Our Ethics Condemn the Crimes of the Military

Tags

Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, Chemical weapons, Democracy, Demonstration, Egypt, Haifa, Massacre, Syrian Revolution

(This call for a demonstration in Haifa was published on Facebook on behalf of several Palestinian activists from the Patriotic Youth… The demonstration had to take place on Sunday, August 25, 2013. More than 120 activists expressed their desire to participate. The invitation was later deleted for reasons that were not yet specified…)

From politics to ethics

The crimes committed against our peoples in Syria and Egypt, and the justifications of these crimes by different official bodies, were they Arab or foreign, are an additional confirmation that we are beyond the stage of political debate. There is no place for political positions or activity unless it is within the framework of the principled defense of morality. This morality is represented by the basic Human Rights of the Arab citizen wherever he is, the right of the Arab person to live in dignity and to exercise his fundamental rights to demonstrate, hold sit-in or resist any official decision through peaceful means, which are legitimate morally and according to international conventions.

The military’s intervention in politics

The image reflected from our Arab region shows that the military is the master of the scene in Syria and Egypt. The army comes to politics under the pretext of security and then kills the citizen in the name of ideology. It only attempts to silence and kill innocent people so that all justifications for murder will be present, whatever the size of the crime and whatever the means. This way the clearing of a peaceful sit-in or spraying children with chemical weapons become a maneuver aimed first and foremost to eliminate the sacred status of the human being, whose dignity and rights constitute the first origin of real national security and real democratic transformation.

The sanctity of the holy sites

We also call upon all those who are interested in the unity of our societies for a better future, to stand firmly against any attempt at burning or desecration of any of the holy sites. Do not enter the language of fitna (sectarian division) to peoples’ minds, whether fuelling it with the pretext of refusing it, or strengthening it in order to gain advantage.

Finally, because the progress of our societies requires a moral compass, which is the first and last origin for any position about any political event, and because silence is the neutrality that complements the crime, we invite you to participate in the demonstration and to light candles…

( You can read the original text in Arabic in حيفا الحرة )

Syria – How did it all Begin?

Tags

Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, Bashar AlAssad, Daraa, Karameh, Social Discontent, Syrian Revolution

In the last days of June, we spent some days in Paris, hearing about the Syrian Revolution from newly exiled Syrian activists. One goal was to bring a closer picture of the revolution in Free Haifa. Since then the Egyptian Coup interrupted, causing some unexpected setback (to the Arab Spring, not only to my writing schedule). Now I return to the original plan with the first post… So how did the Syrian Revolution begin?

The Reign of Terror

To understand the revolution you should start with the regime that preceded it. We didn’t have much time to talk about it, neither much will. One simple fact that stunned Iris was that most of the young activists that we spoke with didn’t take part in any political activity before the revolution – it was not even considered an option.

People that were active speak about a nation with 17 different security services, every one of them spying on everyone else and can arrest you at will. They speak about a nation of 22 million people where about one million of them are police informants, of children induced to report about their parents. They speak about parents that, when their children are arrested, will not dare even to go to ask about their whereabouts.

We heard about leaders of the communist party that were held in prison without trial for more than 14 years, only to be sentenced later to 15 years imprisonment. The charge was specially selected to insult: opposition to socialism – as if to show that the Ba’ath regime was socialist while the communists where anti-socialist.

The memory of the Hama Massacre of February 1982 remains an open wound in the consciousness of the people. It seems the regime was cynically building its reputation of ruthlessness, showing the people its readiness to perform unlimited indiscriminate atrocities, in order to keep the traditionally proud and politicized Syrian people at bay.

It is impossible to speak about the Assads’ regime without mentioning their cynical exploitation of Syria’s sectarian divide. The Alawites were traditionally poor and oppressed. But the Assads didn’t really want them to develop and integrate – but cynically used them as a tool for oppression. They would not allow economic development or good education in Alawite villages – so that the only root out of poverty for poor Alawite youth will be to join the army or the different security services and become a tool of terror against the masses in the mostly Sunni cities.

All this can be summarized by the eternal words of Ghawar, the popular hero of the satirist Duraid Lahham. Asked about the state of his homeland, Ghawar says all is well; it is missing nothing except of a bit of “Karameh” (dignity).

Socio-Economic Change

The legitimacy of the regime was farther eroded by “economic reform”. If in the past major parts of the economy were held by the state sector, and were supposed to serve the whole society, reform gave a free hand to the private sector. This privatization under the shadow of an absolute dictatorship, managed as a family business, caused crony Capitalism to be the rule. Now, as the whole system was openly directed toward the enrichment of a small circle of “insiders”, resentment of chronic poverty, anger at eroding social rights and striving for dignity, freedom and democracy all became one.

We were told about the case of some engineering student. As one remnant of the socialist system, the state was obliged to hire all engineering graduates. Then, as part of the “reform”, this obligation also evaporated. Some engineering students wanted to write a petition asking not to abolish this social right. Even before they really wrote the petition their plot was exposed and the leaders of the ring were sentenced to several years in prison.

Under the burden of the cannibalism of the security services, taking their share of any legitimate business, eroding social rights and incompetence of uncontrolled bureaucracy, the economy was stumbling. Bright new products from modernizing Turkey just over the border were everywhere while local manufacturing was closing. People were yearning for change but didn’t believe it could happen in Syria.

