Kick-off debate: Syria Hadidi expressed full support for the popular movement and explained that its direction is genuinely democratic. It is moving against sectarian strife provoked by the regime that is to say the intifada is secular and liberal in the best sense of the word and is as well anti-imperialist as it is struggling against a western-imposed regional order. Subhi Hadidi categorically refused any foreign military or state intervention. This is why he goes against all attempts in exile to form representations which in the last instance only serve to provide a partner and thus legitimacy for western intervention. A real revolutionary council can – according to Hadidi – only be built inside the country which will take time. He voiced great optimism that the regime of … [read more]

The Syrian people has been struggling for democracy for months now. As the Assad regime reveals its incapacity to reform day by day, answering the legitimate popular demands only with brute violence, the movement more and more turns into a revolution for which a death toll will be paid. Revolt against neo-liberalism In Europe (and also among the Syrians in exile) there is talk only about democracy – but this is dangerous, for in the last decades democracy has become a neo-colonial export product (see Iraq and Afghanistan). Without further specification democracy simply means the more or less mediated rule of the western oligarchy excluding the poorer classes, both politically and socially. In Syria as in the Arab world in general we see a popular movement against the capitalist … [read more]

Professor Burhan Ghalioun was assigned as chairman. He is one of the leading figures of the exile opposition. He heads the Center for Oriental Studies in Paris (Centre d’Etudes sur l’Orient Contemporain; CEOC) and teaches political science at the Sorbonne. He has been a vocal enemy of a foreign military intervention in Syria. Among the nominated members are Wagdy Mustafa and Riad Seif as vice chairmen as well as renowned oppositionists like Haytham Maleh, Michel Kilo, Suhair Atas, the leader of the Damascus declaration Riad Turk and the cartoonist Ali Farzat. The latter recently got attacked in Damascus and got his arms broken. The personalities nominated enjoy a certain popular consensus. The communiqué of the “Revolutionary Youth” stresses that the lack of a political … [read more]

Q: September 9 has been named by the Syrian popular movement „Friday of international protection“. Do they really call for international intervention? One must differentiate between international protection by states and governments on one hand and civil organisations on the other hand. The first ones we cannot trust as they follow their own agenda and use double standards regarding human rights. But the second idea means that NGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and human rights groups should send observers. That implies also free movement for the Arab as well as the international media. Their presence across the Syrian towns could significantly curtail the brutality of the regime. This demand is different to calling upon the US or the UN who do not follow unselfish … [read more]

With regard to the danger of “regime change” by the imperialists he said that “Syria is quiet different from Libya”. The overwhelming majority of the people will refuse and fight an imperialist military intervention. Even covered and operated by Turkey the political groups and popular trends involved in the revolt “do not accept the Turkish intervention”. Kubaysi advised not to listen to the media reports which are campaigning for Western interests but do not reflect the internal situation properly. Exile politicians disturb the real picture. “We should focus on forces and groups inside Syria and I am sure that the anti-imperialist left is dominating now and will continue to do so in the future.” According to the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance’s leader there are only the … [read more]

It is this spirit which is the real threat against the comprador regimes of the region, which poses the most serious challenge to the Western hegemony in the region since the 60ies. After the crucial character change in the “democratic spring” caused by the Libyan rebellion, turning from a peaceful mass movement into an armed conflict between elites accompanied with a Western intervention, the outbreak of the protests in Syria lead to further confusion within the progressive and anti-imperialist spectrum. The situation is delicate indeed. In this context, we should emphasise the following: 1. The Syrian uprising can not be observed in an isolated way from the regional developments. It is an authentic popular movement for freedom and social justice against a … [read more]

The dummies in the Bernard Henry-Levi show in Paris Organised by Bernard-Henry Levi’s magazine ‘Règles de Jeu’ [Play Rules], a conference of the ‘Syrian opposition’ was held on July 4th in the St. Germain cinema in Paris. The organiser, the character of the prominent participants from the French Elite as well as the speech contents lead to many questions regarding some Syrian opposition parties and groups and their link to the Western and, finally Zionist interests. Sponsored by the same Syrian industrial Brothers Sonqur who had sponsored the Antalya conference, hundred of Syrian political activists met in the third meeting of the Syrian opposition after the parallel conferences of Brussels and Antalya. Opponents of the Assad regimes were divided on the Paris … [read more]

