Today, December 8, is a sad day for history and a turning point in the
reordering of the Middle East that will affect the rest of the world ina way that is still unpredictable. ---- A new and difficult stage is
opening for the world's transformative forces. A stage in which we need
to accompany our reflection and our actions with implacable ethics and
humanity, with unprecedented self-criticism and, above all, with an
irremediable purpose of uniting forces above all else. We need to have
hope. ---- Today, December 8, the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in
Syria was officially announced. The fall of a regime that has never been
legitimately popular should not be bad news. But it becomes bad news
when the regime that replaces it is an Islamic dictatorship financed and
supported by foreign powers in order, once again, to satisfy their
geopolitical interests in the region, and above all, to "take good
positions" in the face of the new world reordering. It is indeed bad
news when the Syrian Government and the Autonomous Administration of
North and East Syria (hereinafter AANES) were the only resistance to
both Islamic fascism and Western imperialism and also the only hope of
finding peace in Syria, seeking a democratic solution to this war that
has been going on since 2011.
We, the transformative forces in the West, have always found differences
during the analysis of the war in Syria. Possibly, these discrepancies
have occurred (and continue to occur) due to our Eurocentric and biased
method of analyzing conflicts. A method that tends to justify our
political positions and identities here, instead of observing the
conflict from an objective perspective and trying to make a deep
analysis of all the dimensions that make up a conflict like this. When
our gaze as external observers acts in such a superficial way, when it
enters into this perverse game assigning one community the role of lamb
and another the role of wolf, what we are doing without knowing it is
granting in advance impunity to the crimes of one of the parties.
There have been political forces that, under the banner of
anti-imperialism, have always defended the legitimacy of the al-Assad
regime against any other alternative, including a revolutionary and
democratic alternative such as that proposed by the AANES. The al-Assad
government rejected on different occasions not only the alliance with
the AANES, but any type of negotiation with it that could find a
democratic solution to the war in Syria. Today the government has fallen
and al-Assad has fled. That solution will no longer be possible.
On the other hand, there have been sectors that, from a false liberating
morality, have justified during these years the violent uprising against
the regime, led by jihadist groups financed by foreign powers. These
groups have now taken over the government of Syria. The current leader
of these rebel groups organized under the name of the Syrian National
Army is Abu Mohammad al-Yulani, emir of Tahrir al-Sham.
Al-Yulani was arrested by US forces and imprisoned for over five years
in various prisons and detention centers. Before cutting ties with
al-Qaeda in 2016, al-Yulani had served as the emir of the now-defunct
al-Nusra Front, the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. He played a
leading role in planning and executing a deal with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
(former caliph of ISIS) to move to Syria and establish this branch of
al-Qaeda.
Al-Yulani released an audio statement on September 28, 2014, in which he
claimed that he would fight against "the United States and its allies"
and urged his fighters not to accept help from the West in their battle
against the Islamic State. However, today, after the fall of the Syrian
government and the seizure of power in Damascus, he announces: "Our hand
of friendship is open to all countries, even Israel, but Iran and
Hezbollah are our enemies."
This is a clear example of who these so-called rebels are serving. The
Western powers led by the US, Turkey, Russia and some other regional
powers have been using the Syrian chessboard as another game for their
geopolitical interests. Their alliances are made and unmade without any
morality, only based on those interests and their strategies. The Syrian
people are once again being used and paying the consequences of these
dark moves. This time, the Russian state bears a large part of the
responsibility, as the al-Assad regime has been under its protection for
all these years, and now it has become a sacrificed piece, or rather
exchanged, for another piece of its interest that we do not yet know in
the dark game between the great powers. Putin has shown once again that
he cared little for the Syrian people, and that his support for the
al-Assad government was only a strategic issue. It has never been a
question of socialism, freedoms, or anti-terrorism as has been sold on
numerous occasions. Putin has given the green light to the invasion.