The Call for the Revolution

There is no doubt that the Syrian revolution was a direct result of the revolutionary fever that caught the stagnating Arab World in the beginning of 2011. But it wasn’t immediate.

The regime itself, thinking politics, initially regarded the Arab Spring as an insurrection of the masses against the old reactionary stooges of Western Imperialism. They were socially isolated, had no public legitimacy, were exposed and detested for their servitude to foreign interests. How could you compare those with the Syrian “progressive”, “resistance” regime, with a coalition of patriotic parties and mass organizations to mobilize support and patriotic credibility won by its backing to Hezbollah in its resistance to Israeli occupation of Lebanon and its refusal to sign capitulation treaties with Israel?

Most Syrian people, as far as we could understand, didn’t give much thought to what seemed to them as hollow propaganda in the service of people that were enriching themselves at their expense and stamping on their dignity. But they still didn’t want to start the revolution – they simply knew what kind of regime they have and expected any mass uprising to be drawn in rivers of blood.

But still, out of the virtual world, came the call for “revolution” on March 15, 2011. Like previous calls since the beginning of 2011, participation was limited and the protesters were outnumbered by security personnel and vigilant pro-regime gangs.

The Daraa Incident

Daraa is a typical poor Syrian province, stretching south of Damascus and down to the Jordanian border. It is characterized by its conservative society, where tribal ties still play an important role. Its economy was also retarded, highly dependent on the government. It was badly affected by the reform, the contraction of the state sector and erosion of social rights.

When some children in Daraa wrote on their school’s walls the slogan of the Arab Spring: “A-Sha’ab Yurid Iskat A-Nezam” (The people want to topple the regime) – the regime didn’t take it as a joke. There were investigations and some 15 kids, aged 9 to 15, were arrested.

The families of the arrested kids were very worried. They organized a delegation to speak with the security chief. What he told them is the only part of the history of the Syrian revolution that everybody agrees upon. “Forget about your children. You will never see them again. If you want children, you can give birth to new children. If you don’t know how to do it, bring in your wives and we will show you how!”

The words were calculated to humiliate, to sustain the myth that you shouldn’t ask about your children when they are arrested. They touched on the very sense of “Karameh” (dignity) that is at the center of being human.

The security chief in Daraa at the time was a man called “’Atef Najib”, a cousin of President Bashar. Belonging to the close circle of Assad loyalists his powers were unlimited. Some of our interviewees are still convinced that if the regime would have disciplined him after the incident the revolution could still be avoided. But they say that Bashar was more concerned not to hurt the Mafia solidarity and sense of impunity of his ruling circle than he was afraid to raise the furor of the people.

The poor people of Daraa came out in their masses to save their children and their dignity. For the first time the solidarity of the old traditional society proved stronger than the atomization of society by fear and corruption. Confronted by mass demonstrations the regime responded with live ammunition. They were martyrs, mass funerals and more mass demonstrations. The masses in other cities came out in solidarity with the people of Daraa. By the end of March the Syrian Revolution was under way in full steam.

What can be learnt from this beginning?

Hearing the real stories how thing unfolded gives you a very different perspective of what the revolution is about, its strengths and its weaknesses.

It is basically revolution of the Syrian society, pulling the thrones of tyranny from its suffering body. It is a revolution that starts with the defense of human dignity and its main aim is to put an end to humiliation.

This explains why the revolution is strongest in the countryside (the “reaf”), where it is easier to unite society against the intrusive state apparatus. It also explains the weakness of the political opposition, which is mainly based in the big cities and whose main support is the educated elite.

After the walls of terror and fear were broken, there is no way that the Syrian people will give up and put their fate again tin the hands of their torturers.

* * *

For another, more funny story about the first days of the Syrian Revolution you can click here to Free Haifa Extra.

The New York Times later published an interview with one of the kids from Der’aa.

 

Editorial Note: In Paris, Hearing the news from Syria

Tags

Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, Editorial Note, French Revolution, Herak Haifa, Paris, Syrian Revolution

Long before the Great Syrian Revolution started on March 15, 2011, I hold a special admiration to the Syrian people. Much of it stemmed from close friendship with Syrian activists in the occupied Golan Heights, since their half-year general strike in 1982. In a more general perspective, Syria used to be the beating heart of the Arab national movement. In March 1920, when the “Syrian Congress” declared the first independent Arab state in modern history, “The Arab Kingdom of Syria”, representatives from Palestine took part under the name of “Southern Syria”.

Separated by the Zionist occupation of Palestine since 1948, we couldn’t have any direct connections with our sisters and brothers in Syria. But the Syrian patriotic culture, from Duraid Lahham’s satirical movies and Samieh Shkeir’s lyrics to “Bab Al-Harra” (the Neighborhood’s Gate) TV series, were everybody’s bread and butter. The commercial center of Hallisa neighborhood, where I live in Haifa, was named Bab Al-Harra in honor of the series.

Palestinian response to the Syrian Revolution

When the Syrian revolution started it became a major concern for everybody in Palestine. In fact it is the most controversial issue in Palestinian political life. While clear majority of Palestinians support the Syrian people – the popular masses, Islamist, Liberals and the radical Youth – there is a vocal current of some Leftist and Nationalist elites that see the Assad tyranny as the last defense against an imperialist takeover.

