[Photo, Senator John McCain with
Mohammad Nour, identified by two Shi'ite kidnapping victims as the chief
spokesman and photographer for the Free Syria Army's Northern Storm brigade in
the operation that that kidnapped them and 9 other civilian Shi'ite hostages a
year ago. Attempts are still being made to release the 9 other Shi'ite
hostages.]
U.S. Backed Genocide of Christians, Alawites, and other Minorities in Syria
By Steven Argue
From the beginnings of the U.S.
backed Sunni uprising in Syria,
a slogan chanted in the streets has been, “Alawites to the grave, Christians to
Beirut.” Alawites, like Christians, are a religious
minority in Syria. With the backing of western imperialist aid
to the so-called “Free Syria Army” and its other Islamist allies, both directly
and through weapons from U.S.
client states in the region, promises of a genocidal counter-revolution are now
a terrible reality in rebel controlled territory.
On Monday, May 27th the Fars News
Agency reported the entire Christian population of al-Duvair village (outskirts
of Homs) was slaughtered by the U.S.
backed Free Syria
Army. According to the report, all were
killed, men, women, and children. This
fits an ongoing pattern of genocide against Christians being carried out by the
Islamists of the U.S.
backed “Free Syria
Army” and its Jabhat al-Nusra allies.
Homs,
under rebel control and under sharia (Islamic) law has had nearly its entire
Christian population of 80,000 people forcibly expelled. The same has been done to Christians who were
living in the cities of al-Burj al-Qastal, Quasyr, as well as in some of the
rural areas of Latakia and Idlib. In
government controlled Damascus, the
rebels are using car bombs to deliberately kill and terrorize civilians in
Christian and Alawite communities. At
least fourteen minority churches, mosques, shrines, and a synagogue have also
been deliberately destroyed by the rebels.
Between 200,000 and 400,000 Christians have fled Syria
since the start of the war. In
comparison to their numbers in the Syrian population, this is a
disproportionate number that reflects the systematic genocide that is being
carried out by the rebels. In Turkey,
Christians have also been driven out of the government run refugee camps by
Jabhat al-Nusra rebels.
In addition, a video released by
the rebels shows them cutting an unarmed Christian man's head off. His name was
Andrei Arbashe, 38, a taxi driver who had recently married. After murdering
him, his body was cut-up and he was fed to the dogs.
In Khalidiya, Christians and
Alewites were rounded-up by rebels, put in a building, and then blown-up with
dynamite.
For its part, the Syrian
government’s shelling of neighborhoods is also a war crime. Part of the irony,
however, is seeing western reporters on TV sitting in these neighborhoods and
reporting the horror of being shelled, when at the same time, these same “news”
outlets never covered the same story as the U.S. military carried out similar
atrocities against neighborhoods in Iraq, or as the Israeli military carries
out similar attacks against neighborhoods in Gaza.
One of the most outrageous
massacres in the current civil war has been the rebel’s mass murder of 150
Alewite civilians in Aqrab. The massacre
took place after rebels held about 500 Alawite civilians hostage, including
babies, without adequate food or water for nine days. Truckloads of the prisoners were then
released, but about 150 Alawite civilians were massacred by rebel forces. As has been the case throughout this war with
the corporate media, the New York Times published reports from the Free Syria
Army blaming the Syrian government, without even investigating the matter. Independent investigations have, however,
revealed those reports to be blatant lies and that it is the rebels who were
responsible for the massacre.
Open Promises GENOCIDE against
Alawites by the U.S.
Backed Free Syria
Army
On May 19th, 2013 Free Syria Army spokesman
Colonel Abdel-Hamid Zakaria told Al-Arabiya television that if the Free Syria
Army was defeated in Al-Qusayr, the entire communities of Alawite and Shiite
minorities in Syria
would be “wiped off the map”. He went on to say, “It’s going to be an open,
sectarian, bloody war to the end.” The
Alawites and Shiites are religious minorities in Syria.
They are hated by the U.S.
backed Sunni religious extremists of the Free Syria Army (FSA) that have
already carried out massacres of men, women, and children in Alawite
communities.
In a major defeat for the Free
Syria Army, Al-Qusayr was in fact taken the same day as Colonel Abdel-Hamid
Zakaria's promise of genocide. The combined forces of the Syrian Army and
Hezbollah took the town and took 2,700 FSA soldiers prisoner.
