The brutal crackdown of the past five months cannot be excused by Syria's resistance credentials.
AN EXCELLENT COMMENT
By Bassam Haddad
Al-Jazeera
"...However, the five-month-long protests against the regime in Syria, and the brutal response that left more than 2,000 Syrians dead and many thousands more injured or imprisoned, should leave no ambiguity. One wonders how these brutal policies by the Syrian regime will bring about salvation/freedom/liberation from Israel’s own racist and brutal policies; how they will stop home demolitions, population transfer schemes, and illegal Jewish-only racist settlements? How will these policies roll back the hypocritical policies of the United States in the region, its devastation of Iraq, and its support of Israel’s apartheid policies and of the remaining Arab dictatorships that partake in this anti-resistance camp?
If one’s opposition to imperialism were based on a political position and not on principle, it might be more understandable, even if patently unprincipled, to stand by the Syrian regime. But this would be akin to Israelis or Israel supporters who personally object to the racist policies of Israel, but somehow justify their support for Israel as it stands. The irony is that these Israeli leftists are chastised by the aformentioned part of the pro-resistance left precisely for abandoning anything smacking of leftism.
Where is the principle in all this? While this question may indeed be naïve, it is directed here to those who claim to take positions on principle, and on principle alone. The Syrian regime has long passed the threshold when those who prioritise resistance must return again to principle. As with hyper-nationalism - i.e., “my country right or wrong” - unfettered exhibitions of loyalty to the Syrian regime have no place. If one opposes imperialism on principle, than one must oppose the Syrian regime’s crushing of the protesters on principle. Whatever resistance credentials the Syrian regime possessed withered when it started killing its own people at a rate of approximately one hundred per week (for the last five months)....."
AN EXCELLENT COMMENT
By Bassam Haddad
Al-Jazeera
"...However, the five-month-long protests against the regime in Syria, and the brutal response that left more than 2,000 Syrians dead and many thousands more injured or imprisoned, should leave no ambiguity. One wonders how these brutal policies by the Syrian regime will bring about salvation/freedom/liberation from Israel’s own racist and brutal policies; how they will stop home demolitions, population transfer schemes, and illegal Jewish-only racist settlements? How will these policies roll back the hypocritical policies of the United States in the region, its devastation of Iraq, and its support of Israel’s apartheid policies and of the remaining Arab dictatorships that partake in this anti-resistance camp?
If one’s opposition to imperialism were based on a political position and not on principle, it might be more understandable, even if patently unprincipled, to stand by the Syrian regime. But this would be akin to Israelis or Israel supporters who personally object to the racist policies of Israel, but somehow justify their support for Israel as it stands. The irony is that these Israeli leftists are chastised by the aformentioned part of the pro-resistance left precisely for abandoning anything smacking of leftism.
Where is the principle in all this? While this question may indeed be naïve, it is directed here to those who claim to take positions on principle, and on principle alone. The Syrian regime has long passed the threshold when those who prioritise resistance must return again to principle. As with hyper-nationalism - i.e., “my country right or wrong” - unfettered exhibitions of loyalty to the Syrian regime have no place. If one opposes imperialism on principle, than one must oppose the Syrian regime’s crushing of the protesters on principle. Whatever resistance credentials the Syrian regime possessed withered when it started killing its own people at a rate of approximately one hundred per week (for the last five months)....."
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