At the beginning of 2012 we organized “Palestinians for the Syrian Revolution” which raised a progressive secular voice in support of the revolution. By the end of that year, Herak Haifa (Arabic) took part, with many other groups, in collecting material support to relieve the suffering of Syrian refugees in Jordan. It is symptomatic that even this wholly humanitarian effort aroused rouge responses from some local Shabiha (Arabic), as the supporters of the Assad regimes are named here after the Syrian thugs with the same name. On May 31, in the global day of solidarity with the Syrian revolution, Palestinian Youth held demonstrations in Bab Al-Amud (Damascus Gate) in Jerusalem, in Ramallah and Al-Khalil.

Yet as the revolution was transformed from an enthusiastic peaceful mass uprising to a prolonged civil war, there is a constant strain on the public support for the revolution. Any excess on the side of the revolution, and any compromise from its leadership, is looked upon with grave concern. Is toppling the regime worth all these efforts and sacrifices? How do we know that what will come after it will be any better? Unlike the Syrian people that have no choice but to fight on or put their lives in the hands of their torturers, we can simply stop watching the news and ignore the bloodshed.

Going to Paris

Any dictatorship creates communities of political refugees spread around the world. Any new wave of conflict and oppression throws away a new wave of refugees. Going to Paris is a special opportunity to hear the news from Syria from people that were there and took part in the struggle until the recent period. On June 27-29 I spent 3 days in Paris, hearing the story of the Syrian Revolution.

Paris is a very good place to talk about the revolution. It is a city that, till this day, celebrates its bloody revolution of 1789 – 1799. This revolution is remembered by Humanity as the turning point from Backwardness and the rule of hereditary monarchs and oligarchs to Enlightenment, Modernism, Republicanism and Democracy.

Being in Paris was also a good opportunity for quick review of French history. We were reminded that the revolution, after a prolonged bloody struggle, produced first (1804) the “republican” Emperor Napoleon and then military defeat and the return of reactionary kings (1814). Only after 81 years and three more popular revolutions (1830, 1848 and 1870) has the third French Republic really established itself. Still we all feel obliged to the tradition of the French Revolution.

This puts in perspective the great Arab Revolution – the Arab Spring – which is the spearhead of a new renaissance of Humanity that now spreads all over the globe. As this revolution develops without an agreed plan and with no clear leadership, it makes it all the more important that we discuss and learn and build our network of activists.

One question that I asked my Syrian friends was: “What is the best source to read news and analysis about the Syrian revolution?” They didn’t think that there is a good answer to this question.

In the next few days I will write some posts to summarize what I heard in Paris. It is not a systematic research, nor a wide range of views, neither a deep analysis. But it is a humble attempt to draw a live picture through the impressions of honest young (and old) people that risked their lives and freedom for the liberty of their people and their country.

If you have any suggestion about good sources to learn more about the Syrian Revolution – please leave the links in a comment to this post.

(The photo above was taken at the Paris demonstration in support of the Syrian Revolution on Saturday 29/6/2013. On the right you see the Kurdish flag raised alongside the flags of the Syrian Revolution. Beyond them on the tree to the left there is a Palestinian flag…)

Al Quds Demo in the Global Day of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution 31.5.2013

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AlQuds, Arab Revolution, Global Day of Action, palestine, prisoners, Shabiha, Syrian Revolution

It is a long time that we, secular supporters of the Syrian Revolution in Palestine, feel that we have to raise our voice in the street. It is not easy. First of all, we are always busy with the daily struggle to defend Palestinian rights again Israeli Apartheid. Actually the “Palestinians for the Syrian Revolution” group that was formed in Haifa at the beginning of 2011 was all but dissolved as the activists were preoccupied with organizing support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes.

The supporters of the Assad regime don’t suffer from this problem. They made a habit of coming to all sorts of Palestinian Patriotic Demonstrations with the regime’s flag and pictures of the Syrian tyrant – and make a show in the middle of the demonstration at the expense of national unity. In the day of the land, 30/3/2013, in the central demonstration with many thousands in Sakhnin, about a dozen of “Shabiha”, after making their show to the cameras, attacked the crew of Al Jazeera and cause a mass brawl as people from the public jumped to oppose them. In the March of Return, in 16/4/2013, the Islamic movement preferred not to join the march in order to avoid a quarrel. The supporters of the revolution, on the other side, like the real mothers in King Solomon’s judgment, will not split the Palestinian patriotic struggle to make their point.

So it was good that the date was set for us by the international solidarity movement to Friday, 31.5.2013. We met at the demonstration against the evacuation of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah (also in occupied Jerusalem) on Friday, May 17, and planned to stand in Bab Al’Amud – symbolicly named Damascus Gate – on the 31^st.

After the call for the demonstration was published on Facebook, many of the supporters of the demonstration received direct and blatant threats. Shabiha supporters were not ashamed to say they will come and attack the demonstration just in front of the occupation army that is heavily present at occupied AlQuds. For us it was a problem again. Palestinian leftists and democratic activist are used to confront the army and the police, ready to be beaten or arrested, but not used to the idea of being attacked by members of their own public.

