Eva Bartlett speaks on Syria
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8 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2017 At meetings initiated by the newly formed Hands Off Syria Coalition (HOSC), independent Canadian journal ist Eva Bartlett reported on her several trips to Syria, including most recently to Aleppo in late November. Bartlett toured the U.S. in mid-December addressing packed meetings in New York City and other East Coast venues as well as stand ing-room-only public forums in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. More than 600 activists attended her meetings, which included lengthy ques tion and answer periods. Her slide show and video presentation debunked the U.S. corporate media’s characterization of the events in Syria as a civil war between democratic-minded Syrian “rebels” and the government of President Bashar Assad. Instead, Bartlett, while noting the legitimacy of the early mass protests for democracy in 2011, asserted that this brief movement had long ago given way to a U.S.-backed, NATO and Gulf State Arab monarchy abetted imperialist and terrorist war aimed at “regime change” in Syria.
Based on two key points of unity, “No U.S. Intervention in Syria!” and Self-determination for Syria!” the Hands Off Syria Coalition was formed last year at Bartlett’s forum in Oakland (from left):
Paul Larudee, Syria Solidarity Coalition; Eva Bartlett; Jeff Macker, UNAC; Rick Sterling, Veterans for Peace. the initiative of the Unit ed National Antiwar Co alition (UNAC) and the U.S. Peace Council.
Security and transpor tation for Bartlett’s most recent visit to Aleppo was provided by the Syr ian government and included interviews with President Assad. Bartlett was joined on this tour by journalists from several countries, including the New York Times Bureau Chief based in Lebanon, Anne Barnard. Bartlett traveled on the same bus with Barnard, and both noted the massive destruction in Western Aleppo wrought by so-called rebels based in Eastern Alep po and backed by the U.S.
While Barnard’s reportage over the past years has frequently called attention to the fact that the main fighting forces in Syria seeking the Assad government’s re moval are trained, financed, and abetted by the U.S. and its sponsored “coalition” allies, The Times coverage most often rel egates this defining information to brief references buried beneath the official CIA assertions that the Syrian government is guilty of war crimes.
See Socialist Action, November 2016, for Barnard’s and other Times reports on the central role of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and its essential domination of the fighting forces in Eastern Aleppo. For example, the Aug. 25, 2016, New York Times reported, “The jihadists’ prominent role in the Aleppo offensive showed that they remain militarily in (continued on page 9, in “Say no to discrimination against Muslims!”)