Syrian rebels gain ground; U.S. threatens intervention

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... U.S. Congress: Less for working people 4 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2013 In the last month, all the factors fueling the Syr­ ian civil war have taken on added weight and conse­ quence. These include, on the one hand, massacres by the regime, positioning of imperialist powers for post-Assad influence, and financing by Gulf states of Islamist fighters from abroad; and impressive rebel military successes and continued mass mobilizations, on the other.

All these factors have increased the complexity of the situation and the perils that are involved. And while the war’s unfolding has multiplied the obstacles in the way of a positive outcome, the steadfastness of the revolution against the Bashar al-Assad regime has never been greater.

Western governments and media have dramatically stepped up their propaganda campaign trying to jus­ tify intervention, pointing, for instance, to Assad’s al­ leged use of Scud missiles in civilian areas and plans to use chemical weapons (though without proof). In mid-December, al-Jazeera and other news networks released a report and video of people from the reb­ el-held area of Homs who appeared to have inhaled some sort of poisonous gas during a government at­ tack—but here too, proof is lacking.

At the same time, and also to justify their own inter­ vention, the U.S. and its Western allies have stepped up their claims of alleged domination of the opposi­ tion by non-Syrian Islamist forces. The opposition, in contrast, says that the number and weight of such forces remain in a minority, and that imperialist pro­ paganda on this point is a sign that the U.S. and friends are scared by the revolution’s military advances, and are positioning themselves to intervene at the last mo­ ment to put in place a pliable regime once Assad falls.

Washington and other imperialist powers have rec­ ognized the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution­ ary and Opposition Forces, the new bourgeois opposi­ tion coalition, as the “legitimate” government of Syria, and they hope the Council will be the leading force in a post-Assad regime.

Meanwhile, that regime, whose military might is increasingly constricted by rebel forces who have scored numerous successes against ground troops, (continued from page 1: “U.S. Congress: smaller paychecks for workers”) no reason that a society as wealthy and productive as ours needs to squeeze the lives of its workers to fund their bare­ bones survival in old age; in addition, with social programs being on the table for debt negotiation talks later this year, look for enterprising politicians to talk about raiding the Social Security fund to make up for the general deficit.

Annual Minimum Tax (AMT) and Tax Deduction Limits: The bill chained the AMT to inflation, effectively limiting it only to high wage earners, and created limits on tax deductions for individuals earning more than $250,000 per year. Although these policies are designed primarily to affect the rich, the overall impact is likely to be minor.

Tax Extenders: “Tax extenders” are a bundle of various tax credits and subsidies that go entirely to corporate recipients, ranging from NASCAR to Goldman Sachs, ostensibly for research and development. But they include pro­ tection for a type of off-shore financ­ ing, tax credits for building “entertain­ ment complexes,” and other things that should be financed by the corporations themselves, like basic worker safety and maintenance, but are shunted off to the taxpayer. So, while the bill passes what amounts to a massive tax hike on the working class, it works hard to protect the Democrats’ and the Republicans’ primary constituency, the corporations, from, well, … actually having to produce anything.

Extension of Unemployment Ben­ efits, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Mike Kowalski / Socialist Action the Child Tax Credit: So far, so good.

Emergency unemployment benefits were set to expire on Dec. 31, but they were extended for another year. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit, extremely beneficial to working families, were protected from this round, although the deficit mad­ ness is just getting into gear.

There are a few other provisions in the bill as well, like the prevention of pay cuts to Medicare doctors and the tem­ porary resolution to the so-called “milk cliff,” and a pay freeze for members of Congress. The most critical parts of the Virginie Nguyen Hoang / AP (Above) Children joined protest against the Assad government on Friday, Dec. 21, in Aleppo, Syria.

has relied increasingly on attacks by warplanes and artillery—including several times killing dozens or even hundreds of civilians waiting in long lines for bread. This phase too may be ending, as rebels have begun to capture some of the regime’s air bases.

But the regime is still capable of mass slaughter. In fact, as we go to press, news comes of the deadliest day in the war, with Assad killing 399 on Dec. 29, of whom 220 were executed in a field in field in Deir Balbah, ac­ cording to the Local Coordination Committees (LCCs). On Dec. 16, at least 25 Palestinian refugees were killed by the Assad regime in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, further embittering Palestinians resentful at being used for public relations purposes by the sup­ posed “Resistance” leader Assad.