Only the hard core of the revolution’s secular supporters finally arrived in Bab Al’Amud today at 18:00 – some fifty youth, about half of them women, from AlQuds, Yaffa, Haifa and many other places all over Palestine and some Syrians from the occupied Golan heights.

We raised the Palestinian flags along the Flags of the Syrian revolution and chanted the known, beloved slogans of the heroic freedom loving Syrian people. When someone tried to raise “against us” the Syrian regime’s flag, one of the demonstrators told him: “Let me raise it, it is the flag of Syria and we all honor it” – and she carried it all along the demonstration between the flags of the revolution, shouting for the toppling of the bloody dictatorship.

It seems there was no organized attempt to bring in the Shabiha, but some people in the crowd that gathered tried to attack the demonstration. They were swiftly outnumbered by other people from the public, held and removed from the scene. Nobody in the demonstration was attacked or even had to intervene against the disruption. It was the best feeling after this tense week – to see that a random public in a busy Palestinian market street would defend us and effectively dismantle any provocation.

Some people that just happened to pass in the street, some women, some religious types, some youth, all joined the vigil, carried the banners and joined the chanting.

The Palestinian people suffered so much from oppression, carry such a long experience in struggle and the heavy price that you have to pay for your freedom, that they are they people best poised to understand the Syrian people and live with them the hope and the pain of the revolution.

Before we went home we were plotting the next demonstration, on Sunday 2/6, in front of the Jordanian embassy in Tel Aviv – in solidarity with the Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails who are on hunger strike against their harsh treatment.

From Palestine… Here is the Syrian Revolution!

Tags

AlQuds, Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, jerusalem, palestine, Syrian Revolution

This invitation for the planned Palestinian demonstration, as part of the 31/5/2013 international day for solidarity with the Syrian Revolution, was published in the event’s page on Facebook. Considering the importance of the issue, I published it in Arabic and publish here a translation to English.

Global Campaign for Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution

Demonstration in occupied Jerusalem, Bab Al’Amud – Damascus Gate, Friday, May 31, 2013, 18:00

26 months have passed on the Syrian people’s revolution against the Assad regime and his gang. It came as an extension of the revolutions of freedom, dignity and social justice witnessed by the Arab world in the last two and a half years. The Syrian Revolution was launched as a civilian movement with demonstrations, meetings, dancing and singing circles, strikes and other different forms of peaceful expression. It succeeded to remain peaceful for months despite the criminality of the regime that did not hesitate to use the most powerful methods of repression and terror, from live ammunition to warplanes, including Scud missiles and cluster bombs, as well as looting, rape, arbitrary arrests and torture – which forced the Syrians revolutionaries to turn toward armed resistance. In spite of this, peaceful demonstrations still come out and the liberated areas are still teeming with activities and projects promoting the values ​​and goals of the revolution.

We are Palestinians men and women, brought together by our love for Syria, country and people, and our support for its revolution and its principles. We announce our convergence with this revolution. We salute the Syrian people for their heroic steadfastness and resistance to tyranny, until they will realize the objectives of their revolution with the downfall of the regime of Assad and his gang, and the transition to a regime under which they will enjoy freedom, social justice and independence of the national decision.

We firmly reject all forms of foreign intervention in Syria: Whether by the Arab regimes that didn’t fall in the revolutions, especially the Gulf states, which sought to derail the Syrians revolution, make it fail and control it; Or Iran and Russia, which promote their geopolitical interests in the region at the expense of the blood of the people and their rights; And the NATO countries, chattering a lot about support for the Syrian people, while standing by watching the collapse of the Syrian country and state, to ensure their interests and the interest of Israel.

We strongly condemn the practices of groups alien to the Syrian revolution, we don’t have to add on what the Syrian revolutionary public opinion says, in their condemnation. The revolutionaries, who chanted against Assad, are those who condemn any violations from the side of the opposition forces, political, military and civilian. We also support the Syrian people’s resistance, in the means that they find appropriate, whether peaceful or non-peaceful.

Palestine, which struggles during the last sixty-five years for liberation from the brutal occupation, can only be on the side of the revolution of its big sister, which came out to refuse dictatorship and fascism. The freedom of the Palestinian people from the occupation and their historic right to their land, homeland and the return of their refugees, and freedom of the Syrian people from tyranny and their right to justice, are two connected lines that can’t be separated. The prisons of the Assad regime are filled with detainees standing fast, who are not less heroic and patient than our prisoners in the prisons of the Zionist occupation.

If the fate of the Syrian people was that their country became center for the rivalry of sectarian sensitivities, regional accounts and international interests, this doesn’t diminish in any way the justice of their cause.

Because we believe in the revolution of the Syrian people and their choices, we announce our participation in the global campaign for its support and we will organize a demonstration on Friday, May 31, 2013 at six in the evening (18:00) in occupied Jerusalem in front of Bab Al’Amud – Damascus Gate. We call upon our freedom loving people to participate in this demonstration, raising the voice of rights and freedom.

Signed by: “From occupied Palestine … Here is the Syrian Revolution” Group.

Weam Amasha: Fighting Occupation and Tyranny

Amasha’s message to resistance activists who insist on siding with the Syrian regime against what he describes as the “popular revolution in Syria” is clear: “You cannot oppose a foreign occupier but accept the oppression of a local tyrant. Freedom cannot be compromised and divided.”

via Weam Amasha: Fighting Occupation and Tyranny.

