Washington sides with Syrian regime
2011Andrew Pollack 2011-04Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 11 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 2011 11 Syria has joined the ranks of countries participat ing in the regional uprising. The largest and most fre quent protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have been in the southern city of Deraa. But protests also occurred in Damascus, Latakia, and other cities. Human rights activists say that over 100 protest ers may have been killed by the regime in March.
On March 30, Assad gave a speech that ended up being just a reprise of slanders against protesters as agents of imperialism, or Zionism, or even Palestinians trying to start a civil war!
In keeping with its goal of regional “stability,” Wash ington has stuck with Assad. Hillary Clinton told the press that the United States would not intervene in Syria militarily. She quoted Congress members who had recently visited Syria and who called Assad “a re former.” The Syrian president has grown closer to the United States in recent years, earning his reward in the form of the return of an American ambassador to Da mascus after a six-year hiatus.
Syria has accepted prisoners from the U.S. under “special rendition,” i.e. the program of sending prison ers to countries where they can be tortured by friendly regimes when it’s too risky to have U.S. inquisitors at Guantanamo to do it. Seymour Hersch, in several New Yorker articles in recent years, has portrayed the eager ness of Assad to mend fences with the U.S., including by talks with Israel, even if carried out mostly behind closed doors. Bassam Haddad, director of Middle East Studies at George Mason University, has also pointed to Assad’s adoption of neoliberal economic policies “that have created huge gaps between different segments of Syrian society.”
Hard on the heels for his expressions of support for Muammar Gadhafi, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to the defense of Assad after the killings, calling him a “humanist” facing violent protests backed by the U.S. and its allies. Chavez said he had spoken to Assad and referred to him as “our brother.”
Like Gadhafi, Assad throws out meaningless anti-imperialist rhetoric, and provides just enough mate rial support for some resistance fighters in exile to buy their silence. But you can’t fool people all the time: The (Above) March 25: Thousands in Damascus rally for reforms and against government killings of protesters.
Angry Arab blogger quoted a Reuters report that “pro testers in the Syrian city of Der‘aa shouted slogans de nouncing Maher Assad, brother of the Syrian president and head of the Republican Guard. ‘Maher, you coward. Send your troops to liberate the Golan.’” n BAHRAIN: On March 15 Saudi troops entered Bahrain, and the next day government forces at tacked protesters, killing at least 13.
Washington has endorsed claims by the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Ara bia and Bahrain, that the former’s troops entered Bahrain legally, to protect against alleged threats from Iran.
The country’s trade-union federation called an open-ended general strike until foreign troops had left, but it was halted after a week following assurances that workers would not be attacked at checkpoints. Meanwhile, some unions and activ ists have called for protection for South Asian im migrant workers, targeted by vigilantes angered at use of Pakistanis in the regime’s security forces.
This is another sign of the need for regional ArabAfrican-Asian workers’ solidarity to cut across in digenous and immigrant divides created by dicta torial regimes in the service of capital. —A.P.
energy, the escalation of investment in nuclear power, the brutality of a new oil war in North Africa, and the dumping of depleted-uranium shells on Libya—have all brought a new interest in the April 9 and 10 antiwar marches from anti-nuke activists.
In San Francisco, Pacifica radio sta tion KPFA endorsed the April 10 anti war march and is vigorously building a No Nukes! No War! Contingent. In New York, well known anti-nuke activist Har vey Wasserman is speaking. The United National Antiwar Committee, in re sponse to these developments, formally added a No Nukes! No War! Demand for the national actions.
All of these developments, coming as they do as a result of or in conjunction with the new U.S./UN/NATO threats to the embryonic Arab revolutions and up surges against dictatorial rule, suggest that a new and vigorous antiwar move ment is within our reach.
At this moment, the United National Antiwar Committee, born out of the democratic one-person, one-vote as sembly of over 800 activists in Albany last July, and committed to mass action independent of the Democratic and Re publican parties, is leading the way in this process.
UNAC is planning a second national conference, where the lessons of orga nizing the April 9 and 10 actions will be drawn and plans for the future mapped out. Your group can find out how to join the UNAC Coordinating Committee now by visiting the website at www.unac peace.org. n