Still, the tide in the war has turned far enough against (Left) Dec. 10 protest in Lansing, Mich., against “right-to-work” law. Union tops, tied to the Democrats, were ineffectual in stopping the Michigan measure.

bill are the massive tax hike for working people and the fact that the fiscal cliff has not been averted. That is correct; the permanent changes to the Bush tax cuts, the permanent expiration of the Payroll Tax Holiday, the year-long extension of sweetheart corporate subsidies, were all done to push back the deadline for sequestration until March 1, by which time if a suitable solution to the debt “crisis” hasn’t been found, the cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary spending will proceed as normal.

The bill did nothing to provide for a Fiscal Year 2013 budget (FY 2013 start­ ed in October 2012, so the government has been operating under a “continuing resolution,” a stop-gap that continues the previous year’s funding levels on an emergency basis). And finally, before sequestration is set to occur in March, we will hit the debt ceiling again near the end of February.

Upon the bill’s passing, the usual sus­ pects came out of the woodwork to de­ fend it as the best compromise an em­ battled president could muster: “[A]nd on the principle of the thing, you could say that Democrats held their ground on the essentials—no cuts in benefits—while Republicans have just voted for a tax increase for the first time in decades,” says Paul Krugman of the deal, while Ezra Klein is busy, as usual, spinning the deal as another victory on Assad that officials of his main foreign backer, Russia, have stated publicly their doubts about his ability to remain in power. On Dec. 28, the Russian government issued a formal invitation to Moscow to the head of the National Coalition (the invitation was rejected, at least for now).

Among the Islamist forces arrayed against Assad is a supposed al-Qaeda affiliate, the al-Nusra Front. Esti­ mates vary wildly over the size and significance of this group. Nonetheless, after Washington denounced it as a terrorist group, the huge weekly Friday rallies in Syria adopted the theme of support for the Front and denunciation of U.S. meddling. (Other recent Friday themes had included opposition to UN and U.S. inter­ vention, with organizers declaring that after months of inaction, rhetoric from Washington against Assad could only be intended to position itself as a player in post-Assad Syria.) But the LCCs, while rejecting U.S. attempts to dictate participation and policy for the revolution, have denounced bombings and other ac­ tions by the Front and other forces that have taken civilian lives.

Syrian revolutionaries continue to point to ideologi­ cal diversity within the Nusra Front and other suppos­ edly Islamist forces, noting statements by various of their leaders and members calling for a tolerant, secu­ lar regime after Assad falls. They have also noted that access to arms and training, often not available in Free Syria Army units, continues to swell the ranks of such forces regardless of the personal beliefs of its recruits.

Meanwhile, the unbelievably brave mass unarmed demonstrations continue. For example, the LCCs re­ ported that 291 demonstrations occurred around the country on Friday, Dec. 21. Among the themes cho­ sen were demands that the FSA “commit to its duty to protect civilians,” that the revolution continue until the ouster of the regime (and against settling for a UNbrokered “transition” leaving the bulk of the regime in place), solidarity with Palestinians in the Yarmouk camp, and maintenance of unity of all communities and religions against Assad.

In other encouraging news, in early December, a Dera’a branch of the Revolutionary Left Current was founded in Syria, comprising activists from a variety of Marxist and other left traditions. The RLC’s news­ paper also reported on the assumption of power since the ouster of Assad forces of an elected popu­ lar council in the city of Duma. That council, in a city of over half a million, has committees constructed on both geographic and technical bases. In addition, “a free forum of the city of Duma has been set up, which meets twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays for all questions concerning the city.” n President Obama’s inevitable road to progressive utopia. To be sure, there are some things that appear good in the bill, and some things that appear to be a reasonable compromise.

The real indicator, however, is the way that the fiscal cliff deal sets the stage for the upcoming fight on the debt ceiling. Revenues are a done deal; the changes in revenue structure are permanent, at least through the end of the year, and we will not hear much more about rais­ ing taxes (since we just did!). Despite being one of the major drivers of debt expansion, the Democrats will defend PPACA to the death, and the Repub­ licans are certainly not going to fight for the one solution that will solve the problem of spiraling health costs,—i.e., nationalized health care—so we can ex­ pect that health care (aside from Medi­ care and Medicaid) will not be part of the discussion.

What’s left? We have the tax increases; the only thing left to talk about is what to cut and how much—austerity, Amer­ ican-style. You can bet that Congress will be gunning for Social Security, Med­ icaid, education, and the whole sweep of social programs that help ordinary Americans; both sides have indicated a willingness to go after Social Secu­ rity and Medicare, programs that were taboo to even talk about in the context of cuts (Obama’s 2012 budget proposal already attempted to include a higher age eligibility for Medicare and reduced benefits).

So watch for February. It looks like, in order to solve the crisis of capitalist production, both the Republicans and Democrats are looking to throw work­ ing Americans to the wolves. n