28 movements, parties and activists issue common declaration supporting the Syrian people and calling for the release of political prisoners in the Arab Homeland

Tags

Algeria, Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, Bahrain, Democracy, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, palestine, prisoners, Sudan, Syrian Revolution

From the Arab Gulf to Syria, the Nile Valley and the Arab Maghreb – The People Unite in Solidarity!

At the time that the Arab states turn toward legal, political and economic reforms, pushed by the popular anger against the legal and economic situation that was afflicted on our Arab countries during the past periods by autocratic and repressive regimes, which acted to weaken the Arab peoples, keep them in ignorance and kill all their creative energies in an orderly and systematic way, we find that some states didn’t stop practicing some violations against the Arab activists in their different countries, in spite of the arrival (to the government) of some of the political parties that suffered a lot from the authoritative practices.

This happens while there is still Arab refusal to adopt a decisive stand against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and his armed gangs, which commit daily massacres against the Syrian people and against the youth, who come out every day in peaceful demonstrations against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.

In Morocco nearly 80 activists from the youth groups, and at their foremost activists from “The 20^th of February Movement”, are still held in detention. In Jordan the authorities arrested nearly 18 activists from “The Jordanian Popular Movement” and referred them to the State Security Court, which is a military unconstitutional court. All the activists in Jordan and Morocco are detained for their political views and their demands for reform programs.

In Cairo the Egyptian authorities still use some illegitimate practices against the Egyptian activists who demand some economic reforms and putting an end to the use of military courts against civilians, including demonstrators (Khaled Mekdad, Ahmad Al-Dakroury and Ahmad Manna) and children (Islam Harby and Mohammad Ihab) and the release of the revolution’s officers, which are detained on the order of the former Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi.

In Bahrain the authorities did not stop practicing continuous violations that are incompatible with human rights principles. The military’s influence still costs the lives of civilians. The last case was the killing of a demonstrator, aged 17, in his village South West of the Bahraini capital Manama. He was shot by the security forces and died as a consequence. The security forces also arrested dozens and keep them in detention without bringing them to trial. Dozens of prisoners of conscience and people detained for their political views are still languishing in Bahraini prisons, including Human Rights and political activists, which were arrested because of their demands for political, constitutional and legal reforms.

In Algeria many Human Rights, trade unionist and political activists are subject to detention and judicial harassment.

In Sudan the number of detainees held by the authorities exceeded 1700. The situation was aggravated by the detention of more than 15 Sudanese women. Some of them were released and others are still held under detention in Sudan’s prisons.

We, the undersigned groups, declare our full solidarity with the Syrian people, their right to self determination and their demand for Bashar Al-Assad giving up power. We affirm our support for the initiatives of peaceful struggle in Syria.

We also demand from the authorities in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan and Bahrain to respect Human Rights and the freedom of opinion and expression, to act quickly for the immediate release of all the detained activists and to put an end to all the extraordinary actions taken against them. We also call for the implementation of all the legitimate demands raised by those activists, including legitimate economic, legal and constitutional reforms.

Signatories

Arab movements and parties

6 April Youth Movement – Egypt

The Constitution Party – Egypt

The Egyptian Current Party – Egypt

No to Military Trials – Egypt

The Jordanian Youth Movement – Jordan

I Deserve A Civil Trial – IDACT – Jordan

Girifna Movement – Sudan

The 20^th of February Movement – Morocco

ATTAC Morocco association against capitalist globalization

Association of Moroccan Workers in France – France

Independent Youth Movement for Change – Algeria

Syrian Peaceful Movement Group – Syria

“One People One Destiny” Campaign – Syria

Syrian Week – Syria

Demonstration Team – Syria

“Waw Al-Wasel” Group – Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forum – Syria

Youth Against the Settlements – Palestine

Palestinians with the Syrian Revolution – Palestine

Youth and Students sector in The Democratic Progressive Forum Association – Bahrain

Youth Bureau in The Patriotic Democratic Action Association (Wa’ad) – Bahrain

Libya Youth Movement – Libya

The Libyan Association for Humanitarian Relief – Libya

Arab National Figures

Human Rights activist – Khaled Ali – former candidate for the presidency – Egypt

Engineer Ahmad Maher – member of the Constituent Assembly for the Constitution

MP Ziyad Al-Alimi –member of the former People’s Assembly – Egypt

Khalaf Ali Al-Khalaf – Syrian writer

Rabab Al-Bouti – Syria

Ahmad Lanki – member of the Libyan National Congress

Mohammad Al-Aouni – head of “freedoms of media and change” organization – Morocco

(Free Haifa Note: I made the effort to translate and publish this important declaration within hours after it was published. If you know Arabic, see the original text in Arabic. If there are any suggestions for improved translation please leave a comment or send an email.)

For Humanity’s Sake: The Syrian People Must Win!

