can be purposefully deepened. On the 17th of August, in the Hisr al-Shughur city, the first collective desertions from military units took place of soldiers who refused to shell the population. There was mutiny of soldiers who joined the civilian demonstrators and this produced an extremely confusing battle between loyal militaries and those who joined the people. The toll was 120 fatal casualties. Discipline and hierarchy began to crumble under the blows of the revolution.

During the same episode, taking advantage of the chaos, a group of social fighters obtained weapons from the army and joined the shooting.

It is of fundamental importance to deepen this division among the repressive forces and army the people.

We summon all the social movement and political organisations that claim to be left to surrender the combat of the people, example of resistance and fighting spirit, of active solidarity.

Our organisations must demand immediate breach of any relations of the governments of our countries with the murderer Assad. Of course, this includes the governments led by Chavez and also the Castro brothers, faithful defenders of that regime and the Dilma administration in Brazil, who also – even if in a more disguised way, has expressed political support.

We wish to urge the Syrian toiling masses and the most aware fighters of the resistance to trust only their own revolutionary force and to have no expectations about imperialism, bourgeois trends and Arab Islamists.

It is necessary to keep on fighting until Assad falls and a new government of and for Syrian working and exploited class takes over and can summon and guarantee a free, democratic and sovereign Constituent Assembly to achieve all the democratic liberties and free the country from imperialism. This government, resting on popular organisations should furthermore judge and punish all Assad’s crimes and those of his accomplices, confiscate their properties and place them under the control and disposal of the needy people; annul all the oil contracts and other pacts signed up by Assad that chain the country to imperialism; nationalise oil immediately as well as all the wealth of the country under the administration of people and in the service of an emergency plan to attend to the urgent needs of Syrian toiling masses and so advance towards the Federation of Socialist Arab Republics.

·   Long live the revolution and the heroic struggle of the Syrian people!

·   Down with the Assad dictatorship and regime!

·   Long live the Arab revolution!

·   For a workers’ and people’s government to guarantee a fee and sovereign National Constituent Assembly

·   No to the imperialist intervention in the Arab world!

 

 

International Secretariat of the IWL-FI

25 August 2011

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