The United
States government is already openly aiding
the Free Syria Army, both through so-called non-military aid and through the
weapons, ammunition, and troops being sent in by U.S.
allies Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Turkey,
and Israel. In
addition, the United States
and the European Union are rapidly moving legislation forward for sending
direct military aid to the Free Syria Army.
U.S.
backed rebels in Libya
made similar promises of genocide before they took power. And they delivered on
those promises. Only difference was their hate was directed at black Africans
living in Libya.
The U.S. and U.S.
allies brought those rebels to power with air strikes, troops on the ground
from Qatar, and
direct military aid to the rebels.
Everything moved backwards under
that imperialist imposed counter-revolution in Libya,
yet imperialist oil companies are profiting from the war, including U.S.
based Conoco Phillips, Italy's
Eni SpA, and France's
Total SA.
The U.S.
directly participated in that war that helped put racist rebels in power that
jailed Black Africans, murdered Black Africans, made hundreds of thousands of
Black Africans refugees as they fled the country in fear for their lives, and
now routinely uses torture and murder against opponents of the new regime. Yet
it is a government more friendly to imperialist oil interests. This is the
reason Obama lies to us saying the new regime in Libya
is "democratic".
Likewise, the lie of the sectarian
and chauvinistic "Free Syria Army" being democratic is also being
propagated both by the western imperialist press and by many fake socialist
groups. Today, a hell on Earth is emerging in Syria
in areas controlled by the FSA and their Islamist allies. This is similar to the
suffering created by the U.S.
- Saudi Arabian and Pakistani backed mujahideen and Taliban in Afghanistan.
What took place in Afghanistan
truly was a counter-revolution, eliminating the pro-woman gains of Afghanistan’s
PDPA revolution. So close are the connections, the Free Syria Army even has an
“Osama bin Laden Brigade”.
Everywhere the FSA and its allies
have taken power they are setting up Islamic governments with shariah Law.
Nowhere are they setting-up secular governments. And similar to the mujhideen
and Taliban, the Sunni religious extremists of the FSA and their allies are
carrying out atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities. This includes
direct attacks by the FSA on liberated Kurdish territory controlled by the YPG.
In stark contrast to the FSA’s governance, the YPG has set-up democratic and
secular government, thrown off the yoke of Assad’s oppression of the Kurdish
language, and taken steps on behalf of women’s liberation. The forces of the
FSA have, however, carried out direct military attacks on this revolutionary
process. In fact, besides attacks on the real revolution that is taking place
in Kurdish territory, the FSA and their allies are even a step backward from
the semi-secular governance of Assad’s capitalist regime. All of these things
together, including the FSA’s attacks on liberated Kurdish territory, make the
FSA and its other Islamist allies a decidedly counter-revolutionary force.
Meanwhile, many fake socialist
groups are supporting the imperialist intervention in Syria
by supporting the Free Syria Army. In contrast, legitimate Trotskyists and
other anti-imperialists demand: US, EU, Turkey,
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, and Israel Out of Syria!
For the Defense of Kurdish
Liberated Territory!
Under the rule of President Assad
the Kurdish language as well as much of the Kurdish culture was illegal.
Kurdish political organizations were also banned and 20% of Syrian Kurds had
their citizenship rights completely stripped from them.
Today the Kurdish region of Syria
has been liberated by troops of the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) that
have fought both the U.S.
backed religious extremists of the Free Syria Army (FSA) as well as Assad’s
military. A secular and democratically elected government has been established
with a volunteer police force, women’s centers have been established to advance
women’s rights by educating women about their rights and self defense, schools
are now teaching in Kurdish (but facing a crisis of qualified teachers), and
Kurdish cultural centers have been established. These are all significant gains
for a long oppressed people.
In YPG controlled territory, the
dominant political party is the communist influenced Democratic Union Party
(PYD) which is the Syrian wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The PKK has long been fighting against the oppression of Kurdish people by the U.S.
backed Turkish government. U.S.
weapons have been used to carry out warfare against the Kurdish population and
a U.S.
operation captured PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan who now sits in a Turkish prison.
In Syrian Kurdistan, Vice
chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD), Asya Muhammed Abdullah
points out, "For 30 years we Syrian Kurds have been fighting for our
rights, that's why so many of our friends have been arrested and tortured to
death by the regime."