Therefore, a number of patriotic Syrians, from all different backgrounds, came together and called for the Syria Conference for Change. Invitations were sent to a wide variety of political and populist Syrian activists with the purpose of stopping the blood shed of our people and to take a decisive stand towards the events in their homeland and towards the insistence of the oppressive regime on using the military and security forces in rejecting the just demands of the people of freedom and democracy. The Syria Conference for Change took place in Antalya, Turkey, May 31 – June 3, 2011, in solidarity with the Syrian Revolution and to search for solutions that would save Syria from oppression and place it on the road to freedom and dignity. As such, participants agreed to the … [read more]

Q: Who promoted the Antalya conference and what is its outcome? There have been already several different conferences of the Syrian opposition or parts of it. For example some of the Muslim currents organised their own events. The idea was to stop following separate agendas but to try to reach the broadest possible unity for democracy in Syria. The main promoters were the left and liberal forces around the Damascus Declaration (DD) but the attempt of unification worked out. Out of 31 members of the consulting committee 4 members each are from the DD,  Muslim Brotherhood, the Kurds (who are predominantly leftist) and the tribes. The remaining 15 are independent personalities including also all confessions.   Q: Reports said that Adbul Halim Khaddam and Rifaat al Assad were … [read more]

The courageous Syrian uprising enters its third month, still strong and continuing. Demonstrators took to the streets in the majority of the Syrian cities and towns on the fourth friday – the Hara’er friday – to express tribute to the four women who had been killed in Banyas, to the hundreds of mothers bereft of their killed sons, and the arrested women in the wounded Dara’a, to Damascus, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Dair az- Zor, Al- Raqqa, Al- bu- kamal- Al- Qamishli, Amuda and others. [Hara’er means free contrary to enslaved women.] This Friday witnessed the falling of six martyrs in Homs and Dara’a. This limited number of martyrs, in spite of the sacredness of Syrian blood, and in comparison with the previous weeks, can be considered a step ahead if the regime decided to drop the … [read more]

Editorial note: We believe that it is not necessary to juxtapose revolution and the call for democratic reforms and dialogue. Given the limitations of the movement described by the author and the tremendous repression it is important at least for the current period to put forward by peaceful means the demand to end the one party rule and for a constituent assembly. Asking for negotiations, dialogue and debate also with the regime is a necessary attempt to counter the repression as there are no other means at hand. It can be a step for the movement to consolidate gaining more support. Moreover it is a response to the regime’s claim to hold up the banner of anti-imperialism. The people’s movement or at least its revolutionary wing can pose the question: how can you fight imperialism … [read more]

An alliance of mainly leftist organisations had called for the Gaza march to stress the interrelation between Egpytian souverainty, the demands for reforms and the Palestinian question. This can also be considered as a test to the regime’s willingness to undertake reforms. The organizers planned to hold a march to Gaza starting on May 15, accompanied by several caravans of humanitarian supplies. During the last weeks, more than four thousand persons had registered for participation. The ‘freedom caravan’ was stopped on Friday evening in the city of Ismailia at the Suez channel. The supplies were confiscated and ten particpants arrested. Other five hundred participants tried during the night to bypass the army blocks on foot. Another caravan, composed of fifteen artists, was … [read more]

The current ambiguous situation is reflecting the instable power situation in Cairo itself. The vast majority of the Egyptian people is in support of the Palestinians and want to end Egypt’s subservient role towards Israel and the US. The military regime emerging from the old systems on one side wants to keep things as much as they used to be but, on the other side needs also to respond the popular demands. Hence the half-hearted announcement of the military rulers to stop being a pillar of the creeping genocide on Gaza is already an important success of the popular revolt. Even this simple and minor promise has shaken the entire imperialist set-up of the region. Also the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, which had been blocked by the West, Israel and Egypt, became possible due … [read more]