Tags

Air Power, Arab Revolution, Arab Spring, Syrian Revolution, Violence

Violence has a very strong appeal. From the legendary Gordian Knot to any father that slaps the face of his stubborn kid, it seems to be the easy way to finish an argument. It requires no reasoning and no persuasion, except for the might of one’s sword.
The Arab Spring, the first big revolution of the 21 century in technologically developed arena, it putting into test all the dynamics of modern society. In the first wave of the revolution we have seen the people using modern communication to promote new ways of organization and protest. Now, in Syria, we also see the regime using all sorts of modern weaponry in its fight to restore the rule of fear over the rebelling population.
Modern Air force and long-range artillery seem to be the ideal weapons for any dictatorship. It requires only few people to operate and wields superior fire power. The operators are not in danger from the small weapons of the guerilla. They don’t see their victims face to face and can easily ignore the destruction and suffering that they cause. They can be kept in closed bases under security surveillance and can be isolated from the revolutionary propaganda.
While the first victories of the Arab Spring lighted revolutionary fires all over the world, the gruel display of violence from Syria bears a paralyzing effect. Maybe the only mistake of the fallen dictators was that they didn’t have the guts to use all their firepower at the critical moment? We are all learning from experience. The result of the Syrian revolution will influence the behavior of all kind of governments that are under the pressure of popular protest. A victory to the bloody tactics of the Assad regime may spell a new period of bloody oppression elsewhere.
Meanwhile Assad has already called the bluff of any pretence of international red lines on the violence of a government against its people. In the last three months, as the regime dropped all its reservations and started systematic bombardment of its cities and villages, all its noisy international critics made every possible gesture to show that they are every busy just now tying their shoe lace.
So it is up for the brave Syrian people (with few international volunteers) to fight it out by themselves – for their own freedom and for the sake of humanity.

How to support the Syrian Revolution? – Discussion with Anti Imperialist friends

Tags

Aleppo, Anti Imperialist, Armed Struggle, Left, Libya, palestine, Syrian Revolution

I very much respect the Anti Imperialist Camp. At the days of the mass movement against the imperialist invasion of Iraq, they came out of the peace loving mass with a brave principled position of defense and support of the right of the Iraqi people for armed resistance against the occupation. When Hamas was democratically elected to rule the Palestinian Authority in 2006, they held firm against all the anti-Islamic propaganda and led a campaign against the siege of Gaza.

So it is with some sorrow that I follow how my Anti Imperialist friends are taking a hesitant stand in their declared support for the Syrian revolution. In the spirit of revolutionary solidarity and the frank discussion between comrades, I would like to try to clear some of the mess of the position paper, “Democratic revolution against Assad AND the Gulf-backed forces“, published by my good friend Wilhelm Langthaler on August 4, 2012.

What is Revolutionary Solidarity?

Back in May 31, 2012, under the title “International Solidarity Initiative with the Syrian People“, we read (on the Anti Imperialist site) that “When the Arab popular revolt toppled the western-backed tyrants in Tunisia and Egypt, electrified the oppressed masses across the Arab world and eventually reached Syria, we all hoped for a quick victory of the democratic movement.”

For me this is simple enough and should stay this way. As we support the Syrian people, support their right for freedom from tyranny and terror, we should continue to support the Syrian revolution and wish for its quick victory. One consequence is that we should support the unity of all the forces of the revolution and call for progressive and democratic people outside Syria to support the revolutionaries in all possible ways.

Somehow the Anti Imperialist camp is obsessed with dividing the Syrian revolutionary forces between good and bad guys. It also devotes an unproportional share of its writing to teach the Syrian revolutionaries what is the best tactics for their struggle. It is a far reminiscent of the old days when revolutions were led from the center of a centralized international… It didn’t work even then. The Anti Imperialist camp used to be our symbol of real revolutionary solidarity – acknowledging that the leadership should stay with the people that are fighting on the ground.

Mass struggle and armed insurrection

The development of the Syrian revolution from peaceful demonstrations to armed struggle is natural and legitimate. On May 31, we read that “Unfortunately the Assad clique was frontally against the massive democratic mass movement… The only answer they had was bloody repression targeting any dissent. So armed self-defense increasingly became a more than legitimate necessity and, as many soldiers defected, developed organically from within the popular movement.”

In fact, in the face of deadly oppression, the armed struggle is not an alternative to the mass movement but a new form of it, the only practically possible form. You can’t expect people to put their lives in constant danger and not do everything that they can to defend themselves, their families and their communities.

Still there is an unexplained suspicion on the side of the Anti Imperialists of the justified Syrian armed revolt. In May they wrote that “the movement in the streets continued to peacefully face the guns of the regime for many months despite the utmost imbalance of force… no to violence and civil war”. In August, in response to the insurrection in Aleppo, they asked whether “the increasingly militarist strategy… prompt the closing of the regime’s ranks and alienate parts of the population?”

The plain truth is that the Syrian peaceful masses called for the organization of the Free Syrian Army to defend themselves and that only the military victories of the FSA will allow all the Syrians that support the revolution to break the chains of fear and terror – as well as will let the regime supporters to change their evaluation of their own self interests.

Reading developments on the ground

In the spirit of distrust of the forces waging the armed revolution, comrade Langthaler writes: “… the armed insurgents in Damascus were put down by the regime with relative ease. There seem to have been a kind of withdrawal without decisive battle. But in spite of drawing a political conclusion from this partial defeat – namely that the situation was politically not ripe for an armed uprising in the capital – an important section of the armed opposition, the FSA Salafi combine, rushed towards a much bigger endeavor under much worse political conditions: the attack on Aleppo.”