Yet Kurds have also been the
victims of the U.S.
and Turkish backed Free Syria Army. Instead of pretending the FSA's imperialist
backed counter-revolutionary forces represent a "revolution", as fake
Trotskyist outfits like the International Socialist Organization (ISO) do,
legitimate Trotskyists call for the military defense of the Kurdish and Assad
governments from U.S.
imperialism. Unlike the ISO, Lenin was very clear on the right of nations to
self-determination.
In addition to the national
liberation achieved by the PYD, sweeping socialist revolution is also needed.
Sixty percent of the oil wells of Syria
are currently in the hands of the Kurds. The other 40% is controlled by the
Islamists of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Free Syria Army. Economically, Syria’s
Kurdish region depends on electricity produced in Arab regions. In terms of
practical economic considerations, the revolution liberating Syrian Kurdistan
cannot be limited to Kurdistan because neither the
Turkish backed Islamists nor the Assad regime are friendly to Kurdish national
self-determination. Within these contexts, the PYD’s program is far too modest
to address essential revolutionary tasks, including long-term national
liberation. The needed program is one for the overthrow of capitalism as well
as for the overthrow of all of the capitalist regimes in the region including
those of Assad, the FSA, and Jabhat al-Nusra. Victories for national liberation
must be deepened to include the overthrow of capitalism and extended beyond
Kurdish territory with the advocacy of socialist revolutions that can establish
a united federation of socialist republics of the Middle East
which would include Kurdish, Arab, Turkish, and Hebrew speaking republics.
Despite the deficiencies of the
PYD’s program, their achievements have brought real gains for the Kurdish
people. Yet, those gains will remain precarious without a sweeping socialist
revolution.
For Socialist Revolution in Syria
The Ba’athist Assad dynasty’s
oppression and opposition to the national rights of Kurds is in direct
contradiction to the program of Lenin and Trotsky who, upon taking power in the
October 1917 Russian Revolution, ended discrimination and oppression of
national minorities. Language rights of
traditionally oppressed nationalities were encouraged rather than
outlawed. For instance, the Kurdish
minority of the young Soviet Union under Lenin and
Trotsky’s leadership created a Kurdish
Republic where children learned the
Kurdish language in school. After
Stalin’s conservative wing of the bureaucracy crushed those who agreed with
Lenin and Trotsky’s ideas, some of the original gains of the Russian Revolution
were lost. For instance, Stalin crushed
the Red Kurdistani
Republic of the USSR. Yet, not even Stalin could destroy all of the
gains of the Russian Revolution, and most of the language rights and republics
that were created under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky remained. In fact, the socialist planned economy was
used to create preferential investment in the historically less advanced
republics, helping raise-up the economies of those republics with the rest of
the USSR.
In addition to helping liberate
oppressed nationalities, the USSR’s
planned socialist economy was used to turn one of the poorest countries in the
world into an industrial powerhouse, capable of defeating two major imperialist
invasions (including smashing Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich) and then rebuilding
to provide everyone with a guaranteed job, health care, and education.
In contrast to a socialist economy,
while parts of the Syrian economy were nationalized under the Ba’athist
Revolution in the 1960’s in Syria,
much of Syria’s
economy is owned by capitalists. This is
in part due to the pro-capitalist reforms carried out since the Assad dynasty
took power in 1970, overturning a number of gains first made when the
Ba’athists took power in 1963. For
instance, there are several privately owned banks. In contrast, in a socialist society there
would be a fully state run banking system that, instead of making private
profit, reinvests in the economy where needed to meet human needs. This is a critical ingredient to building a
socialist planned economy. That
ingredient is missing under Bashir al-Assad’s capitalist regime.
While many claim that Syria
has a socialist economy, not enough of the economy is planned to sufficiently
meet human needs as is possible with a planned socialist economy. For instance, Syria
has had both a public and a private sector that builds housing. In a truly socialist economy, proper
investment by the state in building housing would better meet needs for housing
while providing jobs. The continuation
of a capitalist sector in the Syrian economy, on the other hand, produces a
corrupting wealthy capitalist class that prefers little to no investment in the
state run economy. These kinds of
problems under Syria’s
mixed economy are reasons why Syria
hasn’t adequately dealt with housing problems or meeting other human
needs. This is also why Syria
hasn’t eliminated unemployment, unlike what was done with a number of socialist
economies after fully overthrowing the capitalist system.
