For more than two years, the majority of observers analyzes the Syrian revolutionary process in geopolitical terms, from above, and ignores the popular political and socio-economic dynamics at the bottom. The threats of a Western intervention have only reinforced this idea of an opposition between two camps: The Western states and the Gulf monarchies on one side, Iran, Russia and Hezbollah on the other. We refuse to choose between these two camps, we refuse this logic of the “least harmful [evil]” which will only lead to the loss of the Syrian revolution and its objective: democracy, social justice and the rejection of sectarianism. Our support goes to the revolutionary people fighting for its freedom and emancipation. Indeed, only a people fighting will allow not only the fall of the regime, but also the creation of a secular democratic state and the emergence of social justice. A society respecting and guaranteeing each and everyone’s right to practice their religion and respecting their equality without discriminating against them on the basis of religion, ethnic background, gender, etc.
Only masses developing their own mobilization potential can realize change through their collective action. This is the abc of revolutionary politics. But this abc, today, faces a profound skepticism from numerous leftist milieus in the West. We are told that we are taking our desires for realities, that there may have been an early revolution in Syria two years and a half ago, but that things changed since then. We are told that jihadism has taken over the fight against the regime, that it is no longer a revolution but a war and that there is a need to choose a camp to find a concrete solution.
All the “debate” on the left is polluted by this ‘campist’ logic, often accompanied by conspiracy theories that blur the fundamental differences between the left and the right – and especially the far-right. When a journalist testifies what he or she saw on the ground, in this or that region under rebel control, and that this testimony dismisses the dominant explanations on the jihadist hegemony, he is ignored. Some even imply that those tales are part of the media lies, that aim to make the opposition look presentable to justify an imperialist intervention and thus that we cannot credit it [his depiction].
We asked Joseph Daher, Syrian revolutionary activist, member of the Revolutionary Left Current in Syria, currently living in Switzerland, to rexplain the state of the popular movements in his country, specifically the self-organization of the masses in the liberated regions, the struggle against sectarianism and against islamists. The conclusion that comes out of this is clear: yes, the revolution is still alive in Syria, and it needs our solidarity.
Thanks for finding and posting this.
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