Danger of NATO intervention looms as Syrian crisis deepens
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VOL. 30, NO. 7, JULY 2012 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. / CANADA $1 The menace of imperialist intervention looms over Syria as tensions increase be tween the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the Western powers and their Middle East ern surrogates. On June 22, the Assad gov ernment shot down a Turkish airplane that was conducting a reconnaissance mission in Syrian airspace. Despite an apology from Assad, the Turkish government (which is a member of NATO) responded by amassing more F-16 fighter jets and other military forces on the Syrian border.
The mounting tensions occur in the con text of more violent attacks perpetrated by the Assad regime against the Syrian op position. The Houla massacre of May 25, in which over 100 civilians perished in unclear circumstances, and the continued bombings outside of Damascus have stirred calls in the West for “regime change.” In the meantime, repression by the Syrian army and its associated militias has been met by increased attacks by the armed opposition, which has seen a steady rise in foreign aid.
While the Assad regime has received military assis tance from Russia, the Syrian opposition has been ac cepting arms and equipment from Turkey, Saudi Ara bia, and Qatar—as well as from the United States. The New York Times recently confirmed that the CIA has been involved in smuggling arms to select militants from the opposition. And Time magazine reported in its issue of June 25 that the U.S. State Department has budgeted over $72 million to train armed Syrian dis Tony Savino / Socialist Action MUSIC FOR GERRY FOLEY Jean Romsted and Tom Bias, members of the Solidarity Sing ers of the N.J. State Industrial Union Council, lead people in song during June 9 New York tribute to Socialist Action Inter national Editor Gerry Foley, who died in Mexico, April 21. San Francisco and Dublin, Ireland, also held memorials. sidents in encryption, hacking, and video production.
Foreign ministers from the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, China, and several other nations met in Geneva on June 30 to broker an agreement for a transitional government in Syria. No Syrians were represented in these negotiations, which were sup posedly seeking to achieve “an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people.”
The West has been silent on how a “Syrian-led po litical process” could develop without the input of the Syrian masses. Nonetheless, the imperialist powers could not come to an agreement during the confer ence, which resulted in an undefined plan to create a transitional government. Russia insisted that the ar rangement would not specifically exclude Assad from Many transitional regime. Elements from both the Syrian opposition and the Assad government have denounced the plan brokered at the Geneva meeting.
The Syrian National Council (SNC), a group of Syrian elites inexile who have positioned them selves as the head of the opposi tion movement, has repeatedly called on the West to intervene militarily to oust Assad and end the violence that is tearing the country apart. In the week lead ing up to the Geneva conference, it was reported that 800 people were killed in fighting between Assad’s forces and the Syrian op position. Heightened imperialist intervention, however, like the one conducted by NATO in Libya, would only result in more civilian casualties and deaths.
The fate of the Syrian revolution lies in the hands of the workers, peasants, and oppressed minori ties struggling for their freedom.
These forces must seek to main tain their political independence Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images (Above) In this June 2011 file photo, protesters in Istanbul denounced Assad after Syrian tanks sent hundreds fleeing into Turkey.
and take the opposition in a different direction than what is proposed by the Syrian National Council. This includes opposing imperialist intervention, which will only seek to co-opt the movement and bend it to the interests of foreign capital.
To this end, we call for the formation of a revolution ary party based in the working class and oppressed communities. Such a party must have a political pro gram capable of uniting the Syrian people in their aspirations for freedom, democratic rights, and eco nomic justice. Moreover, the Syrian people will only know true freedom when they overthrow the exploit ative capitalist system, cast out their oppressors, and reshape society to one that is based on grassroots democracy, with the goal of meeting human needs in stead of private profit.
No to imperialist intervention! No to the Assad re gime! Victory to the workers, peasants, oppressed communities, and youth of Syria! n
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