Of course, the massive refugee
crisis produced by the genocide carried out by the Free Syria Army is creating
a far worse housing crisis today.
Likewise, the imperialist economic sanctions against Syria
in support of the Free Syria Army have also hurt the civilian population
greatly.
Similar to housing, Syria’s
state run health care system has been on the decline. While Syria’s
population increased by 18% between 1995 and 2001, the number of hospital beds
in state run hospitals declined.
Meanwhile, there was a big increase during that same period of
capitalist healthcare provided to those who can afford it. While life expectancy increased dramatically
after the Ba’athist revolution, the growth of capitalist health care, decline
in public investment in socialized health care, and the return of a two tier
system of health care, one for the wealthy and another for the rest, represents
a capitalist attack by the Assad regime on the people’s health care no
different than what has occurred under the neo-liberal policies of any
pro-imperialist capitalist government in the world. Life expectancy for Syrians in 2006 was only
72 years, far better than many countries that are completely under the thumb of
U.S.
imperialism, but far worse than what has been achieved under Cuba’s
socialist health care system.
Also unlike the deformed workers
states, Syria under the Ba’athists has not brought the gains to education found
in “communist” deformed workers states in terms of women’s liberation and
literacy either. For instance, Cuba
and China have
provided their entire populations with good universal education which has brought
literacy rates for the entire population, including women, to nearly 100%. In contrast, under the Assad dynasty, big
improvements have been made in education, but illiteracy has remained a
problem. Women’s literacy in Syria
in 2004 was 78%. While far worse than
the deformed workers states, this does reflect a 200% increase in female
literacy since 1970, and is far better than what has been produced by the U.S.
imposed mjahideen, Taliban, and Karzai dictatorships of Afghanistan. Those U.S.
imposed governments have produced a female literacy rate of 12% in 2012 after
destroying the pro-woman and pro-literacy PDPA government of the 1980’s.
Whatever may be said of the
deficiencies of the Syrian Revolution, over and over again the U.S.
imperialists have shown their counter-revolutions to be far worse than what
they overthrow. The genocidal and U.S.
funded counter-revolutions in Libya
and Afghanistan
are prime examples. Both the Assad
government and the Kurdish democratic government should be defended from
imperialist attack and sectarian Islamic counter-revolution, while at the same
time giving no political support to Assad’s capitalist dictatorship.
Leadership must be built to
overthrow Assad's capitalist government in a proletarian revolution, not in an
imperialist sponsored capitalist counter-revolution led by chauvinistic
religious extremists. What is occurring in YPG controlled territory is far
different than what is being done by imperialist backed Islamists of the FSA
who have attacked Kurdish territory. Revolutionary leadership in Syria
must distance itself completely from the Free Syria Army which has carried out
many atrocities against civilian Kurds, Christians, and Alawites and has
promised genocide against Alawite and Shiite communities. They have also set-up
sharia (Islamic) law everywhere the FSA has taken power. Unfortunately, the
fighters of the “Trotskyist” Leon Sedov Brigade of the Free Syria Army are
giving their lives to bring these Islamists to power. This reflects a tendency
among those types of fake Trotskyists to support any uprising in an
opportunistic manner, no matter its program, to avoid the hard work of fighting
for an authentic revolutionary socialist program and party.
Forward on the Revolutionary
Socialist Path Laid Down By Lenin and Trotsky!
US, EU, Turkey,
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, and Israel
Out of Syria! End the Imperialist Sanctions!
Down With the Anti-Kurd,
Anti-Alawite, Anti-Christian, Anti-Woman, Anti-Secular, Sectarian Religious
Fanatics of the Free Syria
Army!
For the Defense of Kurdish
Liberated Territory!
For A United Kurdistan
as Part of a Federation of Socialist Republics
of the Middle East!
For the Overthrow of U.S.
Imperialism through Socialist Revolution in the United
States!
*****
Steven Argue is a member of the
Revolutionary Tendency.
Join the conversations of the
Revolutionary Tendency (no longer part of the Socialist Party) on Facebook at:
This is an article of Liberation
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(not associated with the paper by
the same name of the Stalinist PSL who stole our name)
Check out these other articles from
Liberation News:
Afghanistan:
Misogynistic Hell Hole Made in the U.S.A.
For Women’s Liberation through
Socialist Revolution!
End U.S.
Imperialist Attacks on Liberated Syrian Kurdistan!
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