When Guerrilla forces fight regular army they don’t push for head-on military victory but for attrition of the army.   The uprising in Damascus and Aleppo did very much to change the psychological balance of forces – showing that there are no safe havens for the regime. (In the words of one revolutionary on Al-Jazeera, “we proved that there is no regime rooting out pockets of terrorists, but mass resistance rooting out pockets of the regime”.) In the face of military superior forces and ruthless bombardment of the civilian population the guerrilla force retreat and reorganize.

The uprising in Aleppo forced the Syrian army to withdraw its forces from most of the north of Syria (in order to attack Aleppo), creating for the first time big chunks of territory under rebel control. It is a big victory for the revolution, even if Aleppo will fall to the government again.

In Aleppo, unlike Damascus, the rebels have direct access to military supplies from Turkey – so they have the “strategic depth” that is essential for military victory – and they can still get it.

The Islamic Monster

As we were used to the brave and principled defense by the Anti Imperialist camp of the legitimacy of Islamic resistance, it is with special pain that I read the repeated reference to the “danger” of Islamic forces in the Syrian revolution, like in the following sentence: “Also leftist forces from within the opposition report that for the first time there is a Salafi/Islamist hegemony – which actually corresponds to the militarist concept and also to the superior armament secured by foreign funding.”

It should be clear for all, for some time now, if not from the beginning, that the main organized political forces in the Arab revolution are Islamic parties and movements. This doesn’t change the character of the Arab Spring as a great democratic revolution. Like the Russian masses in their revolution in 1917, the Arab masses in 2011 rose up to throw away their Tsars. Like the Russian Social Democrats that prepared for the revolution through their newspapers and trade union grassroots struggle, the Moslem Brothers prepared for the Arab spring through their mosques, social welfare networks and Al-Jazeera.

For many years tramping up the “Islamic danger” was the ultimate justification for Western “progressive democratic” Imperialism to support the most corrupt, repressive and backward dictatorships in the Middle East.

The brave and highly politicized Syrian people, who are fighting for their freedom in the harshest of conditions, will consider any political force according to its real contribution for their victory.

Of course, there are many dangers to the revolution, and the Syrian people are the best to know them. Sectarian revenge, for one, is directly playing into the hands of the regime. But it can come out of ignorance, as well as out of religious extremism, and should be denounced and prevented in any specific case when it happens, without throwing general accusations and raising suspicions between the partners to the revolution.

Foreign agents

The Syrian revolution is an insurrection of the popular Syrian masses against the corrupt bourgeois military dictatorship. After all the talk of foreign intervention, the astonishing thing is how little help the Syrian people receive. This is no surprise. Libya has a lot of oil and few people – so it was a lucrative revolution. The same imperialist politicians that were rubbing with Qaddafi in luxurious parties were quick to offer military help for his overthrow.

The Syrian people that demonstrated week after week for “no fly zone” over Syria are not un-patriotic. They just don’t like to be bombed. They noticed that the Syrian air force was not flying to fight Israel but to bomb Syrian cities and villages. Till now even this most simple request for foreign intervention was not met.

When people fight for their lives, they will welcome any help they can get. Even from the enemy, which they plan to fight over the next days. Don’t forget that Lenin in 1917 coordinated his return from Switzerland with German government agents. Ben-Laden was on the American government’s pay while fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, before turning his sights on the other front. On another level, most Human Rights organizations in the Middle East, Palestine included, get some funding from Western governments or semi-official sources.

So speaking today in Syria on “revolution against Gulf-backed forces” is empty words that confuse the political map. First the revolution should win. For this it needs unity and help. Then what will be left on the ground is the brave Syrian people that fought for the revolution and sacrified so much to get their freedom. All we can wish for them is that they will be strong enough to establish democracy and let the people decide the composition of their post-revolutionary government by elections and not by another period of violent struggle between the revolutionary forces.

Who wants Coup D’Etat?

Maybe the most surprising element in the article is the obsession with coup d’etat as the preferred solution to the current Syrian uprising.

As was written in “the economist” (3/8/2012) it is the imperialist forces that are afraid of an all out victory for the Syrian revolution and try to do whatever they can to inspire a military coup d’etat that will leave some of the ruling elite at the helms of power. They regard the ruling elite as more reliable in guarding the important interests of imperialism, not least the security of the Zionist state.

It is a shame if some people on the left are so suspicious of the Islamic tendencies of their brothers in the revolution to the extent that they prefer half victory and limited democracy to full revolutionary victory. (It is not new: In Turkey I met many leftists that wanted the army to keep some powers to hold back the democratically elected Islamic government; In Egypt some leftist were not fully supporting the Islamic-majority elected parliament against the army’s intervention.)

It is part of the imperialist strategy of delaying a revolutionary victory that is behind preventing the FSA the weapons that can save lives and decide the battle like anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Saying that, of course, any move of the army top command to stop obeying the orders of the Assad gang to massacre the Syrian people will be most welcomed, today, any day. So I’m also for a coup d’etat. Even if it will slow the revolution for some time – you can rely on the Syrian people that it will not be for long. But this is wishful thinking and not a revolutionary strategy.