In Syria, there is still the territory of the AANES. This territory
resisted as an opportunity for peace, but now it is also in serious
danger. Both the Turkish state from the north and the rebels from Syria
are already attacking its positions. The city of Manbij, which was the
scene of one of the toughest battles of the revolutionary forces against
ISIS, is falling today again into the hands of jihadists, with the help
of Turkish bombings and the approval of the West. A city of more than
100,000 people, with a Kurdish majority, is exposed to the possible
massacres and executions that are already being carried out throughout
Syria by the rebels.
Image taken from the Telegram channel Defendamos Kurdistan.
The territory of the AANES and the revolution that began here in 2012
has not only been an obstacle to Turkey's imperialist ambitions and the
advance of ISIS. It has also been a threat to the status quo of the
Middle East, as it has put into practice a model of a democratic nation
and social order that questions the current nation-states and regional
powers. A model of coexistence for the different ethnicities, religions,
cultures and political visions of society that has been a beacon of hope
for the entire region and even an example of social transformation for
many eyes in the world.
Obviously, this revolution has also been a threat to the interests of
the West, and for this reason the representatives of the AANES have been
denied full participation in the talks to find a peaceful solution to
the war in Syria for all these years. Both in the Geneva talks (under
the auspices of the UN) and in the subsequent peace process in Astana
(mediated by Russia).
Where are these negotiation and peace tables now? Why are the media not
echoing this void? How was it possible that a war that has been
maintained in a relative balance of forces for more than ten years fell
into the hands of the jihadists in one week? Why are the jihadists
already being given victory over Syria if the large territory of the
AANES still exists?
During all these years, the Western media have been determined to make
the revolution in the north and east of Syria invisible, and therefore
to sabotage a possible peaceful solution to the war if it did not
involve achieving Western objectives in the region. They have striven
(as usual) to distort information, manipulate and mix up the different
factions within the Syrian war, thus confusing public opinion. This
leads to a misunderstanding of the conflicts, of the analysis and
therefore of the conclusions. A common trick of the mass media to create
confusion in public opinion and thus curb possible sympathies or
solidarity on the part of the population.
Today, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said "as soon
as the airport and the border are reopened, we will analyse the
situation again" and he stated that he was "in close contact" with
European partners and "Arab friends" in the region regarding the
situation that is emerging after the fall of al-Assad.
We will see the movements during the next few days, but we are very
afraid that the massacres committed by these rebels will be silenced,
that we will continue to be "informed" of how these rebels "liberate"
the last territories of Syria and take control of them. Nothing or
little will be said about how the possibility of a real democracy in
Syria is disappearing, about the violations of human rights, the
executions or the western interests in supporting jihadist forces. On
the contrary, we will once again witness media and political hypocrisy,
lies and whitewashing of terrorism, such as that of Albares this
morning: "We must take steps so that it is the Syrian people who decide
who and how they want to be governed in the future."
Meanwhile, the YPG-YPJ (Kurdish militias) and the SDF (Syrian Democratic
Forces) will continue to fight and resist the advance of the jihadists.
They will continue to defend the revolution and the hope for a better
world. And they will certainly try to make the best possible decisions
to protect the population of northern and eastern Syria and thus avoid
more unnecessary deaths.
We cannot jump to conclusions about what will happen with the future of
Syria and the Middle East. Nor the impact it will have on international
politics. But what is certain is that the development of future events
paints a difficult time ahead. This makes us feel obliged to call for
reflection, solidarity between peoples, common sense, awareness and
unity. We have to prioritize humanity above all that separates us. That
is really socialism, the fight for freedom and real democracy. If the
transforming forces do not unite around the simplicity of what the word
humanity means... there will be more Syrias, more Palestines, more
Saharas, more Ukraines...
Whatever happens in Syria, the fight for freedom will continue. We have
learned a lot from the revolution in northern Syria and we follow its
steps closely. As long as there are brave people with humanity, there
will be hope. One world, one fight.
Long live the people of Syria and the Democratic Administration of North
and East Syria.
Political Secretariat of Mutual Support Aragon.
December 8, 2024AANES, Democratic Confederalism, ISIS, Kurdistan, UN,
Kurdish people, Rojava, SDF, Syria, YPG, YPJ
https://apoyomutuoaragon.net/sin-miedo-y-con-esperanza
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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