Socialism and Syria
The Baath Party is not a left-wing organization. Hafez Assad's coup by which he seized power was emphatically an anti-leftist coup for "normalization" and "correction." Many pro-Soviet Syrian communists came to tactically ally with Assad because they followed Soviet geostrategic interests, but this alliance was always strained at best. Much of the left was strongly opposed to the Baathist state.
Presently, the nominal left of Syria is split into three groups:
- One group allied with the ruling Baath Party in the ruling "National Progressive Front," including two communist parties and a few Arabist/Nassarite parties.
- One group opposing the Baath Party, but within the framework of the existing constitution and electoral system, including the new Front for Change and Liberation.
- One group of socialists and communists comprising a large proportion of the anti-government National Coordination Bureau (NCB), which does not oppose armed struggle but is critical of the armed groups and foreign intervention.
I'm aware of no left formations that are part of the various insurgencies receiving support from Turkey and various Arab states.
The strategic position of the Syrian leftist forces is very difficult and complex. On one side is a neoliberal state with a track record of viciously repressing the left; on the other side is an Islamist insurgency that wants to revoke the rights of women and non-Muslims. I do not envy their choices.
As for leftists in the US, I think the matter is much clearer: US intervention should be completely opposed, whether it is in the form of sanctions, lethal or "nonlethal" aid to insurgents. Most basically, this is because respect of national sovereignty is an important progressive (and socialist) policy for maintenance of peaceful coexistence.
What do DU socialists think about Syria's internal war and the US government's position regarding it?
