really offsets
in Syria I there's obviously a lot of questions about who the rebels are where
they represent there's multiple factions the rebels we all know that
there certainly is al Qaeda Islamic militant group is also
I moderates there's liberals there's progress is there's members have
defected from the Syrian government %uh there's a number of different
actors but what you might not know on what might surprise many views that a
significant part
the routes to the grassroots uprising against
the Assad government and a group that is still playing an active role
the formation of a new Syrian politics are syrian energy asx:
and at Strutz out
caught up with a leader for the Syrian
anarchists are syrian anarchist organizer
writer named I excuse me
roses his name is and needy year
me dear a Tassie and he's a political
a researcher and writer is originally from homes and Syria
and currently splits his time to the United States and beirut runs a blog
called
darth nader which reflects on the Syrian Revolution
I any said some really interesting things first about
the role that anarchists have played in the formation of the uprising in Syria
and basically the Syrian anarchists
what allow them to start organizing
was some restrictions that the Assad government relaxed several years ago
not for protests against the Assad government or the state but for protests
arm against around the US occupation invasion of Iraq
and solidarity with the Palestinians so anarchists started organizing a college
campuses and Syria
around these issues and %uh connected them
with opposition to Assad so that's or some other kind of political contacts
that they come from
and he basically explains that the real point I think this is so fascinating
because in some ways here is a template for everything right now
you have a Assad government which really is in some respects it kinda was
classically fascist typeof regime I'll
bath this were inspired by to tell Terry in regimes
Europe there's a brand that so that along with the kind of
cronies sxe small-scale capitalist
state I a lot of self a basic lease
market self-enrichment cronyism with a
fascistic a political structure then you have these broad-based movements which
include the rise in islamic militancy in groups like al-qaeda
then you just have people from the regime who don't a sport anymore the
have
liberals then you have the client state to mention the proxy word to mention
that Syria is just a place for
other nations to project their interests on Russia Iran the United States the
Gulf
Israel whatever proxy work upon
and what atari the same is that
a ta6 his people to see things that anarchists want
genuine self-determination they don't just even mute the mic
at the national level to Anika sleep talking about a micro level politics
there
organizing in certain areas that are liberated where they have some power
they're talking about community decision-making
they're talking about collective forms of governance
and multiple forms of self-expression so he says week we oppose
Assad because he wants totalizing control our identities and we oppose
are the islamic fundamentalist because they also see
one-way a of controlling
and governing and and conforming Syrian society
so I think basically he says
this is about the centralization it's about radical self determination not
just at a national level but even at a localised level
I think this is fascinating because you're seeing some parallels here the
politics he's talking about
in this incredibly violent and dangerous environment to
what people when they're occupier something are called out for being
utopian and practical all these people are trying to implement this politics
I invited the most dangerous zones
in the planet right now I so he he goes on
I he talks about why it's false to see the opposition is a binary
are just between the the Syrian regime are
and and and and other rebel forces opposed to a size that the movement
opposing Assad is much more
arm is much broader and he actually talks about a city that
called your broad which is halfway between damascus and homes
and his quote in his the quote Syrian uprisings commune also a model sectarian
coexistence
and a model for Tana me and self-governance
fascinating and there's a YouTube video that accompanies it I recommend a really
watch
moving on the asking about US intervention and he basically says the
problem with US intervention was that it would be a
a it wouldn't change that much on the ground that it would be a propaganda
coup for the government
to assert that they're fighting against imperialist when really they're just the
patron of a different imperialist interests
are in Syria are so he was very critical the idea attacks in Syria
arm and has said there's not much that can be done from his viewpoint to
intervene one way or another in Syria from his energies viewpoint
though he did say that what he would want some people in the left outside of
Syria
is he says and I'm just gonna read this to wrap this up
for people outside stuff in terms of pool have material support there's very
little that can be done
the only thing I think that is possible in a large is a large-scale discursive
an intellectual support
the left has been very hostile to the Syrian uprising treating the worst
elements anti-regime activists as if they were all the only elements of it
and accepting the regime's narrative at face value this is what I've been
objecting to so strenuously
and everybody on the show's been up to objecting to what asked people do is
help set the record straight
and show their element to the Syrian uprising that are worth supporting
help break that harmful binary decision between Assad are al Qaeda
Assad at US imperialism be hit be fair to the history in sacrifices that the
Syrian
people by giving it an accurate account perhaps it's too late
the hegemonic narratives are too powerful in the present to overcome
but if people start maybe the history books can at least be fair
I think that's why the most moving statements that I've ever read about
this conflict and frankly
I actually choked up a little bit when I was reading this and I
there are people on the ground there fighting against every sort of odds
because they're fighting
basically against every political economic health ology imaginable
and they deserve our accounting and our support