*Scotland's elections shattered political mould - SNP triumphant *The pro-war and pro-Israel Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties punished *SNP Leader Alex Salmond tried to impeach Tony Blair for war crimes in Iraq *Scottish Government offered open access to Scottish hospitals for Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead *Nationalist government must be pressured to match deeds with words Scotland's elections have shattered the political mould, battered every political party other than the SNP (Scottish National Party) and given us a nationalist majority in the Edinburgh Parliament. The voting system was expressly designed to prevent such an outcome. Unlike Palestinians, though, we do not expect to be punished severely for voting in a way that London disapproves of. The Labour, … [read more]

What is the impact of the Arab rebellion on the Palestinian movement within Israel? It is a great push and gives spirit and hope to the movement. It is a powerful inspiration which is already helping the resistance to grow. Furthermore it will strengthen the more determined, more radical forces whether secular or Islamic. What do you think about the reconciliation Hamas-Fatah? Some effects are positive, but not all. First Israel cannot continue to punish the resistance in co-operation with a Palestinian organisation in the same way as before. Second: Israel said not to negotiate with terrorists meaning Hamas. As Fatah is now in co-operation with Hamas, Israel already announced to stop talking to Fatah as well. Shimon Perez called the situation very sad. For the resistance this … [read more]

It is well-established that solitary confinement and isolation are dangerous and detrimental to the physical and mental health of prisoners. It is a technique frequently used against political prisoners, from the U.S.'s Guantanamo Bay and Communications Management Units, to Ben Ali's isolation cells in Tunisia, to the prisons of the occupation. Israel is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, whose articles 10 states that "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person." On the contrary, isolation cells deprive prisoners of human contact, recreation, and mental stimulation. Sa'adat is regularly denied family visits, newspapers, books, and information in Arabic. While … [read more]

On the eighth anniversary of the Zionist imperialist aggression on Iraq, the American NATO bombers and battle ships committed a cruel aggression on the Libyan territory. They are doing so in preparation to a wider plan targeting Libya’s independence and sovereignty. The armies of America, France, Britain and Italy, the supporters of the corrupt tyrant rulers in our Arab homeland, the enemies of freedom, independence, democracy, progress and justice in our Arab countries, these states are the most hypocrite, wicked and false users of human concepts and values. The West wages the aggression against Libya in the spirit of the crusaders’ hatred against the Arabs, their history and their future. It is a colonial intervention in the inner Libyan affairs in the frame of a western … [read more]

As revolutionaries we need to think big. If we do not want to invest politically, if we shy away from necessary risks, we are doomed to lose. Right now we are witnesses to the crumbling of the imperialist architecture of the Arab world, one of the most neuralgic points of the global order. In general and especially now we need to be definitely more audacious than the imperialist elites, not less, not just clinging to hollow gains of the past. In this context we cannot bind the faith of the revolutionary anti-imperialist struggle to figures like Assad let alone Qaddhafi who only defends his own interest. The Egyptian people have brought down the most important western puppet dictator of the region. Certainly his regime remains in place, but it is at least shaken and definitely cannot do … [read more]

The rhetoric of support for the democratic movements is simply ridiculous. The best counter-example are the Gulf states. In Bahrain, they are striking at the democracy movement in a bloody crackdown in the name of order—i.e. capitalism and imperialism—and stability. The same Gulf regimes cheekily do some Arab cheerleading for the western attack. The west itself is no less dishonest. For decades they nurtured Arab dictatorships to control the region. Until the very end the west firmly stood by Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia etc., and western support for the worst dictatorship in the region—Saudi Arabia—is undounted. They had also made peace with Qaddhafi, did wonderful business with him and put him in charge of keeping unwanted African migrants out of the EU. But as … [read more]

Transcribed by Claudine Fähndrich, BDS Switzerland http://www.silviacattori.net/article1429.html I begin by thanking all the organizers; I know it took quite a lot of efforts to bring us all together. It is a great achievement, and as Mazen and Eider mentioned, and Lubna, yesterday, you also provided a great opportunity for us to meet and we are very grateful to you for this opportunity to meet you and to meet each other. It is easier because of the Israeli oppression to meet here than to meet in Palestine where we should meet and hopefully one day we will all be there without the need to go to the frozen hills of Stuttgart to create a joint life! And I think that's the gist of the Zionist story that it does not allow people to meet normal life and to be normal friends that they … [read more]