Anti Imperialism and the Revolution

To the best of my knowledge, we are Anti Imperialists because we are Pro People, not the other way round. So we don’t seek to impose a program on the Syrian people. Nor do we look what imperialism is saying and doing its reverse. We strive to find the best way for the people to defend themselves and build a society, economy and state that will serve their interests.

Qaddafi’s Libya, or Socialist, Salafist, Capitalist or Anarchist Libya, will still sell oil to the imperialist countries. There may be some difference in the price, in environmental safeguards, and more difference how much of the money is stolen and how much is spent for local development.  There is a lot of difference who will benefit from the local development. Democratically elected government, freedom of organization, transparency, conscious and involved public, all will go a long way in the right direction – and they are the fruits of the Arab Spring as a great democratic revolution.

The big regional issues will also come back, not least the issue of Palestine. This is the most important issue where imperialism is standing unequivocally against democracy and against the aspirations of the Arab people. Decades of decay under corrupt dictatorships kept the Arab people out of any influence of the region’s development. The Arab Spring brings the Arab People to the center of the local political stage. It is the only force to rely on for the restoration of the Palestinian national rights.

Admiring the Syrian People

Tags

Aleppo, Arab Spring, Daraa, Ibrahim Qashoush, Syrian Revolution

When the revolution started, we were all enthusiastic of the revolution. It was like a dream comes true. Millions of people that had no voice suddenly spoke out freely, even at the risk of being arrested or shot. It was an explosion of creativity. In Syria, more than in all other centers of the Arab Revolution, the revolution was marked by good humor, popular songs, and people dancing in the streets to keep their spirits in the face of deadly oppression.

It was with great joy that we made our first pro Syrian revolution demonstrations in Haifa, singing the viral revolutionary lyrics of Ibrahim Qashoush from Hama. But after the revolution has already cost the lives of more than twenty thousand Syrians, how can one keep enthuse about it?

You might wonder whether the Syrians themselves would start this revolution, had they known in advance the real price in martyrs, wounded people, suffering and destruction. It was, famously, some kids in Daraa who made the first step by writing slogans on the walls against the fearful Assad tyranny. But from the arrest of the kids of Daraa, back in March 2011, till the bombing of the poor neighborhoods of Damascus and Halab (Aleppo) over the last weeks, it is the indiscriminate unproportional brutal oppression of the regime that galvanized the public and made the next step of the revolution inevitable.

At any stage of the revolution, while oppression becomes ever more brutal, people are faced with the same cruel choice. To stop here will be to let all your sacrifices, the blood of the martyrs and the life long suffering of the wounded, to go in vain. Worse, to stop here will be to submit oneself to long years of humiliation, suffering the vengeance of a brutal wounded regime. And then you know that you or your children will have to start the struggle for freedom all over again.

So there is only one way for the Syrian revolution – and this is the way forward for revolutionary victory, the toppling of the regime and the establishment of democracy.

In this long and bloody road, the Syrian revolution has already gone far beyond what the Arab revolution has done in all the other countries where it erupted. In Tunisia and Egypt the army, guided by its mentors in the US, let go the head of the regime in order to keep as much as possible of the old establishment and the old order in place. You can see the limits of the Egyptian revolutionary victory every day by the intervention of the military clique, which resolved the elected parliament and limits the power of the elected president. It doesn’t mean that it would be better for the Egyptians to fight it in the streets to get rid of all the remnants of the regime. As long as there is a cheaper way forward, there is no justification for a bloody revolutionary confrontation. But the Syrian people had no such choice and they proved that no massacre can stop the revolution.

In Libya, after the first stage of the popular uprising, the imperialist powers decided to drop Qaddafi, which served them very well in his last years of lunatic dictatorship. The NATO intervention neutralized the regime’s airpower and tanks. Still it was the local revolutionaries that fought to liberate town after town on the ground – but they could hardly won against the might of the army without outside help. In Syria there was a long and soul torturing argument in the opposition about calling for foreign intervention – until it became clear on the ground that nobody will intervene of their behalf. So the Syrian revolutionary victory will be wholly owned by the Heroic sacrifices of the Syrian people.

Basically the struggle of the revolution is the struggle for the hearts and minds of the Syrian people. For many people the very lack of freedom, their impoverishment and marginalization in their own homeland, was reason enough to join the fight. Many others preferred the known relative safety of the current regime, or at least wouldn’t put their lives and their families at risk to challenge it. Much of the revolutionary logic is how, after the open struggle started and people are bravely challenging the regime, more people are joining in just because they can’t stand silent while their compatriots are so brutally oppressed.

Till now we see on Al-Jazeera the daily defectors from the army, the diplomatic corpus, the police or even the security services, declaring their choice to follow their consciousness and join the people’s uprising. If they stayed so long they surely had a hard decision to do. You don’t know what pressure they were under and what they stand to loose. As they regime is determined to regain control of his people by simply blowing them up, it is surely loosing the battle for their souls.

As we, in occupied Palestine, follow with admiration the heroic battle of the Syrian people, more and more people remember that Palestine used to be the southern part of Syria. Decades of humiliation and incapacity divided the Arab people, sending each group to look for its own interests. Now the winds of freedom are blowing over the artificial borders and the sense of pride is strengthening the common identity. Syria was always the beating heart of Arab nationality – now it is radiating the message of revolution, freedom and democracy.